Orlando History

[angela1117]

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/brutalist-lakefront-orlando-home-hits-the-market-for-900k/Slideshow/31586320/31586340
 

I was interested to finally see inside this house on Kaley

[spenser1058]

As much as. I love the Engel house and dislike this one (be gentle with me, @prahaboheme), whoever did the interiors on the Brutalist house did, imho, a much better job than the garish circus car atmosphere foisted on Engel.

*end of rant*

[uncreativeusername]

4 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

As much as. I love the Engel house and dislike this one (be gentle with me, @prahaboheme), whoever did the interiors on the Brutalist house did, imho, a much better job than the garish circus car atmosphere foisted on Engel.

*end of rant*

Really? I found that gallery extremely unsettling - everything feels unbalanced, poorly positioned and proportioned, and thrown together by an amateur with no sense of space or scale. Granted, I don't know what the interior of the Engel looks like so I can't make an actual comparison. 

[spenser1058]

12 minutes ago, uncreativeusername said:

Really? I found that gallery extremely unsettling - everything feels unbalanced, poorly positioned and proportioned, and thrown together by an amateur with no sense of space or scale. Granted, I don't know what the interior of the Engel looks like so I can't make an actual comparison. 

I definitely meant relatively speaking. It’s not the way I would have done it, either, but then I’m old and try to allow for the idea the world is changing around me.

Then again, what supposedly complements Brutalist architecture tends to escape me. When the OPL expansion opened, for instance, they used brownish-gray carpet throughout which was every bit as blah as the gray exterior. I love libraries but for years I cringed whenever I went downtown. 
Fast forward twenty years and that hideous carpet was replaced with bright terrazzo floors and more sprightly light fixtures.

It made all the difference in the world and transformed the space into something people wanted to use instead of one they used solely for its functionality.

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by spenser1058

[prahaboheme]

As you know I’m a big fan of brutalism.

This place is a disaster. I see signs of POMO, craftsman, and just all around bad taste in that interior and exterior. 
 

[spenser1058]

22 minutes ago, prahaboheme said:

As you know I’m a big fan of brutalism.

This place is a disaster. I see signs of POMO, craftsman, and just all around bad taste in that interior and exterior. 
 

I did wonder how that front door was supposed to be a good match.

[angela1117]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

As much as. I love the Engel house and dislike this one (be gentle with me, @prahaboheme), whoever did the interiors on the Brutalist house did, imho, a much better job than the garish circus car atmosphere foisted on Engel.

*end of rant*

Yes, my daughter and I were remarking on that blue in the Engel house. I think I expected the interior of that one to be less modern.

[uncreativeusername]

3 hours ago, prahaboheme said:

As you know I’m a big fan of brutalism.

This place is a disaster. I see signs of POMO, craftsman, and just all around bad taste in that interior and exterior. 
 

Right? It really feels like a brutalist take on a McMansion...

[prahaboheme]

25 minutes ago, uncreativeusername said:

Right? It really feels like a brutalist take on a McMansion...

It’s so easy to match concrete against bright colors and mid century design — literally it’s so easy to do. I’d really be interested in knowing what happened here. This almost seems like intentional bad design choices.

[prahaboheme]

4 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

I definitely meant relatively speaking. It’s not the way I would have done it, either, but then I’m old and try to allow for the idea the world is changing around me.

Then again, what supposedly complements Brutalist architecture tends to escape me. When the OPL expansion opened, for instance, they used brownish-gray carpet throughout which was every bit as blah as the gray exterior. I love libraries but for years I cringed whenever I went downtown. 
Fast forward twenty years and that hideous carpet was replaced with bright terrazzo floors and more sprightly light fixtures.

It made all the difference in the world and transformed the space into something people wanted to use instead of one they used solely for its functionality.

 

Don’t blame the architect - blame the interior designer! It was the 70s after all. They finally got the interior right after ripping up that carpet (the space itself didn’t need a design change).
Dark spaces work brilliantly against the “brutal” sun of Florida. Who wants sun in a library anyway?

I sure didn’t need it in college and I went to school in the northeast where we didn’t get sunlight for 7 months a year.

Why are Miami Beach hotel lobbies  so popular? No sunlight - great lighting and those terrazzo floors you’ve mentioned. Brutalism picked up that feature from the Art Deco movement a decade earlier.  Also one of the reasons why I appreciate the design of the Grand Bohemian hotel.

Edited May 17, 2022 by prahaboheme

[FLheat]

19 hours ago, uncreativeusername said:

Right? It really feels like a brutalist take on a McMansion...

I would never use that realtor that chooses to allow a photoshoot with a house in that amount of disarray. Get some balls and tell them to pick up their crap.

[orange87]

Speaking of Orlando history; I've said this before, but Division Ave should be renamed to Unity Ave.

[spenser1058]

This week, the Sentinel’s Joy Wallace Dickinson looks at the historical markers not only around town but also a database that lists 170,000 of them across the country:

https://www.hmdb.org/
 

She also notes that sometimes folks leave markers for things that may not even be true, like the one for Orlando Reeves in Eola Park. For decades, it was believed the city was named in his honor for his death in the Seminole Wars. The only problem is the US Army has no record of his existence.

It just goes to show that one generation’s certainties (which even lead to stone markers destined to last centuries) are often overruled as the folks later in time have more information (something the Evangelicals should keep in mind but probably won’t).

Anyway, she found one here in town that I missed over at Lake Highland.

Btw, Florida is only #10 among the states in the number of markers. The state is chock full of history and it’s up to us to record it.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-fe-joy-wallace-dickinson-0522-20220522-ufwsux2ljrbpneoho7ygnpwoj4-story.html

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by spenser1058

[jrs2]

On 5/21/2022 at 5:45 PM, orange87 said:

Speaking of Orlando history; I've said this before, but Division Ave should be renamed to Unity Ave.

I agree...and so does Rick (I mean Dave)

Edited May 23, 2022 by jrs2

[spenser1058]

The Sentinel’s Joy Wallace Dickinson wants us to take a moment and remember when Orlando was The Action Center of Florida:

From You Tube

[spenser1058]

In the OIA thread, I mentioned the Champ Williams scandal. If you weren’t here then or are too young to remember, it was the biggest local story when the trial took place in 1987. Indeed, as the family’s dirty laundry aired, the trial rivaled anything seen on the 1980’s popular nighttime TV soaps like Dallas and Dynasty.

Politically, the family had divided the city as they began a feud with then-Mayor Carl Langford in the 1970’s. Millions of dollars were involved and it led to the state taking control of GOAA.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1987-05-17-0130100115-story.html

From The Sentinel  

The thing I missed was one of the sons (I think Bruce, the one who avoided jail and penalties for turning state’s evidence), opened an eclectic restaurant called Buckets along the south shore of Lake Rowena. The food was quite good but overpriced (much like the Skyline had been at the airports). The exterior was teal-ish but I liked it anyway. It didn’t last long and I’m not sure what happened to the siblings after that (parents Champ and Betty passed, I think, by the 2000s.

That was pretty much Orlando’s last major scandal until the GOP and their enablers went rogue.
 

Edited May 31, 2022 by spenser1058

[angela1117]

10 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Indeed, as the family’s dirty laundry aired, the trial rivaled anything seen on the 1980’s popular nighttime TV soaps like Dallas and Dynasty.

 

I feel like I remember money buried under a tree somewhere?

[spenser1058]

Just now, angela1117 said:

I feel like I remember money buried under a tree somewhere?

You’re right - they buried it all over the place. Of course, the highlight was hiding Krugerrands, which were South African gold coins. This was before South Africa ended apartheid so dealing with it at all was considered taboo except on the far right.

[spenser1058]

This week, the Sentinel’s Joy Wallace Dickinson spends time with professor and photographer Gary Monroe as he opens a show at the Mennello Museum in Loch Haven Park.

It includes photos of The Highwaymen, African-American painters who became famous selling their works along Florida’s roadside.

He also captures South Beach as it was in the 1970’s, a badly declining neighborhood that was home to lower-income Eastern European and Jewish immigrants in their retirement years.

There are several things to note about what would become SoBe at the time. First, it was considered a blight in those years and developers were just weeks away from leveling what would become one of the crown jewels of Florida tourism. “Too far gone” was the verdict - sound familiar? We could have ended up with a bunch of sterile boxes instead of the incredible place the community rallied to save.

We now think of retirees in Florida skewing elections to the far right but in those days, the retirees in places like South Beach were New Deal Democrats who helped to elect beloved Florida governors like Reubin Askew and Bob Graham. One fine day, the cycle will move past those who came of age in the Reagan era and be replaced with those whose initial experience with politics was in the days of Obama. For some of us, it can’t happen soon enough.

Gary Monroe reveals diverse art and heart of Florida 
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-fe-joy-wallace-dickinson-0626-20220626-u4anppypsbfhphekrvykle5yey-story.html

 

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

One of NASCAR’s earliest stars, Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, was an early participant in what became known as the Firecracker 400 at DIS. Best of all, he was from right here in Central Florida:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-fe-joy-wallace-dickinson-0703-20220703-2d5rrdsyg5atxbgpvpim7p65tu-story.html

From The Sentinel 

Sadly, he died at age 35 in a fiery crash during a Charlotte race.
 

Edited July 3, 2022 by spenser1058

[JFW657]

Orlando Sentinel July 5, 1964

 

[spenser1058]

If your history’s not cool enough, then make some up:

Local history photos: The ruins that weren't a mission or a fort

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/opinion/2022/06/13/coquina-ruins-new-smyrna-beach-have-always-inspired-speculation/7532928001/

From The Daytona Beach N-J
 

Edited July 8, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

This week, Joy Wallace Dickinson at the Sentinel looks at The King’s Florida activities.

She notes the Heartbreak Hotel in beautiful downtown Kenansville is not related to the tune but one of the songwriters was from Jacksonville and Col. Tom Parker got his start in Tampa.

She also mentions that our very own “Muni Aud” (now Bob Carr) hosted Elvis along with other Florida venues.

 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-fe-joy-wallace-dickinson-0710-20220710-sbc6zafpbffo3pkmdyprdu7dlq-story.html

 

 

 

 

 

[spenser1058]

Daytona Beach proclaimed “it’s cooler here” in these 1925 pics just before the Great Florida Land Boom collapsed (it was a contributing factor to the Great Depression just a few years later).

Among the pics is one of the Main Street Pier ( then called the Ocean Pier) which still stands today in truncated form (but there’s a Joe’s Crab Shack now!)

Note the sign for Daytona Highlands, an upscale neighborhood which is a desirable address even now. You’ll see on the sign the gateway arches, one of which still exists as you come into Daytona on ISB (US 92) from I-4.

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/opinion/2022/07/13/before-air-conditioning-daytona-boasted-its-cooler-here/7808483001/

From the News-Journal 
 

Edited July 14, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

When Enterprise was the county seat of Volusia County (no doubt looking enviously across the river at Sanford):

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/opinion/2022/07/19/brock-house-enterprise-where-gilded-age-elite-vacationed/10030605002/ 

From The News-Journal 

Later, it turned out (DeLightful!) DeLand was growing faster and so the county seat skipped right over (sorry, @orange87) DeBary to the new college town.