Tag Archives: Swisher and Son

Harry Crews’s Childhood Nightmare Northside

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The novelist Harry Crews chronicled how Jacksonville imported desperation from half the state of Georgia. It offered hope, but required human sacrifice. First coming to Jax when his stepfather-uncle aimed a rifle at his mother’s head, Harry lived in half a dozen houses across the Northside, all of which his family called “the Springfield Section.” When Harper Lee read Crews’s second novel, she said William Faulkner had come back to life.

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Tagged " E.E. Cummings, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Abraham Joseph, Andrew Jackson High School, Bacon County Georgia, Biography of Harry Crews, Blood Bone and Marrow, Drew Mansion, Erskine Caldwell, Fairfield, Florida Gothic, Franklin Street Baptist Church, Grit Lit, Harper Lee, Harry Crews, Historic Springfield Jacksonville, Hoyett Crews, Jacksonville Northside, jax psycho geo, Jeeter Lester, Junior Lister, King Edward Cigars, Klutho Apartments, Klutho House, Leland Lister, Myrtice Crews, Naked in Garden Hills, New Springfield, North Jacksonville, Okefenokee Swamp, Paschal Crews, Phoenix, Phoenix Avenue, Public School no. 8, Ray Crews, Scar Lover, Southern Gothic, Springfield, Swisher and Son, Ted Geltner, Tim Gilmore, Tobacco Road, University of Florida, white flight, William Faulkner

Jax Zoo (For Harry Crews, Jiggs and Gandai)

Posted on September 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

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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

This Week’s Story: Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Posted on August 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

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Helen’s mother could take a sip and tell which city had bottled the Coke. When the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant opened in New Springfield, Charles Guth–“ruthless rascal,” murderer, future president of Pepsi–opened a bottling plant across the street. In later years, William played hide-and-seek amidst abandoned equipment while his parents cleaned at night.

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Tagged Albert Kahn, Andrew Jackson High School, atherine Hobbs Seneath, Bludwine, Charles Guth, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, CV Sales Fire Protection Equipment, Gayle Cooper, George Murphy, Guth Chocolate, Guth Cola, Harold Saxelbye, Helen Sauls, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville history, James Bullock, jax psycho geo, John Wesley Young, King Edward Cigars, Levin L. Dirickson Jr., Loft Candy Company, Marsh and Saxelbye, Mavis Candies, Mavis Cola, Maxwell House, Mulford Marsh, New Springfield, Pure Oil Filling Station Riverside, Purple Petunia, Richard Tedlow, Swisher and Son, Tim Gilmore, Tip-Top Bread, Ward's Bakery, Wesley Plott, William Compton

San Marco’s Swisher House (John H.) and Villa Alexandria

Posted on January 13, 2018 | Leave a comment

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All big houses harbor the loneliness of unpeopled space. When Heather was a little girl, she didn’t understand the elevator went up and down. She thought it somehow “swapped the rooms around.”

Christina says, “I don’t think Mrs. Mitchell liked that they tore her house down.”

Carl Swisher always carried jokes in his pocket. Workers rolled 600 to 700 cigars a day.

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Tagged Alexander Mitchell, Carl S. Swisher, Christina Gatlin, Frank Gatlin, Franklin Gatlin, Gae Cavanagh, Great Depression, Heather Cavanagh, Herbert Swisher, Jacksonville, jaxpsychogeo, John Cavanagh, John H. Swisher, Johnnie Swisher, Joseph Davin, King Edward Cigars, Lillian Davin, Little Theater, Martha Mitchell, River Road, San Marco, Stuart Cavanaugh, Swisher and Son, Swisher Brothers, Swisher House, Swisher International, Swisher Place, Telfair Stockton, Theater Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Villa Alexandria