Historic Five Points: Jacksonville's Bohemian District

[Metro Jacksonville]

Historic Five Points: Jacksonville's Bohemian District



In modern usage, a bohemian can describe any person who lives an unconventional artistic life, where self-expression is the highest value — that art (acting, poetry, writing, singing, dancing, painting etc) is a serious and main focus of their life. The term was applied particularly to the poets and writers of Carmel-By-The-Sea and the Bloomsbury Group in the first half of the 20th century, and, early in the 21st century, to a style of female fashion ( boho-chic ).  Today Metro Jacksonville showcases Historic Five Points.

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http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/248

[JJ]

If somebody from out of town saw this tour would think Jacksonville was a nice, progressive town?

[Jason]

I know I would.


Great tour, I learned a few things myself.

[stephendare]

Five Points was a wonderful experience.

It was totally about creating a home for the bohemians in Jacksonville.  At the time we really didnt have one place where it was comfortable to be a little offbeat or artistic.  San Marco was pretty great but still more the domain of the Laura Ashley ladies of River Road than anything else.

The Grafitti Project was terribly controversial when I did it.  Marta Fitzgerald, the Times Union reporter who married Rush Limbaugh wrote her last story about it before she left off to get hitched to Captain Oxycontin.

The pictures are amazing.  Ive got quite a few from the transition time as well.

[Jason]

Please share them in the forums Stephen!

[plantationpride]

I grew up on Amelia Island but traveled back and forth to Jax for church and school.  There's absolutely nothing on the internet on any of the gay bars during the late 70s and early 80s.  I was hoping to reminisce about some of those early years of dance clubs and early morning breakfasts at the Derby House in Five Points.

At the time, the OP Club (Old Plantation) was THE dance place, with the "confetti cannon" showering the dance floor to the tunes of "Last Dance", "Celeberation", and "Gloria".  I discovered this place just inches after the "disco" was ushered out and changed to "dance", with a new pop/rock sound featuring synthesizers ("Bette Davis Eyes", "Don't You Want Me (Baby)" and "Don't Talk To Strangers").  Here's testing my memory; there was a drag bar in Downtown but I can't remember the name.  It freaked me out at first, but once I passed through the downstairs bar, and moved upstairs to the cabaret, I found the lip-synchers quite entertaining.  There was one particular performer, on the heavy side, who sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going", doing a great job, but rather exaggerating moments of seizures until one of her Nerf footballs popped out!  She brought the house down!

Then there was the Halloween contest of 1982 at "Brothers" on May Street, a small neighborhood bar where I learned to play pool.  I thought for sure I would win a prize, but my space warrior costume (sewn completely by hand, no machine) didn't even register against the fellow who won dressed as Faye Dunaway/dressed as Joan Crawford in :Mommie Dearest". 

Once, I passed by a Levi's and Leather bar called the "Phoenix"  near Hendricks and Phoenix, but I didn't dare go in.  With "The Preppy Handbook" currently the best-seller, I was a preppy at the time, so common sense sent me a message I wouldn't get sent any free drinks there!  There was the one time I went to a bar near King and Park that had the word "Junction" in it.  Very small and neighborly.

After graduating from HS, I soon leanred where the good areas were.  I had a great apartment on Riverside Avenue, but no car.  I walked once all the way to the Roosevelt Mall to see the geese on my way in to the music shop.  I liked eating at Wendy's on Park and Margaret Streets.  By day I used to shop at "Edge City Clothing", buy a book at "Cokesbury Methodist Bookstore" which I think was on Park Street at Goodwin (but I could be wrong), feed the ducks at Riversdie Park, and go to the movies at the Five Points Theatre.  I wandered over to Lee & Williams Antiques on the corner of Riverside and Osceola, owned by Dr. Ed Williams and Jerry Lee.  To my shock and surprise, Jerry Lee had been my Sunday School teacher at Victory Baptist Church on Lem Turner Road some 10 years earlier, and now, here he was, with this, this... man!  Two of the most charming, caring people.  By December 1982, I was on a plane to Los Angeles, but I never realized how fortunate I was to have a great apartment in such a great neighborhood.  I would love to have feedback confirming if these places actually exisited, or over time, actually turned out to be a dream... a pleasant dream.

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

Awesome post.

[RiversideGator]

Five Points was a wonderful experience.

It was totally about creating a home for the bohemians in Jacksonville.  At the time we really didnt have one place where it was comfortable to be a little offbeat or artistic.  San Marco was pretty great but still more the domain of the Laura Ashley ladies of River Road than anything else.

The Grafitti Project was terribly controversial when I did it.  Marta Fitzgerald, the Times Union reporter who married Rush Limbaugh wrote her last story about it before she left off to get hitched to Captain Oxycontin.

The pictures are amazing.  Ive got quite a few from the transition time as well.

Ahh the graffiti project.  Sounds productive.  Whatever happened to this?

BTW, is this a reference to the bad street art painted on the building on the east side of Lomax Street?

[stephendare]

Five Points was a wonderful experience.

It was totally about creating a home for the bohemians in Jacksonville.  At the time we really didnt have one place where it was comfortable to be a little offbeat or artistic.  San Marco was pretty great but still more the domain of the Laura Ashley ladies of River Road than anything else.

The Grafitti Project was terribly controversial when I did it.  Marta Fitzgerald, the Times Union reporter who married Rush Limbaugh wrote her last story about it before she left off to get hitched to Captain Oxycontin.

The pictures are amazing.  Ive got quite a few from the transition time as well.

Ahh the graffiti project.  Sounds productive.  Whatever happened to this?

BTW, is this a reference to the bad street art painted on the building on the east side of Lomax Street?

No, I actually despise that mural (its not 'street art', btw) intrinsically

The Graffiti Wall of Fame was actually behind the buildings where the parking is.

It was a landmark both locally and nationally for a good decade.

However when they yuppification began in earnest, the wall was boarded off and parts of it painted over.

I don't know how much of it still exists.

[RiversideGator]

I think that mural would qualify as street art using the hated wikipedia's definition:

Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to art of an illicit nature, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term Street Art or the more specific Post-Graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art

[stephendare]

lol.   No wonder you took up Law, rather than art.

[RiversideGator]

Either way, based on that definition the mural is "street art".

[rjp2008]

Riverside Square, Publix and 1661 area is nice.

But the Five Points intersection area - though artsy - comes across as old and dirty to me.