This cache has been archived.

Vertighost: Since there has been no response by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note, I have archived this cache. Please note that caches that have been archived for maintenance issues or lack of cache owner communication are not eligible to be unarchived.

GC3T121 ▼

A cache by Ibtsoom Message this owner

Hidden : 8/5/2012

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Size: Size: other (other)

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Cache updated -- bring a pen! Watch for traffic and muggles. Happy Caching!

The Big Pink Bird

This is one of my most memorable images of Hitchcock, from when I moved here in the late 1980s. The dilapidated sign and overgrown landscape raised many questions as to the history of the isles and why they were deserted. When Harborwalk began its construction, I was saddened to see the mystic sign go away, but pleased that someone was finally making use of the abandoned subdivision. While researching this cache, I came across an article written by Bruce C. Webb in a 2004 issue of CITE magazine (issue 59), below is an excerpt from the article. Reading the story below made me wish that Mecom had succeeded in his visions!

excerpt from:
S H O R E T H I N G - THE LAST DAYS OF FLAMINGO ISLES
JOHN MECOM'S FLAMINGO ISLES WAS ONE OF THOSE GRAND PROJECTS THAT COULDN'T FAIL. BUT IT DID.

BY BRUCE C. WEBB I PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHULA ROSS SANCHEZ

The biggest, most grandiose and, in many ways, strangest development scheme for the Texas Gulf coast was Flamingo Isles, a project that Houston oilman John Mecom came up with in the 1960s. He assembled a 3,446 acre site in Hitchcock, just across West bay from Galveston, and began to plan
a city that he hoped would eventually accommodate 30,000 to 100,000 people. Details are sketchy and difficult to locate, but the original plans called for something like 20 miles of slips designed to accommodate some 5,000 boats, "There were to be yacht clubs, a country club with an 18 hole golf course, and an executive jet airport with a 7,000 ft runway — along with several major hotels, motels and an assortment of apartments, townhouses and family cottages. But this was only for starters. On October 9, 1966, the Galveston News reported on plans for high-rise business lowers, apartments, retirement homes, schools, churches, and (of course) extensive recreation facilities. More novel features included an amusement park called The Landing, described on the site plan as an amalgamation of New Orleans' French Quarter, Six Flags and Disneyland. Mecom had purchased the monorail from the 1964 New York World's Fair, and rumors floated that he planned to install it as a bay crossing between Flamingo Isle and Galveston's West End. When that proved unworkable he promised instead cable cars that would also link to a chain of air conditioned off-shore fishing platforms. Several of the futuristic cars from the monorail lay idly rusting along Highway 6 near Hitchcock for many years. Construction on the huge project began in earnest in 1966 with an army of "Mecom blue" bulldozers digging, dredging, and building roads. But by 1969, with expenses mounting and the investment turn-around point nowhere in sight, Mecom walked away from the project, leaving behind a modern archaeological site that included as its centerpiece
a landscape of alternating concentric circular bands of built-up land and canals — land that was to have hosted the first residential development. Five houses were constructed for the five utility directors, and an octagonal house was built for the harbormaster. A huge pink-and-blue Flamingo Isles
sign located along Highway 6 remained long after Mecom had given up. Over the years, it lost several of its letters, and recently was torn down. After lying fallow more than 30 years, the Flamingo Isles property is currently being developed by Watkins Properties of League City as a considerably more modest 700 lot master planned community called Harborwalk. Read the full article and view other pictures from the original Flamingo Isle: http://citemag.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ShoreThing_Webb_Cite59.pdf

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vg'f n ovg fubpxvat!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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The Big Pink Bird

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The Big Pink Bird! Traditional Cache

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Geocache Description:

The Big Pink Bird

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