Ashley Street: The Harlem of the South

[heights unknown]

What a great thread!  HU, I love the insight from a "man on the street".  It is a shame as to what has happened to downtown.  There is such a rich cultural history to JAX that we have just lost.  Being a native Floridian, we always regarded JAX as a an older town that was more blue collar.  You would drive through it and there would be ships downtown and people working and some pretty wild smells, but like I said, it was a working class city.  now I think there is a push to make it look like Tampa or Orlando (God help us) where if they just looked to some of these photos and got more input, they would see a plan already there.

Thanks Ron.  I agree Ron, it is a shame what has happened to not only downtown, but to all of Jacksonville, whether it be the psychological standpoint, infrastructure, transportation, parks, downtown, whatever.  We shouldn't be that way (having a problem with our identity) but our leaders helped us get that way.  We will never shed the image, I believe, of Jax being the blue collar, working class, redneck, backwoods large city with a small town atmosphere; but we can move on and integrate the new stuff along with our history and our image of who we really are.  We will never be Tampa, Orlando, or Miami, so we need to create our own identity, or just come to grips with who we are and live with it.

Yeah Ron, I "was" a man on the street back in the day, still have my roots and foundation in that area, but I will never wear my pants down to my ass and embrace gangsta thug music or the scene; but I know who I am, where I am from ("Big Jax), and who I always will be in heart.

Heights Unknown

[Ron Mexico]

Unfortunately, we get the leadership we elect.  Too bad the real estate boom fueled a lot of the elections in this town IMO. 

Having some many developers on the Council doesn't speak well for the future either.

[BigBlackRod]

I came to Ashley Street in the '80's, when it was on its last legs, but it still had a certain savage charm, and folks came from miles around to party at the juke joints and nightclubs that dotted the neighborhood. I remember how we used to charter school buses to go to American Beach (another Black landmark that has gone the way of the dodo), to party and enjoy the company of friends. By the time I got to Uptown, as we called it, Lenape's was an illegal drug emporium, and the famous rail where Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington once sat and smoked cigarettes, served as a waiting area for junkies while pushers brought their purchases out to them. I remember drinking fountain sodas at Reyno's Drugs, but soon all of the legitimate businesses abandoned the area for greener pastures, leaving only bars and poolrooms. There were specialty clubs, where certain societal groups would gather: the older folks would drink at Braren's Bar, or "Wineborough", as it was nicknamed. The cool "Superfly" dudes would congregate at Pik-Up, and there was even a sizable gay contingent that frequented the Paradise Bar. I recall just going from bar to juke joint to poolroom, to diner to shine house, and on and on, all through the night. There were several joints that stayed open ALL night, something that would never happen today. I know, it all sounds really decadent, and it was. But it was never boring...PEACE.

[thelakelander]

Thanks for the insight.  Its always great to hear these types of stories from those who lived in LaVilla when it was still a neighborhood.

[JeffreyS]

It is hard to believe how under utilized Lavilla and Brooklyn have been. Maybe the courthouse will help.

[Ocklawaha]

Welcome to the family BigBlackRod! If you lived or played in Lavilla during the 1960's, we've probably crossed paths... I was the little white kid (yeah I was once little), always hanging out at Union Station. In fact myself and a younger black friend would watch trains for hours. He went on to become one of the best railroad/aviation artists of our time. The shops on Bay (between trains) were the bomb.

OCKLAWAHA

[BigBlackRod]

My grandfather was an iceman at the Terminal; I remember riding with him on his forklift. I also remember the stifling racism of the time, and being ran off from some of the more appealing areas, told that "You cain't go in theah!" I also remember nice White ladies like Miss Bell, who lived next door and was always cooking something sweet. My mother grew up on Duval street in the fifties; amazingly, the house where she lived still stands, while the neighborhood around has vanished. I think Black folks were told that our history doesn't matter so many times, that we now believe it. Lenape's should be preserved, if nothing else does...PEACE.

[ow09]

If anyone has not read the June 2008 article in FolioWeekly about LaVilla and the ubran renewal project, it's available here:

http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/2008/06/19/ghosts-of-lavilla-how-jacksonvilles-great-urban-redevelopment-experiment-betrayed-city-residents-and-black-history/