Marker 24 Marina is located in the heart of “Angel City”. Named for the first homesteader, Capt. John Angel. However, Angel City’s history was anything but angelic.
A Google search will tell you about a post office in a convenient store and a wooden toll bridge over to Cocoa Beach. However, by the locals, it might be remembered as a rough and rumbly fishing village. Some may even recall the local watering holes like Fishermans Lure and Frankie’s Hideaway. Night life included music and festivities and went full throttle at sundown. Songs, laughter and fish tales were the norm but the night would sometimes ended with fist-to-cuffs among patrons. Many descendants of Angel City also have scandalous stories surrounding the wooden 2 story building now called River Point and owned by the Girl Scouts. Whispered lore state that the building was used as a safe haven for such notorious figures as Baby Face Nelson and Al Capone in travels to Miami. Secret stair wells and gun safes in this historic building speak to the stories of hidden gambling by gangsters and drifters of the 1930’s.
Today Angel City looks and feels a bit different than in did in the Good Ol Days. True, there is no wild Honkey Tonk Bar, gambling gangsters or commercial fishing. However, many descendants are still around. Living on the same oak lined street enjoying the same Banana River waters. The people of Angel City love where they live and enjoy the history. If only these waters could talk, what a story we would have.
