Tag Archives: white flight

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

Harry Crews’s Childhood Nightmare Northside

Posted on May 8, 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:

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

World Beach…Where Burger King and McDonald’s Debuted

Posted on November 15, 2018 | Leave a comment

Click below for the full story:

Mirza calls this stretch of Beach Boulevard, where Burger King and Jax’s first McDonald’s opened for business in the 1950s, “World Beach.”

World Beach contains no beach, but its storefronts represent at least two dozen nationalities and ethniticities, immigrants and refugees who’ve washed up here from around the world.

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Tagged Ansar Owais, Asad Owais, Beatrice Chandler, Beauty Max, Commodore Point Expressway, Cuba Barber Shop, Dog N Suds, El Reconcito de Lima, El Tejano, first Burger King, first Burger King Jacksonville, first Jacksonville McDonald's, first McDonald's in Jacksonville, Gangnam Korean Restaurant, Hala Bakery, Hala Cafe, Hala Mardini, Hart Expressway, Hurricane Maria, Iglesia Roca de Salvación, Insta-Burger King, jaxpsychogeo, La Gran Parada, Lagosca, Latin Creations, Lim Market European Grocery, Luis Ofray, Maria Vasquez, Mostar Bosnia, Petra Wholesale, Puerto Rico Jacksonville, redlining, Rocio’s Dominican Beauty Salon, Sanopri, Sans Souci, Shiva Robotics Academy, Spring Glen, Stan's Sandwich Shop, Tienda Latina Dominican Food, Tim Gilmore, Tsar Lazar, white flight, World Beach, Zohair Mardini

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