Photos by Daniel Herbin
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Nightlife: East Bay Street
A look at Downtown Jacksonville's burgeoning entertainment district at night.
Published April 3, 2009 in Dining & Nightlife
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jeh1980
April 03, 2009, 05:12:53 AMPretty nice photos, I say!
BridgeTroll
April 03, 2009, 07:04:12 AMIt is coming along nicely. The triangle from Bay to the Landing to Adams is incredibly diverse and interesting. It may not equal some other areas but is becoming more popular every weekend. Anyone who says there is nothing there or no reason to go has not been recently. Remember people... parking is FREE on the streets after 6 pm and Saturday and Sunday. There are plenty of garages if you prefer that. Parking is not an issue.
David
April 03, 2009, 08:45:02 AMCompare this with downtown nightlife options in 2002. Back then you had the newly established London Bridge and....hooters. 618/Milkdome may have still been around, but that was it.
Last weekend I started the night off at Burrito Gallery with delicious quesadillas, warmed up at Dive Bar, met up with some people at Ivy and closed the night out at TSI, which stays open until 3 am usually.
It was nice NOT DRIVING anywhere! You really can make a night out of downtown now.
Tripoli1711
April 03, 2009, 08:45:28 AMIt certainly is showing some promise. In the proverbial 'chicken or the egg' of downtown entertainment, I think its obvious: If you build it, they will come. (Unless it's at the Landing).
David
April 03, 2009, 08:47:45 AMI was going to say you have the landing options in addition to East Bay st, but you're right Tripoli. I never manage to get down to the landing. I wonder how are those night clubs doing, twsited mavericks etc.
fsujax
April 03, 2009, 08:48:24 AMnice pictures. It's good to see folks hanging out Downtown at night. It is also important to keep stating parking is FREE and ample on all streets DT at night and on the weekend!!!
fsu813
April 03, 2009, 09:08:00 AMMarks & Dive are fun.
Deuce
April 03, 2009, 09:16:14 AMWho serves the food from the window next to the ATM machine.
reednavy
April 03, 2009, 09:24:39 AMGive this area some time and it'll be THE place to go on a Saturday night.
stug
April 03, 2009, 09:42:59 AMThe snack bar is part of TSI.
thelakelander
April 03, 2009, 09:47:30 AMIf we can get the county courthouse out of there and replace it with something compatible, it will really take off.
David
April 03, 2009, 09:56:43 AMYeah the courthouse was one thing I noticed immediately about the Bay st district. It'd be nice if there could be venues, clubs, restaurants on both sides of Bay, but the courthouse prevents that for now.
copperfiend
April 03, 2009, 09:57:18 AMThat is the key Lake. Unfortunately, that is at least 8-10 years away.
stephendare
April 03, 2009, 10:05:36 AMGreat photos.
Amazing shots.
The little district isnt so little anymore and when Jonathan Insetta opens his restaurant right next to Mark's its going to step up yet another notch.
Add the Sinclair (when it finally opens to the public) and the new dance club on Adams and Downtown will finally have some potential.
Amazing that these businesses are finally able to take off. Strangely, they were able to exactly at the same time that the Downtown Development Authority lost both its funding and its authority... Who might have predicted that?
thelakelander
April 03, 2009, 10:07:35 AMWhere is the dance club on Adams and what's its name?
Shwaz
April 03, 2009, 10:32:23 AMI have a nice group going out for my gf's birthday. Destination Downtown offers some great benefits & prices and our group will be taking advantage of all of them.
Great Drink Specials
$25 car home
$79 rooms at the Omni
$1 Parking Garage
No cover charges
We have some booths reserved at Twisted Martini... at $20 each we'll have
3 cases of beer
3 bottles of Kettle one + mixers
1 bottle of champagne
Tonight can't come soon enough!
BridgeTroll
April 03, 2009, 10:37:05 AMWahoo!! Sounds like fun! Tonight should be a great night out too!
stephendare
April 03, 2009, 10:50:40 AMIt hasnt been named yet. Lake.
thelakelander
April 03, 2009, 11:00:08 AMWhat's the location?
marksjax
April 03, 2009, 11:32:55 AMYou guys rock! Thanks for the article and great pictures. We want to thank all who have helped make this happen. We appreciate your support.
Shameless plug: Tonight (4/3/09) Red Bull will be out in full force on East Bay promoting an "Industry After Party" at Mark's. Supercross (that's the industry) stars and others are rumored to be coming.
See you Downtown.
Regards, Mark
CrysG
April 03, 2009, 11:41:34 AMI love Marks.
Non shameless plug. I really do enjoy that place. It's the first place I think of when I think to go out.
TPC
April 03, 2009, 11:43:45 AMGreat photo set! I was actually at TSI's Florio Party that night for a bit. I hope people who never come Downtown see these photos and realize that there is a nightlight Downtown.
I hope the momentum continues we have a few more bars popping up on Bay St.
TheProfessor
April 03, 2009, 12:09:26 PMLook's like fun. From a designers standpoint. The city needs to knock out those curbs around the palm trees. They are an obvious trip hazards. It looks like TSI put cones on top of them for those with beer goggles. hehe.
stephendare
April 03, 2009, 12:29:01 PMShameless plug: Tonight (4/3/09) Red Bull will be out in full force on East Bay promoting an "Industry After Party" at Mark's. Supercross (that's the industry) stars and others are rumored to be coming.
See you Downtown.
Regards, Mark
thanks for the update mark!
Bewler
April 03, 2009, 12:32:47 PMHonestly other than Downtown, the Beaches, Riverside, and I guess to a lesser extend San Marco and Avondale, I can’t think of any side of town that could actually be considered a “hot spot” that has like 2 - 3 or more places to go out drinking or dancing that are within walking distance of each other where lots of people conglomerate. Though I’m not familiar with all sides of town I do know Southside and Town Center pretty much only offer chain restaurant bars (Zzzzzzz), Mandarin just has a spread of standalone bars and pools halls (oh good, let's fight), Springfield has Shanty, Pearl, and 9th and Main (There may be others here that I’m not aware of) semi close to each other but not quite in the same way. Don’t know enough about Northside, Westside. Nor Arlington, though it seems the same as Southside but I could be wrong.
Oh wait Murray Hill has some good places.
5PointsGuy
April 03, 2009, 12:37:49 PMMaverick's and Twisted are alright, twisted being a bit older (patronage wise), while Maverick's has a decent crowd and the obvious country music. Mark's and Dive are both great, but I'm biased as I'm there every weekend. The addition of Ivy's and the revamp of TSI has really added to that strip. If it got one more bar inbetween Ivy and Mark's it would pretty much be as good as the midtown strip in Gainesville. The only problem that I have with the bars is that they always start goin' off late (12ish), but I guess that's the Jacksonville mentality.
WhatsUpJacksonville
April 03, 2009, 01:39:39 PMWhatsUpJacksonville is all about Downtown!
TSI has a huge show coming up on May 2nd with Diplo, producer of the M.I.A. song Paper Planes featured in Pineapple Express.
Keep up the great coverage MetroJax!
-WhatsUpJacksonville.com
Ocklawaha
April 03, 2009, 02:32:25 PMIf parking becomes a problem, it will be the best problem these new businesses could want. Question is, where are these patrons coming from? Has any survey been done? Inner City/San Marco/Springfield/Riverside/Avondale/St.Nicholas? If we could ID the source of most of the traffic, then where is JTA? Why don't we offer "NIGHT OWLS SERVICES" between the Bay St./San Marco and 5-Points club districts, with some residential tap lines running 24/7?
Skyway on Bay anyone? Maybe our train is overdue...
OCKLAWAHA
comncense
April 03, 2009, 02:52:27 PMI love the Downtown nightlife. It's one of the reasons I moved back downtown. Like someone mentioned earlier, it would be great if there was another lounge/club/bar somewhere in between Mark's and Ivy. I'm not sure if there's a place it could possibly go though. What's on the other side of the pizza spot anyway?
Stephen, the danceclub on Adams that you were talking about, you're not talking about the old library are you? I noticed they had the place lit up late last night as I was walking home... seemed odd to me.
And how great would it be to have a late night diner downtown. As much as I love pizza and hotdogs... it would be nice to grab some breakfast type foods late at night without having to drive outside of downtown.
fsu813
April 03, 2009, 04:01:42 PM9th & Main has been closed for sometime, fyi.
Captain Zissou
April 03, 2009, 06:39:33 PMWhoa whoa whoa 5pointsguy, lets not get ahead of ourselves. East Bay is nice and has nice venues, but as far as bodies on the sidewalk and atmosphere, it couldn't be farther from Midtown G-ville. I'm actually delaying my trip to Salty to type this, but if you want to see some night life action, that is the spot. If there were that many people downtown for a few weekends, East Bay would become a regional destination.
billy
April 03, 2009, 08:35:42 PMWhy are there so many hot dog stands/carts in Jax?
midnightblackrx
April 03, 2009, 08:42:07 PMthelakelander
April 03, 2009, 09:35:49 PMFor those looking for a late night eat, try Karlene's at the Landing.
“When we open Friday morning, we might stay open until we close the doors Sunday night,” said Ganson.
In addition to hours that accommodate a wide variety of interests, the new venue will also marry sandwiches and cyberspace, an aspect that has proved to be popular at the Mandarin location with the entire menu posted on its Web site, www.karlenesdeli.com.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52030
GatorShane
April 04, 2009, 01:12:21 AMDoes anyone notice a theme here? Lighting, lighting, lighting. The way the signs and the palms are lit up makes a huge difference. One or two more late night places on this strip and it will truly be a destination.
heights unknown
April 04, 2009, 01:48:37 PMI wouldn't say burgeoning is the word we should use right now, we still have a long way to go, but "developing" is more appropriate; however, I am extremely pleased and elated that finally a night spot destination is finally, yes finally DEVELOPING within Downtown Jacksonville; now when that section gets 2 or more bars or clubs in that niche and area, and even extends itself possibly to West Bay past the Landing and beyond (like catching the flu), then it will be BURGEONING as someone says. YOU GO JAX!!!!!!!
comncense
April 04, 2009, 03:52:52 PMDid anyone get to check out the event at Mark's last night? I was very impressed with how things were set up. I know it was a Red Bull hosted night, but I liked the addition of the DJ outside with the videos being projected on the white screen. Too bad that couldn't be a regular thing.
02roadking
April 05, 2009, 11:03:28 AMThis guy was walking by Friday's HH wanting to bum a smoke. He had this unicycle... Sure, I'll give you smoke...if you ride that thing.
Coolyfett
April 05, 2009, 06:51:38 PMImpressive....Most Impressive!!!!
Shwaz
April 06, 2009, 11:34:03 AMLast Friday's Downtown-Destination outting was a blast!
Every major city's party district has hot dog carts. Rush & Division (Chicago) / Boston / NYC.
A lot of people just want something quick vs. a long sit down breakfast. Especially if you're going back to a house party to continue into the early morning hours.
David
April 06, 2009, 01:38:38 PMUp until recently, there was virtually no where to eat late at night in the urban core area. Although now we have a few more options, it's still slim pickings... so the hotdog vendors attempt to fill that void at night.
5PointsGuy
April 07, 2009, 09:34:00 AMOk, you obviously missed the point of my post. I'm talking about shear volume of venues on Bay St. With one or two bars in between Ivy's and Mark's in addition to North Star, it would have roughly the same venue count as the strip in Gainesville. As far as comparing the entertainment value of Gville's strip and Bay St., they are two different beasts with two different settings and population demographics. They can't be compared in that sense. Downtown needs to be compared to its competition, ie the Beaches and the dance clubs in between the Downtown and the Beach.
On a different note, the Red Bull/Motocross was a big hit, huge crowd and great vibe. Well done in putting that together Mark.
fsujax
April 07, 2009, 09:50:39 AMI agree. It's very hard to compare Bay St to Gainesville's strip or even Tallahassee's Tennessee St, these are soley geared towards college students. The demographics for Jacksonville's market are different. Even though, we do have lots of college studens around, they are not as concentrated in such a small area.