May-Cohens: Jacksonville's Big Store

[Metro Jacksonville]

May-Cohens: Jacksonville's Big Store



Metro Jacksonville highlights the rise and fall of downtown Jacksonville's Big Store: May-Cohens.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-nov-may-cohens-jacksonvilles-big-store

[Wacca Pilatka]

Great article.

I read that the convention center site decision was one of the motivations for Cohen's making that warning announcement in 1982 about a potential future closing.  I understand this coincided with the closing of the (Robert Meyer) Holiday Inn as well.

[KenFSU]

Some really fantastic photos in here.

Great job.

[ben says]

Love these photos, but damn, every time another gets posted I can't help but to think, "If only Jacksonville wasn't burned and subsequently torn down via inane city policies and poor leadership, this place would be another Charleston/Savannah/New Orleans style city." So sad...

[thelakelander]

^It definitely would.  However, my view is the more and more we dig, the more potential we discover that this place has and that we're not starting from scratch.  If we can get our head in the game, Jax's future can be just as great as its past.

[Jumpinjack]

As you say, Cohens was kind of the anchor store on Hemming Plaza square. Surrounding it were other stores, Penneys, Wooworths, Jacob Jewlers, Morrison's cafeteria. It created a center of town vibe.

[avonjax]

I shopped at Cohen's/May-Cohen's for years and eventually worked there in the early 80's. Downtown was a shopping mecca in the 50's and 60's, (I was born in the 50's and worked at Furchgott's in the late 60's.) Cohen's was a very cool store. You could buy most things you needed under one roof. And it had a cool basement. I am so glad I had the opportunity to work at Cohen's, Furchgott's and Ivey's downtown. It was an experience that will never be duplicated in Jacksonville. At least not in my lifetime. During that time, even into the 70's there was a tremendous amount of activity on the streets and most blocks were filled with shops and restaurants. I'm not one to live in the past, but I do miss those downtown days. If you are young or new to the area and never saw downtown when it was vibrant and it wasn't filled with empty lots, you will understand at the remorse for what it has become. Let's just hope that in the very near future it will be revived albeit into a new form. I don't pine for the good old days, but for downtown I do.

[Tacachale]

^It definitely would.  However, my view is the more and more we dig, the more potential we discover that this place has and that we're not starting from scratch.  If we can get our head in the game, Jax's future can be just as great as its past.

I agree 100%. It all centers on the core though. People don't go to Savannah to hang out in East Savannah and the Northwoods Mall is hardly the high point of a visit to Charleston.

[ben says]

While I want downtown to be just that, a center/core, I do believe Riverside/Avondale is as "core-like" as we're gonna get, and we should work on perfecting that area of town before we over-extend ourselves with too many mini projects.

[Tacachale]

^Downtown, Springfield, and San Marco are all within a mile or two from Riverside. I don't think that qualifies as over-extending. What we need is more integration between all of them; that's were we'll see the real difference.

[ben says]

I agree in part and disagree in part.

I agree that Springfield, Downtown, and San Marco are geographically close to Riverside.

I disagree with the idea that we can talk about them as one integrated "section" of town and I don't believe the only thing lacking to that integration is transportation. Even with adequate transportation, can we honestly say there's a huge demographic of people who want to hang out downtown? When we had trolley cars, yes, but now? I want to see trolley cars return as bad as I want to win the lottery and pay of my student loans and to see the Jags win the Super Bowl this year and yada yada yada. At what point does our longing for the past border on delusions of grandeur?

Furthermore, w/ regards to Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans--what makes them so great isn't necessarily geographic closeness. What makes them great is walkability. San Marco is extremely close to Riverside...but who would want to walk that? Ditto Downtown to Riverside. I've walked it--and it was terrible. No intentions of walking over the bridge, either.

[finehoe]

The interior featured a huge octagonal glass dome supported by eight colossal statues to flood the interior with natural light.

Does anyone know if any pictures exist of this?  Would love to see those.

[Wacca Pilatka]

The interior featured a huge octagonal glass dome supported by eight colossal statues to flood the interior with natural light.

Does anyone know if any pictures exist of this?  Would love to see those.

There's some nice ones in "The Architecture of Henry John Klutho" by Bob Broward.  It's avaialble in the libraries and at the Historical Society store.  I'll scan and post if I have a chance this week.

The dome and statues inside City Hall now are an attempt to recreate the appearance of the original dome, but of course the configuration is different and the dome/statues look more cheaply made than the originals.

[finehoe]

I'll scan and post if I have a chance this week.

That would be awesome!  Thanks!

[thelakelander]

Furthermore, w/ regards to Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans--what makes them so great isn't necessarily geographic closeness. What makes them great is walkability. San Marco is extremely close to Riverside...but who would want to walk that? Ditto Downtown to Riverside. I've walked it--and it was terrible. No intentions of walking over the bridge, either.

This is where mass transit plays a huge role.  It extends walkability by immediately connecting isolated pedestrian friendly nodes together and it serves as a catalyst for transit oriented development that eventually fills in the gaps with pedestrian scale development.  Instead of a downtown being isolated, it becomes a subdistrict of a larger urban core. 

Instead of waiting a decade for new residential development in the heart of downtown, you can live in a New Springfield now and immediately have access without a car to Five Points, Downtown and San Marco Square.  For its costs and its impact on urban development, from a public sector standpoint, its probably the most sure fire way to kick an urban revitalization process into high gear.