...in Crystal River where Tod and Elissa go shopping. Many of the buildings seen in 1963 are still there today. We are looking South.

The stone building seen in the background was the City Hall back then and now houses the Coastal Heritage Museum.

This place was called the Wander Inn (name seen on menu during scene) and is no longer in existence. The building burned down four years after the scenes were filmed. Here's a link to the story and photo of the fire:

In Crystal River - Fire Destroys Landmark (scroll up to see the photo)

There were actually two Wander Inns in Crystal River, Florida, and it created tons of confusion trying to figure out which one was used in the show.

This scene is where Tod and Elissa go shopping in an old General Store. That store is long gone and there is a vacant lot remaining. I photographed the stores across the street (seen through the front windows behind Tod) and you can see the original buildings are still there albeit with some slight changes to the windows and doors.

Tod and Linc enter the lounge of the Port Paradise Resort. The lounge is now a fairly ugly laundry room filled with large, industrial-sized washing machines. No trace of the wall paintings were visible.

The unique awning/roof is still there as is most of the original office. This facility was built in the early '50s by Sam Pickard, one of the co-founders of CBS. That might explain how they decided to film the episode there but I'm not sure if Pickard still owned the hotel in 1963.

Elvis Presley and his entourage stayed at the Paradise when he was filming "Follow That Dream" in the area in 1961.

This is the small, underwater room where the show's music, narration and special effects are controlled. In the shot from the show, you see Tod along with actress Paula Stewart who played Anne Bradley.

Through the glass, we see actress Diane Baker who did some of her own underwater work. She's about 6 feet underwater here.

I'm not sure who this actor is, but he's walking down the ramp toward the underwater theater.

The new photo shows that the walkway entrance has been redesigned moving the entrance doors out into the hallway.

This is the view of the spring from the north side. The underwater theater is visible on the right with the sloping roof.

The shingle roof was added a few years ago on top of the original tubular-shaped roof.

Some additional ground was added on the left side protruding into the spring area. (I took swimming lessons from the Red Cross on that shoreline back in 1965!)

This is the view of the spring looking West. The mermaid statue that was featured in the episode has been moved but was probably relocated when this spot became part of the Buccaneer Bay water park.

This is the view of the underwater theater. The plastic chairs have been replaced by benches.

This theater is actually the second one built at Weeki Wachee. The original was built in the late '40s by Newton Perry.

When ABC bought Weeki Wachee in 1958, they began consruction on the present theater increasing its original 1947 size seating 16 tourists to the present day capacity of 400.

This is the room where Elissa first emerges from the water.

The tuberoom is where the mermaids enter the underwater theater. As you can see from the old photo, a door has been added to the curved wall and it leads to the control booth. Also, the room doesn't look quite so dark and dingy as it did back then. The tube structure can be seen in the 1958 construction photo.

Milner and Baker in the "tube room" where "Elissa" first emerges from the spring. This appears to be a rehearsal scene as they are still wearing bathrobes.

At left is probably James Goss, camera operator for this episode. Man at bottom of frame might be Paul Franz, Sound Mixer.

One very odd thing about this shot is the fact that the Mitchell 35mm camera they were using for the show is seen here without the usual sound-deadening "blimp". The blimps are usually used in scenes where there is dialogue. If you listen carefully, you can hear the clatter of the camera during the shot where they have their first kiss.