Lake Placid is The Most Interesting Town In America - Forgotten Attractions / Clown Museum & MORE
A visit to Lake Placid Florida , Listed by Readers Digest as the most interesting town in America .
Adam The Woo Shirts & Hats
https://shop.spreadshirt.com/AdamTheWoo
Transcript
0:03
today's adventure will bring us to the
0:03
backroads of Central Florida just gonna
0:06
roam around and see what can be seen
0:08
some of the non tourist areas and less
0:12
popular regions around these parts
0:42
I do have a destination in mind just
0:42
gonna take this a little while to get
0:43
there
0:44
couple bit of desolation and you know
0:48
have one with your thoughts out here to
0:51
say the least
1:30
I don't want to get too close there's a
1:30
mother and father bird up there perched
1:34
on that pole in their nest I try to take
1:37
that step forward and opened its wings
2:02
welcome everyone
2:03
Adams Oh whoo here behind this gazebo is
2:07
one of the entry points into downtown
2:09
Lake Placid Florida population a little
2:13
over two thousand but do not let numbers
2:15
fool you Reader's Digest designated this
2:18
place as the most interesting town in
2:21
America I'm inviting you to join me
2:24
shall you the school bus just crossed
2:27
the railroad tracks nothing unusual
2:29
about that
2:30
what is however is this lizard creature
2:34
that's behind the wheel what are you
2:37
doing there a quick disclaimer you're
2:39
gonna see a lot of murals one of the
2:40
nicknames this place has designates it
2:43
so so just a heads up in total nearly 50
2:46
I'm not going to show each and every one
2:49
of them but in passing they will be st.
2:51
they went a step further with this one
2:54
in particular and have railroad tracks
2:56
coming out of the painting itself I like
2:59
that no longer in operation on what it
3:02
was originally created for the old Depot
3:04
still sits here
3:06
however this wooden truck symbolizes the
3:09
growers who would ship out quality
3:11
produce to all over the place from this
3:14
neck of the woods the journal is
3:16
represented here local paper you see the
3:19
printing press typewriter and other
3:22
tools of the trades right up there
3:24
outside this antique shop an old-school
3:28
telephone booth
3:34
oranges are a big part of agriculture in
3:34
this state
3:35
these are drawn a little bit bigger than
3:37
normal especially on the far in there
3:39
get a healthy dose of vitamin C if you
3:42
tapped into those this is how
3:45
ride-sharing is done quite a few people
3:48
in there and not just humans we got a
3:52
kitty cat and a puppy everyone's on
3:55
board
4:08
quite a conglomeration of folks in the
4:08
park some children chasing a pig a
4:11
pie-eating contest and even someone
4:16
throwing a baseball a dunking booth it's
4:19
a serious Americana a lot has changed
4:22
for the United States Postal Service
4:23
since the olden days when you had to
4:26
take a horse and carriage to deliver
4:28
mail I would imagine much fewer letters
4:31
get lost in this day and age look at all
4:33
of them blowing away back there out the
4:36
back onto the trail as this evening as
4:38
it might be you can assume that this
4:40
bear holding the honeycomb is watching
4:42
over where the bees formulate but in all
4:46
actuality there's a door right there
4:49
it's a trash receptacle this one blends
4:51
in pretty well with the windows it's a
4:55
couple wild hogs hiding in the bushes
4:57
there as well you see them oh they're
5:00
there quite a few wild hogs what's that
5:03
you didn't hear me you didn't hear me I
5:05
said wild hogs wild hogs in front of
5:10
this development center or a lot of
5:12
cutouts of clowns
5:13
this particular one teaching its canine
5:17
how to jump through a hoop this one's
5:19
name is slowpoke has designated right on
5:24
the nametag
5:27
happy and go-lucky very clever happy on
5:31
the left go lucky on the right and the
5:34
umbrella was like the wind has got a
5:36
hold of it and bent it
5:39
nearly everywhere you are to dispose of
5:41
your garbage is adorned these are some
5:45
books and there is a worm formulating
5:48
slithering its way out of the side we
5:50
can thank him for developing this area
5:53
there he is with his rolled-up plans of
5:55
the 1920s had quite a few ideas that
5:58
came to fruition the Green Dragons High
6:01
School basketball team from 1940 have
6:04
been honored here on the side of this
6:06
building what is now used for cross
6:11
fitness and some tanning used to be the
6:13
drugstore here on Main Street that's
6:16
what it looked like right behind that
6:18
door
6:18
at one point doing a little hacking into
6:22
the tree bark and you can see whatever's
6:25
in there starts to ooze into those pots
6:29
eventually becomes the pure spirits of
6:32
gum turpentine he's got that tool is
6:36
just like scraping off the outer layers
6:38
of the tree oh my goodness so hidden
6:41
face right there in the shrubs once you
6:43
see it it cannot be unseen just hiding
6:47
there in the foliage not certain if I've
6:53
ever seen a jail cell in front of the
6:57
police department before that's a new
6:58
one for me
6:59
once again it's not real it's made to
7:02
throw your your trash in its a
7:04
receptacle establish 1920 there's some
7:08
eyes peeking out wanting to escape we
7:11
won't get too far though there are some
7:13
handcuffs and the sheriff's star right
7:16
there in the concrete they mean business
7:19
might be a bit of a mind scramble but if
7:21
you parked here and you were on police
7:24
business they would give you a ticket
7:26
that you would have to go inside to pay
7:28
which would make you here on police
7:31
business so it kind of goes full circle
7:32
I might be uh might be reading a little
7:35
too much into this and overthinking it
7:36
but it could just be one of those things
7:39
it's just like a continuous loop
7:41
infinity
7:43
you know it's things that make you go
7:46
hmm there's that Reader's Digest 2013
7:51
edition and up this ladder is one of the
7:55
artists that created some of the stuff
7:58
you see around here it's a mural of the
8:02
gentleman painting a mural interesting
8:07
this family is boarding the bus
8:10
designating exactly how to get here from
8:14
the opposite coast right there right
8:18
there's where noon Rotary Park with a
8:23
nice little body of water here tucked
8:26
away between these two structures over
8:29
here there are a few people doing some
8:31
bird-watching
8:40
this church kind of reminds me of a
8:40
castle you can faintly see the two
8:43
boarded up windows
8:53
they really do embrace their history in
8:53
every form
8:54
here's another throwback to that tree
8:57
that's being having the bark ripped off
9:00
in that whatever that SAP is just oozing
9:03
out into the bucket the inscription of
9:07
the ten commandments in stone
9:17
as well as faintly see the crosses there
9:17
in the clouds
9:28
some sort of bank robbery taking place
9:28
as best as I can tell yeah something's
9:33
going down across the street and if the
9:36
license plate is any correlation it
9:38
happened in 1931 here at the tropical
9:41
State Bank run by Toby the clown there
9:46
is a foundation that teaches you how to
9:48
be a performer in that particular
9:50
profession it's a school say you want to
9:56
ride around in a tiny car learn to
9:59
juggle dress up in a red nose or make
10:03
balloon animals this is a place to be
10:06
this quite possibly could be a hacky
10:09
sack toss through their faces I'll give
10:14
you an example see how his chin is not
10:17
connected and then up here you take the
10:20
bean bag throw it towards there and then
10:23
it could be wrong on that but you never
10:26
know this is something I just can't pass
10:28
up got to go inside above the door it
10:31
says smiles required at entrance got to
10:35
put our game faces on that's Archie
10:36
Bunker Carroll Connie see it now wooden
10:48
team called Air Force that called aid
10:50
the Air Corps got to remember at and I
10:52
got really stretched those brain cells
10:54
that is a TV hit McDonald's has them the
10:59
quarter pound or no cholesterol they
11:01
don't that on and my doctor gave my new
11:03
prescription glass okay so do you have
11:05
any I problems and all you let me know I
11:07
give his number he's really really good
11:08
okay I wear these once a day I got 20/20
11:11
oh that's chaplain 1938 1913 in
11:17
everything's all plastic anymore that's
11:21
called a hobo tram you give that guy a
11:23
brand-new car and ago I'll probably just
11:25
wreck it you know so all the graduates
11:27
of the school they all get a tile on the
11:29
roof anybody can be up there
11:32
oh really a lot of you went to her
11:34
school a lot of men so I could buy a
11:36
tile and become a cloud on the roof well
11:39
what you do is you get a picture of a
11:42
cloud from here up you know a good
11:44
photograph and you fill out the
11:46
application
11:46
plus 200 dollars and Monica Turner
11:49
cheated the mirror on this wall out here
11:51
she paints it and we put it up there hey
11:54
did exactly like the picture same colors
11:56
everything some little miniatures here
12:01
and some props down here as well as some
12:06
Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey this
12:09
was a suitcase he would use
12:22
even the carpet is themed very very
12:22
festive and party atmosphere I've heard
12:25
of a leg lamp this is a shoe lamp clown
12:29
shoe lamp unicycle some hats and then
12:35
over here is one of Toby's outfits that
12:39
he used to wear he passed away very
12:42
recently that's him right up there
13:21
the name of this community was changed
13:21
in 1927 when the inventor of the Dewey
13:24
Decimal System that is Anne's and
13:26
another organization up in New York
13:28
approached the council and said you
13:30
should change it and they did and Lake
13:34
Placid was born also there is a huge
13:38
tower here that is abandoned and no
13:41
longer white operation stands 270 feet
13:47
tall back in its heyday was a tourist
13:51
attraction people would come from miles
13:54
around to get a good view of the terrain
13:57
at the base of it all the way down
14:00
ground level it is now paved but at one
14:03
point there was even a petting zoo right
14:07
here where this concrete now is
14:16
peeking inside the very dirty glass
14:16
until it's seen better days the ceiling
14:19
tiles starting to fall and this is the
14:22
lobby before you took the elevator all
14:25
the way to the top one of three towers
14:28
in Central Florida it's kind of a bummer
14:30
that you're not allowed to go up there
14:32
anymore because I bet the view stretch
14:35
for miles and miles there is an open
14:38
sign up top however we all know that's
14:43
completely incorrect
14:47
because of the angle that the Sun is at
14:49
right now it's tough to see so I gained
14:52
some shade peeking up through an opening
14:55
in this decaying roofline ope and even
15:01
though part of the e a part of the end
15:03
are gone
15:04
ya see I'm right standing under this
15:27
paper sign
15:27
says tower closed
15:32
true story
16:03
part of the promotional campaign to get
16:03
people in was placing a payphone the
16:08
tippy-top point
16:11
designating at the highest pay phone in
16:13
the state if you were to call that
16:17
number now I doubt anyone would answer
16:42
that's gonna do it for today from Lake
16:42
Placid Florida if you're new here please
16:46
subscribe by doing so helps keep you in
16:48
the loop and up-to-date on future
16:49
endeavors adventures in my life as well
16:52
as uploads here on this channel taking a
16:54
step further ring that notification bell
16:56
and if you enjoyed not only this
16:58
particular video but also the idea of
17:01
maybe doing more of these you know
17:04
singular type town vlogs in the future
17:07
just coordinating all the efforts and
17:10
just showing all the little nooks and
17:11
crannies of each little community if
17:15
that's something that appeals to you
17:16
give it a big thumbs up it lets me know
17:19
you care I'll see you in the next video
17:22
the vlog is over