Sarasota, Siesta Key Are Just Diamonds Along Florida's Highways

Whether in Sarasota or somewhere in Florida, you'll find precious jewels of Florida heritage and history — even international history — living right here.

Mining the state for those treasured stories in the Sunshine State is what a five-part series on PBS station WEDU aims to do.

The Jack Kerouac-inspired Diamonds Along The Highway is a team effort between writer/producer Mark Reese, who splits time between Venice and Los Angeles, and Reese's friend of 12 years, Gus Mollasis of Sarasota.

Florida really doesn't have a series that "showcases important people, places and things about this great state. There's so much diversity in Florida," Reese told Patch. "… We have such great diversity from the northern part of the state to the southern part of the state. It's more diversified than here in California. I'll stand by that."

The fifth episode, Siesta Awakenings, focusing on the spirituality at Siesta Key Beach, airs Thursday, May 31 at 9:30 p.m. on WEDU.

"We didn't want to take your usual, standard approach of being the most beautiful beach in the country," Reese said.

What folks will find in the season finale is not the hustle and bustle of the best tourist season to date on Siesta Key, but a cultural melting pot with dancers, a drum circle and The Grandmother Tree.

"That's the one place where it doesn't matter if you're a Wall Street guy or an Occupy Wall Street guy, or right or left in political parties or believe in the most oldest religion or no religion at all," the show's co-producer and host Mollasis told Patch. "There's a common denominator at the beach."

Some find the quartz sands have healing qualities and others find a calmness staring out at a faceless sea while the sun sets.

"There is something about that beach," Reese said. "My wife's from California, and she's been with me for 12 years going back and forth the Florida and she loves the area. She's fallen in love with it. She talks about getting the spiritual feeling there that she gets nowhere else, when she goes to Siesta Key."

Beyond Siesta Key, the two veteran filmmakers decided to channel their youth and Kerouac by hitting the road to bring out the best in Florida. After all, Reese did have a Kerouac documentary, Jack Slept Here premier at the 2011 Sarasota Film Festival, so it's fitting to hit the Florida road.

"I like the sort of simplistic side of it," Reese said about his new series. "It's kind of like the Maysles Brothers, if you will — two guys and a camera and recording equipment — and they tell a story." 

Reese, son of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese, isn't a stranger to film and television. He wrote and produced an ESPN five-part series The Brooklyn Dodgers: The Original America's Team, adapted the book The Boys of Summer into a screenplay and worked with the writer of Sleepless in Seattle and The Sting on an HBO series.

Both Reese and Mollasis worked on projects together before and the two became best buddies again on the road. 

"We're trying to tell as many stories about the state," Mollasis said. "We're looking to branch out and eventually be around the whole state from the panhandle to the keys."

Other episodes included an ode to author Kerouac, who lived in Orlando and died in St. Petersburg, Sarasota artist Gale Fulton Ross and Venice resident Pieter Kohnstam sharing his story. Kohnstam was the childhood friend and neighbor of Anne Frank.

Another episode highlighted the Unconditional Surrender statue in . It includes an interview with Ft. Lauderdale resident Carl "Moose" Muscallero, who claims to be the kissing sailor. The episode aired just before claiming that a Rhode Island man and a Maryland woman are the real sailor and nurse.

"That's one of the great mysteries," Reese said. "I guess we'll never know."

Reese said he hopes Muscarello is the real sailor and calls him a good person who doesn't "have any BS about him."

"Spending time with Moose, I could actually believe he could be the sailor, but there are several guys who could be the sailor. Who knows," Reese ventured.  

When the statue was in Sarasota, there was a certain feeling in the air driving by the Bayfront, Reese said.

"You're right there on the bay and see that statue in its sort of Disneyesque color, there's something about it that I'd hate to see a bronze statue," Reese said, referencing what will be done in San Diego to another Unconditional Surrender statue there. "No it's not art, but it sure does make you feel good. It's part of that whole area there."  

The two will be off to Tarpon Springs next focusing on its Greek heritage, Mollasis said. Right now, the series aired January through May and will return next year. The goal is to make it a monthly series if funding can be secured, Mollasis said.

In the meantime, Diamonds Along The Highway will polish and mine the state for more treasure.

"We're going to get better, and we're going to get bigger," Reese said.

Missed an episode? Go to the official page for Diamonds Along The Highway.