Tag Archives: Jacksonville Florida

New Story: Wandering the Ruins of the Thunderbird Motor Hotel

Posted on July 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

The Thunderbird Motor Hotel lies in ruins on 19 acres. We wander through it. It was “one of the brightest jewels in the Florida Crown,” created to “give Jacksonville a Las Vegas, New York, big-city type of night club atmosphere.” It featured multiple lounges like The Zodiac Room and The Wonderfall, dinner theatre and convention space. The stars came. For a while. Few realized its full history of financial troubles. Now a hawk flies over the abandoned swimming pool. Click below for the story.

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Tagged Al Stein, Albert Stein, Ann Sothern, Arlington Jacksonville, Ben Stein, Bethel Baptist Church, Bethelite, Bold New City of the South, Bonnie Morrison, Burger King Jacksonville, Carmen Ann Roden, Danae Clift, David Stein, Fireman's Ball, Fisher & Malone, Florida Gothic, Frances Langford, Gator Bowl, Gerry Roden, Hans Tanzler, Howard Keel, Jackie Gleason Show, Jacksonville Coliseum, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville Gothic, Jacksonville University, Jason Wood, jax psycho geo, Jay Leno, Jill Starr, Joann Starr, John C. Christian, Jud Ammean Orchestra, KBJ Architects, Kettle Pub, King’s Inn Lounge, Man of La Mancha, Martin Denny, Mary Lynn Brown, Mayor Hans Tanzler said, Michael Ammiano, Peter Cummings, Philip Browning, Red Carpet Inns, Regency Square, Regency Square Mall, Ricky Takacs, Rolling Stones Jacksonville, Sammy Spear Orchestra, South Pacific Orientalism, Terrace Room, The Diamonds, Thunder Resort Hotel, Thunderbird Motor Hotel, Thunderreal, Tiki Bar, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore writer, Tiny Tim, white flight, William Groff, William K. Jackson, Wonderfall, Wonderfall Bar, Wonderfall Lounge, Yvonne Moray, Zero Mostel, Zodiac Room

New Story: Chaseville “Colored Settlement” / Fort Caroline Club Estates

Posted on February 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

Little remains of the old “Chaseville Colored Settlement,” where the 1920 census placed America’s first black presidential candidate. Fortunately for his bones, George Edwin Taylor was buried elsewhere, because developers dug up the skeletons of the old black cemetery. Where former slaves of the region’s most prominent plantation families once came to live their lives free, real estate developers built “midcentury modern” Arlington. Poultry farms gave way to Geodesica. Click below for the full story.

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Tagged Albert Sammis, Bruce Mouser, Brutus and Cain Bolton, Cary Wintz, Charles McNeill, Chaseville, Chaseville Colored Settlement, Clarence B. Moore, Daniel Dustin Hanson, Eartha White, Edidin Drive, Elizabeth Coffee, Fort Carolina Club Estates, Fort Caroline Elementary School, Fort Caroline Road, Geodesica, George Edwin Taylor, Gilbert Spindel, Hansontown, Heidi Road, Horseshoe Landing, Jacksonville Florida, Joel McEachin, John C. Christian, Kaden Drive, Kingsley Plantation, LaVilla, Lonnie Wurn, Marian Tillinghast Taylor, Marlene Sokol, Matt Soergel, Mill Cove Complex, Mount Olive Cemetery Green Cove Springs, National Liberty Party, New Castle Creek, Oakland Jacksonville, Old Chaseville Road, Reddie Point, Rogero Road, Roundhouse, Samuel Chase, Ted Edidin, Tim Gilmore, Timucuan Indians, United States Colored Troops, University Boulevard, William Marple, William Reddy

Story #509: Riverdale Inn / Brazile House / Kelly House

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

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Walter Brazile founded B & B Exterminating Co. in his rambling old boarding house. He nurtured the business and nurtured people, including Rufus King, Jr., brother of Virginia, author of that 8,448-page book about Jax. William Kelly, turpentine magnate, built the house 115 years ago. Albert O’Neall, though a Quaker, took a job here building bombing ranges. Now the former HQ of B & B has been restored as a bed-and-breakfast. One of my favorite writers stayed here just last week.

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Tagged Albert Ellis O'Neall, Albert O'Neall, Arden Herrin, B & B Exterminating, Barnett Mansion Springfield, Benvenuto, Bret Burmeister, Charlie Towers, Claude L'Engle, Consolidated Naval Stores, Elizabeth Brazile, Eric Waln, Florida history, Gum Bunch, Haydon Burns Library, Henry John Klutho, Irma O'Neall, J.E.T. Bowden, Jacksonville Florida, jax psycho geo, Jessica Miner-Killian, Jonathan Greeley, Larry James Bana, LaVilla, Malcolm Gladwell Jacksonville, Marjorie Ann O'Neall, Mary Mychael Waln, McCoys Creek, Mellen Greeley, Memorial Park, Napier Apartments, naval stores, Orren McJunkins, Ortega Jacksonville, Palms Boarding House, Palms Hotel, Riverdale Inn, Riverside Avondale, Riverside Hospital, Rocco Morabito, Rogers Towers, Rufus King Jr., Slappey Building, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, The Row, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore Florida, Tom Gilmore, Virginia King, Walter Brazile, Walter P. Brazile, William Kelly, William O'Neall

Jax Zoo (For Harry Crews, Jiggs and Gandai)

Posted on September 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

In Harry Crews’s 1992 novel Scar Lover, the Jax Zoo becomes the scene of Southern Gothic anti-epiphany. For years, descriptions of the zoo in the news sounded hardly more pathetic than in Crews. If what happened to Jiggs seems unforgiveable, maybe, hopefully, the baby gorilla named Gandai can offer us all redemption.

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Tagged " E.E. Cummings, "A Day at the Zoo, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Andrew Jackson High School, Angel Dust, Bacon County Georgia, Beth Reese Cravey, Bulera, Colo the Gorilla, Columbus Zoo, Doug Dean, Enoch Emery, Flannery O'Connor, Gainesville Florida, Gandai, Hans Tanzler, Harry Crews, Hazel Motes, J.J. Vitale, Jack Meyer, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Zoo, James Savoy, jaxpsychogeo, Jiggs the orangutan, King Edward Cigars, Kumbuka, PCP, Pete Butcher, Peter Lipkovic, Phencyclidine, Russell-Barton Film Co, Scar Lover, Swisher and Son, Taulkinham Georgia, Tim Gilmore, Trout River, Turlington Hall, University of Florida

A Tribute to My Father

Posted on August 24, 2019 | 2 comments

My father, Leslie William Gilmore, died Thursday morning, the 22^nd day of August. He was 95 years old. These links take you to my tribute to him. It doesn’t do him justice, but it’s something.

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Tagged " Louise Massey and the Westerners, "When the Saints Go Marching In, “Goin’ Down to Santa Fe Town”, Carson McCullers, Columbus Georgia, Erskine Caldwell, Flannery O'Connor, Grady Gilmore, Jacksonville Florida, Joan Irene Gilmore, Leslie William Gilmore, Louise Massey, Macon County Georgia, Macon Georgia, Milledgeville Georgia, Oglethorpe Georgia, Pearl Gilmore, Proxima Road, Tim Gilmore, velvet beans

Mrs. Martha, in Planting a Living Fence in Floral Bluff Manor, Chose the Right Dildo

Posted on March 22, 2019 | Leave a comment

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Julia Morton recommended several dildos, including a gliricidia that erupted in “pale-pink flowers in the spring.” Older words related to “diddling” with “diligence.” No dildo fence rises behind the Wash-O-Rama, so what has Jesus to teach us?

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Tagged Arlington, Carissa Grandiflora, Cereus Peruvianus, dildos grandiflora, Floral Bluff Manor, Fruits of Warm Climates, Gliricidia Sepium, Jacksonville Florida, jax psycho geo, Julia Morton, Lemaireocereus Hystrix, Martha Miller, Plants Poisonous to People in Florida and Other Warm Areas, Siderocarpos Flexicaulis, Tim Gilmore, Yellow Pine Drive

Wild Bill of Jax and His Leprosy

Posted on March 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

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“Will Bill of Jacksonville” had come back home, but outside a small circle of family and friends, he kept his diagnosis a secret. Not only did the disease frighten people, but in this Bible Belt town, it resonated as the plague of the Old Testament.

The Board of Health moved to quarantine his mother’s home on Rural Route 5 in the small western Duval County community of Hart Haven. “In closing,” he wrote, “let me give your readers, each and every one, a personal invitation. I assure you that when you leave, your outlook and perspective on life will be different.”

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Tagged Banished: Living with Leprosy, Bible Belt, Bill Clinton, Billy Burton, Carville: Remembering Leprosy in America, Discovery Channel, Hart Haven, I-10, I-95, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Board of Health, Jacksonville Florida, James Carville, jax psycho geo, jaxpsychogeo, Julia Elwood, leprosarium, Louisiana Leper Home, Marcia Gaudet, Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras at Carville, Marietta, Marilyn Kalfus, National Hansen’s Disease Center in Carville, Old Plank Road, Opal Burton, Opel Burton, Rural Route 5, St. Vincent's, Steve Rothman, Tim Gilmore, Wild Bill, Wild Bill of Jacksonville

2 New Year’s Stories: Remembering Kyle Marshall, DJ Chef Rocc, and New Life at Gator Lodge

Posted on December 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

Click below for either (why not both?) of the two full stories. Happy New Year’s! Here’s where we’ve been. Here’s where we’re going.

1. You shouldn’t die of congestive heart failure at 38 years old. Jacksonville loved F. Kyle Marshall. Some say he personified the city. I first met Kyle, where Rain Dogs is now, at Five Points Barber Shop, in 1931.

2. Lisa King learned to love people, coming and going, learned to love Jax when she first learned to walk at Gator Lodge. Never mind Haydon Burns and Aileen Wuornos. At her birthday party at this crossroads thrums the great untapped strength of the city’s diversity.

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Tagged 1045 Park Street, Aileen Wuornos, Alan Justiss, Andrew Jensen, Arcade Men’s Shop, Bebe Deluxe, Beckham Henry, Big Buck$ Crew, Birdies Five Points, Black Hats, Blackfinn, Bruce's Liquor Store, Burro Bar, Chopstick Charley, Chopstick Charley's, Clay Wickham, Consolidation, Corky Bell’s Seafood, Cracksonville, Dialectable Beats, Diamond Inn, DJ Chef Rocc, F. Kyle Marshall, Feryle Jump, Five Points, Five Points Barber Shop, Five Points Tavern, Folio Weekly, Frances Kyle Newton, Gator Lodge, Gator Lounge, Goode's Bakery, Hans Tanzler, Haydon Burns, Hurricane Dora, Ian Ranne, Jacksonville City Council, Jacksonville Florida, Jai Shree Laxmi Kuber LLC, jaxpsychogeo, Julius Collier, Ken Organes, Linda King, Lisa King, London Bridge, Lora Gudbranson, Losco Road, Maddy Clifton, Marie Jump, Midtown Lodge, New Order, Night Hawks, Philips Highway, Phyllis Chesler, Prem Patel, Rain Dogs, Richard Brewer, Richard Ceriello, Richard Petty, Salvatore Tomarchio, Sam King, Sharkettes, Shaun Thurston, Shelton Hull, Spillers Gallery, St. Johns Town Center, Susan Bush, Susan King, Thoren Perego, Tim Gilmore, Truman Capote, TSI, Tyria Moore, Van’s Package House, Vincent Acri, Wally Gator, White Hats, Wu Tang Clan

From Mini-Museum to Big-House: The Art of Richard McMahan

Posted on October 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

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Richard McMahan’s intensity does not waver. Whether it’s the thousands of miniatures he’s created of Van Goghs, Frida Kahlos, Picassos and duChamps, or it’s the prison stories and illustrations, the collection of shackles and prison uniforms, Richard’s work is obsessive.

courtesy Community Foundation of Northeast Florida & laird/blac palm inc

Everything Richard does forms part of a life’s-work. His Mini-Museum offers a survey of the world’s great art, while his Big-House project asks “the biggest question[s] of all.”

photo by James Hunter

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Tagged American Visionary Art Museum, Amy Crane, Bargain House of Fleas, Brett Waller, Chamblin Bookmine, Chamblin's Uptown, Chronicles from the Big House, Community Foundation of Northeast Florida, Community Foundations, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Elysium Art Farm, Florida State College at Jacksonville, FSCJ, FSCJ Kent Campus, House of Miniatures, Howard Finster, I AM Residency, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville Outsider Art, James Hunter, jaxpsychogeo, Kent Campus, Maori canoe, Mark Creegan, mini-museum, Nullspace, Olympia Stone, outsider art, Pasaquan, Richard McMahan, Richard McMahan's Mini-Museum, St. EOM, Tall Shorts Film Festival, The Original Richard McMahan, Tim Gilmore, Tom Chadwick

In the Heart of Riverside: JaxbyJax V and the Martha Washington

Posted on October 12, 2018 | 1 comment

This Saturday, 10/13, JaxbyJax V, the fifth annual JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, takes place in 12 intimate venues around Park and King Streets in Riverside. See the event schedule and this year’s writers at www.jaxbyjax.com.

Click below for the full Martha Washington Hotel story:

So the folks hard at work deep in the bowels of the JaxPsychoGeo Detective Agency (!) thought this week’s post should concern that geographic center of Jacksonville’s Riverside Avondale, the largest historic district in Florida.

Here, then, is an archived JaxPsychoGeo story from 2016 about the Martha Washington Hotel. Demolition had begun. Wayne Wood called the saving of the Martha Washington the most dramatic victory in Riverside Avondale Preservation’s history. The old building has lived many lives–those of Southern aristocrats, World War II servicemen, indigent elderly women, and 21^st century hipsters. It has much more living to do.

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Tagged Blount Mansion, Brenda Kelly, Brenda Starr, Brooke Shields, Bryan Blount, Cathy Ray, Cynthia Parks, George Washington Hotel, Gunner Miller, H.W. Strickland, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Journal, JaxbyJax, JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, JaxbyJax V, jaxpsychogeo, Jerry Ray, King Street District, Martha Washington Hotel, Park and King, RAP, Riverside Avondale, Riverside Avondale Preservation, Riverside Baptist Church, Tim Gilmore, Timothy Dalton, Wayne Wood, white flight

Tag Archives: Jacksonville Florida

New Story: Wandering the Ruins of the Thunderbird Motor Hotel

New Story: Chaseville “Colored Settlement” / Fort Caroline Club Estates

Story #509: Riverdale Inn / Brazile House / Kelly House

Jax Zoo (For Harry Crews, Jiggs and Gandai)

A Tribute to My Father

Mrs. Martha, in Planting a Living Fence in Floral Bluff Manor, Chose the Right Dildo

Wild Bill of Jax and His Leprosy

2 New Year’s Stories: Remembering Kyle Marshall, DJ Chef Rocc, and New Life at Gator Lodge

From Mini-Museum to Big-House: The Art of Richard McMahan

In the Heart of Riverside: JaxbyJax V and the Martha Washington

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