Welcome to Florida

Usually, when we drive to Florida we enter the state by way of Interstate 75, but on a recent visit a traffic back-up motivated us to seek out an alternate route.  In Valdosta, we got off 75 and headed south on U-S 41.  This building caught my attention as we crossed the state line into the Sunshine State just north of Jasper, Florida.

I recognized the building right away.  It is one of the old Florida Welcome Centers, long out of business at this location (as is Cooter Jack's, which, as the sign indicates, took over the building for a while).  The state maintained a number of welcome centers just like this one beginning in the 1950s on major highways entering Florida.  These days, more modern versions welcome travellers on the interstates.  These smaller centers dating back to the '50s are long shuttered.

This view from an old post card shows you what the Welcome Center looked like in its original incarnation:

A comparison of the vintage photo with the current condition of the building reveals the awning windows have been covered, dramatically changing the appearance of the building.  The good news, though, is that the building survives.

The Martha Washington

This hotel/apartment in Jacksonville's historic Riverside neighborhood was named the Martha Washington to play off the name of the George Washington Hotel downtown.  Originally built as a home in 1911, the mansion was converted to a hotel for women in 1939 and an addition was constructed on the back.

 

 

 

The home at 1636 King Street was built for lumberman Bryan W. Blount and was one of the largest mansions in the King Street area.

 

 

When the home was converted to a hotel, the name Martha Washington was chosen to play off downtown's George Washington Hotel and to reinforce the identify of this as a hotel for women only.  The George Washington Hotel operated from 1926 to 197.  It was torn down in 1973.  The new federal courthouse now occupies the site.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Martha Washington Hotel's women only policy did not last through World War 2, although it remained a residential hotel until 1977.  It was closed and was slated for demolition.  A wrecking company had already moved in when a group of preservationists organized investors to raise money to save the building.  It was then re-sold to a developer who converted it into condominiums.

 

 

 

 

This vintage picture will give you a sense of how the building has been altered over the years.  Compare to the picture at the top...you can see that part of the veranda has been enclosed.

 

 

The other change, as mentioned earlier, is the addition on the Oak Street side of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the addition and other changes to the building, the Martha Washington Hotel remains a Riverside landmark.









A Walk on Wilcox

This is a bit random, but this street art on Wilcox Avenue just off Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, CA. caught my eye back in April when I was visiting LA.  I decided to explore a few blocks in the vicinity of the sign. After all, it says Start Walkin' and who could resist that command by Nancy Sinatra (even if I wasn't wearing boots)?

I pretty quickly discovered there are many interesting buildings along this stretch of Wilcox.  First, to the south, and this Art Deco beauty with many beautiful details.

 

A little further south I came across the Hollywood News Building at 1545 Wilcox.

This building was also the home of the Citizen News.

Look up to enjoy beautiful details.

I'm a sucker for old neon signs and rooftop signs.  They abound on these few blocks.  Here you can see the Hotel Mark Twain, the Pacific Theatre tower on Hollywood Boulevard, and, in the distance, the Lido Apartments.

Just across the street from the Hollywood News building, the Gilbert Hotel.  And visible a couple of blocks to the east, the iconic sign of The Broadway Hollywood, formerly a department store, now high-price residential units.

I reversed course, and walked north to the intersection of Wilcox and Hollywood Boulevard for a closer look at the Pacific Theatre, now a church.

This beautiful old movie palace is another wonderfully detailed building.

And there are reminders that this stretch of sidewalk has a way to go yet.

North of the boulevard, I peeked over a fence into the lush courtyard of an apartment complex.

At the corner of Wilcox and Yucca, the Lido Apts, a touch of "old Hollywood" according to the sign.  I took a walking tour a couple of years ago and the guide said that Carol Burnett and her mother lived here for a while when Burnett was growing up.

The Lido has another of Hollywood's great vintage roof-top neon signs.

I have many more pictures which I'll share in a future post.  I'll end this one by thanking the artist whose streetside mural inspired me "start walkin'."  Here's a link to further appreciate the sentiment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww

Thanks Nancy.  Great song, and a great walk.

Was "Citizen Kane" Born Here?

I came upon the Green Spot Motel in Victorville, California when my wife, in a weak moment, indulged my obsession with driving old Route 66 bit by bit, and agreed to head east from Los Angeles into the Mojave desert.  We had driven a good stretch of the old highway in Texas and New Mexico, but had seen no more of it in California than Santa Monica Boulevard, which hardly seems to count.  We were in LA for a week and I wanted to see the "real thing"...the old part of Route 66 that had not been swallowed up by that great city.

 

When we drove into Victorville, the Green Spot motel caught my eye right away.  This was the kind of place I was looking for!  It appeared to be a true remnant of the heyday of Route 66.  A little research confirmed the motel was built in 1937 (or thereabouts) by John Roy to capitalize on the highway's tourist trade.  The Green Spot thrived into the 1950s until the Freeway bypassed Victorville in 1959. 

 

 

It is in sad shape today.  But there is real history here.  The Route 66 Encyclopedia cites Hollywood legend that the first draft of "Citizen Kane" was written here.  Orson Welles had banished writers John Houseman and Herman J. Mankiewicz to Victorville to shield them from Hollywood distractions.  This old post card shows what a different place the Green Spot motel was in those days.

 

 

Here's another post card advertising the motel as "Southern California's finest auto court-- truly deluxe."  There you have it. 

 

 

With "running ice water" in each of the 21 units, air conditioning by Frigidaire, and, in later years, a pool in the courtyard, this must truly have seemed an oasis in the desert.

 

Just across the street, the Green Spot Cafe was a good place for a meal.  There were plenty of customers as the bus station was right next door.

Today, the swimming pool is filled in and covered up, the cafe is long gone, and the Green Spot is not quite as inviting as it once was.

 

The Green Spot now appears to be the kind of place that rents by the hour. What do you think?  Should we check in for the night?  The office is open.

 

 

We have to approach places like the Green Point motel with a little (or maybe a lot of) imagination if we want to recapture the vibe of the glory days of Route 66.

 

 

There are Green Spot motels in every town that was ever bypassed by an interstate.  Many have been torn down; others hang on somehow, waiting for what?  Someone to infuse them with money and bring them back?  It can happen.  Some of the old motels on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami that became crack-houses, centers for prostitution, and flop houses in the latter decades of the 20th century are actually receiving face-lifts and becoming what the investors like to call "boutique" properties.

 

 

Could it happen at the Green Spot motel?  I would never say never.  After all, how many motels can claim a spot on the timeline of "Citizen Kane" as a selling point?