I remember as a little kid, watching the Miami Vice television show introduction, seeing the Jai Alai players. It was exotic.
For me, I thought the large school lockers I saw on TV were pretty exotic. Why were they large enough that someone could hide in them? Ours were about backpack sized.
My Mom explained that's where people put their winter clothes, which also explained why the lockers were always inside enclosed hallways. I was used to having hallways with one side open, to allow a breeze.
To show you what I mean, here's my elementary school, https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7538402,-80.2581714,3a,27.4y... . They didn't install A/C until I was in 4th grade. The entire classroom wall facing the hallway was a bank of doors that could open up to allow a cross-breeze, with a wall of windows on the other side.
For that matter, snow was pretty exotic too. ;) When I went up north to Tallahassee for college, us S. Florida people were so excited when the temperature got to freezing. We stayed up late to see if the water we left out would freeze.
Of course, the TV shows were largely filmed around LA, so maybe the cast got hardship pay for the costumes.
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-jai-alai-31-ph...
(Archived for posterity https://archive.ph/r2Yga)
To them, mango, avocado, and Key Lime trees - all which we had in our yard - were exotic. To say nothing of lizards and iguanas, nor having a flock of parakeets fly out of a tree.
First time I saw jai alai was in that movie, and it was shot in the famous Miami arena.
As far as I could tell, the adults were there to bet on the games.