In 2014, I was very excited when Florida Times-Union Newspaper Editor Joe DeSalvo called and asked (since I lived in Jacksonville Beach) if I would like to be a regular contributor to the Shorelines section – a special section that appeared each Saturday for beaches subscribers.
Happy Faces Ice Cream Truck (From my home off Ninth Street, it seemed I had heard the Ghostbusters theme from this ice cream truck for more than a decade, and I was proved right when I met owner Ferando Sola. He was a happy man with a colorful past who shared a wonderful story about…
Cruiser’s Reopening (When we first moved to Jax Beach, my wife and I were introduced to Cruiser’s…where we noticed a very strong similarity to the food we used to have at Snuffer’s, a restaurant in Dallas, Texas, that we patronized back when we were dating in the early 90s – especially their famous cheddar fries.…
Gregory’s Jewelers (It’s always a pleasure to write about a family-owned business that has graced the beaches for so long, so it was wonderful to meet the owners Gregory Georgallis and his wife JoAnne, to find out more about the jeweler’s history. Also, in writing this, I discovered that Gregory lost his battle and succumbed…
Parson’s Restaurant (When me and my wife were visiting from Atlanta in 2002 and searching for a home in Jacksonville Beach, we were looking for a local place to have seafood. The front desk manager at the old Holiday Inn suggested Gene’s Seafood on Penman Road. We loved it…and continued ordering the same dishes from…
The demise of Billy’s Boathouse and Billy Cissel’s Comeback at RP’s (With the loss of the old Lighthouse Restaurant across Beach Boulevard a few years before, it was sad to write this advance on the loss of Billy’s Boathouse at Beach Marine…) New townhomes, restaurants and a hotel are some of the major changes being…
The end of an era at Pablo Plaza (This article was an especially tough one to write, since I personally knew most of the men and women who worked at Ellen’s Kitchen, Concept Cutters and Monkey’s Uncle Tavern since our home is a few blocks away. Most of the stores and businesses found new locations…
Player’s Café (This one gave me the chance to finally talk to John Gaughan at Channel 4 (though his interview didn’t make it), who were among many local celebrities depicted on the walls of this lost diner in Ponte Vedra – and I sorely miss their crinkle-cut French Fries and Patty Melt!)