Tag Archives: Charley Johns

The Story of Storyland U.S.A.

Posted on January 20, 2023 | 1 comment

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More than a decade before Disney came to Florida, Storyland U.S.A. occupied 10 acres along the Arlington Expressway, featuring static exhibits of nursery rhymes along dirt trails. Storyland didn’t last long, but it influenced Marc Suttle’s earliest remembered dreams and Cheryl Joseph can still see the witch from Hansel and Gretel.

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Tagged Arlington Expressway, Arlington River, Arthur S. Cobb, Bird Emergency Aid and Kare Sanctuary, Charley Johns, Cheryl Joseph, Cimarron Apartments, Cracker Gothic, Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, Governor Charley Johns, Haydon Burns, Jack Ensley, jax psycho geo, Johns Committee, Marc Suttle, Nora Suttle, Pam Beighley, Pork Chop Gang, Ron DeSantis, Storyland, Storyland USA, Tim Gilmore, Wanda Suttle Duncan

The Armory

Posted on January 22, 2021 | Leave a comment

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Truly this story has it all. The old Armory has stories enough for a hundred cities. There’s no way to tease it adequately. Urban exploration. Thousands of concerts, from opera to Janis Joplin and the Allman Brothers. Political debates and politicians’ funerals and boxing bouts. Stories of integration (James Weldon Johnson, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson) defiant against Jim Crow. And a call for a future.

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Tagged Abe Livert’s Records, Allman Brothers Band, Along This Way, Angie Rodeillat Smith, Armory Jacksonville, Bryant Bowles, Charley Johns, Clarence Darrow, Colonel Edward Henry, Confederate Ball, Dave Franklin Duke Ellington, Dennis Riggs, Doyle Carlton, Duncan Fletcher, Duncan U. Fletcher, Duval County Armory, Edge City, First Baptist Church Jacksonville, Florida Civil Rights, Florida history, Florida National Guard, Florida Times-Union, Floripatra, Garage Boutique, Gator Bowl, Great Fire of 1901, Haydon Burns, Hixon’s Surfboard Revolution, Hoyt’s High Fidelity, J.C. Coppedge, Jacksonville Armory, Jacksonville Coliseum, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, James Weldon Johnson, Janis Joplin Jacksonville, jax psycho geo, John T. Alsop, Johnny Brewer, Johns Committee, KKK Jacksonville, Ku Klux Klan Jacksonville, Leo Kitchen Orchestra, Marian Anderson, Marian Anderson Jacksonville, Marvin Strickland, McCoys Creek, NAAWP, Nake Pear, National Association for the Advancement of White People, Paulus Music, Pickaninny Chorus, Prohibition Jacksonville, Riggs Promotion, Roosevelt Mall, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Song of Hiawatha, Senator Duncan Fletcher, Sidney Catts, Sidney Drachin, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore Jax Psycho Geo, Tommy Torino, United Confederate Veterans, W.A. Hobbs, W.F. Bunch, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, Ye Mystic Revelers