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1 hour ago, uncreativeusername said:

Interesting - I had no idea this existed. Did Grand Bohemian replace this directly, or did something else happen in between?  I lived in Orlando well before GB opened, but I cannot remember what was there previously.  I see from the dedication program that this was historically city land; from school to new school to City Hall to OPD HQ to park.  What were the circumstances for the city selling this land? ( @spenser1058, I'm ready for a history lesson!) 

Actually, that’s an easy one. Sun Bank and Lincoln wanted it for Sun Bank Center and nobody never says no to them in City Hall. They did get some pushback because Billy Beardall was apparently a popular mayor (believe it or not, that was before my time!)

One major difference in how Mayor Bill handled it and what Buddy likely would have done is that Mayor Bill required a small grassy area to be created in the middle of Sun Bank Center which provided a nice bit of green space for decades.

Buddy most likely would have just said, “whatever you guys want is fine”. Again, the difference in vision between the two leaders is stunning.

Edited by spenser1058
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1 hour ago, uncreativeusername said:

Interesting - I had no idea this existed. Did Grand Bohemian replace this directly, or did something else happen in between?  I lived in Orlando well before GB opened, but I cannot remember what was there previously.  I see from the dedication program that this was historically city land; from school to new school to City Hall to OPD HQ to park.  What were the circumstances for the city selling this land? ( @spenser1058, I'm ready for a history lesson!) 

 The Grand Bohemian is where you see the top corner of the white building with the black cornice.

The park was across the street from GB on the west side of Orange and the NW corner of South and Orange where 300 S. Orange is now.

Jackson St used to run through just to the north of the park.

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32 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

 The Grand Bohemian is where you see the top corner of the white building with the black cornice.

The park was across the street from GB on the west side of Orange and the NW corner of South and Orange where 300 S. Orange is now.

Jackson St used to run through just to the north of the park.

That makes a lot more sense - I don't know why I assumed it was the opposite lot! 

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5 hours ago, uncreativeusername said:

That makes a lot more sense - I don't know why I assumed it was the opposite lot! 

This pic is looking NW from Orange and Jackson.

79944953_1936879919775329_45927162979252

Jackson runs west along side The Downtowner Hotel.

Beardall Park was across Jackson St just out of the left side of the picture.

Original Sun Bank bldg is on far right just north of the hotel.

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9 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Interesting "then and now" comparison....

79944953_1936879919775329_45927162979252

organdjackson.png

Although I always thought the colored tiles were a bit much, I thought it was way cool that the parking garage was in the middle of the building (the office, a coffee shop and meeting rooms were on the bottom). I think it was the first building in town to do that. The Downtowner was the deal in the ‘60’s.

Edited by spenser1058
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  • 1 month later...

Great shots. One of the most memorable gifts I’ve given to someone was a helicopter ride around DTO up north to the Longwood area, and back again. Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before and it was a truly unique way to see the city. The highlights were DTO, the Rollins campus, and some of the less-developed areas further north. My only complaint is that it truly “flew” by and felt like it was over in an instant. Highly recommend to anyone here.

The ‘copter pilot I found mostly worked out of the I-Drive and St. Cloud areas. When I told him the area I was interested in, he said it was an unusual request but he was happy to do it as one of his owners stored their aircraft at OEA. Which worked out great because I live about two minutes away. [emoji3]

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2 hours ago, orlandoguy said:

Great shots. One of the most memorable gifts I’ve given to someone was a helicopter ride around DTO up north to the Longwood area, and back again. Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before and it was a truly unique way to see the city. The highlights were DTO, the Rollins campus, and some of the less-developed areas further north. My only complaint is that it truly “flew” by and felt like it was over in an instant. Highly recommend to anyone here.

The ‘copter pilot I found mostly worked out of the I-Drive and St. Cloud areas. When I told him the area I was interested in, he said it was an unusual request but he was happy to do it as one of his owners stored their aircraft at OEA. Which worked out great because I live about two minutes away. emoji3.png

You're braver than I am, flying in a helicopter. :wacko: 

I would only get in one of those things if the only alternative was certain death.

Once back in the 80's, they were having some kind of aviation celebration day at Herndon. I went to get a look at some vintage WWII fighter planes that had flown in for the occasion.  While there, I saw that they were selling aerial tours of greater Orlando in a Cessna top wing, and charging by the pound.  I think it was about 5¢ per lb. as I paid around $8 or $9. A man and his young son were on board with me. 

We took off heading toward Semoran, turned north following Semoran up to Altamonte Springs, then followed I-4 south back though downtown, turning east again over Gore and landing back at Herndon. 

I think the entire thing lasted about ten minutes or so.

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You're braver than I am, flying in a helicopter. :wacko: 
I would only get in one of those things if the only alternative was certain death.
Once back in the 80's, they were having some kind of aviation celebration day at Herndon. I went to get a look at some vintage WWII fighter planes that had flown in for the occasion.  While there, I saw that they were selling aerial tours of greater Orlando in a Cessna top wing, and charging by the pound.  I think it was about 5¢ per lb. as I paid around $8 or $9. A man and his young son were on board with me. 
We took off heading toward Semoran, turned north following Semoran up to Altamonte Springs, then followed I-4 south back though downtown, turning east again over Gore and landing back at Herndon. 
I think the entire thing lasted about ten minutes or so.

It was definitely adrenaline-pumping, I’ll say that. While I’m not afraid of heights my only experience flying up until that point was in commercial airliners so it took me some time to get my bearings.

I haven’t been in a Cessna-type aircraft but I imagine the sensation is similar being in such a small aircraft. So consider yourself an old hat! [emoji1783]
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45 minutes ago, orlandoguy said:


It was definitely adrenaline-pumping, I’ll say that. While I’m not afraid of heights my only experience flying up until that point was in commercial airliners so it took me some time to get my bearings.

I haven’t been in a Cessna-type aircraft but I imagine the sensation is similar being in such a small aircraft. So consider yourself an old hat! emoji1783.png

I've flown in light aircraft a few times.

I worked for Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach in 1977. They hired a guy who was attending Embry Riddle and was just there for for the summer. He was only around 22 y/o but already had his commercial pilots license w/instrument rating.

On a few occasions our dept had to work overtime and my ride back to Central Brevard, about 60 miles away, had left.

Because employees got a really good rate on airplane rentals, I could rent a nearly new Piper Cherokee for about $8 per hour.

So I'd pay to rent the plane and he'd fly me to the Merritt Island airport. 

Even radioed the tower and had them call a friend to be waiting to pick me up when we landed.

He'd drop me off without even shutting down the engine, then turn around and head back to Vero.

The entire round trip took one hour and that included a little sightseeing circle around Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island

It was like an air taxi or something.

I'd get a cheap ride home and he'd log an hour of free flight time.

Win-win.

Did an aerial tour of Key West once on vacation with a girlfriend. 

That was pretty fun.

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My only time on a helicopter was with my dad when I was about 10. We flew from the roof of the Daytona Beach Pier. Back then, it still had the sky ride and the Space Needle.

http://floridamemory.com/items/show/244041 (From Florida Memory)

https://www.wesh.com/article/so-long-daytona-space-needle-1/4418283 (From WESH)

Flying over land didn’t bother me much but over the water was a little freaky. The worst part was landing because the pilot brought us in within just a few feet of the Space Needle and I was sure we’d hit it. Thankfully, we emerged unscathed. I then proceeded to blow my dad away at Skee Ball next door at Joyland. Life was good.

More scary for me than the helicopter was going up in a hot air balloon. This happened when we were approving a vendor for something when I was on SGA at Valencia.

I had to get up at some ridiculous hour of the morning and ride my bike out beyond BFE to some empty field near Windermere. It took a couple of hours to do setup and inflate the balloon.

When we finally went up it was great until I realized that there were just a few inches of wicker between me and the ground about 200’ below or something. Ahhh, the life of a budding young politician.

 

 

Edited by spenser1058
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12 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

My buddy  is a helicopter pilot. 

For his bachelor party he had us flown in by helicpoter to the Waldorf Astoria  Golf Club for dinner at the Bull and Bear Steakhouse. 

It was epic. 

Fantastic! You should constantly thank your buddy for giving you a rare memory like that- one you can share with your kids.

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A look at the Daytona Beach Pier today. It’s much shorter (they lost the end furthest in the ocean to a storm) and it’s much more sedate nowadays without the sky ride and the Space Needle.

The building mid-pier which once held frequent dance events, was converted into a Joe’s Crab House, which I believe has since closed.

The one thing that can be said for today’s pier is that it’s much tidier, but dare we may also say more sterile? 

That’s been an ongoing theme of the Broadwalk’s “restoration” by the city - the overall aesthetic is more like a shopping mall and less like a fair. 
 

From Orlando Streets

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Wow.

Even at 2x playback speed that place looks boring.

Though they wanted to transform DB and the boardwalk from a  somewhat seedy little beach town with a reputation for being kind of raunchy, to a family friendly, Disney/I-Drive theme park style, "Orlando by the sea", all they've succeeded in doing is making the place bland, flavorless, dull and boring.

I liked the old, seedy Daytona myself, though I'm sure the morons on the DB city council who engineered all those changes are proud of themselves.

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3 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Wow.

Even at 2x playback speed that place looks boring.

Though they wanted to transform DB and the boardwalk from a  somewhat seedy little beach town with a reputation for being kind of raunchy, to a family friendly, Disney/I-Drive theme park style, "Orlando by the sea", all they've succeeded in doing is making the place bland, flavorless, dull and boring.

I liked the old, seedy Daytona myself, though I'm sure the morons on the DB city council who engineered all those changes are proud of themselves.

If you want to build a Disneyesque theme park you have to include, you know, attractions, not just make it clean. Otherwise, embrace your authentic seediness.

One of the things I like best about Nashville is they allowed Lower Broad to be Lower  Broad and didn’t try to Disnefy it when downtown’s tourism scene took off there.

Edited by spenser1058
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3 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Wow.

Even at 2x playback speed that place looks boring.

Though they wanted to transform DB and the boardwalk from a  somewhat seedy little beach town with a reputation for being kind of raunchy, to a family friendly, Disney/I-Drive theme park style, "Orlando by the sea", all they've succeeded in doing is making the place bland, flavorless, dull and boring.

I liked the old, seedy Daytona myself, though I'm sure the morons on the DB city council who engineered all those changes are proud of themselves.

The sad part was there was room for both. The shopping mall including the theater and the generic water park were great for the suburban soccer moms and their broods. Main St. for the bikers and the Broadwalk and an interesting pier for the younger single folks.

Meanwhile, do everything possible to fight for restoration of the interesting older hotels along Atlantic Ave. instead of bulldozing them for sterile towers. If you want sterile towers, that’s why Ormond exists - it’s a Republican paradise up there.

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denmarksportgds.jpg

orlsentbldghist.jpg

Note the sign way up above the door: Today's Weather - Rainy Warm.

Must've been summertime when the photo was taken.

I wonder how often some poor schlep had to drag a huge ladder outside to climb up there and change it.

Or maybe it opened from inside the building, which would've been state of the art technology back then.  

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15 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

denmarksportgds.jpg

orlsentbldghist.jpg

Note the sign way up above the door: Today's Weather - Rainy Warm.

Must've been summertime when the photo was taken.

I wonder how often some poor schlep had to drag a huge ladder outside to climb up there and change it.

Or maybe it opened from inside the building, which would've been state of the art technology back then.  

I'd imagine the most likely way would have been with some sort of pole, no? With either hooks or magnets or something similar, much like the tall gas station signs before they went digital.

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4 hours ago, aent said:

I'd imagine the most likely way would have been with some sort of pole, no? With either hooks or magnets or something similar, much like the tall gas station signs before they went digital.

Yeah, I considered that but it made too much sense. :D

Looking closer at the building and the semi-circular overhang, a ladder would have been impossible and a pole would have been difficult at best. 

I notice to the right of the center feature, it looks like it's open back in there. Open enough for people to access the sign from the back. Also, the edges of the circular weather sign look a bit irregular. 

It's very likely they could remove it from behind, change the letters then replace it.

Just a guess. 

Edited by JFW657
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