THE Orlando Photo Thread

[aent]

8 minutes ago, smileguy said:

I would love to see something where you can just tap on/off with your NFC, and it would retroactively convert into passes, if that makes sense.    If a single bus ride is $2.50 and a 30-day pass is $50, go ahead and charge $2.50 up until the $50 threshold is reached, then stop charging or refund additional rides.  I know that would have to be a very complex system, but I think ease of use would increase ridership.

I agree. I actually was going to say that, but I'm not sure if the phones allow for such a system with their rotating security codes/card numbers without requiring an app for each service. When I'm travelling, the difficulty of understanding and paying for transit passes is just such a barrier to entry that no other industry suffers from at all.

Chargepoint and some of their competitors seems to have done really well only accepting NFC on their EV vehicle chargers. Eliminating cash handling should help fund the system.

(This also is a big reason I'm a proponent of making Sunrail free like Lymmo, especially since that story about how Sunrail spends more on its contract to maintain the ticket machines and ticket checkers then the total revenue of the service, don't know if thats still true like it used to be, but jeez, its fairly clear they're making at least almost nothing from the process of selling tickets)

  

6 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

They should do it like E-Pass/Sunpass pay as you go tolls. Buy a chip card, connect it to your credit card or bank account or other pay account such as Google/Apple Pay account or others. Can set it to auto-replenish if you want. Can load it with cash ahead of time from bank account if you want.   The system automatically charges you the fair you use, but  can tell you ahead of time how much each segment would cost. 

Those systems don't scale well for travelling/tourists if we want it to be friendly to them. Getting them to learn about it is way too tough. Infact, so much so that at the federal level I believe they've mandated those services they all need to be inter operable with each other, and if not, just use toll by plate to charge. They keep delaying the date, but thats why E Pass started accepting EZ Pass recently. Trying to create a new nationwide system seems impossible.

Edited January 29, 2020 by aent

[dcluley98]

24 minutes ago, aent said:

I agree. I actually was going to say that, but I'm not sure if the phones allow for such a system with their rotating security codes/card numbers without requiring an app for each service. When I'm travelling, the difficulty of understanding and paying for transit passes is just such a barrier to entry that no other industry suffers from at all.

Chargepoint and some of their competitors seems to have done really well only accepting NFC on their EV vehicle chargers. Eliminating cash handling should help fund the system.

(This also is a big reason I'm a proponent of making Sunrail free like Lymmo, especially since that story about how Sunrail spends more on its contract to maintain the ticket machines and ticket checkers then the total revenue of the service, don't know if thats still true like it used to be, but jeez, its fairly clear they're making at least almost nothing from the process of selling tickets)

  

Those systems don't scale well for travelling/tourists if we want it to be friendly to them. Getting them to learn about it is way too tough. Infact, so much so that at the federal level I believe they've mandated those services they all need to be inter operable with each other, and if not, just use toll by plate to charge. They keep delaying the date, but thats why E Pass started accepting EZ Pass recently. Trying to create a new nationwide system seems impossible.

I agree with you, but SunRail is for commuter rail mostly, not tourists. Tourist could do a "pay as you go" version still.  I'm talking for main riders that this was created for, commuters or folks who live here and ride occasionally. 

[codypet]

2 hours ago, smileguy said:

I would love to see something where you can just tap on/off with your NFC, and it would retroactively convert into passes, if that makes sense.    If a single bus ride is $2.50 and a 30-day pass is $50, go ahead and charge $2.50 up until the $50 threshold is reached, then stop charging or refund additional rides.  I know that would have to be a very complex system, but I think ease of use would increase ridership.

Sunrail uses an NFC card of some sort.  Lynx uses an app on your phone with a QR code which the driver has no way of scanning and just looks at the QR and goes "okay".   I can't believe the two systems don't yet talk to each other.   The NFC system for Sunrail should be able to used Google/Apple/Samsung Pay.  It just might require some software updating.

[aent]

2 hours ago, codypet said:

Sunrail uses an NFC card of some sort.  Lynx uses an app on your phone with a QR code which the driver has no way of scanning and just looks at the QR and goes "okay".   I can't believe the two systems don't yet talk to each other.   The NFC system for Sunrail should be able to used Google/Apple/Samsung Pay.  It just might require some software updating.

Is that how Lynx works? lol, I looked at their website when this conversation started and came to the conclusion you needed a physical card they had to mail you if you bought online, as there is nothing indicating instant delivery, and it seems to imply its a non-phone object you must have. No doubt there is literally no way I would have used Lynx after seeing their website if I was visiting Orlando (and having lived in Orlando, they've never got me to use it either). They really should update their website letting people know about instant delivery to their phones.

[codypet]

On 1/29/2020 at 5:50 PM, aent said:

Is that how Lynx works? lol, I looked at their website when this conversation started and came to the conclusion you needed a physical card they had to mail you if you bought online, as there is nothing indicating instant delivery, and it seems to imply its a non-phone object you must have. No doubt there is literally no way I would have used Lynx after seeing their website if I was visiting Orlando (and having lived in Orlando, they've never got me to use it either). They really should update their website letting people know about instant delivery to their phones.

Im sure they mail cards, but I happen to have a bus stop in front of my house and used Lynx to get to work while I had my cars parked in a city garage during Dorian.  Lynx also came in handy when I went my car repaired. I wouldn't have been able to do that if I didnt have online ticketing.  Here's a screenshot of the ordering window.

[JFW657]

Sat up last night perusing the photos in the Historic Orlando Facebook group.

Plucked a few gems I hadn't seen before.

Most of them street scenes from the 50's that give a good sense of what sights one would have seen on a stroll around downtown.

E. Washington at Rosalind looking west toward Orange Ave.

Central at Orange looking east towards Lake Eola.

Magnolia at Church St looking north towards Pine St.

Orange Av at Church St looking south. Buildings on left are where Barnett Plaza and CNA building went up.

N. Orange near Colonial looking south.

Garland at Church St looking NE towards future Rosie O'Grady's.

Last days of the San Juan. Valentines is already there.

Awhile back, in the Radius thread I believe, we were wondering what used to occupy the triangular parcel. I said it was some kind of old red brick school building but we couldn't figure out which school it was. The best pics I could find were aerials that only partially showed it. Well, I'm fairly certain this is it. It was called the Orlando Magnolia School. Unfortunately, this view is looking at the back side of it. SE corner looking NW. I'm guessing it was some kind of vocational training school.

Orange Ave around Jackson St looking north.

Aerial view of the Milk District and Fashion Square area in 1947.

[JFW657]

Here's one I forgot to post....

 

[spenser1058]

I really liked Valentyne’s and was totally bummed when it closed. The tiered rows of tables were great for people watching.

The old school on Rosalind being a vocational school makes sense. After the fire, the replacement was likely Orlando Vo-Tech Over On the other side of I4. It was new about the time I came back from Nashville. 

The fire that gutted the San Juan was the subject of enough intrigue to warrant a Perry Mason episode.

The American Fire and Casualty building you can just see the sign for in the background of picture #6 was a great old building with scores of windows. It would have made for amazing loft condos or apartments.  The candidate Whose campaign I managed in 1988 was trying to get together a group to buy it but the whole thing fell apart in the S&L debacle . I hated to lose that one.

 

 

[JFW657]

I hated to lose the AF&C building too. 

As well as the little building that sat right next to it at an angle.

They were like a set.

But at least what went up in its place has some decent, throwback style architecture.

Edited January 31, 2020 by JFW657

[spenser1058]

The Downyflake says it was opposite the post office at 20 E. Central. Since the post office moved into its current building after it was built in the ‘30’s, that must be a really old pic.

I wonder which lot the post office was in. 20 E. Central should be where the ComBank was and before that it was the parking lot for Ivey’s.

[JFW657]

3 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

The Downyflake says it was opposite the post office at 20 E. Central. Since the post office moved into its current building after it was built in the ‘30’s, that must be a really old pic.

I wonder which lot the post office was in. 20 E. Central should be where the ComBank was and before that it was the parking lot for Ivey’s.

Unless maybe there was a smaller branch post office there on Central. 

But the pic does look like it could be early 30's.

[spenser1058]

Just now, JFW657 said:

Unless maybe there was a smaller branch post office there on Central. 

Good point.

[spenser1058]

Update: the post office began planning in ‘35, got the lot from St James in ‘39 and opened in ‘41 (I knew it was during FDR’s time). It replaced the old federal building at 44 E. Central. 

https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/5553

From RICHES

And yes, @HankStrong , that WAS before my time!

Edited January 31, 2020 by spenser1058

[JFW657]

So the Downeyflake pic is from before 1941.

Looks like the 30's just from the interior.

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

So the Downeyflake pic is from before 1941.

Looks like the 30's just from the interior.

It does - it made me think of the Trek episode with Joan Collins.

[AmIReal]

2 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Sat up last night perusing the photos in the Historic Orlando Facebook group.

Plucked a few gems I hadn't seen before.

Most of them street scenes from the 50's that give a good sense of what sights one would have seen on a stroll around downtown.

Fantastic work JFW. Thanks for digging them up and posting.

[nite owℓ]

13 hours ago, JFW657 said:

 

Orange Av at Church St looking south. Buildings on left are where Barnett Plaza and CNA building went up.

These buildings were much better looking than the McCrory-Woolworth buildings and yet I only hear crickets about their demise... Barnett Plaza and CNA are unattractive buildings & poorly designed at street level IMO!

  To quote myself (because I'm petty ):

On 1/24/2020 at 10:40 PM, nite owℓ said:

"Also IIRC, buildings were also razed to build "BB&T/Citrus Center/CNA" Tower... but I never hear anyone complaining about the structures we lost to build either one of those."

 

 

[spenser1058]

2 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

These buildings were much better looking than the McCrory-Woolworth buildings and yet I only hear crickets about their demise... Barnett Plaza and CNA are unattractive buildings & poorly designed at street level IMO!

  To quote myself (because I'm petty ):

 

 

They were products of their time. In the ‘70’s for CNA, nobody was thinking much about downtown (the new malls and I-Drive had everyone’s attention - I referenced this on another thread about OCCC not going to Creative Village). I remember going to Sun Bank downtown in the mid’70’s and the Barnett Plaza lot (another Jaymont creation) across the street had already been leveled.

We tried very hard to learn from those errors by the time the ‘80’s came along. As we have seen in this room, however, we still have a ways to go.

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by spenser1058

[Jernigan]

Loving this street 

[jgardnerucf]

Arborman sadness at Casey's...

[JFW657]

That sucks.

I'm sure it will be replaced soon, though.

That's some consolation anyway.

I doubt they'll replace the two in front of Winn Dixie.

Some or most of the new ones they planted in front of Boston Market at Orange and Michigan have died and been removed already.

[IAmFloridaBorn]

From the eye today.

Dr Phillips sunset

Sealife Jellyfish

[neoanderz]

UCF Downtown

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by neoanderz

[TRENCH]

Just a quick shot at the UCF Downtown garage 

[spenser1058]

25 photos of Saturday night Downtown in the era of Social Distancing:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-downtown-orlando-saturday-night-ghost-town-20200322-yd6s272qc5f3jlcht6vrhp5uuu-story.html

From the Sentinel 

We are now living in an Edward Hopper painting...

Edited March 22, 2020 by spenser1058