JAX 89 Jacksonville in 1989-The Christmas it Snowed, Toll Booths Come Down, Dames Point Bridge Opens

[@TalkMyShiit]

Lol, I was 11 … i remember this and it was surreal something I will never forget!

[@jotacalvo]

Aw man, I wanted to go to that Jane's Addiction show so badly! But I was afraid that my dad would ask to see the cover of the album, so I lost the nerve (he didn’t know the music I was listening to at the time lol). But I did go to Einstein's the week before or after, can’t remember which. I saw Aleka's Attic, Rain and River Phoenix's band. It was forgettable, aside from meeting a movie star of the time. There’s actually a video floating around here on YT of the show, and I can see myself standing at the front of the stage. Would have much rather been at JA though. I made up for it by attending the first Lollapalooza near Daytona, but still not the same. I had gone to Nease earlier in the 80's. I remember one of the teachers there moonlighted by doing the sound at Einstein’s. He said Perry F was quite strange, as if we had to ask. Jax in the 80's, Jax Bch in particular, were some fun times. Although I wouldn’t choose to go back, I have some great memories of a lot of stuff you mention in your videos. Thanks for all the hard work on your videos!

[@TheJaxLeft]

Thanks!

[@jagagator8324]

1989!!! So many memories of Jacksonville for me that year! I lived off Justina Road between Merrill and Ft. Caroline Roads near JU back then, in the Arlington area (not far from where you grew up on Morgana rd.) on a street named Pompano Drive (where there was a distinct Water Tower and a Catholic church nearby on Justina). Cesery Blvd. was also nearby. Me and my younger sister fondly remember playing in the snow that Christmas when I was 6 years old. '89 was also the year my family moved here, around April. I still live in Arlington (as of now) but by where Merrill rd. ended at what is now known as Wonderwood Drive.

[@TheLegionofAwesome]

I remember this. My brother and I talk about this sometimes. So glad I found this channel. Subscribed!!!

[@Drinosi]

My first Christmas in Florida. I was 9. I had just moved down from Connecticut. I couldn't understand why everyone was going on about how great the snow was because I was used to several feet of snow and this was child's play to me. I didn't realize how rare this was at the time. People were sledding down the road on flattened cardboard boxes. It wasn't until a few years later that I really understood why all the neighborhood kids were so excited.

[@karentucker2161]

I remember when this happened. My mom just had my brother 2 weeks before this happened. I was the first one up and woke every single person up to look at it.

[@rob46711]

1989 was a somewhat exciting year for me. Started out with me as a Junior at Fletcher Sr High playing JV baseball. Then between my Junior and Senior year I went through Army Basic Training. The finished the year with the snow. My dad didn't get to see the snow though. He was stationed on the USS Forestall and was on a Med Cruise at the time.

[@jryland6]

I still have pics of the snow, ours stayed on the ground for a week or more. Took me 4 hrs to thaw out the car door lock so the my keys would work. Will post pics at a later date. Have to go thru the huge collection of pics I have.

[@Shelly_is_crazy]

I remember we had NO CLUE HOW TO DRIVE IN THE SNOW. BEING A SOUTHERN GAL but BOY did WE HAVE FUN playing in it.

[@someoneelse745]

I remember this like it was yesterday. I was about to turn 7. My sister woke me up and told me to come outside. When I walked out I was hit in the face with an iceball. I begged my mom to let me sled down the Dames Point Bridge but that wasn't gonna happen.

[@odins2ravens]

We must be around the same age. I was going into the 7th grade in 89-90. I would have gone to Sandalwood, but Landmark Middle school opened that year, so I spent a few years there until finally attending Sandalwood for High skrool. But 88-89, myself and the other neighborhood kids were shipped to the northside for 6th grade (George Washington Carver, Susie Tolbert, etc.) as part of some social experiment to desegregate the population. Ironically, they shipped mostly black kids with us since we had a HUD housing complex in our neighborhood, and it housed mostly black folks.

[@DannyLanham]

I remember the fear I had when the storm hit. I was supposed to fly in from Kentucky to see my eventual wife. Luckily I was one of the first flights into JAX after it opened. Thanks for jogging memories that were great but lost in the fog of time.

[@douglasbell8408]

You could drive through the ones with the baskets!

[@thomash.schwed3662]

Even though the intersection has been rebuilt since then, the photograph of Beach and Southside Blvds. bring back memories for me of attending school there 28-29 years later. Due to circumstances at the time, eventually my attending school there became more of a social activity than an actual learning experience. I started July 2017, and almost immediately lost a month to the hurricane which swept through Jacksonville. (Particularly Riverside, Avondale and the Westside. I remember walking from Downtown to the Roosevelt Mall and seeing it for myself. With each step I took in that south-westerly direction, the worse was the damage.) By the time we got back, the course had changed to being online, but we had to show up in person because that was how the faculty got paid. Despite the changes, the owner of the school could not get new accreditation and ended up closing December 2018. Incidentally, the Piccadilly Cafeteria was still there by the time I was there. Of course, the Shell station had been demolished and completely rebuilt. And Memorial Hospital was, it seemed, undergoing constant renovation by that time. I'm glad you mentioned the fact that it was the people who decided to get rid of the toll plazas in Jacksonville. That '88 vote was a real moment of clarity. Regrettably, "Tricky Ricky" Scott decided to bring tolls back to Jacksonville, in the form of State Route 23 on the far Westside; and, of course, Ron DeSantis (and, given his mishandling of the current pandemic, I have an interesting nickname for him, although, for obvious reasons, I won't mention it here) is more than willing to keep that in place, even though I thought the gas tax is supposed to cover that. Those of us who have spent any significant amount of time in Jacksonville know that traffic there is horrendous under normal conditions. It would seem to me that bringing back tolls would only make it even worse. What's next? Traffic circles? (Not to give anyone any ideas.)

[@ibtaba]

I started at wolfson HS that year.

[@bighurt7107]

Hey, what's up... I heard the Dupont reference, I'm from the area. Are you related to my old teacher Coach Farrar at Wolfson??

[@TheJaxLeft]

Hi, No, I don't happen to be. Thanks for watching!

[@bighurt7107]

Yessirrr!. The Expos!

[@alexander1485]

I was almost 5

[@shawnp6744]

June 1989 visited Jax/Mayport for a weekend from Charleston. No east end Bridge had to go downtown. February 1990 transfer to Mayport and the East End Bridge is open. Loved Jax. Lived 90-92, 95-00. Good times.