Neighborhoods: Englewood

[danno]

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.

[YellowBluffRoad]

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!

[Prax_N_Jax]

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!

[thelakelander]

some old images:

The old Hess station on the corner of University and Santa Monica Blvd in 1968


Emerson Street in 1953


Beach Boulevard in 1955


A motel on Philips and Reba Street in 1954

[stjr]

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. 

[billy]

Uncle John's Pancake House, near University on Beach.

[sandyshoes]

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! 

[billy]

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.

[billy]

Was there a S&H green stamp store on University?

[ac]

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?

[DemocraticNole]

Lake, where did you get the 1968 Hess photo from?

[David]

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*

[stjr]

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". 

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.

[David]

^ 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.

[billy]

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?