[airboat5]

I was born in oviedo fl just outside orlando in the 60s.it was a magjical time growing up in fl.miles and miles of orange groves.436 was a two lane road. and hundreds of clean pond s rivers and lakes to fish and swim in.me and my dad fished most of them.I MISS THOSE DAYS and my dad hes gone now just like my child hood fishing holes.I moved away in the90s to serve in the airforce. I RETURNED TEN YEARS LATER. to find my child home gone fishing holes filled in or homes around them.lake apopka now a waste land a mini dead sea.its like fl packed up and left me alone.I live in texas now and hate coming home to fl to see what it is now. my home state is still close to my heart but Iam not sure what to make of it. I miss my old home its only in my dreams now.god bless kitty

[Doctor Octagon]

I miss those days too, although I am a bit younger, it has changed a lot in my lifetime too.

I too miss "old Florida." I know exactly what you mean airboatbill.

[seeriously]

Kitty, we can all say this about anywhere, any place that we grew up in America in the 60s. It's changed across the board. Days of playing stick ball in the streets, safe from oncoming traffic and lurking pedophiles, dodge ball in wide open spaces, orange popsicles that dripped down our arms, red keds... it's all gone. And I grew up in Massachusetts!

[mango23]

Originally Posted by airboatbill

I was born in oviedo fl just outside orlando in the 60s.it was a magjical time growing up in fl.miles and miles of orange groves.436 was a two lane road. and hundreds of clean pond s rivers and lakes to fish and swim in.me and my dad fished most of them.I MISS THOSE DAYS and my dad hes gone now just like my child hood fishing holes.I moved away in the90s to serve in the airforce. I RETURNED TEN YEARS LATER. to find my child home gone fishing holes filled in or homes around them.lake apopka now a waste land a mini dead sea.its like fl packed up and left me alone.I live in texas now and hate coming home to fl to see what it is now. my home state is still close to my heart but Iam not sure what to make of it. I miss my old home its only in my dreams now.god bless kitty

I also grew up in South Florida in the 50's and 60's. It was a tom Sawyer existence for a kid. We fished went swimming in the canals, had rope swings, made rafts, ate fruit off the trees, road our bikes everywhere. We would be gone from sun up to sunset in the summer and no one had to call the cops thinking we were kidnapped or anything. When I was about 12 I started working as a mate on a drift boat. My father also owned a charter boat so I knew what I was doing at a young age. When I first got a drivers license I would drive out Oakland Park Blvd. in Broward county to go shooting. Just past 441 I would be on a dirt road and drive to about where University Dr. is now. There was nothing there at all. I would shoot in what would be someone's back yard today.

Florida really grew in a very short time. 40 years and you could not recognize the place. Always tearing down things that were only built a few years earlier. Did I like it, I guess, I didn't know any better. Would I want to live and raise a family today like I grew up? I don't really think so, not today. You can go places now like Florida was like way back then, they still exist.

[xlabel]

I remember when there were still quite a few orange groves in Pinellas County, now theres only 2 small ones I know of. When I was a kid I'd catch huge fish using a piece of something I found in the fridge, in some of the creeks draining in to Tampa Bay. I could fish in that exact spot today and not even get a bite all day.

The big deal at Disney back then was the opening of Space Mountain and at Busch Gardens it was the Python, those rides are a joke compared to what they have now.

[airboat5]

I think what made it hard was I left for so long I watched fl change in one jump here one day gone the next.I wish Icould have taken my kids to some of these old haunts of mine. the coolest thing I remember is going to disney world opening day with my grandfather. it was still in the middle of no where.oh yeh the old rides where much better tan the new ones.Iam glad they kept some of them.kitty

[kshe95girl]

DH grew up in College Park in the 60's, he graduated from Edgewater in '76. He talks about Orlando in exactly the same terms!
I feel so bad for him. I come from a village in the midwest where nothing changes, so at least I still have a sense of place and permanence. Dont know what I would do if what happened to Orlando happened to my hometown.

[airboat5]

we used to get maryland fried chicken and go to lake downey then blow it out at the two drive inns on east 50 that was cool.

[mango23]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

DH grew up in College Park in the 60's, he graduated from Edgewater in '76. He talks about Orlando in exactly the same terms!
I feel so bad for him. I come from a village in the midwest where nothing changes, so at least I still have a sense of place and permanence. Dont know what I would do if what happened to Orlando happened to my hometown.

I don't think someone coming to Florida in the last few years can imagine how fast the growth was. In the 1960's I used to drag race on US 1 in Fort Lauderdale right where the airport is now. At 2 in the morning there was not a car on the road or a cop to be found.

[ferretlady4719]

Sigh.... yes, the "old" Orlando before the Mouse took over was a wonderful place to grow up. I grew up on the outskirts of Pine Hills in the early 60's -- believe it or not, Pine Hills was considered one of the better parts of Orlando back then! Our street was only partially developed - there were more empty lots than there were houses, and there was a HUGE field/meadow/light woods behind the houses that went on for several miles in some directions. Gopher tortoises all over the place, a lovely little stream ran right behind our house, full of tiny fish, frogs, etc.
Huge clumps of lantana growing wild all over the place & tons of wildflowers & interesting plants and critters. We used to love exploring "the field" (as we kids called it) and were always spotting something new back there.

Orlando as a whole was so nice back then - there was enough shopping & things around to fill those needs, but it was still uncrowded & not so over-developed. We'd ride over to Daytona many a weekend - you could still find nice shells then, I remember my dad gently picking up live starfish out of the ocean to show me, then putting them back... Weekend outings, we'd sometimes run up to Six Gun Territory, Marineland, Cypress Gardens or Silver Springs... or closer by, Gatorland or the Citrus Tower... Clermont was virtually nothing but orange groves - absolutely beautiful out there.

I've always had mixed love-hate feelings about Disney. My best friend & I spent tons of time at the Magic Kingdom in our teenage years, during the first few years they were open - and I do have memories of lots of good times out there -- but I hate what Disney & the explosive growth did to Orange County (and Osceola as well... )

There still are a lot of lovely places in FL though -- not *all* of Florida is over-developed & over-crowded like Orlando/Tampa/Miami/etc. I think many of the same problems found in Orlando or Miami could be found in most any large city -- people just aren't meant to live packed together like sardines in a can IMO

But while I miss the "old" central Florida that I grew up in, I'll still take Florida over ANY other place, regardless of it's current problems. To *me* personally, it still is better than anywhere else & it will always be "home" to me. It's not for everyone, that's for sure - but it's the only place I've ever been totally truly happy, regardless of low pay or other issues.