All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S04E05.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[narrator] The research facility
of a troubled genius,

who built super weapons
for America's enemies.

He was part villain, part hero.
Tried to copy Nazi technology.

A forgotten coastal haven
that changed the nation.

[contributor] Once we left these
shores and this sand,

we felt the fear of the Klan.

[narrator] And a downtown
complex that stood firm

on San Francisco's darkest day.

If this building had gone down,
it would have taken the entire

national economy with it.

[narrator]
In Vermont, technology
from the Third Reich

was used to create
a weapon of mass destruction.

[Mike] It's truly amazing stuff
that was happening here.

I believe that they were
probably far more advanced

than anybody really knows.

[Hadley] We are in the
northernmost point of Vermont,

basically right
on the Canadian border.

[Dr. Auerbach] In the middle
of this wilderness,

there's this multi-story
structure.

It's totally out of place here.

[Dr. Kwami] This building looks
modern, but it's just a shell

of what it once was.

[Martin] On the roof there's
this tripod.

That suggests the possibility
of mounting some sort

of a powerful optic.

Were they spying
on someone or something?

[narrator]
In a time when nuclear missiles
threatened world annihilation,

this place offered
America an alternative.

[Mike] I believe that the super
gun was designed

in this very building.

[narrator]
Having grown up in this remote
corner of America,

Mike Rogers is visiting
a building that cast a shadow

over his childhood.

[Mike] It was CIA secret.
Everybody was scared of it.

Almost like an Area 51.

[narrator]
Today, many of this place's
secrets are still classified.

But, we do know that its origins
lie in the early '60s,

with the clandestine
Project HARP.

HARP was a high-altitude
research program, and this site

spread over 2,000 acres.

[narrator]
The crux of Project HARP was
to develop a new method

of launching satellites
into space.

To avoid using expensive
rockets, the aim was to fire

them out of this world using
a giant gun.

The American government
and the Canadian government

went in together to fund
the development

of this technology.

[Dr. Auerbach]
In theory, this is a much
more fuel efficient, and thus

cost efficient way
of launching satellites.

[narrator]
As a joint venture, this remote
facility crossed

the international border
between the two countries.

[Mike]
They had their border patrol,
they had their own immigration.

They claim that there
is a tunnel that is linked,

but I'm not sure
if that's just rumor.

[narrator]
While the designs for Project
HARP began here,

the testing happened elsewhere.

Where these guns would fire was
decided by the Canadian genius

behind the project,
Gerald Bull.

Gerald Bull's big idea was
to move the whole project

to the island of Barbados.

[narrator]
Because the Earth spins fastest
at the equator, Bull believed

Barbados would give the shells
fired from his guns,

the extra velocity required
to enter space.

So, the first supergun test was
launched in 1963 in Barbados.

[man] Three...
two...one...mark.

[boom]

[narrator]
Over a four-year period,
Bull successfully fired

test shells to altitudes
of nearly 60 miles,

just two miles from the official
edge of space.

These tests collected vital
data in the hope that one day,

a gun could launch satellites
into orbit.

To this day, the data collected
from this project makes up

about half of what we know
about the upper atmosphere.

[narrator] Yet in 1967,
this building's future
was thrown into jeopardy.

With the American rocket
program successfully launching

satellites into space, some
in Washington felt HARP

was taking too long.

And the Canadians,
who saw the project

as a cost-effective opportunity
to join the space age,

had even bigger concerns.

The Canadians are getting
increasingly worried

about the Americans' intentions.

They start to worry
that a nuclear payload
could be launched.

[Dr. Auerbach] All this
culminated in the funding
for HARP being pulled.

The project was over.

[narrator]
With both the American
and Canadian governments

pulled out, Bull left
the Caribbean and returned
to Vermont,

determined to continue
his research

on satellite-launching
superguns.

He christened this place
the Space Research Corporation,

and planned to win secure deals,
by leaning on the contacts

he had made in Washington.

[Martin]
As a part of the contract
that Bull had,

he could hold on to
the development laboratory,

but only if he could fund it.

And back then, the only thing
that was going to produce

any revenue was making guns.

[Mike] Gerald Bull started
selling artillery.

The artillery made here was way
ahead of everybody.

[narrator]
With the help of Washington,
the Space Research Corporation

sold artillery to America,
and its allies.

But Congress had an issue
with Bull's Canadian
citizenship,

because some contracts involved
sharing national secrets.

[Mike] They needed him to have
a security clearance.

They had to grant
him U.S. citizenship.

Gerald Bull got his citizenship
through an act of Congress.

[Dr. Auerbach]
Gerald Bull was only
the third person in history

to have that honor
bestowed upon him,

along with Marquis de Lafayette,
and Winston Churchill.

[narrator] Yet Bull found
his American passport came

with some strings attached.

And he, and the work done at
this building, were about to get

involved in the murky world
of international
weapons trading.

[Hadley]
It's said that CIA agents came
here, and told Gerald Bull

that he could sell arms
to South Africa,

to aid the fight
against communism.

[narrator] In the 1970s,
South Africa was ruled

by the racist Apartheid regime,
and had been placed
under an arms embargo

by the United Nations.

It was an embargo that
President Jimmy Carter
supported.

[Hadley] There's no records
of these meetings with the CIA.

We only know about it, because
Gerald Bull said they happened.

However, Bull's actions
afterward do indicate

he thought he had
the permission
of the government.

Because, when he sold arms
to South Africa, he did so like

he had nothing to hide.

That's when he got caught
by the UN,

and they arrested him,
and he was charged.

He spent six months in prison.

[narrator] Soon after
his release in December, 1980,

Bull moved to Brussels, cutting
ties with America.

Without its champion,
this building was abandoned,

but the story it played
a pivotal role in didn't
end here.

After prison, Bull is
more infatuated than ever

with the development
of a supergun.

[narrator] But the once naive
young genius, who had dreamed

of using the supergun
for peaceful projects here

in Vermont, was gone.

No longer was he talking
about firing satellites
into space.

Gerald Bull knew
that if he wanted to sell

his supergun, he had to pitch
it as military hardware.

He started to talk
about a mega weapon,

the likes of which the world
had never seen before.

[narrator] Gerald Bull had just
been released from prison

for selling artillery designed
here to embargoed South Africa.

Yet, this didn't stop
him from wanting

to continue
with his life's work,

as the now twisted genius
dreamed of a gun

so large that its size brought
a new set of problems.

Problems that had been solved
before by Nazi Germany,

with their V3 cannon.

The V3 supergun was going
to be a weapon with a barrel

over 400 feet long, capable
of hurling a projectile

at ranges of greater than
100 miles.

[Hadley]
Somehow, Gerald Bull was able
to find some Nazi documents

that gave insight into how
the V3 was able to achieve

such long ranges.

[Dr. Kwami] The key
to the Nazi V3 cannon,
was that it had a barrel

that was made in sections,

and then tightly
fastened together to make

an airtight chamber for firing.

[narrator]
With this Nazi technology
added to his designs,

Bull had invented
a weapon of mass destruction.

And in 1988, he found
a willing buyer,

in a country America
would be at war with just two
years later.

In the late 1980s, Iraq was
under the control of a dictator,

named Saddam Hussein.

Saddam was looking for a way
to quickly subdue,

and control nearby countries.

And something like Bull's
supergun would be perfect.

[narrator]
Bull started constructing
the largest gun ever built.

Code-named Big Babylon,
its barrel would have a length

of over 500 feet and a
caliber over three feet wide.

[Mike] That gun that he was
building in Iraq, it was huge.

They said they can shoot
a payload, something like

a thousand miles.

I mean, that's...crazy.

[narrator] But Big Babylon was
never completed.

[Dr. Auerbach]
On March 22, 1990, Gerald Bull
was assassinated.

He was shot five times
as he walked

into his Brussels apartment.

[narrator] To this day,
no one has ever admitted

to killing Gerald Bull.

[Dr. Auerbach]
The prime suspect was Israel,

who were rightly very concerned
about what might happen,

if Bull completed
his Iraqi superguns.

[Mike] It could have been Iraq,
it could have been Iran,

and it could have been the CIA.

He was stepping on a lot
of political feet.

[narrator] None of Bull's
supergun projects were
ever completed.

And like this structure
here in Vermont,

the idea was abandoned.

Today, over three decades
later, Mike owns this building,

having bought it in 2003.

I bought this building, because
I like the history behind it.

I kind of like owning it.

[narrator]
Mike is still deciding what
to do to keep its story alive.

And maybe, in time,
more light will be shone

on its murky past.

[Martin]
God only knows what was going
on in that building,

and who knows who else
he had deals with.

Even to this day, people
that were in Gerald Bull's

inner circle refuse to talk
about it.

[narrator] In San Francisco,
one overlooked building held

firm during the city's
darkest days.

[Katherine] It's quiet.
It's cool.

It almost has kind
of a speakeasy quality.

It's an incredible survivor.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Just blocks
away from San Francisco's

most famous thoroughfare,
Market Street,

is this beautiful,
imposing building.

[Rob] Although it doesn't look
abandoned from the outside,

there appear to be some areas
of damage to the building

that haven't been repaired.

[narrator]
Yet, within these thick walls,
the story is totally different.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
In the basement,
there are these long corridors

with rooms coming off of them.

Could it be a jail?
Could it be a courthouse?

[Prof. Zarsadiaz]
There seems to be a lot
of round indentations --

who, or what, was stored here?

[narrator]
Once, this building held a huge
part of the nation's wealth.

If this building had gone down,
it would have taken

the national economy with it.

[narrator]
Architectural historian,
Katherine Petrin,

grew up near this building,
and has been studying

it for the last quarter century.

The building was, at that time,
nothing like it is today.

It was full of people.

It was vibrating
from the machinery.

There were smells.

It was toxic, and it was
a very intense workplace.

San Francisco was a city built
on the gold rush,

and this building was to be
the center of that.

The discovery of gold in 1849
brought people to California

from all over the world.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
Early San Francisco was filled
with wooden structures,

but this building stood out.

It was clear that something
important was happening here.

[narrator]
Alfred B. Mullitt was chosen
to lead this project

by the federal government,
because he had overseen

a number of monumental building
projects across the nation.

He would design something
unlike the city
had ever seen before.

Because of the huge amounts
of gold and silver flowing

through it, this was designed
to be the most secure building

in the West.

[narrator] Completed in 1874,
this is the old
San Francisco mint.

Gold and silver bullion
would be turned into hard
currency here,

which would then be stored
in vaults, before being

distributed across America.

[Katherine] This room was full
to the ceiling of bags of coins.

There were so many of them
that they pushed
up against this lining,

and created
an impression of a coin.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] By 1880,
this place was producing 60%

of the nation's
gold and silver coins.

And at one point, these vaults
held one third

of the nation's gold reserves.

[narrator] During
the 19th century,
the entire economy

of the United States was based
on this vulnerable
national gold stockpile,

making this one of the most
important buildings
in the nation.

[Katherine]
So it's designed not to be able
to be tunneled under.

The granite foundations
are vast.

[narrator]
In 1906, this building would
come under attack.

But it didn't come from members
of San Francisco's
criminal underworld.

It came from Mother Nature.

[narrator]
The old San Francisco Mint
was built to protect

a large percentage of America's
gold reserves.

And on Wednesday,
April 18, 1906,

these sturdy walls would be put
to the ultimate test.

A huge earthquake with
a magnitude of 7.9

hit the city, shaking the mint
for 45 seconds.

[Rob] The city was almost
completely destroyed

in less than one minute.

No wooden building would have
been left unscathed.

[narrator] But the Mint
was unlike any other building

in San Francisco.

[Katherine] The architect,
Alfred B. Mullitt, his idea was

to create a very heavy building
that would sit
on the sandy soil,

and in the event
of an earthquake,

would move as one piece.

And in fact, that's exactly
what has happened.

[narrator] Mullitt's foresight
and attention to detail had

seen the Mint through one
of the largest earthquakes

to ever hit America.

But the threat was far
from over.

[Rob] The thing about
the 1906 earthquake was

that it was a double disaster.

The city was devastated,
not just by the shake,

but also by the immediate fire
that followed.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] Over 30
different fires started
around the city,

and the Mint was in peril.

[narrator] As the sky turned
black from the fire,
chaos reigned,

and soldiers were called
in to protect the Mint

from potential looters.

[Rob] But the true battle
the soldiers faced,

alongside the Mint's employees,
was against the scorching fire

bearing down on them.

[Katherine]
The fires were coming from two
directions, and they ended

up converging on this building,
a really intense firestorm.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
The glass windows began
to melt from the heat,

and the stone began to pop.

Someone later wrote
that it sounded like gunfire

was exploding in the walls.

[narrator] But the firefighters
had a secret weapon.

Because of the risk of fire
from the machinery at the Mint,

it had been built
over an artesian well,

and this water was used
to combat the flames.

Flying embers sparked many
small fires on the roof

and in the courtyard,
but the Mint's protectors
kept battling.

Fires continued
for another three days,
but when the smoke cleared,

one of the last
remaining buildings,

was the San Francisco Mint.

[narrator]
The Mint still bears the scars
of this battle today.

Across the city, around 3,000
people were left dead,

and many more homeless.

But the wealth of
the nation was secure.

Approximately $300 million
worth of gold and silver
was saved.

That's over $10 billion
in today's money.

[narrator]
In the decades that followed,
the San Francisco Mint would

stay central to this city
as it rebuilt.

However, the machinery here was
spread across many rooms

on four floors, and modern
minting processes required
a larger,

more streamlined facility.

[Katherine]
The federal government
commissioned a new Mint

in San Francisco,
just off Market Street.

That was completed in 1937,
leaving this building really

without a primary function.

[narrator]
Today, in modern San Francisco,
the old Mint building has

a number of new functions.

Like a lot of these grand
buildings in urban America,

it is being repurposed.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
It is used as a museum,
an event space,

and for guided tours.

[narrator]
Yet, with the threat of seismic
activity still hanging

over California, this solid, old
building represents hope

as a symbol of humanity's
victory over nature.

[Katherine]
We know "the big one" is coming.

To tell you the truth,
if there's any building

that I could choose to be
in in San Francisco,
it's this one.

[narrator]
In America's smallest state,
a set of buildings had the last

word when war was brought
to the nation's shore.

[Chris] There's so
many mysteries.
Why were they here?

Why did they attack?

And when death
seemed inevitable,

why did they not retreat?

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
This is Point Judith,
a tiny town at the south

of Narragansett Bay.

Its beautiful coastal
appearance helps to give

Rhode Island its nickname,
the Ocean State.

[narrator] Famed for mobsters
and lobsters, this part

of Rhode Island's idyllic
coastline has a set

of abandoned buildings
that hint

at an alternative past.

It's a real hodgepodge
of different types
of structures.

Whatever this was,
it was sprawling.

Some of these buildings are
part of their own
derelict complex,

whereas others
are in the middle of what looks

like a campsite.

There's more than what first
meets the eye

to these buildings.

Some extend into a massive
network of underground
concrete tunnels.

[narrator]
During some of the world's most
precarious days,

these buildings
protected the nation.

Folks knew that war was coming
and they wanted to be prepared.

This was basically America's
front line of home defense.

[narrator]
But all this concrete and steel
could not prevent a tragedy

that took American lives.

When the soldiers stationed
here saw that torpedo hit

the ship, they knew
they had to help.

[narrator]
Chris Zeeman is exploring a set
of structures that have

intrigued him since
he was a boy.

I first came to this place when
I was 12 and we stayed

at the campground
with my cousins.

I was surprised to find
these concrete structures

here in New England.

[narrator]
Constructed in 1940,
these were built to defend

against a threat that many
didn't know existed.

In 1940, the world was
a scary place.

The Nazi German blitzkrieg
had taken over

huge portions of Europe.

Hitler controlled everywhere
from France to Poland,

and his eyes were firmly fixed
on invading Russia,

and Britain next.

There's a common misconception
that if Britain had fallen,

somehow, the Atlantic Ocean
would have been a barrier

against a German invasion
of the United States.

Well, Hitler wasn't going
to let a mere ocean

stop his plans.

We know this,
because he wrote about it.

We all know Adolf Hitler's
first political manifesto

in the form of "Mein Kampf,"
but he wrote a second book.

And the crux of the second book
was his blueprint

for invading America.

[narrator] With spies spread
across Europe, this ambition was

well-known by Washington.

And these buildings
are America's response.

This is Fort Greene.

Fort Greene gave the United
States exactly what we needed,

troops in uniforms with big
guns on the beach.

[Chris] When this was originally
constructed, this was

a state-of-the-art facility.

These defenses cost
$1.7 million.

Fort Greene had two gun
batteries like this.

The range of these guns was
about 25 miles.

And also, there were
about a dozen
observation stations

spread all the way
from New Bedford
to Long Island.

[narrator] Fort Greene
protected the entrance

to Long Island Sound,
one of the bodies of water
connecting

the Atlantic Ocean to Manhattan.

And Congress took extra
precautions to ensure the Nazis

didn't know this back door
was shut.

[Chris] Fort Greene was designed
to look like a coastal village.

The concrete structures were
disguised with wood frame,

and there were
also cottage-style buildings

here to support the troops.

[narrator]
The U.S. government made a smart
decision in having Fort Greene

blend in, because it turned
out Hitler's plans

to invade America were already
well underway.

As elusive Nazi submarines
already stalked the East Coast,

another project threatened
American lives inland.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] In early 1942,
Germany began to manufacture

prototype aircraft for a project
known as the America Bomber.

This was a multi-engine,
long-range bomber that it was

hoped would have the range
to reach targets in New York.

[narrator]
While Allied bombers,
like the B-24, had a range

of around 1,600 miles,
the 6,000-plus mile round trip

from Europe to New York
would require

groundbreaking technology
that many thought impossible.

Yet one way to reduce
the aircraft's weight,

and increase its range
would have been for it to carry

something lighter than bombs.

Even if the America bomber
never dropped a single bomb

on the United States,
they still could have done

a great deal of damage
if they had just simply
distributed leaflets.

Imagine the streets of DC,
Philadelphia, Boston, New York,

blanketed with propaganda
leaflets that read
something like,

"This was dropped
by a German bomber."

That would have the effect

of terrifying the civilian
population.

And there is nothing more
dangerous

than a terrified civilian
population.

[narrator] Fortunately,
we'll never know what effect

this could have had on America.

The America bomber project
never got

out of the prototype stage.

[narrator] But this didn't
prevent bloodshed

from being brought
to Fort Greene's door.

Everyone thought
the Battle of the Atlantic
was over,

but they were wrong.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] In the closing
days of World War II,

one of the most bizarre events
to happen in the entire
conflict,

happened in the waters here.

In May 1945,
Hitler had been killed,

and Admiral Donitz
had taken charge.

Negotiations had started
with the Allies,

and the war was coming
to an end.

[narrator] Nazi Germany
had ordered all troops

to return home to surrender,

including their fleet
of U-boats.

When the command was given,
one of these German submarines,

U-853, was lurking in
the waters here next
to Fort Greene.

For some inexplicable reason,

U-853 did not obey the order
to return to base.

Why the commander
of U-853 disobeyed

a direct order is still unknown.

Maybe his radio was broken.

[Martin] There's also
the possibility that they
received that message,

and then chose to ignore it,
because they might be more

interested in one last suicidal
attack against Allied shipping,

than going home and facing

a post-war Germany that has
to rebuild itself.

[narrator] Whatever the truth,
the submarine's next action

ended in tragedy.

On the 5th of May,
the day after it was ordered

to surrender itself,
it went on the attack.

U-853 is stalking just south
of Fort Greene, and into that

stumbles Black Point.

[Dr. Auerbach]
The Black Point was a merchant
ship filled with coal,

and was an easy target.

And when U-853 launched
the torpedo, there was only one
possible outcome.

[explosion booms]

[waves lapping]

[narrator] 12 American men died
on the Black Point just off

the coast here.

And while the rest of
the merchant ship's crew

were fighting for survival,
U-853 made a second

peculiar decision, giving
Fort Greene enough time
to retaliate.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes]
U-boat protocol was to
descend to a depth,

after attacking a vessel.

The idea being that
then the submarine would be

undetectable to enemy ships.

[narrator]
Yet U-853 hung around in these
shallow waters

around 100 feet deep.

So Fort Greene turned
the hunter into the hunted.

[narrator]
Fort Greene, Rhode Island,
had been constructed to protect

the United States against
a Nazi attack.

And in May 1945, after Germany
had officially surrendered,

it was called into action after
an American merchant ship was

sunk by a German U-boat,
U-853, in the waters here.

The observers here
at Fort Greene reported
the sinking

then coordinated the response
to the attack.

Fort Greene has called
in an Armageddon.

The ships that come
in and begin dropping

depth charges, and one of those
depth charges ultimately

ruptures the hull of U-853.

[narrator]
When the crew's personal items
began rising to the surface,

it was clear the U-853 had sunk
with no survivors.

This was America's final
engagement in the war

in the Atlantic.

The actions by the commander of
the U-boat on that day caused

a waste of lives on both sides.

[narrator] While the reasons
behind the actions

of the U-boat's commander
remain a mystery,

the end of Fort Greene's story
is firmly written in America's
history books.

With the advent
of the nuclear age,

Fort Greene had become
irrelevant.

In 1947, the guns were
cut up for scrap,

and the buildings
were abandoned.

[narrator]
Today, nearly 80 years later,

Fort Greene stands as a reminder

of the last time
the United States was
directly threatened

with invasion
from another nation.

I hope that the remains will
inspire people to become

interested in history
like I did.

These buildings are important
as a memorial to the generation

that defeated Nazi Germany.

[narrator]
In Northeast Florida stands a
forgotten beachfront community

that was once a beacon
of hope during
a national crisis.

The Atlantic coast of Florida
is stunning.

Palm trees, nice breezes,
white sands.

[Linda]
Today, locals spend their time
at the beach and then

they drive home at sunset.

But half a century ago,
there used to be a venue here

that would keep people here
long into the night.

[Will] A midnight jam session
would occur right here,

and all the latest artists
during that time period would

come spend the night here.

[narrator] But this beach
was much more than just

a place to see famous musicians.

[Dr. Mitchell]
When you compare what was
going on at this coastal resort

to others nearby, you realize
that this place was a utopia.

[narrator]
Up and down this coast,
people were being violently

denied access to the shoreline.

[Carol] To some people,
the activism came in,

because we knew God's ocean can
be ours, too.

[narrator]
Carol Alexander, who now runs
a local museum,

remembers growing up in an era
where going to the beach

was radically different.

I grew up in Philadelphia,
and we had a segregated beach

in Atlantic City called
Chicken Bone Beach.

[Linda] African Americans were
banned on certain beaches.

The few that were for
African-Americans, were often

difficult to access, had few
facilities and resources.

[narrator]
But Carol also remembers
hearing about a unique

African-American-owned beach
community in North Florida.

That almost felt as though it
was just a myth or folklore,

it wasn't real,
but it was real.

[narrator]
This is American Beach,
a dream made possible thanks

to one extraordinary man.

A.L. Lewis said, "Why can't we
have our own, because we are as

American as anyone else?"

[Prof. Zarsadiaz]
Abraham Lincoln Lewis was born
at the end of the Civil War.

And in many ways,
he embodied the possibilities

that were now available
to African-Americans,

and Black Americans
at this time.

His natural business acumen,
and love of reading from

an early age led him
to start Florida's
first Black insurance company.

And this eventually made
him the state's
first Black millionaire.

[narrator] In 1935, A.L. Lewis
used his vast wealth to buy

200 acres of beachfront land
on Amelia Island,

just north of Jacksonville.

A.L. Lewis wanted to create
a beach community that was

unlike anywhere else
in the state.

Somewhere African-Americans
could come for quote,

"Recreation and relaxation
without humiliation."

[narrator]
Lewis built his own house here,

and many other African-American
families followed.

And there was one business here
that put American Beach

on the map, Evans Rendezvous.

The origin of the word
rendezvous comes from

"a gathering place,"
which is French.

And this was an ideal place
that everyone,

regardless of color, was able
to come and gather,
and have a good time.

[narrator]
Will Evans began working here
in 1970 with his father,

who owned and ran the business.

So when I was six years old,
my father would actually have

me working behind the bar.

I was taught to count money
at a very early age.

So I had me a little cushion,
but I could sit there in

the chair and be able to reach
the cash register.

[narrator] Opened since 1948,
Evans Rendezvous had built
up a reputation

as the ultimate place
to unwind and relax.

We created kind of a culture
because as you walked through

that door, you were listening
to some R&B music.

You were smelling this fresh
seafood, and just vibe

as you order
your favorite drink.

[narrator] For many patrons
of Evans Rendezvous,

the most memorable nights took
place in a separate part of
the building.

Evans Rendezvous was not only
a bar and restaurant,

it was an entertainment center.

And this is where
the magic happened.

[Linda] This club welcomed some
of the biggest artists
of the day,

Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington,
Louis Armstrong.

It was an incredible list
of legends.

[Will] Everybody wanted to be
part of the jam session

when they came here, and man,
they would go

until two and three o'clock
in the morning.

[narrator]
But it wasn't all fun and games.

At a whites-only beach,
just down the coast,

a series of protests was about
to change America forever.

[narrator] In American Beach,
a small community on

the Atlantic coast of Florida,
a nightclub called

Evans Rendezvous attracted
the biggest stars of the day.

But when James Brown
turned up to perform,
disaster almost struck.

This was packed, it was packed
out there,

and the sheriff department
wanted to close the place down,

because it was over the limit
for the fire department.

So my dad told me
that a riot almost started,

but James calmed the folks down.

He said, "No, we're not
gonna perform."

And he used the excuse that
he was too tired.

[narrator] James Brown performed
at other venues in the area

and used his music
to break down the boundaries
of racial segregation.

But outside of American Beach,
African-Americans faced

daily struggles with
racism and inequality.

So even though we had this
oasis here, it did not

substitute the hurricanes
in our life,

the oppression in our life.

[narrator] In the summer
of 1964, less than 50 miles down

the coast from American Beach,
in the city of St. Augustine,

protests against segregated
beaches turned into ugly,

and violent scenes.

When we think of the especially
iconic moments

in U.S. civil rights history,
we don't think

of the crystal-blue waters, and
white sand of Florida's beaches.

But this coastline became
a civil rights battleground
at the time.

[Carol] C.T. Vivian,
Shuttlesworth,
Martin Luther King,

they all came to St. Augustine.

[narrator] The protests involved
wading into the water,

and standing
in a show of defiance.

But despite these peaceful
actions, protesters were

attacked by mobs of angry
white segregationists.

Swimming pools in St. Augustine
were also violently contested.

One of the most horrific
stories of the time was when

a white motel manager became so
enraged over white and Black

integration in his swimming
pool, that he poured
acid into it.

Photos of the injustices in
St. Augustine spread across

the world, and it put
the oppressive Jim Crow regime
on full show.

[narrator] The day after the
motel swimming pool incident,

the landmark Civil Rights bill
was passed by the Senate,

following months of
debate and filibuster.

When you look at the timing
of the Civil Rights Act passing,

and these troubles
in St. Augustine,

you get a sense of just how
influential these protests

in Florida actually were.

[narrator]
The 1964 Civil Rights Act
made the segregation

of public beaches across
the country illegal,

ending American Beach's
unique appeal.

But despite the area's decline
in popularity,

Evans Rendezvous
survived and thrived.

After the Civil Rights Movement,
while Black Americans,

in theory, could go to any
beach, any nightclub,

there wasn't any other place
like Evans Rendezvous.

[Linda] The jazz greats of
the 1950s and '60s were replaced

by up-and-coming disco queens
like Sister Sledge.

[narrator]
In 1980, Will Evans' father
sold Evans Rendezvous.

It finally closed for good
in the late '90s,

ending almost half a century
as the beloved anchor

of the American Beach community.

In 2004, Evans Rendezvous was
acquired by Nassau County

to preserve this
historic nightclub, a popular
move among many locals.

There've been a number of
people in there come by

and say, "You know what,
I remember this place.

I had such a good time."

Evans Rendezvous, it was
a cultural phenomenon,

and I didn't know that as a kid,
but I know it now.

[narrator] American Beach
is now on the National Register
of Historic Places,

and is a civil rights landmark.

But unlike so many of these
landmarks, both around

the nation and nearby in
Florida, American Beach wasn't

consecrated by blood and terror.

It was consecrated by happiness.

American Beach is a very
spiritual place, a place that

gives peacefulness and joy.