All language subtitles for Mysteries.Of.The.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S01E01.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[narrator]
Abandoned structures hold
the secrets of America's past.

A stop on Route 66 reveals
a forgotten story
of this nation's Mother Road.

Whatever color, whatever race,

where we learned
how to treat people
with great respect.

[narrator] A scorched
landscape conceals

a revolutionary
entertainment complex.

All you wanted to do
is run up the hill.

All right? For young guys,
this was something
you'd never seen before.

[narrator] And one man's
extraordinary feat

of architecture speaks to this
nation's pioneer spirit.

[Sunny] America
is absolutely come here,

live free, build your dreams.

Anything is possible.

I mean, have you ever seen
anything like this?

[narrator] Scattered across
the United States
are abandoned structures,

forgotten ruins of the past,

monuments to a bygone era,

each shines a light
on the story of this land
and its people.

These are the secrets
of Hidden America.

Two hours, northeast
of Los Angeles,
in the Mojave Desert,

lies an eye-catching
collection of structures

that are a slice of American
entertainment history.

[Alexis] You've got this
one-dimensional,

you know,
pretty plain desert landscape

and then just this explosion
of bright color.

It's clearly a hotspot
for graffiti artists
'cause it's everywhere.

[narrator] Graffiti
isn't the only reason
people visit today.

Some people come
for a higher
adrenaline activity.

[John] We've had
a lot of people who've come
through and trespassed,

all had buggies,
much like the ones behind me.

And so that kind of
is what sparked the idea.

[Rob] The Mad Max-style
desert surroundings
and all the graffiti,

looks like
a perfect place for it.

[narrator] A proper racetrack
is set to be built
among the ruins,

a new chapter in this site's
storied history.

[John] This site is historic
for everybody in the area.

Everybody knows what it is.

[narrator] It was
the first of its kind
in the whole of America,

but the good times
didn't last.

[Alexis] Kind of
makes you wonder,

"Did something dramatic
or sort of terrible happen
that closed it?"

It's... it's a little bit
of a mystery.

[narrator] The site owes
its existence to a piece

of infrastructure
built years before.

It wouldn't be here
if it wasn't for the road.

I mean, it's the lifeblood
of the place.

[Corina] Interstate 15 cuts
right through this area,

and it's one of those freeways
that has seen
a substantial increase

in traffic
since its opening in the '50s.

[Rob] You've got these
absolutely massive billboards

and you can imagine
the name of the park up there
in huge letters,

enticing passing traffic
to stop and come in.

[narrator] Steve Steiner
was a teenager
living in Los Angeles

when he made
his first journey here.

First trip, my buddy said,
"This is going to be something
you've never seen before."

He said, "It's a long drive,
but come on out."

[Steve] This was in 1978,

and Billy was driving
his little 1963 VW bus

that did about
55 miles an hour
on the freeway, tops.

So we left Long Beach,
and two hours later,
here we were,

and it was like nothing
I'd ever seen before.

It was a true oasis
in the middle of the desert.

[narrator] This is
the Lake Dolores Waterpark,

the first water park
to be built in America.

What you're looking at
is a critical piece

of American
entertainment history.

[narrator] But back
in the early '60s,

when it first opened,
it looked very different.

used to This area usedto be
a family campground.

It was this lovely
picture postcard,
quaint sort of place.

This was first thing
in the park, manmade lake.

It's about 27 acres
with about five acres of land.

That's an island.

[narrator] Dr. Uppal is
part of a group
redeveloping the park.

[Gagan] Built in 1960s
by a gentleman
named Bob Byers.

He named this lake
after his wife, Dolores.

So everybody driving
on this highway,

seeing this huge
body of water,

would make them excited
and want to come here

and build memories
with their families.

[narrator] The lake
was a huge hit

but Bob had dreams
of something more

and began taking
the first steps in creating

an attraction Americans
had never experienced before.

The park's owner
was thinking about

different ways to make
the space more popular,

and a few simple slides
that would fling people

into the lake was just
that sort of thing.

So the first slides
were made of steel,

and they weren't that long,
they weren't that high,

but they were hugely popular,

a fact that was not lost
on the owner
and kind of got him thinking.

[Rob] Bob realized
this was the way to go,

to make the slides
the main attraction

and to make them bigger
and more extreme.

[narrator] By the 1970s,
Lake Dolores had come
to resemble

what we now recognize
as a water park.

[Rob] A lazy river,
a huge slide that started
at a crazy height.

These are the hallmarks
of the modern water park.

And this was the place
that kicked
that whole trend off.

[narrator] Steve
can vividly recall
walking through

the turnstiles
for the first time.

When I first got here,
it was the parking
and lots of cars.

There were a lot of cars
back then.

And then it was a mass
of people in water.

Incredible.
It was a Disneyland for water.

They had six to eight slides
that were about
50 meters long,

I would say,
and they'd be doing
45 miles an hour,

maybe 50 down this hill.

[Alexis] It's kind
of the Wild West,

they did whatever they wanted.

And I cannot be more clear.

You would not see this today.

[narrator] There was one slide
that was undoubtedly
the star attraction.

[Steve] It's been
a long time but I believe
we're at the site.

One of the scariest things
in my life.

There was two chutes
going down this way.

Two hundred feet,
at 40 miles an hour,
standing up.

So this attraction,
this epic slide,

is actually
extremely dangerous.

Your first time down
is the nuttiest thing

because it's as slick
as can be.

And of course,
I went down this slide,

ended up down,
cut it with a hand,

and then kind of did
a... belly flop right
into the water.

Got a lot of laughs.

Yeah, I mean,
you might be going around,

you might get a little bumped,
a little bruised.

But, you know,
you would get up,

you would dust yourself off,
and go again.

[Steve] Towards the end,
one of the greatest feelings
of my life.

I went down and everyone's
looking at me,

and I was... I spin
all the way down the ride,

all the way down to the end
and flipped and actually made
a nice flip.

It looked great.
Never did it again.

[narrator] Other parks
soon took notice
of Lake Dolores's success,

especially
in a well-known city nearby.

[Alexis] Being on the road
to Vegas was sort of

a blessing
and a curse, right?

In the beginning, great,
brings lots of people.

But Vegas being Vegas,

you know, they also started
building waterparks
and they did them bigger,

uh, more extravagant.

And, you know, in the end,
Lake Dolores just
couldn't compete with that.

[narrator] A significant
downturn in popularity

forced the park to close
in the late '80s,
but in the next decade,

it finally got
the million-dollar makeover
it desperately needed.

A dramatic event, however,
would ruin the park's chance
of a second life.

[narrator] In 1998,
the once-revolutionary
Lake Dolores Waterpark

reopened under a new name,
Rock-A-Hoola.

[Gagan] It was coming back
to life.

They brought it back.
There were rides there.

Red, white, and blue,
American representation rides.

People were still starting
to come in,

and it didn't pan out the way
they had decided.

There was
an unfortunate incident

that also happened
in that era.

[narrator] Less than a year
after the waterpark
had reopened, tragedy struck.

[Gagan] There were
certain rides that were
still not regulated properly.

They were grandfathered in
from the previous era.

What we know about
the accident is that
it was off duty.

It was off hours.

So an employee,
rumored to be under
the influence of alcohol,

decided to take
a late-night ride,

went down a slide
into an underfilled catch pool

and had a pretty
disastrous landing.

Severely injured,
ended up being a paraplegic.

The lawsuit that followed
was just too costly
for the park owners.

They were forced
to file for bankruptcy.

[Rob] The park changed owners
multiple times
in the early 2000s,

but only really operated
intermittently.

Each owner struggling
to keep it alive.

The water park finally shut
its doors in 2004,
and it's never reopened again.

[narrator] Without
the desert groundwater
being pumped to the surface,

the lake slowly dried up,

but the water park's
abandonment paved the way
for a new type of business.

I've been involved
with the filming
on this property for years,

bringing film crews over,
doing different commercials,
uh, movies.

[narrator] John Miller runs
a film location company

specializing
in the Mojave Desert region.

But recently,
trespassers gave him
a new idea.

A racing track
for off-road vehicles.

[John] What we did
is we let the market tell us
what it wanted from this area.

Like, "Well, hey.

If they're already coming here
to do this, why don't we, uh,
just build it for them?"

[Corina] An abandoned space
like this in the desert

would make
a really cool racetrack.

I could totally see
dune buggy drivers
having an amazing time

in this incredible landscape.

[narrator] As well
as the race track,

there are also plans
for a virtual
reality experience,

an RV park and a hotel.

For the first time in decades,
the park now looks like
it has a bright future.

[narrator]
The Lake Dolores Waterpark
began with one man

and his dream,
to build something Americans
had never seen before.

Decades later,
there's at least one person
who remains grateful.

Bob Byers, he went out
and just did this for fun

for his family
and then fun for everybody
that came by here.

And for someone to do that,
it takes a lot of hard effort,
a lot of drive.

And he put pride
into something
that was just so amazing,

and on behalf of everyone
that went here,

I really would love
to thank him.

[narrator] On the outskirts
of Yellowstone National Park,
deep in outlaw country,

is a structure that celebrates
the supreme freedom
of the American West.

[Rob] Wyoming is a state
of natural beauty,

mainly known
for its vast expanses
of wilderness,

not for its interesting architecture.

[narrator] Yet
there is a building here
that's hard to ignore.

[Sunny] I've talked
to a lot of people
throughout the years,

and it's an extreme curiosity.

Nobody knows what it is
but they'll take every stab
in the world

to try to decipher it.

[Rob]
Strange-looking buildings

often have
fairly strange stories
attached to them.

This is no exception.

[narrator] It was hand-built
by a talented
and ambitious man.

[Lucy] He was determined
to build something

extraordinary for himself
and his family.

You can see that
it's been made
with real care and skill.

This is sort of
an alternative Western version
of the American dream.

[narrator] But it doesn't have
a happy ending.

His unwavering dedication
to this building
ultimately cost him his life.

[narrator] In this rugged part
of America,

embracing the wilderness
has a long
and celebrated history.

The nearest town, Cody,
was named after Buffalo Bill,

the legendary hunter
and entrepreneur

whose real name
was William Frederick Cody.

[narrator] Twenty miles west
of the town is a structure

that matches this wild
and dramatic scenery,
the Smith Mansion.

When I come
driving down the highway

and see the mansion up
on the hill,

you can see it
five miles down,
I get excited.

I can't wait to be here.

[narrator] Sunny Larsen
is a mother
of two living in Cody.

But back when she was a child,
the Smith Mansion
was her home.

[Sunny] So this is
the cold room of the house.

It's a room that constantly
has air running through here.

This room, we slept in during
the summertime
when it was warm.

This hammock
is what we slept on.

[narrator] The ground floor
was a wooden maze

comprising of six
different shaped rooms.

Okay. So here you are
in the hot room.

Uh, this is
the hub of the house

where we pretty much
did everything.

This was our only source
of heat.

And this was
our dining room table.

We spent our winters here,
and we slept in sleeping bags
and roll-outs on the floor.

We didn't have
traditional beds.

[narrator] Sunny sold
the house in 2019
and hasn't been back since.

Coming back to the house now
that I don't live here,

I no longer own it,
it's extremely emotional.

It's just something that,
um, I'm happy to...

to do to be able to come
back up here and see it.

[narrator] The house is named
in honor of its builder,

Sunny's father,
Francis Lee Smith.

[Sunny] This place
actually speaks
to my dad's character.

He was what you would consider
an old-time mountain man,
and he was very eccentric.

And you can kind of see that
in the whimsical nature
of this home.

[Lucy] This was the house
that Francis Lee Smith
was very passionate about,

but actually what ended up
happening is that it seemed
to take over his life.

[narrator] In the beginning,
it was a simple story

of a father building
a small family cabin
for his wife and children.

[Sunny] My dad primarily built
the mansion
with his own two hands.

He would bring
the logs in here.

He'd pull them down
into the bottom part
of the cold room

using all these handmade
pulley systems that he used.

[narrator] Francis Lee Smith
was a man
of limited resources,

but he knew how to maximize

what he could get
his hands on.

For instance, he used timber
that had been fire-damaged

in the forest
to actually build
the base of the building.

He used the wooden floor
from a high school gymnasium

and other bits
of random timber
that he'd find around town.

[narrator] He became
laser-focused on the build,

a fact his ex-wife,
Linda Mills,
knows only too well.

Lee worked in town
at his regular job,
normal hours,

come home,
and then he would work
at the house,

on the house to like 3:00
or 4:00 in the morning.

And this was day
after day after day.

[narrator] The marriage ended
in divorce,

and Francis Lee moved
into the then
one-storey Smith Mansion.

This is when Sunny
started spending
half her childhood here.

[Sunny] We didn't have
running water.

We were
on minimal electricity.

You know, we had
an extension cord that
we branched off from.

We didn't have an outhouse.

We lived wild
with the animals.

We lived like
we were back in the 1800s.

[narrator] The divorce proved
to be a pivotal moment
for the half-built house.

It started out
as a family home,

and then it took on a life
of its own
and just started going up.

[Lucy] This one floor
became two floors,
became many floors,

became a separate section,
and another separate section.

People didn't quite know
what to make of it.

[narrator] Above
the living quarters
on the ground level,

four more floors were added
but never fully completed.

[Sunny] The second floor,
which is right above
that rounded roof,

is inside the house.

I think it was meant to be
some kind of a master bedroom
when it was finished.

When you get up
to the third floor,

which has
the second smallest staircase,

that was going
to be all enclosed

with windows just like
the bottom floor.

This big staircase takes you
up to the fourth floor.

And from there,
there's ladders

that take you
up to the crow's nest.

[Rob] Out here
in the Wild West of America,

one man going against
the grain,

expressing himself in timber
and clever engineering,
it's great to see.

[Linda] I never would have
thought it would look like
this in a million years.

It's beautiful.

[narrator] Francis Lee
was a maverick builder.

His design decisions
were all off the cuff.

[Sunny] Back in the '70s,
when he started
building this house,

there weren't any rules
that you really had to follow.

So he ended up just doing
everything his own way.

Nothing is to code up here.

[narrator]
But Sunny's father's
own way proved

to be a dangerous way.

[narrator] The Smith Mansion
was the lifework
of Francis Lee Smith,

a talented carpenter
and father to Sunny.

He was
an unconventional builder

and almost always
worked alone,

something he ended up paying
the ultimate price for.

Unfortunately my dad
never wore any kind of
safety equipment.

On this northeast corner,
he was building
on a secondary roof system.

He was using a 12x4 piece
of plywood to measure with,
and it fell and made him slip.

He couldn't hang on
and he fell.

And that's the end of it.

He laid there for two days
before he was found.

[Rob] The phrase,
"He died doing what he loved,"
is really quite apt here.

He loved building that house.

[narrator] Despite
never being completed,

the fact the mansion
is still standing proud
comes as no surprise to Sunny.

I know how this place
was constructed,

and I know
it's going to be here
for another hundred years.

It might be broken down,
pieces might be falling off,
but it'll be here.

Oh, yeah.

[narrator] For Sunny,
this will always be
a monument to her father.

[Sunny] This house is my dad,
in every sense of the word.

It's crazy, bold.
It's beautiful.

[narrator] For others,
it echoes the attitude

of the country's
early settlers.

[Linda] I think
it's a masterpiece.

I think this house
represents true,
old West grit and spirit.

[narrator]
A dilapidated building
on a quiet stretch

of Route 66 hides
an incredible story
of compassion,

during one of America's
most troubling times.

[Philip] Route 66 really
is a piece of Americana.

It has so many aspects to it,
and a lot of it
we really don't know.

And this abandoned property
fulfils a piece of that story.

[Jim] It's got a pole in front
that looks like

it might have once
held up a big sign.

But the sign is gone.
The building is boarded up.

[narrator] This was once
a life-saving stop
along America's Mother Road.

For some travelers,
this place
was an important refuge.

It was a place of safety
in a world that could be

particularly hostile
and dangerous.

[Ed] The tension came
from the outside world, okay?

From having to interact
with people
who didn't care about me.

But when I was here,
I was very well-protected.

[Kenya] This is one of the sad
and dark chapters
in American history

that we so often ignore
because it goes against
the ideals of our nation.

[narrator] But amongst
the horrors,

there is a heartening tale
of a family that went
above and beyond.

We need to make sure
that we educate
the future generations

about this wonderful family,

fulfilling a need
as a safe haven during
a difficult time in history.

[narrator] The buildings here
have sat derelict for decades.

But Reverend Allen Threatt
remembers a far busier time.

When I was a kid,
I remember it.

I was about seven
or eight years old,
coming out here to gas...

the gas pump
was right here,
put gas into the cars.

[narrator] The gas station
was opened by
Reverend Allen's grandfather,

who made sure his business
reflected his personal values.

We would always try
to take care of the customer,

try to make people happy
because this was
a service station of love.

[narrator] The Threatt story
of hospitality began in 1921,

during one of America's
most disturbing events.

In the woods nearby,

you can see the remains
of a house that's now
kind of collapsed.

But once upon a time,
this was an important place.

This is the home that
my grandfather built
to raise his family in.

[narrator] Ed Threatt
and Reverend Allen are cousins

and have heard tales
of how this house became

a refuge for people
desperately fleeing
the nearby city of Tulsa.

[Ed] What happened in Tulsa
should never happen
to anybody.

You know,
it just shouldn't happen.

But my grandpa,
being the kind of man
that he was, just opened up,

opened his heart
and let people come
to stay here.

[narrator] The event
that people were escaping from
was the Tulsa race massacre.

An African-American young man
is accused of speaking

inappropriately
to a white woman.

And ultimately,
those accusations will lead

to a raid of a white mob
upon the thriving

and successful black community
of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[Jim] It was
absolutely devastating.

In the end, something like
35 square blocks

of the city
were burned to the ground.

The initial estimates
were that about 36 people
were killed in the riots,

but later it emerged
that the number

might have been
as high as 300.

[Ed] These are stories
that I've heard,
where our property,

people were able to come
and stay here and rest

until they were able
to find additional means
to take care of themselves.

[narrator] Later
in the decade,

a key moment
in American history

would turn
the Threatt family property
into the only one of its kind.

[narrator]
The Threatt Filling Station,

situated on the edge
of Oklahoma City,

was a welcome stop
for motorists

during a time
when automobile travel
was booming.

But driving meant
different things
to different people.

Traveling during
the Jim Crow era
for a black person

was filled
with all kinds of dangers,

from entering a building,
from needing to get gas,

more importantly,
trying to go to the bathroom.

[narrator] Reverend Allen
and Ed's grandfather

recognized this sad state
of affairs and opened

the Threatt Filling Station
in 1922.

When the road here
became part of Route 66,
five years later,

it was said
to be the only
black-owned service station

on the whole
2,448-mile highway.

This black-owned
filling station was critical

to the success
of African-Americans

that travelled along
the Mother Road.

Imagine not being able
to get gas at a white station,

but if you came
to this filling station,
you were home.

You could get gas
and then keep on
motoring along.

[narrator] As word spread
of this unique gas station,

people began stopping here
for more than just gas.

There was a table here.

People could sit around
the table.

Generally, they were
playing dominoes or cards
or something of that nature.

And here, there were booths
and stuff like that.

And this area over here, well,

you can see where food
will be passed through

from the kitchen
to different customers.

[narrator] At weekends
in the summer,

it was in the field
behind the gas station
where eyes were drawn.

This side of the station,
they had what's called
the Negro Baseball League,

where cars lined up
all the way down the road
about two or three miles.

The backstop was here,
first, second, third base.

We had bleachers
along the side here.

People came here to relax
and enjoy themselves.

[narrator] But this
service station wasn't just

a welcome stop
for black motorists

but a potentially
life-saving one, too.

Just a bit down the road
was the town of Luther,
which was a sundown town.

There were literally signs
that would say,

"Black people
had to be out of town
by sundown or else..."

And at a time when lynching
was still prevalent

in this country,
the "or else" was serious.

That was a real threat.

[narrator] Next door
to the gas station,

the Threatts offered
an alternative
night time experience.

[Jim] The Threatt Enterprise
became a gathering place
for people in the community.

They could come out
on the weekends
for barbecue and dances.

[Ed] There was a jukebox
in the corner up there.

There was always music
being played.

Pretty much the floor
in the middle
was a dance floor.

[narrator] The bar was called
the Brown Bomber
and was run by Ed's father.

[Ed] I enjoyed every second
that I was in this place.

My brother and I, um,
every Friday and Saturday,

we would barbecue ribs.

That was sort of like our job.

[narrator] The Threatt family
had built something centered
around community,

an approach that continued
as the service station

passed down
through the family.

In 1950, Uncle Ulysses
and Auntie Elizabeth
took over and lived upstairs.

But Elizabeth would
soon have to run things
singlehandedly.

Uncle Ulysses, he passed away
in December 1956.

She never came
back up here again.

That's when she had
her bedroom downstairs.

She ran the business.
She kept it up and going.

She did all of that while
she was still a schoolteacher.

[narrator] At the end
of the '50s,

traffic began to be
diverted away
from historic Route 66

to the new interstate highway.

Dwindling customers
and Elizabeth's old age
finally took their toll.

And the service station shut
for good in 1974.

[narrator]
The Threatt Filling Station
was a vital sanctuary

to African Americans
throughout the middle
of the 20th century,

as the road to racial equality
progressed painfully slow.

And that journey
is still ongoing.

[Ed] Ten years ago,
I was the Mayor of Luther
and I had a citizen tell me,

"Don't let dark
catch you in town."

So you would like to think
that things have changed.

They haven't changed
that much.

They haven't.

[Philip] We definitely are not
at the finish line yet.

There's definitely
some good distance to travel.

And if I could travel,
I would travel

with Threatt Family
Filling Station folk,

because historically
that family has embodied

the right spirit
that we need to move forward.

[narrator] In Florida's
so-called Magic City

is a venue
that helped announce
its arrival

as one of the country's
newest vacation hotspots.

[Kyle] We are in South Florida
at the mouth of Miami River,

and there's no more
beautiful location.

[Sascha] Miami Beach
is famous.

Everything is about water,
the sea, and the sundown here.

[narrator] Right under
the nose of Miami's residents

lies a long-forgotten
structure.

This is definitely
a piece of statement
architecture.

It has a really strong,
distinctive silhouette.

[Kyle] There are a lot
of seats,

and it just opens out
into water.

So you gotta think,
"This is a place where sports
are happening on the water."

[narrator] Ultimately,
this place would prove

to be more
than a water sports venue.

Events you would not expect
took place here.

[narrator]
The biggest surprise, though,

would arrive 20 years
after a disaster shut it down.

The assumption was that,
"Oh, my God, she's gone."

She wasn't gone.

Strong lady. Strong lady.

[narrator] In the early '60s,

the city of Miami wanted
to show the world
it was on the rise.

They invested in large malls,
a new football team.

And here on this
small downtown island,
the Miami Marine Stadium.

Miami Marine Stadium
was the first purpose-built

powerboat stadium ever built
in the United States.

[narrator] Commissioned
in 1962,

the stadium played a key part
in giving Miami
its iconic image.

Longtime Miami resident,
Bill Talbert,

spent many afternoons here
watching the action unfold.

[Bill] I can remember
sitting in those stands.

The powerboats were just
so incredibly exciting.

There's 6,566 seats here,
and there's not a bad seat.

[narrator] The task to design
this stadium was handed

to a 28-year-old immigrant
from Cuba
called Hilario Candela.

One of his first decisions
was to pick
a building material

tough enough to withstand
the salty sea air.

This stadium
is still considered
a modernist icon

'cause it's made entirely
from poured concrete.

And at the time,
it was the largest structure

of cantilevered concrete
in the world.

[narrator] But construction
of the stadium
was not the only challenge.

A track for the boats
to race on was also needed.

[Kenya] They created
a U-shaped basin
that allowed boats

to turn 180 degrees
at high speeds.

Some boats could go
as fast as 100 miles an hour.

[Sascha] The dredging
of this basin alone

cost the same amount
as building
the entire stadium.

[narrator] After more
than a year in the making,

on December 27, 1963,
the stadium officially opened.

But opening day
would end in tragedy.

[narrator]
The Miami Marine Stadium
was the nation's

first purpose-built
powerboat arena,
and it put Miami on the map.

When this was opened in '63,
this was a sleepy
little southern town.

This was a bold statement
to the world.

On the water,
on the Atlantic Ocean,

in this emerging town
called Miami

that, you know,
we're a big-time town.

[narrator] Spectators
were fully immersed

in the atmosphere,
thanks to the
stadium's design.

With this closed-in roof,
the sound went up,
around, and down.

It was loud, loud,
loud and exciting.

It got you out of your seats.

[narrator]
But on the very first day,

a tragic turn of events risked
the future of the venue
before it had even begun.

Unfortunately,
on the opening day,
one of the racers,

James Tapp,
lost his life in a crash.

[narrator] In a practice run,
one of Tapp's engines stalled,

flipping the boat over
and proving fatal
for the driver.

It was a painful reminder
of how dangerous
the sport can be.

Despite the tragedy,
the stadium continued
to be a success.

People were thrilled
by high-speed boat races.

[narrator]
Over the next decade,
Miami boomed.

Tourists flooded to the city,
with the stadium
playing its part.

[Kenya] Miami was the center
of boat racing

in the United States
and hosted
many different types of it.

[narrator] But the stadium
wasn't just about racing.

Miami Marine Stadium hosted
pageants, concerts,
bands, religious events.

If you have like
a football stadium
or a tennis stadium,

the field is the stage there.

But here there is no field.
The field is the water.

So stages were brought in.

[narrator] Bill was one
of the many fans lucky enough

to enjoy some
of the memorable concerts
held here.

It's one of the unique things
you can do is see
a concert on your boat.

Getting here at noon
and tying up boats
four or five across.

You know, I remember
cooking lobsters

and people were swimming
in the water.

Man, was that fun.

[narrator] In 1972,
a different kind of event
drew eyes from across

the whole country
to the stadium.

Richard Nixon
was on the campaign trail
for reelection as president.

President Richard Nixon
held his youth rally
at this stadium.

The rally filled
with Nixon supporters

as they chanted,
"Four more years."

[narrator] The stadium
was a symbol
of Miami's growth as a city,

but it became a victim
of its own success.

As powerboat engines
became bigger and stronger,

powerboat racing moved
into the wide open sea.

[narrator] Mother Nature,
though,

would deal the final blow
to the stadium.

[Bill] Hurricane Andrew
was August 24th, 1992.

Remember, you would
always talk about the big one,

on that Saturday,
it was coming straight in.

I said, "This is the big one."

It's scary and you don't know
where it's going to hit.

Miami avoided a direct hit,

but it was suspected
that the stadium
sustained some damage

during the event,
and it was declared
unsafe for the public.

[narrator] Post-hurricane,

the city had other priorities
and the stadium
fell into disrepair.

But the original
damage assessment
didn't sit right with some.

The assumption
was for years that it's...

it's structurally unsound,
and somebody,

maybe
the original architect said,
"How does anybody know that?"

[narrator] Incredibly,
after 20 years of closure,

the original assessment
was proven wrong.

The study was done,
and it's fairly
structurally sound,

and that's what saved her.

And in 2018, this was put
on the National Register
of Historic Places.

It can never be torn down.

And you can see, look at this.

It looks like it'll last
for a hundred years.

[narrator]
A restoration effort
is now underway,

and there is hope these seats
will one day be full again.

[narrator] The Miami
Marine Stadium symbolizes

a time when the city
announced itself

as an entertainment
destination

to be reckoned with.

[Bill] It's part
of our history. It's unique.

It distinguishes Miami
from all the competition.

Nobody has this.