Jacksonville childhood

Pictures from childhood. Photo of Little Pottsburg Creek near where our house was, taken in about 2001. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from childhood. Photo of Little Pottsburg Creek near where our house was, taken in about 2001. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from childhood. Streets near where I was raised (and all over Jacksonville) typically looked like this -- shaded by moss-draped oaks and very green. The areas were not, however, necessarily as friendly as they might appear in this picture. Not far from the house on Brookside was a relatively wealthy neighborhood (Empire Point) where we used to ride our bikes. As last as the early 1960's, Empire Point had rules that prohibited Jews (and clearly all non-whites) from buying and building in the area -- I think they might also have prohibited Catholics at one point in time. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from childhood. One of our favorite summer past times was to drive or ride our bikes over to 'the quarry' where we went swimming. The quarry was simply a big hole left over from some construction project -- since there's very little rock in that part of Florida, it's technically not a quarry. It was fairly deep, about a football field in diameter, had a very uneven bottom, and was surrounded by bushes and trees. About once every other summer, someone would drown in it -- typically from swimming late at night after partying somewhere. Its relative seclusion also meant that it was the first place that any of us went 'skinny-dipping'. Some time in the 70's it was fenced off, and then later condominiums were built on one side and it was converted to look like a lake. This picture was taken in about 2001. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. When I was a child, one of the places we biked and played often was River Oaks Park (see map). On the east end of the park there was we thought was a "hill" (between the pine trees, in the picture) and we'd ride our bikes down the hill feeling like we were being very daring. After leaving Florida, I realized that what is called a hill in one part of the country, isn't in another -- the supposedly dangerous hill was a total of about 20' in elevation gain.... Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. River Oaks Park, though quite pretty, was seldom used by anyone (and still isn't). It was thus a great place to spend the day wandering around, and we invariably somehow ended up in the water -- which was even dirtier than the pond mentioned earlier (raw sewage was sometimes visible in the water in those days.) Typically you could (and still can) find at least one derelict boat somewhere in the park's ditches, and there continue to be bridges that aren't useable (see adjacent) Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. San Marco was the neighborhood north of River Oaks Park (adjacent picture), and it had ideal streets for bike-riding -- quiet and wide. The parts of San Marco near the river were relatively wealthy back then (and some still are), with very well-tended yards, large Spanish style homes, and even a city-maintained fountain ( unfortunately, the picture of the fountain didn't come out well). Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. There's also a picturesque one-block long drive along the river's edge in San Marco. The scene from the bulkhead is not very different from what is was 30 years ago -- some of the high rise apartments on the other side of the river were built in the 40's, the rest in the 60's. The bridge, however, is new -- it replaces the first interstate bridge built in Jacksonville, in the 50's. The river is about 1.5 miles wide here. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Up until my early teenage years (about 1962), downtown was the center of the city in terms of work, shopping, and entertainment. With the first big shopping malls, it started dying and by about the mid-70's most of the retail stores had moved out, the movie theatres had died, the hotels had become shuttered, and business had begun moving to suburban office parks. There have been various efforts to revitalize it over the years, but that doesn't seem to have really taken off until the 90's (it's looking better now than it did in the 80's). Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. One downtown building that held a special memory for me was the Florida theater. In the 60's, it was THE premier theatre of Jacksonville as far as I was concerned -- it was where Elvis appeared on stage, and where I went to see 'extravaganza' or 'sophisticated' films -- Gone With the Wind, The Ten Commandments and later Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was also quite grand inside (for Jax) -- very plush in the theatre, very ornate design in the foyer -- a sense of how things could be elegant. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. As many of the photos have already shown, much of Jacksonville life (and thus its culture) is centered around the river. In the 50's there were shipyards in the downtown area where cargo was unloaded and ships were repaired. The shipyards slowly died off until a new cargo facility was built about 10 miles east, away from downtown, in an area that is more easily accessible from the ocean. The shipping also expanded tremendously, with very large container facilities (across the river in this) -- Jacksonville is also a large port of entry for imported cars. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get pictures of the shipyards from areas near them (they're all guarded), so all of these are taken from across the river. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Being a river city, Jacksonville has many bridges. This is the Mathews bridge, which was considered to be quite modern when it opened in the 50's. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Commodore Point bridge, which did not exist when I was a child in Jax. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. View of downtown in the distance, from the Arlington neighborhood. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. Further east of central Jacksonville (towards the Atlantic) is Mayport. Though one part of Mayport is an important Navy base, the essence of Mayport for many long-term Jacksonville residents was the small, older, fishing village part of it where there is a ferry across the St. Johns. This part of Mayport was always a place to get good, fresh, shrimp and other seafood -- and the ferry was always an 'adventure' -- the river right there is relatively narrow, runs swift, and the shipping comes through on the way from the Jacksonville docks to the Atlantic. This picture is taken from the ferry landing on the north side of the river. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.

Pictures from my childhood home area. The ferry pulling into the north landing. Scans of older pictures, best viewed from left to right, as part of Jacksonville set.