From 1906 to 1926 more than one-hundred silent films were made in St. Augustine. In those days most of the movie companies were located in the New York City area, and in the winter time they would send crews to Florida to take advantage of the sunshine and warm weather to make movies. St. Augustine provided ready-made scenes for European or other exotic subjects.
Anastasia Island's beach could stand in for the Sahara desert. Theda Bara became an overnight sensation for her "vamp" movie A Fool There Was, the first of four films she wold make in St. Augustine. Other stars such as Tom Mix, Ethel Barrymore, Oliver Hardy, and Rudolph Valentino also appeared here. When the movie industry moved to California, St. Augustine's days as a film
center ended.