The history of Cocoa Beach, Florida — the barrier-island town the Mercury 7 turned into Astronaut Row, where Ron Jon opened its first surf shop, and where Kelly Slater grew up. Primary-source research, photographs from public archives, and a working memory of the 1960s the rest of the coast borrowed.https://oldcocoabeach.com/enhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-culinary-history/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-culinary-history/Where the astronauts ate, where the Apollo crowd drank, and what's left of the 1960s Cocoa Beach restaurant scene. Bernard's Surf, Ramon's, the Mousetrap, the Mai Tiki Bar, and the half-dozen successors that still trade on the legacy.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachCulturehttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/kelly-slater-the-man/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/kelly-slater-the-man/Robert Kelly Slater was born February 11, 1972, in Cocoa Beach. By 2026 he had won the World Surf League championship eleven times, the most in surfing history. A documentary biography of the most successful competitive surfer on record.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachSurfhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/why-cocoa-beach-worked/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/why-cocoa-beach-worked/What made Cocoa Beach into what it became, when most barrier-island Florida towns of the same vintage faded or never grew at all. A 1,200-word editorial argument about geography, timing, and one Department of Defense decision.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachEditorialhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/2017-hurricane-irma-evacuation-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/2017-hurricane-irma-evacuation-cocoa-beach/Hurricane Irma triggered one of the largest evacuations in Florida history. Brevard County, including Cocoa Beach, was under mandatory evacuation orders for several days in September 2017. A documented account of what happened on the barrier strip.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachStormshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/astronaut-memorial-foundation/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/astronaut-memorial-foundation/The Astronaut Memorial Foundation was founded in 1986 after the Challenger disaster. The Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center is its single most visible work. A history of the foundation and the memorial.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachAstronautshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/mid-century-motel-architecture-survey-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/mid-century-motel-architecture-survey-cocoa-beach/A field survey of the surviving mid-century-modern motel architecture in Cocoa Beach. Cinder block, jalousie windows, kidney pools, and neon. What was the Cocoa Beach Modern style, where you can still see it, and what's been demolished.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachArchitecturehttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-high-school-and-the-minutemen/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-high-school-and-the-minutemen/Cocoa Beach High School opened in 1965 because contractor families had kids. The school's nickname, the Minutemen, is one of the few Cocoa Beach institutions named directly after the Cold War missile program. Six decades of FHSAA history.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachInstitutionshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-renourishment/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-renourishment/How Cocoa Beach has been pumping sand back onto its eroding beach since the 1990s. USACE projects, FDEP cost-share, and the structural reality that the barrier strip would lose its tourist value without continuous federal renourishment.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachInfrastructurehttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-sea-turtle-nesting/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-sea-turtle-nesting/Cocoa Beach is a major sea-turtle nesting beach. Loggerhead, green, and leatherback turtles all nest here. The FWC monitoring program, the city's dark-beach lighting ordinance, and what residents and visitors are legally required to do between May and October.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachEcologyhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1980s-cocoa-beach-motel-era/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1980s-cocoa-beach-motel-era/The mid-century motel boom built by Apollo crested in 1969 and slowly fell apart through the 1980s. What got demolished, what survived, and how the modern condo era erased most of the iconic Cocoa Beach motel architecture.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachArchitecturehttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1996-cocoa-beach-pier-fire/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1996-cocoa-beach-pier-fire/On March 1996 a kitchen fire at the head of the Cocoa Beach Pier burned the restaurant and bar structures to the deck. Half the pier was rebuilt over the following 18 months. The most expensive single non-hurricane event in the pier's history.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachPlaceshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/lori-wilson-park-maritime-hammock/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/lori-wilson-park-maritime-hammock/A 32-acre Brevard County park on the Cocoa Beach Atlantic side preserves one of the last intact maritime hammocks on the barrier island. Trails, ecology, and how to actually use the park as a local.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachPlaceshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/patrick-air-force-base-history/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/patrick-air-force-base-history/The Banana River Naval Air Station became Patrick AFB in 1950, became Patrick Space Force Base in 2020. A history of the military installation that put NASA at the Cape and kept Cocoa Beach growing for 75 years.Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachMilitaryhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1969-apollo-11-launch-cocoa-beach-crowds/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1969-apollo-11-launch-cocoa-beach-crowds/On July 16, 1969, roughly a million spectators packed the Brevard coast for the Apollo 11 launch. Motels were selling driveway parking. Hotels were renting cots. Cocoa Beach ran out of food. The biggest weekend in the town's history.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachAstronautshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/beach-boys-cocoa-beach-pop-culture/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/beach-boys-cocoa-beach-pop-culture/What the Beach Boys actually had to do with Cocoa Beach (less than the legend says), what the town's surf-rock connection actually is, and how I Dream of Jeannie put Cocoa Beach on prime-time American TV without ever shooting there.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachCulturehttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-hurricanes-history/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-hurricanes-history/Every named storm that has hit or threatened Cocoa Beach since 1950, what they did, what was rebuilt, and why the barrier island remains structurally exposed despite a century of building-code changes.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachStormshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/east-coast-surfing-capital/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/east-coast-surfing-capital/The Eastern Surfing Association, Dick Catri, the 1960s Brevard surf scene, Kelly Slater, and the documentary case for why Cocoa Beach holds the East Coast surfing title.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachSurfhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1960s-population-boom/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/1960s-population-boom/Census data, motel construction, contractor in-migration, and what a barrier-island town does when its population goes from 246 in 1950 to 9,952 in 1970 because of a missile program.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachDecadeshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-1950s-before-nasa/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-1950s-before-nasa/What the barrier island looked like the decade before the astronauts: a fishing community of a few hundred people, one paved road, a wartime airbase next door, and zero idea what was coming.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachDecadeshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-pier-history/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-pier-history/Richard Stottler built an 800-foot wooden pier on the Cocoa Beach Atlantic side. It opened in 1962, survived hurricanes, partially burned, got rebuilt, and is now operated by Westgate Resorts. A history of the most photographed structure on the barrier island.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachPlaceshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/mercury-7-in-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/mercury-7-in-cocoa-beach/Where America's first astronauts lived, drank, and trained between launches. The Holiday Inn under Henri Landwirth, the Cape Colony Inn, Bernard's Surf, and the local culture that surrounded them between 1959 and 1963.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachAstronautshttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/ron-jon-surf-shop-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/ron-jon-surf-shop-cocoa-beach/How a New Jersey surfer named Ron DiMenna opened the first East Coast surf shop chain, expanded into Cocoa Beach in 1963, and built the 52,000-square-foot 24-hour flagship that locals still call 'the castle.'Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachSurfhttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-incorporation-june-5-1925/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/cocoa-beach-incorporation-june-5-1925/How a barrier-island settlement with fewer than 30 year-round residents got a Florida town charter, what the original boundaries were, and who signed the petition.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachFoundinghttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/freed-slave-settlers-of-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/freed-slave-settlers-of-cocoa-beach/Before the 1925 incorporation, before Gus Edwards bought the tract, freed Black families bought land on the Cocoa Beach barrier island. A documentary history of the island's first owners.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachFoundinghttps://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/gus-edwards-buys-cocoa-beach/https://oldcocoabeach.com/blog/gus-edwards-buys-cocoa-beach/How a Cocoa city attorney named Gus C. Edwards picked up the entire Cocoa Beach barrier-island tract at a Brevard County tax sale, platted it, and sold lots, the legal foundation for the 1925 incorporation.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTOld Cocoa BeachFounding