A Day in Downtown

[spuwho]

I took my family downtown today and I have to be honest. All the negative non sense about DT is just that.

- Great lunch at the Sweet Pete's Cafe
- Walk through Hemming Plaza and listened to a local band jam it out
- Spent a good time in the library map rooms checking Sanborn's and Duval plat maps (and ran into of all people, Lakelander)
- Walked down to Chamblin's to see if Ron was around, but I missed him
- Pointed out some architecture (hmm, is there a walking architectural guide to Jax?)
- Parking was free on all meters and readily accessible

My wife did notice all of the abandoned buildings (Laura Trio and around FBC), but we both agreed with a little more urban housing to bring people back in, the place would do very well. We even discussed the idea of living downtown.

Earlier in the week I went to the Florida Theater to see Maks & Val and had dinner at the Casa Dora. And while the pre-show crowd kind of overwhelmed them, we liked how there was lots of promotion of "The Elbow" and the new restaurants coming in near the theater.  That is one thing we enjoy downtown, is a great dinner before the show and the new choices will be great.

And for what its worth, while in the library, Lake showed me the plat maps that have the cemetery west of Myrtle.  But there is a special thread moderated by Stephen just for that.   

[thelakelander]

It was nice to run into you spuwho. Here's the downtown church article links I mentioned:

2007 Downtown Historic Church Tour
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2007-dec-downtown-historic-church-tour

As you can see, several of the neighborhood articles like this are nearly a decade old and don't include much text. My trip to the library yesterday was a part of an effort I'm taking to create udpated and more informative stories on topics like this. Regarding the plat map, that area definitely has an interesting past. I just happened to be there looking for info on the public market that used to located across the street from the old cemetery.

[spuwho]

Thanks a lot Lake, much appreciated.

I tried to run over to the Arboretum to find that railroad ROW but just ran out of time. Next week.

[coredumped]

I loved doing the church tour, I hope they bring it back.

I've never done the underground tour, but heard it's good.

[thelakelander]

^The underground tour is a part of the Top to Bottom tour. I've led it a few times for Gary Sass. It's pretty good. Here's a link to more information:

http://www.adlibtours.com/Tours.html

[jaxjaguar]

Coming from someone who lived downtown for 5 years there are definitely things to do, you just have to search a little harder than other cities. My biggest problem was the lack of things to do on the weekends though. I always wanted to go on the Sally tour, Top to Bottom, etc. Their hours are terrible though! Sweet Pete's and MoSH are pretty much the only "touristy" things downtown that are open on weekends and  after work hours.

I think there are many locals that would take time out of there day to do some of these activities, but not everyone can make a 11am tour on a Tuesday. It'll be nice once the new Intuition Brewery and Distillery are open... Not exactly a tour, but it's something to do and diversifies downtown a bit. My biggest concern is their distance from the core. You can walk to them from the hotels, but I'm not sure how many visitors will be willing to walk that far especially with the jail and endless bond centers along the way. Count me in on day one though. I'm excited!

I live in downtown Orlando now. Surprisingly, comparing downtown Jax directly to downtown Orlando isn't as different as you'd think. In all seriousness I think downtown Jax could be on par simply by adding more people (ehem, Berkman, Barnett, Trio, etc). The biggest things downtown Orlando has going for it now visitor wise are Lake Eola and Church Street. Lake Eola hosts a wonderful farmers market every Sunday morning that brings a few thousand throughout the day. Church Street constantly hosts events that are very well coordinated and most importantly the streets are closed during large events allowing pedestrians safe access from venue to venue.

Lastly, on the topic of touristy things to do. I remember some great ideas at One Spark a few years ago that didn't get nearly enough funding. One was the worlds largest outdoor rockwall in the shape of JAX along the river. Another was an iFLY style skydiving center with a  clear acrylic tube extending out of the building so visitors too scared to participate could watch the action. I think these could be hugely successful in Jacksonville with both locals and tourists and bring something to the core that was unique and entertaining. I hope to have the money to start something like this one day... Sadly, I'll need a few more pay raises to get there haha.

[coredumped]

Perhaps we could get a MJ group tour of underground Jax? Weekend with pub crawl afterwards?

[thelakelander]

I work in the building with the tunnels. The tour is held on weekdays because the building isn't accessible to the public on weekends. Nevertheless, if you just want to walk undergroundl, just walk in the entrance to Danny's in the BB&T building (corner of Bay and Hogan) and keep walking.  After two blocks underground, you'll end up in the lobby of 121 Atlantic Place on Forsyth Street.

[coredumped]

I work in the building with the tunnels. The tour is held on weekdays because the building isn't accessible to the public on weekends. Nevertheless, if you just want to walk undergroundl, just walk in the entrance to Danny's in the BB&T building (corner of Bay and Hogan) and keep walking.  After two blocks underground, you'll end up in the lobby of 121 Atlantic Place on Forsyth Street.

It's just open to the public like that? I'll definitely have to check it out!

[thelakelander]

I work in the building with the tunnels. The tour is held on weekdays because the building isn't accessible to the public on weekends. Nevertheless, if you just want to walk undergroundl, just walk in the entrance to Danny's in the BB&T building (corner of Bay and Hogan) and keep walking.  After two blocks underground, you'll end up in the lobby of 121 Atlantic Place on Forsyth Street.

It's just open to the public like that? I'll definitely have to check it out!

Yes. There's a few businesses in there. Another way to enter is the parking garage entrance behind the FedEX/Kinkos off Hogan Street. Instead of taking the elevators up, take them down to the concourse level. Keep in mind, they lock the place up after 5pm and it's not open on the weekends.