"Where the Boys Are" is both an entertaining 1960 movie as well as a catchy Connie Francis song which was the theme tune of the film. However, it now appears that "Where the Boys Are" is performing a great unintended public service. The opening credits of the movie has preserved for us an aerial view just where the ocean of 1960 was in relation to the sand and State Road A1A in Fort Lauderdale. Guess what? The beach is exactly as wide now as it was in 1960.
On Friday morning Brian Craig, co-host of the Steve Kane Show, the longest running radio program in South Florida mentioned that just by watching "Where the Boys Are" you can see the beach is just as wide now as 54 years ago. Your humble correspondent decided to verify this assertion and found this title credits aerial view of Fort Lauderdale Beach. Yup! The current ocean level is just about where it was when George Hamilton and Yvette Mimieux were working on their tans at the beach back then.
The one person who really needs to watch that 1960 aerial view of Fort Lauderdale Beach is the rising sea levels Chicken Little of South Florida, David Fleshler of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. His most recent example of Chicken Littleism is this gem from a couple of weeks ago:
Fleshler tells Greening of the Great Lakes host, Kirk Heinze, that higher sea levels are already here, and coastal communities are noticing the impacts every day.
"People who have lived here for a long time will tell you they see more water on streets and sidewalks, even if it's a sunny day," he says. "Much of this is coming in through storm sewers from the intracoastal waterways and the ocean."
"Higher sea levels are already here?" Really? Better check the title credits of "Where the Boys Are" and then compare with the current beach width from the ocean to AIA. Virtually identical, Mr. Chicken Little of the Sea.
