Orlando Fashion Square [Renovation in Progress]

[spenser1058]

7 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

In what seems like another life because it was so many years ago now, a girl from college I was dating took me home to Texas.  At the time I was obsessed with Taco Bell.  Her brother drove all around town to every fast food taco shop and bought a few items.  My Midwest taco chain experience was just Taco Bell & Zantigo, which was bought by Taco Bell when I was a kid.

Once upon a time I had a list of all the actual places, so this is just from memory.  Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Taco Mayo, Del Taco, Taco Time, and probably one or two more.  It was amazing.  We sat down and I tried something from each of them and we compared notes.  My young mind was blown.

Our local taco chains were Taco Tico and Taco Rancho, both of which have disappeared although some of the buildings live on. Meanwhile, BEEFY King is forever!

[spenser1058]

I’ve also thought it interesting that of the two arguably most iconic restaurants in Orlando history, Gary’s Duck Inn and Ronnie’s, Gary’s is the one that lives on (as Red Lobster), while the one more likely to be remembered, Ronnie’s, did not continue.

[popsiclebrandon]

Del Taco by UCF was a marvelous crap show after the bars. The let you inside unlike Taco Bell and you'd see all kinds of insanity.

[HankStrong]

1 hour ago, popsiclebrandon said:

Del Taco by UCF was a marvelous crap show after the bars. The let you inside unlike Taco Bell and you'd see all kinds of insanity.

The Steak & Shake in Lake Buena Vista after Pleasure Island was pretty much the same in the very early 00s.

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, HankStrong said:

The Steak & Shake in Lake Buena Vista after Pleasure Island was pretty much the same in the very early 00s.

In Sight It Must Be Right?

[Pieson]

13 hours ago, popsiclebrandon said:

Del Taco by UCF was a marvelous crap show after the bars. The let you inside unlike Taco Bell and you'd see all kinds of insanity.

Lord. I’ve seen some stuff in my UCF days. This comment makes me both laugh and  remember my college days fondly. And oh so glad I’m far past those days 

[jliv]

The Steak & Shake in Lake Buena Vista after Pleasure Island was pretty much the same in the very early 00s.

The Denny’s on E. Colonial near Maguire in the early 90’s trumps all of those. It’s such a distant memory I can’t remember the exact location. That’s where the Southern Nights crowd mostly converged (preferable to the IHOP) with the drag queens, when Southern Nights was the place to go on Friday nights.


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[spenser1058]

1 hour ago, jliv said:

The Denny’s on E. Colonial near Maguire in the early 90’s trumps all of those. It’s such a distant memory I can’t remember the exact location. That’s where the Southern Nights crowd mostly converged (preferable to the IHOP) with the drag queens, when Southern Nights was the place to go on Friday nights.


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It was between Maguire and Herndon Plaza, just across the street from the Sears auto center. The bears tended to prefer the IHoP at Summerlin.

[bqknight]

2 hours ago, jliv said:

The Denny’s on E. Colonial near Maguire in the early 90’s trumps all of those. It’s such a distant memory I can’t remember the exact location. That’s where the Southern Nights crowd mostly converged (preferable to the IHOP) with the drag queens, when Southern Nights was the place to go on Friday nights.


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I miss my late nights at "GayHop"...those were the times!

[codypet]

3 hours ago, jliv said:

The Denny’s on E. Colonial near Maguire in the early 90’s trumps all of those. It’s such a distant memory I can’t remember the exact location. That’s where the Southern Nights crowd mostly converged (preferable to the IHOP) with the drag queens, when Southern Nights was the place to go on Friday nights.


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This building

Same Denny's building with a heavy update.   You can tell by the sides.  I geek out at old retail architecture, and Denny's is one of my favorites.

In other news Foxtail is moving into the old Orlando jewelers spot next to Kabooki Sushi.

 

[JFW657]

I recall when back in the mid 80's, E. Colonial around the FSM - Maguire area was a fun area with lots of eating and drinking establishments. 

Chi Chi's, Casa Gallardo, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, 94th Aero Squadron, O' Brother's, 21st Century Theater & Drafthouse, there was even a little Irish themed bar inside FSM with a exterior entrance for after the mall closed. 

Around the early 90's, TGIF showed up, but by then it was beginning to change. 

[spenser1058]

8 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

I recall when back in the mid 80's, E. Colonial around the FSM - Maguire area was a fun area with lots of eating and drinking establishments. 

Chi Chi's, Casa Gallardo, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, 94th Aero Squadron, O' Brother's, 21st Century Theater & Drafthouse, there was even a little Irish themed bar inside FSM with a exterior entrance for after the mall closed. 

Around the early 90's, TGIF showed up, but by then it was beginning to change. 

The Irish bar in OFS had been a Ruby Tuesday and initially a York Steak House.

East Colonial almost got a Darryl’s as well but that fell by the wayside once General Mills (now Darden) chose to sell the chain. 

Back to architecture, the early ‘60’s version of Frisch’s (it was west of Bumby and there was also one across from WP Mall) were fun. Sadly, in the late ‘60’s-early 70’s they switched to a boring generic style.

Sambo’s restaurants also had the coffee shop kitsch but then they ran afoul of the PC rules, even though the name came about because of a combination of the founders’ names more than any malign intent. They did go with the theme of the story, though, on the interior. and that doomed the chain along with management problems.

The last-generation Royal Castle stores were unique for a burger chain as well. Several of those were built locally before the chain went defunct.
 

[JFW657]

22 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

The Irish bar in OFS had been a Ruby Tuesday and initially a York Steak House.

I don't think we're talking about the same place.

What was the location in FSM of the RT & YSH you're talking about? 

[spenser1058]

14 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

I don't think we're talking about the same place.

What was the location in FSM of the RT & YSH you're talking about? 

At the front entrance to the mall on the left across from Rutland’s (and CFA prior to the food court)

[JFW657]

40 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

At the front entrance to the mall on the left across from Rutland’s (and CFA prior to the food court)

Not the same place.

Back in the early to mid (possibly late) 80's, on the east side of the mall as you turned left at Burdine's and headed north towards Robinson's, about halfway down on the right, was a little Irish eatery and bar.

It had it's own little entrance facing the east side parking lot just north of Burdine's....

They'd close off the main mall concourse entrance when the rest of the mall closed, but just inside the above exterior mall entrance, was a smaller glass door entrance to the establishment. 

That's the way I recall it, anyway. 

 

 

.

Edited June 14, 2022 by JFW657

[spenser1058]

11 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Not the same place.

Back in the early to mid (possibly late) 80's, on the east side of the mall as you turned left at Burdine's and headed north towards Robinson's, about halfway down on the right, was a little Irish eatery and bar.

It had it's own little entrance facing the east side parking lot just north of Burdine's....

They'd close off the main mall concourse entrance when the rest of the mall closed, but just inside the above exterior mall entrance, was a smaller glass door entrance to the establishment. 

That's the way I recall it, anyway. 

 

 

.

Ahhhh, that must have originally been The Magic Pan creperie. I never visited what came after it left.

Edited June 14, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

My go to spot at OFS for BEER was always Mr. Dunderbaks, which later became Wunderbar. The pastrami sammiches were also splendid.

[HankStrong]

3 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

The Irish bar in OFS had been a Ruby Tuesday and initially a York Steak House.

East Colonial almost got a Darryl’s as well but that fell by the wayside once General Mills (now Darden) chose to sell the chain. 

Back to architecture, the early ‘60’s version of Frisch’s (it was west of Bumby and there was also one across from WP Mall) were fun. Sadly, in the late ‘60’s-early 70’s they switched to a boring generic style.

Sambo’s restaurants also had the coffee shop kitsch but then they ran afoul of the PC rules, even though the name came about because of a combination of the founders’ names more than any malign intent. They did go with the theme of the story, though, on the interior. and that doomed the chain along with management problems.

The last-generation Royal Castle stores were unique for a burger chain as well. Several of those were built locally before the chain went defunct.
 

As in Big Boy?  I was under the impression you only had Shoney's and extremely rarely Bob's Big Boy down here.  Cool.

[spenser1058]

34 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

As in Big Boy?  I was under the impression you only had Shoney's and extremely rarely Bob's Big Boy down here.  Cool.

Actually, Frisch’s was our Big Boy and yes he was a ginger. Shoney’s came in after they divorced themselves from Big Boy. Bob’s came after that once the Big Boy franchise fell apart. Btw, unlike the Frisch’s lad (or should I say “Brawny Lad”?), the Shoney’s and Bob’s Big Boys had brown hair and didn’t have the slightly red cheeks of the Frisch’s version.

I know way too much about Big Boy because I was a shopper for Shoney’s (and Captain D’s) while it was still part of the Big Boy stable and I was living in Nashville.

Edited June 14, 2022 by spenser1058

[HankStrong]

17 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Actually, Frisch’s was our Big Boy and yes he was a ginger. Shoney’s came in after they divorced themselves from Big Boy. Bob’s came after that once the Big Boy franchise fell apart. Btw, unlike the Frisch’s lad (or should I say “Brawny Lad”?), the Shoney’s and Bob’s Big Boys had brown hair and didn’t have the slightly red cheeks of the Frisch’s version.

I know way too much about Big Boy because I was a shopper for Shoney’s (and Captain D’s) while it was still part of the Big Boy stable and I was living in Nashville.

We had Frisch's in the places I grew up.  I remember traveling and seeing Bob's Big Boy and Shoney's.  Having eaten at all 3 (maybe this is hometown bias) I really always thought that Frisch's had the best food.

Interesting story, my great aunt started as a teen working at Frisch's as a car hop.  She moved to hostess and described those years as the best of her working life.  She moved up the chain internally and eventually was overseeing several restaurants in a regional/district manager type role or whatever the title was in Frisch's world.  She did that for the rest of her career and only had one employer her entire career.  She retired with great fanfare.  After about 2 or 3 years of retirement she got bored and went back to work.  She chose being a hostess at the very same (although rebuilt) Frisch's she started working at when she was 14 or 15 years old in her hometown.  My great uncle thought she was crazy, but it kept her busy.  She worked there at least 1 day a week until her death.

She loved that all the new folks just thought she was an old lady hostess and had no idea the power she had once held there and all she knew about the stores.

[spenser1058]

The thing that made Shoney’s stand out was their breakfast buffet - I still miss it.

Iirc, Frisch’s was the first Big Boy franchise and their territory included Florida, Ohio and some spillover into nearby states.

Frisch’s Big Boy  (which McDonald’s shamelessly copied into the Big Mac) sauce was different from that of the other franchises. Frisch’s was more like tartar sauce while the others used something closer to 1000 island dressing.

Shoney’s got everything in between Ohio and Florida. Btw, “Shoney” was Alex Schoenbaum, from West Virginia. He pretty quickly became a silent partner and Danner Foods of Nashville ran the show for Shoney’s (it later branched out into Captain D’s and Lee’s Famous Recipe fried chicken, as well as dinner houses Sailmaker and Fifth Quarter).

Bob’s was the franchise in the western U.S. and at one point was owned by Marriott.

Edited June 15, 2022 by spenser1058

[jgardnerucf]

It was Wag's before Shoney's.

Raccoon > Bear

[JFW657]

On 6/14/2022 at 11:40 AM, JFW657 said:

Not the same place.

Back in the early to mid (possibly late) 80's, on the east side of the mall as you turned left at Burdine's and headed north towards Robinson's, about halfway down on the right, was a little Irish eatery and bar.

It had it's own little entrance facing the east side parking lot just north of Burdine's....

They'd close off the main mall concourse entrance when the rest of the mall closed, but just inside the above exterior mall entrance, was a smaller glass door entrance to the establishment. 

That's the way I recall it, anyway. 

 

 

.

 

On 6/14/2022 at 11:50 AM, spenser1058 said:

Ahhhh, that must have originally been The Magic Pan creperie. I never visited what came after it left.

Just found out the Irish place in OFS near Burdine's was called Kelly's.  

I Googled it and all I could find was a reference to it in an old Orlando Sentinel article from 1991 in which even back then the author referred to it as "long-gone".

It's a recipe for cheese and beer soup if anyone is interested.....

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1991-10-24-9110230853-story.html  

 

[AmIReal]

Just yesterday I was thinking about Fashion Square and which of the owners would blink first. Turns out they may blink together.

Per Chuck Whittall, "We've been in very productive conversations with the bank which owns the improvements on top of the real estate," Whittall said. "We believe we're going to possibly do a joint venture together and are discussing that. We're in the process of developing plans."

From OBJ, Whittall said the project being discussed would be a "complete redevelopment" of the Fashion Square property, with apartments, bars and restaurants and other uses — with one possible exception. The Macy's department store may stay, Whittall said, as the store continues to do well and its representatives would like to remain." Whittall also adds, "It's not going to be centered on soft-goods retail — it's going to be more lifestyle retail focused."

I'm sure everyone will be happy that BB is the architect of record.

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2022/08/03/orlando-florida-fashion-square-unicorp-bancorp.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_11&cx_artPos=2#cxrecs_s

 

[spenser1058]

11 minutes ago, AmIReal said:

Just yesterday I was thinking about Fashion Square and which of the owners would blink first. Turns out they may blink together.

Per Chuck Whittall, "We've been in very productive conversations with the bank which owns the improvements on top of the real estate," Whittall said. "We believe we're going to possibly do a joint venture together and are discussing that. We're in the process of developing plans."

From OBJ, Whittall said the project being discussed would be a "complete redevelopment" of the Fashion Square property, with apartments, bars and restaurants and other uses — with one possible exception. The Macy's department store may stay, Whittall said, as the store continues to do well and its representatives would like to remain." Whittall also adds, "It's not going to be centered on soft-goods retail — it's going to be more lifestyle retail focused."

I'm sure everyone will be happy that BB is the architect of record.

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2022/08/03/orlando-florida-fashion-square-unicorp-bancorp.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_11&cx_artPos=2#cxrecs_s

 

A visor for Fashion Square! *sigh*

Well, Chuck is one of the actual grownups in town when it comes to making things happen, so I like that