Hey everyone, thanks so much for checking out this video, I hope you enjoyed it. I am sad to report that only a few days ago, the resorts old owner, Murray Klauber has passed away at the age of 91. While I never got a chance to meet him personally, it makes this event here at The Colony even more sad. Hopefully what they build now will live true with his legacy. Thanks for watching the very last look and footage of his ultimate legacy.
It's unfortunate how some of those items could have been salvaged back when it closed. There is no reason why those items were left to rot. It's so wasteful.
and there was a pack of bottled water in one of the rooms too with only 1 or 2 bottles used. I know it's a tiny example but the sheer waste of it all is shocking. Symptomatic in many ways of our Western lifestyles.
4exgold check out the whole airfield full of thousands of cases of bottled water that were left in the sun for a year to contaminate in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria just because some poeple wanted to rob money from the aid that was being sent so they hid it there.
@Bloodmoon209 - The great American ethic that made this country great is getting harder and harder to find. Appliances, beds, tables, fans ... millions of dollars new. And those buildings seem like timely repairs and maintenance could have kept them intact for years yet. Some charity could have found a way to salvage, if they were not blocked, or not informed. Any margin on a salvage is peanuts to the new owners of a beehive resort. From watching the first video with some explanation of the history of it all, it seems that the condo owners did not want to ante up $50,000 repair costs after a hurricane. A petty politician + lawyers took over the HOA or whatever, and the ensuing "legalities" stopped all progress. A story of penny-pinching rich condo owners and lawyers - and waste.
@@4exgold water bottles are garbage at this point because for like 8 or 9 year it's not used and the plastic are not made to last long with water in them 》them water bottles are biodegrdebles and contaminated with particules of plastic in them
It's nice that you don't add a ton of music to your videos. The walk-through is so much more surreal without some random music playing in the background. I can almost feel the breeze and sun when you walk through and give a 1st person PoV with all your videos. Thanks for that! :)
One reason is residents were not allowed back on site after 2010 security and chain link fences then am guessing people just wrote that stuff off as lost forever. Also judging by the photos of that one family chances are that person is either dead or living in a retirement home now.
I helped a friend move in to a rental house, clean it up first. There were piles of clothes and a photo album on top, like mid 80s-90s with family photos. They were probably in a hurry and only brought the important stuff with them, or they were given a specific deadline and didnt get it all
A man that was there said they gave them 15 mins to pack and leave and the people that were out their rooms at the time it was told weren't allowed to get anything 😢😔😔😔
Jan. 10, 2019 Last trucks pulled out today, they took the last remaining broken concrete,some still green from the tennis courts. Nothing is left, no roads, no driveways. A few trees are left. Everybody is looking for a bright future...
@@BrightSunFilms It looks more like people trashed the bathroom, and then slept or chilled in the bedroom. Quite the contrast though. If I was homeless, I'd go sleep there myself x) Possible collapse or not, a homes a home 😏👌
@@JeandrePetzer You wouldn't want to be in that bed when the building is torn down by contractors thinking that there's nobody in the buildings for ten years.
lincolnlobster being in Florida, there could be issues with insects, black mold or whatever stove it's been sitting there for over 10 years with nothing done to it
@@crixxxxxxxxx It's the US, so if they donated something that was moldy they could be sued. Same reason why companies throw things away instead of give them away. Why risk litigation?
Jake I have watched your videos on The Colony with interest and commented on each one. Our family stayed at The Colony in the 80's and 90's and continued to go to the restaurant and the Monkey Room for years and years. Seeing it at all brings back so many memories. Seeing it like this hurts a little too. I am sad to see it go, but I am glad to know it is not there being pawed through by vandals anymore. We would walk from the Sea Place up to eat. I watched the fireworks at New Years for years and years here. It was posh. Now it is only in my memories... Thanks for your hard work.
This is a link detailing the demise of the resort and the bankruptcy procedure for anyone interested. It would appear (between this article and a few others) to be some sort of vendetta on the part of the head of the residents association, when the resort was split the condominium owners got their properties 365 days a year and Klauber retained control of all the leisure and restaurant areas the head of the assc refused to get involved with a working deal between the 2. He promised the condo owners they'd have full access to their condos by 2011 but sadly it seems most of them never got access again. All because that one guy couldn't knock his 3 condos together. On a side note, once Klauber was eventually forced out of his penthouse he moved to a different condo a short walk away meaning he watched his beloved resort rot away. Thankyou to Jake of Bright Sun Films for this and his earlier video on the resort, it provided a very interesting Sunday morning for me. I really enjoy your films as you delve into the history of abandoned places rather than just running around screaming pretending you can hear ghosts and rearranging things for Instagram photos like most youtubers!
June 1981 I was a very shy 16 year old and I met a wonderful 15 year old girl from North Carolina at the Colony in Longboat Key, FL. Her name was Tammy Wren and during my stay here we went swimming and fished together, walked along the beach and held hands, looked for each other in the morning and spent the entire days together. We were inseparable. She introduced me to her father and she was the first real girl I ever fell for. On the last evening before she was to leave the next day her father was going to a dinner and she invited me over to her condominium to play games and watch the Dukes of Hazzard with her little sister. As the evening got late and I had to go back to my family condo I left and said goodbye to Tammy telling her I would see her next year. My family never returned and I never saw her again and never got her number. I was too shy and lacked any confidence at that time in my life to even ask her for her address to write or phone number to call her. I thought about her over the years and 40 years later I still think about it. Those were 5 of the best days of my young life. I still wonder where she is and how her life turned out. I would love to have stayed in touch with her and at least tell her now that during a very difficult time in my young life she gave me some confidence and made a difference in my life. This is a life lesson to those who read this comment to never let a positive opportunity in life pass you by as you may never get another chance again. sometimes you can spend a lifetime thinking "what if?"
Thank you so much for the care that you had in showing this amazing resort. The history and stories helped bring it back to life. So sad to see the state that it was in just days before demolition and that items could not have been salvaged before hand. I was able to attend an estate sale on the property a few years back and found some mementos. This resort holds great memories for my family. We moved there in the summer of 1974. My father sold suit to Murf Clubber in Buffalo and hired my father to run the clothing store at the resort. Seeing the inside of the loft units really brought back memories. I have family photos of my brother and I hanging out the loft opening.
I went here when I was 10 with my family in 2005. It was the most fun I ever had on a vacation. I still remember staying in a 2 bedroom suite. Room 304
Hope to a follow up when then new property is built. As a Florida native so many childhood memories are gone in this state. It's great that people like you can help us remember and in some cases capture some fleeting images.
I uploaded a new video to my second channel showing a rare and vintage 1988 promo for The Colony. It's very interesting especially when comparing it to footage from just a few years ago. Check it out here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B6-NwJ5uWsg.html
I worked for the Colony maintenance dept in the mid 80s. Mainly A/C, electrical, and appliances. The property was low key beach living, always buzzing with activity. Meticulously maintained, of course still relatively new (
its true though, years ago i packed my things and moved from russia to US and i basically left everything behind. only carried the most important things like passport and my pc's hard drive.
@@Mazxlol Very interesting and thanks for sharing that. I treasure a human life over stuff any day and it sickens me deeply on how lives are changed and/or put a price tag on here in the u.s..... items over lives? yeah, count me out on that one. all the best to you and everyone on their endeavors.. "keep it simple and keep it real." #BEKIND
Mmm yes and no true we dont need much to live but material pocessions are supposed to be the mark of your worth thats how we are all raised in the west gotta get that 1 milion plus house gotta get that promotion gotta get that new car want want want none of it is need if we all had only what we truly needed there would be a lot less corporations and the environment probably wouldnt be as fucked up as it is. But it is what it is people wont change
@@RK-zf1jm Very true, we as human beings fail on the change and fall victim to it as well. in short, we don't change in life, life changes us. the wash * rinse * repeat has put humanity on a change toward darker times to fast track us to a dystopian realm of life. Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. so in short, The best things in life aren’t things, it's our lives... thanks for sharing and have a good life as well.
im so annoyed cause i used to live right by the abandoned rubber bowl stadium in akron ohio but by the time my friends went to see it, i had moved and now its getting demolished 😣
Flash I’m 13 I know my parents would not take me to random abandoned place but where I live you can’t go 3 miles before finding an abandoned building literally up the road from where I live there is an abandoned house
I have a abandoned Kmart and Toys R Us near where I live (then again everyone does at this point) I would go but this stuff freaks me out a little. Also I have no transport to get there anyway.
Great video as always, SIR. Love how you add the small touches by filming their personal belongings remaining. Very sad to see a place I visited when I was 8 or 9 in the eighties left to rot. Please keep up the videos that draw me and im sure many others in. Thank you for entertaining many of your Subs .
This was one of my favorite abandoned sites and I'm sad to see it go. It was fascinating to see how everything was left. Thanks for giving us one last look!
Great wrap up to the original story & explore of the Colony...you are right about that place being an awesome explore!! I spent over 8 hours there and only was able to cover a small portion of the property...such a shame about the place...✌🏻️
Oh my god, I was there when you were there! I was exploring the place too. I wish I had seen you there. It’s crazy how quickly they demolished the place
this is so sad. i’ve never been to florida, but something about these buildings reminds me of the times my family and i have spent renting various condos in colorado. it’s sad to see these places where families made happy memories completely left up to vandals and demolition and all of their items left behind. thanks for sharing and always being respectful of the places you visit, jake!
Amazing work, as always. It was interesting to see just how much stuff was still in there when the wrecking balls came, and how nicely preserved some of it was. It's really too bad it's gone now. This looked like a nice place in its day.
Thanks once again Jake for this video, lots has happened since your first video of The Colony, I'm glad you references from it's past were all positive (as they should have been). It is now the end of an era for everyone that had a deep connection to this property and the family.
Your videos are excellent. Thank you for your work. Just last week I noticed Murray Klauber’s obituary in the Wall Street Journal. I think it was the December 1st edition. WSJ runs misc obits in the weekend edition. Titled “Orthodontist Built Florida Tennis Resort”. A short but interesting read. Thanks to Bright Star Films I knew who he was.
I said it before and I'll say it again... Its absolutely stunning how well kept this place has been considering its right next to salt water and sand! I still LOVE the retro styling of the lofts and decor! It always matches so well next to an ocean view. It just never gets old and is just classic. I'm really sorry to see it be vandalized since the previous video, but I guess it didn't matter in the end. I was shocked to see the broken mirrors, but I was brought to tears when I saw the adjacent bedroom *COMPLETELY* untouched. It's surreal... like stepping back in time. No matter how much was vandalized in that suite, it was as if that room had just the right amount of natural light, and just the right energy.. to keep itself safe. It heightens your senses and suddenly everything just felt... real. If I could have this property, I would restore everything keeping the decor and aesthetics while updating the appliances and such. I'm buying my first apartment and I would die for a place with vaulted ceilings with these kind of _a e s t h e t i c s_ . Places like this that are rich with personal (and historical) significance of recent years are becoming harder to come by. Just because a building isn't 100+ years old doesn't mean it's worthless. Especially when you have rooms with beds still made! TL;DR: You gave me feels and brought me to tears. Thank you Jake.
This place was down the street from where my in-laws had their condo. A lot of great family memories from visits in the late 90's and 2000's. And, yes, I remember hearing that GW Bush stayed there the night before 9/11. Sorry to see it go. That photo album and the other personal items were particularly touching.
It was an amazing place to stay!! Fascinating and sad. I feel fortunate to have stayed there in it's prime, the early 1980's. I was 15 and LOVED that I had my own space in the loft! Same model as the beginning of the very first video. Great work Bright Sun!
I’m here a year late and I was looking for the resort and stumbled across its location... the problem is, it’s all flat and sandy now. Crazy. Thanks for taking the time to show us all this stuff despite the potential legal and safety implication!
Jake, I just walked by the lot today. Still nothing there! So different from what I saw last July. The old Colony has literally become a seagull nesting ground as of July 2019.
Wow at least you went again to see it one last time.... So sad how they left Everything inside the Building... and just Demolished it.... OH HOW SAD! Great Video!
I stayed in one of the bungalows about a month before it closed. It was a great location. You stepped off you porch, turned the corner and you were on the beach. I came down with my husband to look for a property to rent for the next winter. We ended up on Anna Maria Island because LBK was out of our price range.
Really illustrates how the selfish can really screw up a good thing and how quickly it can decline. Thank you for documenting it so well. The original video with cutting in of events was a little eerie, but a good reflection on the happier times. A nice balance.
I agree how INSANE it is that stuff cannot be donated to those who may be in need of those items and years back that food could have been donated. The pictures that can never be replaced... All just so Heartbreaking...💔 Thank you for sharing this!
10:26 You should totally have tried to get in touch with that man to give him his Photo album back and get a bit more of a personal view from one of the residents of the place at the time they left
Great video, as always. Very sad indeed. It's sad to see peoples things/memories being left behind. It's too bad those photos couldn't have been reunited with the respective families.
Great video as usual! Your voice is incredible. I enjoy these videos so much. Hard to believe this was technically down the street from me and I never knew it. Thank you. Also thanks for your donation to my go fund me page!!!
Thank you Jake for the commentary. I didn't sing for Bush...but I did sing for Reagan in Calif. I also worked for Clinton. Don't forget to show the new St. Regis to COMPLETE the cycle.
Could you do a video on either Varosha or Hashima Island? Those two places have always been intriguing to me. Love this series. Been binge-watching it and learning a lot.
It amazes me every time I see a video of an abandoned place and there’s so much stuff left behind that could’ve been salvaged and people’s personal belongings that can’t be replaced. It also seems a waste to tear down buildings that appear to still be in pretty good condition. As for vandalism I don’t understand it at all
Bright Sun Films of course!! i saw something recently about the abandoned lisa frank facility and would love to see a video on that. it’s so nostalgic for so many people and the building itself looks awesome
Black mold risk. Here in FL it grows everywhere. You dont see it in these pristine rooms, but its there and its dangerous. Hence the reason Jake keeps the respirator on.
It wasn't just this one room that was left like this. This place is huge and full of so much stuff, even the restaurants and kitchens. In their first Colony video they spent a lot of time going in a lot of rooms and suites as well as the common areas . Each room was still fully furnished and full of people's personal belongings. Some rooms had broken windows, overturned furniture and other miscellaneous but most looked like the families had just stepped out for a bit and were going to be right back. Nothing broken or damaged, kitchen full of food, clothes still hung in the closets and lots of pictures and personal items laying out. Another commenter posted the people weren't allowed to return for anything but I searched online for several hours and didn't find any info myself.
Hi Jake - I just came across some of your videos while searching for some evidence of the Miracle Strip Amusement Park in Panama City, FL... I too have a fascination with abandoned properties... keep up the good work.
Some of the rides from the original miracle strip are now in Pier Park. I know the carousel and one or two others. The park area was slated for condos. For a while it was just vacant and grown up area back around eh 2008ish when I first started vacationing at PCB every summer.
What a quaint, charming place that was. Now - of course - the site features massive multi-story "luxury" hotel buildings, happily blocking any view there might have been for the people unfortunate enough to have bought homes across the street.
Really enjoy this series. I can’t find that you’ve done this one - Kitsault BC. A modern for early 80’s company town that was only used for 18 months and is still maintained to this day.
So glad to have explored this in 2017 before it was destroyed, wish I could have filmed as much details as you were able too, I just had a iPhone and limited time.
I would go there for tennis clinics and beach trip weekends. It was a quaint resort with a casual feel. Sad to see it gone but the world changes and progress takes it toll.
It's such a weird contrast knowing that they were able to get into the property to film and yet at the time it closed down, so many of the families weren't able to go back for their personal belongings. I guess what I'm getting at is the way that time kind of erased the restricted access but at a point when the items no longer hold any value to anyone I suppose. The passage of time is so strange.
@Bright Sun Films you might want to think about getting a go pro her 7 for its stabilisation to get smother footage, because it looks like you walk with a limp. other then that great video as always.
