Some Orlando Institutions Long gone (Conway, Lee: store, land, parking)

[deaddude_rc]

Originally Posted by DaveG99

Back in the mid 90's we used to go to the sunland mental hospital in the middle of the night and walk around. It was pretty creepy and run down back then.

Dude, I totally remember hanging out in that place with my friends, too (before and after they demolished it)...it wasn't really that scary at all (except for the fact that we were hanging out in a supposedly haunted place all by ourselves late at night, but that actually made it all the more exciting)...in fact, I think it was one of the most AWESOME AND WICKED places I have ever been to!!!

[G30Jack]

What happened to El Pollo Loco in Orlando? They were there when I left in 88 and I looked for them when I was down on vacation. All gone! There was one on 50 out towards Pine Hills. It kept me alive back in the day.

[GABMER]

Originally Posted by Prichard

Man, that's a flash from the past! BJ105 - that cracked me up.

I remember most of those except: Gimme Shelter

See if you remember any of these old bits of Orlando trivia (some of which are still here):

Kappy's Subs
Orange Avenue Gym
Sunland Mental Hospital
Zeta7
University Club
The Rainbow Lounge
Club Space Fish
"I WANT TO SELL YOU A CAR.....TAKE IT AWAY, BOB"
Glen Turner's Castle
Bozo the Clown
Bob Snow
The Winter Park Mall (and the big fountain)

Sure, I remember Circus World. What a disaster that place was - I remember spending a few hours there and thinking, "who would ever come back here"? In fact, the only thing I remember of it that was noteworthy was the elephant ride. That was kind of neat, but it was blazing hot out that day and neither I nor the elephant were having much fun.

It was "I want to sell you a van....."

[bdpop]

Originally Posted by GABMER

It was "I want to sell you a van....."

Before it was "I want to sell you a van"; it was "I want to sell you a car", back in the Massey Grindle Dodge days.

[mjmkwray]

Just happened on this--Is "Ice Cold Auto Air" still on the corner of Colonial and ?

[zizzle]

This was funny, well you have to remember that Orlando is a great test market due to the visitors we have. Busineses testing their brands will develop here so just in case it flops, customers don't remember that business after it's gone.

[johnatl]

Some more that I can think of:

Gary's Duck Inn
The Steakout (Lee Rd.)
East India Ice Cream Co.
Valentyne's

[G30Jack]

Originally Posted by bdpop

Before it was "I want to sell you a van"; it was "I want to sell you a car", back in the Massey Grindle Dodge days.

Rip it in half!

Art Swindle. I forgot all about him. Seems every place has a car guy like him. In Southern CA it was Cal Worthington and his dog Spot. Spot was a Bengal Tiger.

[ppavlovsky]

Does anyone remember an area off Orange Ave near Michigan that was referred to midget town. It was a small (poor choice of words) community for little people. Their homes were scaled down in size.

[bigbillyt]

Great Thread, brings up tons of old memories. I have lived here since I was born in '62 so I remember most of the places mentioned on this thread, and a few more. First, the housing for vertically challenged folks is, or was, off of Kaley just East of Orange Ave. I am not sure if it is still there since I haven't paid attention when passing by there in years.

Some other spots I have fond memories of that haven't been mentoined yet.

Farrell's Ice Cream that was in the Altamonte Mall - They had these great giant sandwiches that you couod get slices of, and a huge Ice Cream concoction called the "Zoo", I think it was like the Magombo, in that if you ate the whole thing by yourself it was free. They appear to be making a resurgance in CA and possibly Hawaii.

Bill Baer's TV and Stereo - I think this was originally downtown and then had a location in Colonial Plaza and later in Winter Park Mall. It was the place to go to get the hot LPs of the day, prior to places like East West and such. I loved the Polar Bears, and Bill Baer was a real character.

Albert's Drugstore - I believe this was on the corner of Princeton and Edgewater Dr. in College Park. We used to hang out at the lunch counter and buy comic books here, especialy when there was an Art Festival there in College Park.

College Park Art Festival - Before Winter Park's event became the big deal it is now, this was the place to see art and artists (my sister had a booth one year). They closed off Edgewater for two days and had a great street festival.

Sampan chinese restaurant in College Park on Edgewater - Wade and Eddie were friends of our family and always cooked up the best chinese food anywhere. It is probably just a trick of memory, but I cannot think of any better egg rolls, pepper streak or sweet and sour pork anywhere.

Rexall Drugs at Michigan and Orange and the one at Curry Ford and Crystal Lake Dr - Another great lunch counter and all around discount store before Walgreens took over.

A few other quick takes:

Old World Cheese Shop at Aloma and Lakemont - Awesome baked and fried specialties
Taco Tico - Best Fast Food Tacos EVER
GD Ritzy's on South Semoran - Great Ice Cream
Malcolm'c Hungy Bear W. Colonial - just okay food, but fun atmosphere

I still have a book of WDW A-E tickets from back in the day , and a few of the "Magic Key" tickets as well.

Funny though, so many of my memories center around food.