Neighborhoods: Englewood
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Metro Jacksonville explores one of the Southside's mid 20th century automobile oriented neighborhoods: Englewood
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-nov-neighborhoods-englewood
Spring Park Rd is a very good connection for bicyclists going from Southside to Downtown.
I am surprized.... No Picture of the Twistee Treat at University and Beney Rd?
Does anybody know what the Liberty furniture building used to be? I've always wondered why they have a drive-up covered structure there.
Re: Korean restaurants shown in this thread (and one Perivian restaurant not shown) - according to the Food Network and various other cable network cooking shows, Koreans use man's best friend in their cooking...Peruvians use guinae pig. Of course the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture would never allow such a thing here (??) but it's all I can think of when I pass those places. Also, my Chinese cooking instructor told us to sit outside any Asian market you may want to try, and just see how the "traffic" is - after 20 minutes, if not many have come and gone, leave. She said the Asian community knows whose store is clean, fairly priced and has a good reputation for quality - if they avoid a store, so should you. I'm just sayin....
The old Liberty Furniture store was actually Vallee's Restaurant, a very nice restaurant for the time (1970's), back in the days you dressed up to go to a real steakhouse or seafood restaurant. It was huge and it was packed. They were the only place where you could get "real" scallops, not shark nuggets passed off as scallops.
Ahh yes, the hood where I've spent 2/3rds of my life. Great timing for me on this article, I just ran into someone I went to Englewood elementary with at a backyard BBQ in St. Nicholas this past weekend.
I’ll have to take a picture of the duck pond at the specialty hospital off Richard rd that my parents took me to as a kid and still take my nieces/nephews to today.'Tiz a nice childhood memory.
One of the notable memories I have of going to Englewood Elementary as a kid and living on the other side of I-95 was that we’d often hang out on the pedestrian overpass (or the catwalk as we called it) during our walk home after school. I always liked the rush of traffic beneath my feet and seeing the skyscrapers in the distance. But growing up in that area was a bit on the grimy side as you can imagine, it seems even worse as of late.
University Blvd @ 95 has really taken some hits as far as the urban/suburban landscape goes, the demolition of IHOP/the two motels as mentioned (which weren’t that pretty to begin with, but jeesh, that lot looks awful now) and some time back, a lowrise building, approximately 5 stories or so was demolished to make way for the new dunkin donuts I believe. It's a far cry from my parent’s memory of the area when they first moved there in the mid 1970’s. They said it had a country sideish quality to it during those days. There was no railroad overpass on University, I believe it was only a 3 lane road back then. In the place of the Taco Bell you had a Krispy Kreme and on the corner of Phillips and Univ you had a drive in movie theater.
I never left the Englewood area until I was nearly out of high school, (insane I know) so when I discovered other parts of town like Riverside/San Marco, it was a breath of fresh air, felt like I found a new town. Englewood’s where I grew up, but man…that drive down Phillips hwy between Emerson & Univ never gets any less depressing haha. The major thoroughfares are definitely showing their age.
Off the main roads though, the neighborhood’s decent for the most part. My parent's block is pretty safe, there's a lot of young families in the area. Plus it's really diverse, that's one thing that was cool about growing up in that area, I was exposed to a lot of differnent nationities at a young age.
The construction on these mid-century concrete block homes (and similar neighborhoods like Cedar Hills on the Westside) is so sound for Florida, solid walls that withstand possible wind damage from hurricanes, low rooflines, smaller windows and thick walls that conserve energy,etc. They may not be beautiful like historic homes in Avondale and Springfield, or flashy like newer development, but they were built well. There are some beautifully maintained similar homes/neighborhoods down in Fort Lauderdale, and that might be a good place to look for ways to keep this neighborhood vibrant.
I used to live close to Beach Blvd. Ahhh, what good memories. Love before there were Rowe's there was an Albertson's Supermarket in that area.
Another tid-bid about the Englewood area: since it was established in the late 40's and early 50's, this was one of the many neighborhoods severed in two by the creation of the interstate system. I’ve always wondered what a pre I-95 map of the neighborhood looked like, or how many homes had to be claimed by eminent domain.
I-95 is probably what robbed this area of that "neighborhoody" feel. Or at least my side of it.
Quote from: GideonGlib on November 09, 2009, 11:56:33 AM
The construction on these mid-century concrete block homes (and similar neighborhoods like Cedar Hills on the Westside) is so sound for Florida, solid walls that withstand possible wind damage from hurricanes, low rooflines, smaller windows and thick walls that conserve energy,etc. They may not be beautiful like historic homes in Avondale and Springfield, or flashy like newer development, but they were built well. There are some beautifully maintained similar homes/neighborhoods down in Fort Lauderdale, and that might be a good place to look for ways to keep this neighborhood vibrant.
The book "Jacksonville Through a Painter's Eyes" by Phil Sandusky argues passionately that mid-century residential neighborhoods are underappreciated for their beauty as well as their functionality.
Quote from: David on November 09, 2009, 11:27:09 AM
I’ll have to take a picture of the duck pond at the specialty hospital off Richard rd that my parents took me to as a kid and still take my nieces/nephews to today.'Tiz a nice childhood memory.
When I lived over there, I would ride my bike to that pond with stale bread. :)
It also has turtles and muskrats.. nice lil' habitat.
Quote from: GideonGlib on November 09, 2009, 11:56:33 AM
The construction on these mid-century concrete block homes (and similar neighborhoods like Cedar Hills on the Westside) is so sound for Florida, solid walls that withstand possible wind damage from hurricanes, low rooflines, smaller windows and thick walls that conserve energy,etc. They may not be beautiful like historic homes in Avondale and Springfield, or flashy like newer development, but they were built well. .
Exactly. This neighborhood was born during the "less is more" post WW II era. The houses aren't what you'd call breath taking but they do have a working-class ruggedness to it, so that can be charming in a way.
The infrastructure is in bad shape like the article said. Off Abby road, a friend had to replace the main pipe leading up to the street from their house because back in the 50's they used clay pipe instead of whatever the standard is today. The roots from a nearby tree had gone through the pipe and obstructed the flow.
And like any other older to middle aged neighborhood, the above ground power lines and heavy tree coverage make for frequent power outages as well. The hurricane season of 2004 was brutal for Englewood...idians? Englewoodagons. Englewoodanites, something....
Quote from: sandyshoes on November 09, 2009, 10:44:30 AM
The old Liberty Furniture store was actually Vallee's Restaurant, a very nice restaurant for the time (1970's), back in the days you dressed up to go to a real steakhouse or seafood restaurant. It was huge and it was packed. They were the only place where you could get "real" scallops, not shark nuggets passed off as scallops.
I remember it as JP Peppercorns as well.
Wow, that sounds familiar - did that happen right after Valle's closed?
Never ate there, my dad never like to cross the river. We always went to Denny Morans in Cedar Hills for a steak night out.
Yes, I think the Liberty Furniture Store was Vallee's first, and then JP Peppercorn's was pretty shortlived. The building was constructed as a restaurant in 1975, and by 1987 it had been vacant for a while before Liberty Furniture moved from San Jose into that space (I think they were downtown before then). The owner who sold it to Liberty had the initials J.P., so that must be where the name came from. I never did know why Vallee's closed, however, since it always seemed so popular.
I knew this area from high school into my 20s, living in a very quiet neighborhood of Philips behind the old Key Buick building in the late 80s, with family off of Terry Rd. For a "car commuter community" the "Englewood" area was always very convenient when downtown was still booming with business - multiple ways to get downtown via 95, Philips, Spring Park to Beach, even San Jose, etc. Every bridge was easily accessible, too. Even the back roads to the JTB office park complexes were pretty easy to navigate then, too.
I remember the duck pond near Specialty Hospital very well since Richard Road was a main cut through to drive home. And oh I remember the ducks. One day I'd left the hospital after visiting a family member there and a flock of muscovy ducks decided to come in for a landing as I was driving past. Neither one of us could adjust trajectory quickly enough, but as I screeched to a halt I could hear the loud kathump of contact with my pickup truck topper. I was petrified that I'd killed a duck who had flown into the side of my pickup, but when I got out they were all just parked in the water acting as if nothing had happened. No mess, no feathers, no dents, no unconscious ducks, but I never quite looked at that duck pond the same way after that! :)
we used to live off of barnes. the apartments were called willow wick apts. i don't know what they're called anymore. but riding our bikes across to the park was always fun! long live 32216!
some old images:
The old Hess station on the corner of University and Santa Monica Blvd in 1968
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Emerson Street in 1953
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Beach Boulevard in 1955
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/rfisher/RF00940.jpg)
A motel on Philips and Reba Street in 1954
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/rfisher/RF00744.jpg)
Great pictures, Lake. I really like the one of Emerson as a dirt road. What was the brick cross street? St. Augustine Road? Is this looking toward Hendricks?
Here are a few more memories of the area:
At University and Philips, was the University Drive-in movie theater. You could actually see the big screen from outside on University Blvd. When movies became a bit "racier", the City wanted the drive-in to put up a super-tall (like 40 foot) fence along University to block outside viewing. I believe the theater took it to court and it eventually became a national precedent, being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. I don't remember the details but the fence did get erected.
Across University from the theater was one of the first Burger Kings in the U.S.
Also, as I recall, along that stretch of University was (still is per the Google maps) General Motors' Detroit Diesel/Allison Division regional center.
A little bit east of the drive-in, was Kings Department store. It had a tile mosaic of the American Flag on the wall out front and was like a K-mart, but even bigger as I recall. Had a balcony with a barber shop where I would sometimes get a haircut while my mother shopped. They had the best toy department in Jacksonville and I still have some toys (Erecter set and a Kenner building set with realistic plastic girders and bracing that fit into plastic columns with snap on building facades, roadways, industrial tanks, siphons, pumps, tube piping, etc. - could build a whole city of office, residential, and operating industrial plants + bridges! Where are these great toys today? ???). The building is still there but is set back from the road with newer structures in front of it blocking the view.
Where the Winn-Dixie is on University, there was a Pic N' Save. We shopped there all the time.
At some point, maybe upon crossing Beach, University was originally called Love Grove. There is still an elementary school at the corner with Bartram Road bearing that name.
At Beach and University, (I think the northeast corner where the church is) there were the pony rides. I think we went there more often than the train in Mandarin. A must stop for every kid growing up on the Southside.
Memorial Plaza on University was originally built as a shopping center. As I recall, the catalogue show room Standard Sales moved there from downtown. It was eventually bought by Service Merchandise.
The low rise building next to Carmel Towers on University was the original home of the Etz Chaim Orthodox Synagogue now in Mandarin.
Before the University overpass over the railroad, Bowden Road crossed Philips and came into University at the railroad crossing alongside the concrete plant. Like many RR crossings, trains would stop forever blocking University. People fought for over 20 years to get that overpass built.
Philips Highway, from Kings Road/I-95 to University, use to be almost entirely made up of motels, new car dealers (Key Buick, North Florida Lincoln-Mercury, Gordon Thompson/Jerry Hamm Chevrolet, Platt Pontiac, Langley Oldsmobile, Frank Griffen Volkswagen, etc.), and trailer parks with a few industrial equipment dealers mixed in. There was also Stricklands Townhouse, the Green Turtle, a bowling alley (used to feature midnight bowling for cash prizes), a Howard Johnson's motel/restaurant, and Philips Mall. Still standing for over 50 years, but not sure if still open, is Chopstick Charley's.
Liberty Furniture was originally downtown until they had a fire that killed one of the owners who ran back into the building to retrieve a safe or something. I remember eating at the Vallee's Steakhouse original tenant of that building. I am trying to remember what was torn down to build that but it escapes me currently.
Englewood High School, before most of the high schools had their own stadiums, used to play nearby archrival Wolfson every year on Thanksgiving Day in the Gator Bowl.
Uncle John's Pancake House, near University on Beach.
Wish somebody would buy that old Uncle John's and turn it back into that kind of restaurant again. Not sure what's in there now (was a place once that sold/installed tape decks) but it seems to just sitting there, all sad and derelict. Thanks for sharing all these great memories!
My Dad's brother was named John, so my siblings and I would pretend we were
the owner's nephews.
I also remember the pony rides.
Was there a S&H green stamp store on University?
Is Uncle John's the one that had creepy portraits on the walls? Kind of a Ragtime-era theme? I have a vague memory from childhood of eating at some pancake house in town like that. Creeped me out. Sketchy server guy didn't help with not creeping out a young kid.
They had horrible Muzak playing as well- I can't hear the song "Georgie Girl" (also used in old 80's Barbie commericals, modified to "Barbie Girl") without my skin crawling. May just be due to it being a terrible song. Thankfully, aren't many places you can hear something like that nowadays, outside of Jones College radio.
Great. Now I need to seek therapy over this repressed memory. Thanks, MJ! ;)
Tangent aside, was that Uncle John's or am I thinking of another place? Anyone else recognize/remember the place I'm talking about?
Lake, where did you get the 1968 Hess photo from?
My parents said there used to be a Jack in the box on University Blvd near I-95 back in the early 80's. It's shocking, a popular fast food chain that didn't make it in Jax? *gasp*
Quote from: billy on November 10, 2009, 09:27:23 AM
Was there a S&H green stamp store on University?
Yes, I believe the S & H redemption center was in the Pic N Save strip center now anchored by Winn Dixie. For those unfamiliar, long before you got credit card points or rebates, you would receive S & H or Plaid stamps of various denominations in proportion to the dollar amount of your purchases at participating merchants, particularly grocery stores. You would save the stamps in "books" by pasting them on pages. The pages were of equal "value" so you would mix and match your stamp denominations to fill all the pages until the book was full. You would then take the full books to a redemption center and "buy" from among hundreds of items featured in a catalogue. The nicer the item, the more "books" it took to "purchase". Quote from: David on November 10, 2009, 01:34:21 PM
My parents said there used to be a Jack in the box on University Blvd near I-95 back in the early 80's. It's shocking, a popular fast food chain that didn't make it in Jax? *gasp*
Yes, there was. Ate there once and the food was indigestible. Get this, the "bushes" used for landscaping were PLASTIC! At the time, they were owned by the animal feed giant, Ralston Purina. Many people thought that's what they were serving in the restaurants. :) They may be different today. but it was no surprise to me they didn't make it. Even by Jax's lowly food standards at the time, Jack-in-the-Box hit new lows.
^ They must've been awful back then (aside from their biscuits according to my pops) because during my trip out west last year I stumbled across one and it was insanely delicious.
Quote from: ac on November 10, 2009, 09:31:29 AM
Is Uncle John's the one that had creepy portraits on the walls? Kind of a Ragtime-era theme? I have a vague memory from childhood of eating at some pancake house in town like that. Creeped me out. Sketchy server guy didn't help with not creeping out a young kid.
They had horrible Muzak playing as well- I can't hear the song "Georgie Girl" (also used in old 80's Barbie commericals, modified to "Barbie Girl") without my skin crawling. May just be due to it being a terrible song. Thankfully, aren't many places you can hear something like that nowadays, outside of Jones College radio.
Great. Now I need to seek therapy over this repressed memory. Thanks, MJ! ;)
Tangent aside, was that Uncle John's or am I thinking of another place? Anyone else recognize/remember the place I'm talking about?
I hope Uncle Johns was the only one. Pigs In A Blanket! I seem to remember striped shirts.
Good luck in therapy. Anyone remember the Planters Peanuts store on the Arlington expressway?
Quote from: David on November 10, 2009, 11:59:11 PM
^ They must've been awful back then (aside from their biscuits according to my pops) because during my trip out west last year I stumbled across one and it was insanely delicious.
After people got sick/died eating their food and other missteps regarding food quality, they had to "reinvent" themselves a few times to survive. Good for them. But, their past isn't pretty. Here is some Wikipedia history below:Quote
....Peterson's holding company was called Foodmaker Company, which by 1966 was known as Foodmaker, Inc. All Jack in the Box locations at this time were company-owned; location sites, food preparation, quality control and the hiring and training of on-site managers and staff in each location was subject to rigorous screening processes and strict performance standards. By 1966 there were over 180 locations, mainly in California and the Southwest.
In 1968, Peterson sold Foodmaker to Ralston Purina Company. In the 1970's Foodmaker led the Jack in the Box chain toward its most prolific growth (television commercials in the early 1970's featured child actor Rodney Allen Rippy), and locations began to be franchised. As the decade progressed, the chain began to increasingly resemble its larger competitors, particularly the industry giant, McDonald's. Jack in the Box began to struggle during the latter part of the decade, and its expansion into East Coast markets was at first cut back from original estimates, then halted altogether. By the end of the decade, Jack in the Box restaurants were being put up for sale in increasing numbers, forcing Foodmaker to respond quickly to turn the chain around.
As a result, around 1980, Foodmaker dramatically altered Jack in the Box's marketing strategy by literally blowing up the chain's symbol, the jack in the box, which dated back to the early San Diego days, in television commercials with the tagline, "The food is better at the Box". [5] Jack in the Box announced that it would no longer compete for McDonald's target customer base of families with young children. Instead, Foodmaker would attempt to attract older, more affluent "yuppie" customers with a higher-quality, more upscale menu. Jack in the Box restaurants were remodeled and redecorated with decorator pastel colors and hanging plants. Television advertising from about 1985 onward featured minimalistic music performed by a small chamber-like ensemble (specifically a distinctive seven-note plucked musical signature). The menu, which was previously focused on hamburgers led by the flagship Jumbo Jack, became much more diverse, including such items as salads, tacos and chicken sandwiches (at least two new menu items were introduced per year), at a time when few fast-food operations offered more than standard hamburgers. Annual sales increased through the 1980's. Ralston Purina tried further to mature the restaurant's image, renaming it "Monterey Jack's" in 1985, a disastrous move that lasted a short time. The Jack in the Box name was restored in 1986.
Ralston Purina was satisfied with Foodmaker, but decided in 1985 that it was a non-core asset and elected to sell it to management after 18 years. By 1987 sales reached $655 million, the chain boasted 897 restaurants, and Foodmaker became a publicly traded company.
E. coli disaster
However, Jack in the Box's success came to a halt in the 1990's because of two main factors: 1) the national recession of 1990-91 (the company suffered an 81 percent decline in net earnings in 1991) and more importantly, the E. coli epidemic of 1993: Four children died and hundreds of others became sick in the Seattle area as well as California, Idaho and Nevada, after eating undercooked and contaminated meat from Jack in the Box. It was the largest and deadliest E. coli outbreak in American history up to that time.
The chain lost millions of dollars in sales and revenue as a result of the disaster, and millions were paid out as settlements in wrongful death lawsuits. Moody's Investors Service downgraded Foodmaker's debt to junk status as it had no confidence that sales would return to normal levels. Bankruptcy was imminent. With the very survival of the company at stake, Foodmaker needed another turnaround strategy to distance themselves from the E. coli scare.
They got it from a new ad campaign developed by an advertising agency from Santa Monica, California, called Secret Weapon Marketing, led by Dick Sittig, as detailed below.[6] [7]
In 1999, the official corporate name of Jack in the Box was renamed simply "Jack in the Box, Inc." to fit its core brand, and the Foodmaker, Inc. name was retired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_in_the_Box
Quote from: stjr on November 10, 2009, 01:07:54 AM
Before the University overpass over the railroad, Bowden Road crossed Philips and came into University at the railroad crossing alongside the concrete plant. Like many RR crossings, trains would stop forever blocking University. People fought for over 20 years to get that overpass built.
STJR, do you recall what approximate year the railroad overpass was built ? I have the faintest memories of sitting in the back of a mid 1970's era Chevy stationwagon as a pre-schooler (in the early 80's) while waiting on the trains forever at that intersection. I remember it mainly because my older siblings and parents would always curse at those slow moving trains for making them late for school/work.
I'm curious if this memory I have falls during those "childhood amnesia" years.
Quote from: David on November 11, 2009, 12:22:34 AM
STJR, do you recall what approximate year the railroad overpass was built ?
I would say, from memory, it was in the mid-80's or a little earlier. An easy way to find out, usually, is to carefully observe the concrete barrier lining the road from one direction or the other. Every bridge for the last few decades in Jax I have seen has the date built engraved in the concrete side barrier at the beginning of the bridge from at least one direction. Unless it was rebuilt, which this bridge has not been, it would be the original date. Let us know what you find.
It was in the early 80s (1983?). The money used for it was originally set aside for the conversion of Hemming Park into Hemming Plaza.
I believe that RR overpass was built in the late 70s and completed in the early 80s. I've not walked over it in a loooong time, but in 1983-1984 I walked to work over that RR overpass from Wolfson H.S. the Waffle House at Richard Rd & University.
University overpass started in mid-1982 and finished in March, 1983 per the Southside Businessmen's Club web site ( http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:cgCZbgeFt5UJ:www.southsidebusinessmensclub.com/History/Index.aspx+year+built+university+boulevard+railroad+overpass+jacksonville&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us ):
QuoteIn mid 1982, recognizing the years of work to secure an overpass at University and Philips highway, the Department of Transportation invited the Club to the site at the onset of construction. There, each member present signed his name on the first piling driven into place by Mayor Jake Godbold, who operated the pile driver. At its completion in March of 1983, we met for lunch on top of the overpass for the dedication ceremonies where the Mayor, local and state dignitaries and officers of the Club cut the ribbon opening the overpass to vehicular traffic. Immediately after the ceremony, the decorations and ribbons were hastily pushed aside as the first vehicle to cross the new overpass was an ambulance on an emergency run.
Back to Jack in the Box burgers, yes they were terrible. The meat had no flavor, whatsoever - kinda like Whataburgers now (Sorry, Mark Brunell, but all you can taste are the condiments).
Wow! You guys are insanely resourceful. That's why I love this site.
Not to get too off topic but I wanted to test my theory of 1982 being the earliest year I can remember, and it's pretty much true. The University Blvd overpass (or lack of) and the "Eye of the Tiger" LP being blasted while I watched PBS's the electric company at a daycare center off Spring Park rd.
/Nostalgia
And C'mon, Whattaburger's not that bad. Where else can you get a triple bypass at 630 am? hehe.
And thanks stjr/lakelander/MJ for sharing your memories, photos and writing about the area. My parents got a kick out of reading this article. It spawned a reminiscing session that lasted several hours.
Quick question about the term "squeeze box" in the article. I assume that referes to the section of the neighborhood that's bordered by I-95 University, Emerson and Phillips hwy?
I've never heard that term before, but maybe that's because we were/are cut off from the rest of the neighborhood by 6 lanes of traffic whizzing by at 75 mph.
What?? No Wacko's picture...come on, it's an Emerson landmark!! Oh yeah and I still miss Brinkmann's for pool and a beer although it was a dive.
There is another weird place in Englewood, the new Cambodian Buddhist Temple over on the other side of 95 off of Spring Glen.
The englewood area was always great and I still have a few friends and their families there. Close to Kuhn's for Christmas, Beach Road Chicken and the Original Bono's. Still a great neighborhood.
I think you missed it.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/706104732_PZ6ur-M.jpg)
Is the Cuban bakery still around?
Wow! With apologies to Bob Hope, thanks for the memories. We lived in Englewood from 1966 to 2000, directly behind Pic 'n Save. So both I and my kids grew up there. I remember when the Hess Station was built, and the rest of the shopping center that you don't see behind it. Yes, the S&H store was there. I also remember a Joseppi's Italian Restaurant at one point. My first high-school waitress job was at the Village Oven diner, but later I worked at Uncle John's for several years. Don't remember any scary portraits or striped shirts...must have been somewhere else. Maybe the Fritch's Big Boy next door? It had a huge statue of a kid with yellow hair holding a burger or something. Uncle Johns...all you can eat 69 cent pancakes on Wednesdays, including coffee, Englewood High Spirit Breakfasts on Friday mornings before football games and crazy busy after church on Sundays when apparently everyone in Jacksonville wanted pancakes.
billy, there's a Cuban bakery on Dean Road at Beach, that also makes sandwiches - is that the one?
Quote from: David on November 11, 2009, 04:15:43 PM
Wow! You guys are insanely resourceful. That's why I love this site.
Not to get too off topic but I wanted to test my theory of 1982 being the earliest year I can remember, and it's pretty much true. The University Blvd overpass (or lack of) and the "Eye of the Tiger" LP being blasted while I watched PBS's the electric company at a daycare center off Spring Park rd.
/Nostalgia
And C'mon, Whattaburger's not that bad. Where else can you get a triple bypass at 630 am? hehe.
Did you happen to go to Burrell's day care?
Quote from: sandyshoes on November 17, 2009, 09:08:33 AM
billy, there's a Cuban bakery on Dean Road at Beach, that also makes sandwiches - is that the one?
This was on Emerson. Maybe they moved.
Quote from: riverside planner on November 17, 2009, 02:19:57 PM
Did you happen to go to Burrell's day care?
You weren't asking me -- but I went to Burrell's in the early to mid 80s (1984 I think, maybe a year or two after that). I have vague memories of a big playground with lots of fun, dangerous, old-fashioned equipment. Even a broken-down old schoolbus we were allowed to play in. I remember watching Inspector Gadget cartoons in the mornings... good times.
Quote from: Bativac on November 18, 2009, 01:33:29 PM
Quote from: riverside planner on November 17, 2009, 02:19:57 PM
Did you happen to go to Burrell's day care?
You weren't asking me -- but I went to Burrell's in the early to mid 80s (1984 I think, maybe a year or two after that). I have vague memories of a big playground with lots of fun, dangerous, old-fashioned equipment. Even a broken-down old schoolbus we were allowed to play in. I remember watching Inspector Gadget cartoons in the mornings... good times.
I went there during the late 70s and early 80s. Yes, I remember the playground being huge and having lots of equipment that would NEVER be allowed today! Summers were the best though because they had a day camp off of Tiger Hole Road with horses, a pool and a stocked pond. I can only imagine the waivers and insurance forms that would be required for that these days!
When I was 3 we lived on the corner of Mimosa and Abby Lane, my dad said he paid $8,000 for the house. In 1953 we moved to Mayfair Village on Beach Blvd. Don't remember much about that place except for the playground in the middle. We moved to Copper Circle East in 1955, the year I started school at Spring Park. The very next year, Englewood Elementary opened and I was there until the middle of the sixth grade when we moved to Avondale. That was a traumatic move that took me a long time to get over.
As children we played in the "woods" where the Lincoln-Mercury dealership was later built. It was uncleared land that offered ample opportunities for adventuresome boys to spend their energy and time wandering about, building forts, looking for "stuff" and just generally doing what young boys do. We were gone from breakfast till dinner, with a break for lunch. Our parents never worried about what we were doing...... those were the days.
Quote from: riverside planner on November 18, 2009, 01:58:20 PM
I went there during the late 70s and early 80s. Yes, I remember the playground being huge and having lots of equipment that would NEVER be allowed today! Summers were the best though because they had a day camp off of Tiger Hole Road with horses, a pool and a stocked pond. I can only imagine the waivers and insurance forms that would be required for that these days!
Camp Chippewa! Back when we were allowed to run around dressed as politically incorrect Indians... And I remember five-minute-long horseback rides in a big circle. Good times. Good times.
Quote from: riverside planner on November 17, 2009, 02:19:57 PM
Did you happen to go to Burrell's day care?
No, but actually it's good that you asked that, I had to look that daycare center up. Turns out I do have a slight case of childhood amnesia. I went to a place off Spring GLEN road, not Spring Park. I always mixed those two up!
Quote from: billy on November 10, 2009, 07:06:57 AM
Uncle John's Pancake House, near University on Beach.
my mom worked at uncle johns, haven't heard that name in a long time!
Quote from: Debbie Thompson on November 17, 2009, 07:32:33 AM
Wow! With apologies to Bob Hope, thanks for the memories. We lived in Englewood from 1966 to 2000, directly behind Pic 'n Save. So both I and my kids grew up there. I remember when the Hess Station was built, and the rest of the shopping center that you don't see behind it. Yes, the S&H store was there. I also remember a Joseppi's Italian Restaurant at one point. My first high-school waitress job was at the Village Oven diner, but later I worked at Uncle John's for several years. Don't remember any scary portraits or striped shirts...must have been somewhere else. Maybe the Fritch's Big Boy next door? It had a huge statue of a kid with yellow hair holding a burger or something. Uncle Johns...all you can eat 69 cent pancakes on Wednesdays, including coffee, Englewood High Spirit Breakfasts on Friday mornings before football games and crazy busy after church on Sundays when apparently everyone in Jacksonville wanted pancakes.
I was just telling david how we used to walk to the pic n save, and i remember when they built the phillips hwy overpass, and although i don't remember uncle johns, i remember your stories about it :)
Quote from: Cliffs_Daughter on November 09, 2009, 10:31:47 AM
Does anybody know what the Liberty furniture building used to be? I've always wondered why they have a drive-up covered structure there.
It was JP Peppercorns before Liberty Furniture, and Origonally Valle's
Quote from: ac on November 10, 2009, 09:31:29 AM
Is Uncle John's the one that had creepy portraits on the walls? Kind of a Ragtime-era theme? I have a vague memory from childhood of eating at some pancake house in town like that. Creeped me out. Sketchy server guy didn't help with not creeping out a young kid.
They had horrible Muzak playing as well- I can't hear the song "Georgie Girl" (also used in old 80's Barbie commericals, modified to "Barbie Girl") without my skin crawling. May just be due to it being a terrible song. Thankfully, aren't many places you can hear something like that nowadays, outside of Jones College radio.
Great. Now I need to seek therapy over this repressed memory. Thanks, MJ! ;)
Tangent aside, was that Uncle John's or am I thinking of another place? Anyone else recognize/remember the place I'm talking about?
My Dad was the chef at Uncle John's, there was a write up about him in the Times Union. I remember the pigs in a blanket, but I don't know about any creepy art work on the wall. I worked there too for a while bussing tables.
I am a resident of Greater Englewood and love the neighborhood. I've lived here about 5 years and am hoping that the neighborhood improves over time. It was great reading through the postings on this thread. I learned a lot about the area. I started a Facebook page for people interested in improving the neighborhood. Friend me at Facebook.com Greater Englewood.
Liberty Furniture is closing after 87 years.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-06-28/story/liberty-furniture-close-doors-after-87-years-jacksonville
When I left Jacksonville in 1975 Brinkman's was still going strong on Beach near University, i.e. across from the K-Mart. If you brought in a beer can that they didn't already have on the wall, you'd get a free beer and the privilege of having your beer can added to their incredible collection. A crowd of plannners used to go to Brinkman's on Fridays after work.
What happened to that place?
Wow; just discovered this site and drank in the pictures and info. Most post-date my tenure in Englewood (1959-1966) but a few struck a chord. It is disappointing to see my old neighborhood in disrepair, which is evident when I look at my old street on GoogleEarth. Plus, the houses are smaller and closer together than when I was a young kid (ha-ha-ha)!
I remember hearing the Englewood High band and football and cheerleading teams practicing from my yard. I attended Mrs. Chappell's school for kindergarten and first grade and Englewood Elementary second and third grades. There was also this fantastic playground (from a child's eye) that we would visit from Mrs. Chappell's school; they had all kinds of unusual play structures and in my memory this was at someone's home, certainly not a public park. A fantastic place for a child to play. Does anyone have any memory of a place like that in the early to mid '60's?
We shopped at Phillips Highway Plaza, my mom traded S&H green stamps and Plaid stamps, shopped at Winn-Dixie, used Tide detergent because it would suds well in the very hard (high mineral content) water. I LOVED going to the Beach Blvd Pony Rides; what a treat! And I would ride 'Big Red' some of the time. We'd go to Krystal Burger (outside of Englewood, I believe) and listen to Nancy Sinatra sing 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' and watch the teenagers flirt with each other. I was a mere 8 years old when my father passed and we moved to Charlotte to be close to family. He worked at Platt Pontiac.
I-95 was just being built and there were plans to maybe build a place near Orlando that would be a larger version of Disneyland! Now I see how close I-95 is to my old street, wow.
Thanks to all who posted info here.
What street did you live on, MD? I remember when Chappell's was over near the Spring Glen/Spring Park traffic circle, in a house, maybe theirs. Wasn't it? Or is my memory failing me?
A couple of little things. I'm pretty sure the restaurant that later became the furniture store was Valle's Steakhouse (no double-e on the end). It was a national chain at the time...at least I know I saw a Valle's in upstate NY that looked identical, so if it wasn't a chain there were at least two of them. Also, wasn't the drive-in at University and Philips the Southside Drive-in? Someone called it the University Drive-in, but that one was in Arlington on the other end of University past JU. The Southside, like the old drive-in at Jacksonville Beach, consisted of a tall (maybe five or six stories high?) triangle shaped building...the screen was on the window-less side facing the parking area. The other two sides of the building had windows. I don't know what was in there...offices, I guess, for the people who ran the place. I went there a few times, but preferred the Atlantic drive-in on Atlantic Blvd or the Midway drive-in on Beach Blvd, both of which seemed to show triple-feature horror movies more frequently...my movies of choice if we could talk our parents into taking us!
There was a drive-in theatre at University and Philips in the mid-60's. It was open when we moved here in 1966. I think it closed sometime soon after in the mid to late 1960's. I think it was called Southside Drive In. Because wasn't University Blvd. called Love Grove Road until some time in the 1960's when they widened it down into Arlington? That was before we moved here, but someone told me that.
I went to the drive-in as a child. There was a playground in font of the screen. As someone very young and naive I thought that the actors went inside the building to act out the films. As a teen (I had figured things out by then), I saw Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at the Southside.
Debbie, the problem with being new to MJ is I am trying to read all the old things, too.
I missed being in the Englewood section of town by thissss much. I was 2 streets north of Emerson St.
We used to enter Gallion Rd. off Emerson to reach our house on Taylor. When thy built the expressway Gallion no longer existed except one house. Gallion became the on ramp to downtown. Had I lived south of Emerson I would have went to Englewood High instead of continuing at Landon.