Dori Igou Madison - Lifelong Resident of Audubon Park

Meet Dori — a lifelong Audubon Park-er who’s seen many iterations of the neighborhood, including the days when Harry P. Leu Gardens was still a place of residence and not a city park. 

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Transcript

 Hi friends. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Hello APGD, a neighborhood podcast about the Audubon Park Garden District in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Michael Lothrop, and my guest today is Dori Aigu Madison, lifelong resident of Audubon Park.  If you'd like to be a guest on the show, or if you'd like to be a sponsor, please feel free to message me on Instagram at helloapgdpod. 

Thank you for listening.  Support for this episode comes from Neighbor Bread, a small batch sourdough home bakery made with excellence and integrity in Audubon Park. Visit NeighborBreadOrlando. com and sign up for the newsletter to get the latest on order scheduling and availability.  With local delivery or pickup, it's as simple as that.

No social media, just bread. This episode is also brought to you by Red Panda Noodle. Made fresh daily. These wheat-based Chinese style noodles are pulled, sliced, and boiled. To order find your favorite dish by following them on Facebook and Instagram at Red Panda Noodle. Plus, check out their website, red panda noodle.com for the latest on food truck popup dates and other news. 

And with me today is Dory Igu Madison, lifelong resident of Audubon Park. Tori, welcome. 

Thank you, Michael, for having me. 

Thank you for being here. Jennifer Marvel, the executive director for the Main Street organization for Audubon Park, put us in touch. Uh, you had met the other night at the Lovely at a fundraiser, and she was thrilled to kind of hear stories of back when Lou Gardens was owned by the Lou family and Audubon Park from somebody who grew up here.

Mr. Lou's residence. I can't remember if his wife was alive, but  As kids, growing up on Loo Road across Merritt Park Drive, we would sneak over. Of course, the lake is so tempting. 

Yeah. 

And we wanted to jump in the lake, of course. And so, we would climb the trees. Eventually, we put nails and boards into the trees.

That I guess he didn't see for a long time. We climb up and we jump from those big trees into Lake Rowena. One time he finally caught up with us and he was mad and screaming at us. He didn't have children. Which is why we have a nice public garden. 

So there was nobody to inherit the gardens, right? So yeah.

Right. Why not make it a gift? And he was, um, quite angry, screaming at us and we figured he didn't have practice with children. So that was our excuse. 

Sure. 

But we kept sneaking.  

I mean, how could you not? It is so beautiful there. I mean, even today it's like, I mean, I know they're kind of redoing the deck area on the lake, but what a treat to be out there.

It's such a gift to the city of Orlando. And actually I'll be talking to the new director there soon on the podcast, which I'm very excited about as well. 

Did you know that that was a drive thru garden initially? 

You know, I did not. No, tell me more about that. The 

gate, if you go down, um, you get on Nebraska, that was the entrance.

Wow. 

And, you know, I didn't think he liked people and I had a personal experience that he probably didn't, but that was the original gate. And I, I imagine it might be because he said, I don't want people walking around because he was still living there, I think. 

Yeah. 

So, it was a drive through.  

That makes so much sense now that you mention it because there is that street and it's, yeah, it's, it's almost like a turn in, but it's gated and locked and yeah, just to think of the changes that have happened and the history there that The foundation that was laid and kind of what it's become now.

But, uh, yeah. What kind of early memories of Audubon park? Tell me, were you here even before the Navy base? 

Well, my family first moved into Audubon park, probably in 1942,  three, something like that. Um, my grandparents originally were living in Kissimmee and they had a lumber company in Kissimmee. And.  Up where Mills Park is at this time, there was a concrete plant called Kasam Building Supply, and it was owned by a man and a woman.

The woman's name was Doris Kassam, who ended up being my godmother, and I was named after. At the time, concrete was going crazy, you know, uh, the war demand was extraordinary, and they said we really should look at lumber supply. In 1933,  they began to speak with my grandfather. And said, why don't we put a lumber yard here next to the concrete plant and be kind of a one stop shop for what's probably going to be in great demand after the war, because growth, as we know, really kind of jumpstarted after the war.

So that's what they did. So my grandfather helped start Mills and Nebraska Lumber Company. In 1933, which was right there at Mills and Nebraska. And so, I of course wasn't born at the time. But, um, that, that was the business place of, um, for our family. And so,  my family,  Located nearby. So my father's parents lived on Merritt Park Drive.

Right behind them lived my mother's grandparents. And then my father built a house on Merritt Park Drive as well. So there were three out of four houses on that block were owned by my family. And, uh, That was before I was born, because we kind of had that generation thing. 

So, 

in my family, there were two older sisters and a brother, seven or eight years difference, and then my brother and I were born.

So, we missed that phenomenon, but my grandmother, the one that, Mel's a Nebraska family, continued to live on Merritt Park Drive, and it was, you know, less than a mile to work, For Mills and Nebraska Lumber,  and it was just the family area to run around. We, we used to go fishing. There's this strip into Lake Eola.

We used to make dough and get a fishing pole and go fish down there when I was three, four, whatever. I still remember that. Fishing with dough in Lake Rowena. And then of course, getting chased out of Lou Gardens by Mr. Lou.  Great experience. 

Sure.  

That was also growing up in Audubon Park. There was a lot of autonomy for kids because there wasn't a lot of growth, you know, in my youth.

And there were people that lived there and lived there a long time. So we used to walk up Corrine Drive, not feeling you're going to die from a car running into you like we do now. 

Right. 

And there were great little stores along the strip now that has red light.  and Park Avenue CDs. And part of my memory was certainly going up there and there was a Five and Dime owned by Mr.

and Mrs. Strange. You literally could take a nickel and buy a candy bar and then you'd go, you know, down to Roger's Diner, which sadly is closed, 

and you'd 

order french fries and go watch the Little League game where they're played now, right? At Audubon Park. 

Yeah. 

It was very cozy. and comfortable neighborhood.

It still is. I think it's back there. I think we have great energy here. It's wonderful. I, I moved away to the Maitland Winter Park area and raised my children there until high school, and then we moved back. So it's so fun to watch. When I grew up, all these kids were there and we ran around in the streets and, you know, You know, you waited till it was getting dark to go home and eat dinner, and nobody checked on you, that kind of thing.

Mm hmm. 

Now, in my same neighborhood, And there's these kids riding bikes and this young energy of families playing in the yard. And it's just magical to see what I see now, which was my childhood growing up in Audubon Park. 

Yeah, absolutely. It, you know, I, I moved into the neighborhood in 2002 and.  The school was still the old Audubon Park Elementary.

It was kind of on its way out. It became sort of like a temporary like magnet school for a bit.  Tiny school in comparison to Audubon Park School now. And it just, the neighborhood has changed so much in the past decade. Two decades since I've been here, just kind of watching the families move in, you know, some of the original owners kind of moving on.

And so you saw kind of the first iteration of it, and now you're seeing the second iteration of it, which is a pretty awesome thing. 

It's a magical place down, two doors down from me is, uh, another family, the daughter of a family that I grew up with, who's in there. Family's house as well. And there's several in the area and there's just great pride in that because certainly we, we had great pride when we were growing up in our houses, but to be able to live in Audubon Park, you know, these houses are solid.

You know, there's a lot of new growth, but the houses are solid. The neighborhoods are special. School is more special 

than ever. 

The retail environment is strong again. And. It is community, you know, and there's nothing better than to be able to walk or ride up to one of the local stores here and give them business and know that it's, it's right here in our neighborhood.

You don't have to run off to a faraway store to get ice cream or pick up something at, from Lovely or get a used book at Joybird. You know, I mean, I think it's, It's created, in the past 10 years, it's become its own magical place and its own personality  that is not too dissimilar from when I grew up here in the 60s and 

70s.

Wow. That's lovely to hear. 

My nickname growing up was Hunky Dory because I spent too much time at the diner, probably, and at the first Krispy Kreme.  Florida. 

Yes. 

Which was in the strip. 

Yes. That is where Sushi Lola, uh, is now. Yeah. Which 

is so great because we love Sushi Lola. Yes. And. I loved Krispy Kreme too much.

So, um, but it's kind of funny to watch the carrier store. It's fun to go in and drink a beer and think, yeah, this is the air conditioning store and the record shop is where the five and dime was. And prudence. Uh, I think I, I just remember that now there was a grocery store, which was really fun. 

Yeah. I had heard about that.

Do you know which spot that was in? 

It was between Sushi Lola.  And the diner there, they had like, it was like two or three of those spots. 

I wonder if it was where the lovely now is. You know what it probably was. Cause that is a big space, 

big space. And they had, it was a full service grocery store. 

Wow.

You know, back those days you'd charge your things, right? So I'm what? 10. 

Like you'd have a tab. Yes.  

You'd go in and say, my mother told me to pick up. You know, this ham,  that's good. Okay, Doris, here's the ham. We'll put it on your account. 

Wow. 

And I get up my binder. She's good 

for it. Yeah.  

That's the way the trust of the neighborhood was.

Uh huh. Wow. That's amazing. It's kind of funny, um, somewhat related. When Stardust first opened, they did have like tabs that you could, you could open a tab and like it would be for an extended period of time and they had the wall of shame for the people that owed a bunch of money on their tabs, which is one, I mean, that's one way to, I guess.

Resolve it or something, but it was more of kind of a performance piece because there were some people that were, I think they even put like the dollar amount on there. 

That is funny. I don't remember that. Oh, that was a set. That was my seven 11 growing up. It was. That was the 7 Eleven as opposed to where it faces, Corinne.

Yes, 

I had heard that. And, and perhaps also, like when you first walk into Stardust, and the ordering counter and where the kitchen is in the back, um, my understanding is that that was a pizza place. So there was 7 Eleven, pizza place, and then like a video game arcade to the left, like where that, uh, where that other spot is.

And now it's all one thing. 

I'm trying to remember, certainly at the corner where Big Daddy's was, was Sandroni's. Have you, anybody talked to you about?  

No. 

Oh yeah, well, that was the pizza place in town. People came from all over Orlando, College Park to the pizza place. 

That 

used to be owned by an Italian family, and it was one of the few places that had pizza in town, but they were a very proud family and diverse.

One of the. My daughter's was named Betta, and here you have all these macho Italian men cooking and, you know, moving around the place. And Betta always waited on us. She didn't look like one of the typical, you know, tiny little things running around, but she was always, we loved going in, and there's Betta and she's taking care of us.

Well, if you go in today, I believe they have pictures and things there of the family. Okay. Well, I ended up learning later in my life that Beta was a, um, Hermaphrodite. And,  that nobody made a big deal of it. Which is the way, you know, society should be. Right?  We just, that would be, that was part of our life.

Sandroni's there on the corner, Big Daddy's, of course, and the Navy base came  and it was, you know, a fun rowdy bar with all the Navy guys there. And that was always fun. Um, it's just, it's fun to see the local retailers back here  and thriving. Of course, what John Rife did to the church is magical. 

Mm hmm. 

My wife was actually the co founder. She 

was? Good for her. Thank you. Yeah, 

yeah, yeah. That was kind of a pet project. Yeah, she runs the farmer's market Monday nights at Stardust. So that was kind of an extension. You know, some of the vendors, um, and it, yeah, it was actually an idea that came up when we were visiting Seattle and there was a small neighborhood market food hall and, uh, John I came to her and said, I want to do a project and I don't know what, but Gabby was like, this neighborhood market would be a really cool thing and we were checking out that church that was sitting dormant and was like, what about this building?

So 

Well, thank you, Gabby. I heard Gabby's name and she was part of it and I never met her. And I want to thank you, Gabby. Our daughter lives in Seattle and, um, I'm kind of wanting to know where that market is. 

Yeah. It's Melrose market. It's in Capitol Hill. She 

lives in Capitol Hill. Yeah. I must've been to Melrose market.

Yeah. They had a cheese shop called Caffen kid. It's unfortunately closed. The market has changed quite a bit. We were there last year and, uh, you know, I think. Just  COVID times really put it through its paces, but it's kind of a similar scale to what East End is as well has changed the neighborhood so much, for sure.

It was a catalyst. Thank Gabby for that. And you know, I think everything meshed sociologically at that time, right? Because the housing turnover to younger families began, there was a interest for neighborhoods to have their own personalities and ripe for Audubon Park and these young families and, you know, good food movement, healthy food movement.

That was just magnificent. 

Yeah. 

So, it, it really kind of, all the factors kind of made that a successful project that Thank you. We still treasure today. I mean, we, we love it all. 

Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's sort of a product of its time, right? Just in, in the way that the inception of the neighborhood, it was like, this was basically built to be housing for Navy families and, and other workers in the area.

And it's like the initial idea of Audubon Park served the times really, really well. And then sort of the rebirth or however you want to call it, this sort of like rebranding, just renovation,  all of the things that are becoming what it is now are a product of the times. And as you said, the things that kind of lined up with it, with people's interests and things like that.

It's very true. And growing up here, our retail center was where  Barnes Noble is. 

That was 

a traditional mall.  And that was our retail center up there and big box stuff 

and 

then some local things. But. It's wonderful to be able to come here, just go up the street, and you have choices. You have retail choices, you have restaurant choices. 

I think it's magical. It makes me even more proud to live in Audubon Park, that now we have a culture that is diverse and interesting. Proud and  ageless, I think. There's, all ages live here, and all interests live here. I think it's wonderful. It really is a magical part of town and,  you know, we're the envy of a lot of other areas.

We're one of the parks that people want to move to. 

Yeah, right. I know. I remember, you know, when, when I bought my house here, like College Park was the really cool place to live at the time. And like College Park is kind of going through its own renovation, like with the shops and the restaurants there.

There's a lot of new, exciting stuff opening there. So it's, I think Audubon Park. Kind of what it's been through and what it's done as far as identity and its offerings. It has become sort of like a template for other areas as well. 

I think you're right. You know, growing up riding my bike and walking up here from Merritt Park area up to  the retail areas and of course the field and the school, it was very safe.

And I have spent a good bit of my professional career in the area of transportation and hoping that we are going to see a permanent solution that is safe for walkers and bikers along Curran Drive. 

Yeah. 

It's a mandate. If, um, political will can just make it happen and find the money. I think we'd all benefit greatly from it because we need to be safe wherever we go in the neighborhood.

And It's safe crime wise. We just need coin drive to be safer. 

We really should see some movement on it, some actual movement in the next couple of years, which is very, very exciting. And I know that we've been sort of told that in the past, and we've still been kind of left waiting. I mean, the mid block crossing signal, it's a huge, huge development.

And once we have more of that and people feel safer, um, I, I do really like the bike path that's there. Um, and I knew that they've kind of revamped what materials they use for it to make it a little safer and look a little better. So they are trying and they're taking small chunks at a time, which is, It's something, but, uh, yeah, a complete redo of Corrine Drive is, is so long overdue and, uh, we're looking forward to it.

It's high time. And, um, I do feel safer walking for the most part and, but it is high time. And I would just challenge all of our elected officials  to make that happen. 

Yes. Yes. And my understanding is that Part of the funding is in place, just not the entire thing. So whatever that takes to make that happen, um, I know there's a lot of pressure to do it as well, but maybe more pressure is what's needed.

I'm not even sure. I'm not going to go there.  

I know the public sector and the transportation world. It's just there's a lot of complications. and different entities that they've got things to resolve. And, you know, we're, we have a lot of growth issues, you know, 1500 people are moving to Florida a week and a good portion of those here.

So it's a, it's a tough job for governments, local governments to balance it all.  And, um, I think we're going to get there. Mr. Stewart is an advocate and we have other people Trying to make it work amidst all the other demands of growth, right? So it's a big deal. 

Yeah, we, we do have a great commissioner. He was actually a guest on the podcast as well.

We, we have so much going for us as far as local government goes and. You know, I know, I know the intent is there. I know that the desire is there and the willingness, but, um, yeah, for all the things to move, I'd love to say in 2026 is when we'll see some movement on that. 

I would love it. We have, um, grandchildren, uh, who at that point, let's just say, it'd be great for us to get on a bike like I did when I was a kid, drive up, you know, safely to.

All the shops on Corrine Drive and have her go there back. It would be so wonderful to kind of reminisce on I did that and now she can do that. It'd be kind of a magical experience. Yeah. 

Yeah, absolutely. And there's no reason for it not to happen. I mean, plenty of cities, I mean, Seattle is a great example of, you know, mixed modal transportation that happens in a very big city that with a lot of population and, you know, Some very old infrastructure as well.

Um, if you ever are in Seattle and take the underground tour, it was at a lower level and then they built on top of it and you can see some of the infrastructure below. So a lot of history, a lot of changes, obviously. There's a lot that's possible. 

We have three children. Of course, they come back and stay with us.

One actually. was living with us until recently. And so that made four generations living in Audubon Park. 

Wow. 

And, uh, it's, it's a special place and they feel very tied to the community as well. So when our daughter comes from Seattle, two sons in college park and it's so fun to be able to say, Hey, let's run up and check out the clothes at, The lovely or, you know, let's go have a, we always eat sushi at sushi Lola's where red light on a regular basis.

Let's go take a game and go to red light and hang out, or then go to the next block up and take a yoga class at warrior one stop by joy bird. I love the new.  It's fantastic. 

Absolutely. Chiffon culture. Yes. Yeah. Their stuff is great. Yeah. And 

cross the street to go to the market at East End or even, you know, of course, at Stardust.

And our son always is at Stardust, hanging out and, um, you I have meetings there. And so it's just that wonderful, diverse community. It just makes Audubon Park a magic place to be. And it's authentic. 

Yeah. It, uh, it's, it's like a magnet, right? It just draws in all sorts of people. Uh, it is a true community, both the people that live here and the people that travel here.

I had a guest on recently. We were just talking about how tourists often, you know, that are here for the.  They'll come over to Audubon Park because they heard about it from Visit Orlando or if they're coming to Gideon's.  Um, that's a forget Gideon's. We absolutely love them. And so you'll actually see people here, like pulling a suitcase, checking out some of the shops before they head to the airport.

And  we didn't have that. 10, 15, 20 years ago at all. Like you would never see that, but you see it fairly frequently now.  

You know what? I am so proud of the city of Orlando and it's embracing the district concept and funding the district people, you know,  Executive directors who run it like Jennifer. 

Yeah.

The main street main streets. 

And it is a mini chamber of commerce that really says, let's create pride and awareness about our own businesses. It's just really done great things for, for Orlando to create our micro communities. And when I travel, I always want to find what are, where are the genuine neighborhoods that people are not tourist traps, right?

Or it's not where you're going to see  every tourist person in town because that's where you're supposed to go. 

Yeah.  

It's, And I look for that. So it's wonderful to know that people are coming here because they're saying probably the same thing. Where's a genuine neighborhood I could check out on top of Gideon's cookies. 

You know, I, I was at, um, beefy King. 

Oh yeah. Of course that, 

you know, another 

institution, 

another institution 

and 

pulled up right next to the Gideon's truck. And it just struck me. I knocked on the window and the guys were there and I said, you know that. You need to arm yourself because this is like a Brinks truck.

Yeah, 

anybody that knows there's Gideon Cookings back in there 

it is like one of my favorite things to indulge in for sure and And I'm excited about Grazi The Italian restaurant. I 

can't wait to try it. 

Yeah. I've heard great things. I 

loved Bimbam just because they carried one of my favorite beers. I helped bring to the States called Estrella Galicia, but I hope that, uh, Grazia is successful.

I can't wait to try it. 

Um, the chef has a restaurant in Baldwin park. Um, that is really good. It's a Mediterranean restaurant. Yeah. Lots of exciting things. 

Well, it's so funny. Bring up the Navy base because my grandparents ended up. Moving from Merritt Park to Corrine Drive right near the Navy base. And he was an Air Force guy.

So we, we had access to the Navy base. And of course, you'd hear the revelry at 6am when the, all the young cadets have to go out and start marching around. And we were always fascinated by the big ship at the end of the base before it became Baldwin Park. 

Right. 

And, um,  I remember at Winter Park High School, there were a group of film guys who wanted to do a 007 film and they got permission to do it on that wooden ship. 

And I was supposed to be the women foil or the girl foil or whatever.  And I got to go inside of that and see what, see what that was like. 

But 

growing up on the, you know, the base was a great asset, um, for. us to have that and all of the military that were here. It was great. You'd have, you'd go to the  grocery store and not pay much, the five, the five and dime.

But let me tell you, the movie theater was like five and 10 cents when I was growing up. 

Yeah. 

It was really magical to have that asset here.  One of the things I'm most proud about on how this area evolved from Navy base to Baldwin park.  Is that I happened to be on a, uh, a board at the time called the Urban Land Institute  and,  uh, Glenda Hood was involved and she was our mayor at the time  and the base closed, you know, there were seven BRAC closures all over the country  and she knew what good real estate development was about.

She was a student of it. And she held, she held hard to that. We need to try and sell this to one  entity as opposed to pieces.  And because she did it, there was a lot of heat on her because there was so much, uh, deconstruction and decontamination that was needed to be done. Just that alone was 20 plus million dollars.

So she sold it for a dollar to the Pritzker family out of Chicago. And there was a lot of criticism of people that really didn't understand the whole story, but look what we have today with beautiful infill. I happened to be, my client were the planners that did the planning and the design, and she helped make sure the right thing was done.

One of my favorite stories about how Baldwin Park became a well planned community, you had, The same guy running it, David Pace, who I went to church with growing up, did Celebration. And no, nobody wanted the same thing. We felt that was cookie cutter. 

Yeah. 

So the planning group that, uh, was doing it said, We don't want cookie cutter lot sizes.

And so the Pritzkers were saying, What does that mean? It's going to cost more. So they had the idea. Uh, Penny Pritzker apparently come down and they set a day to show her what that looks like. What they did was, Take her to neighborhoods in Winter Park, the older neighborhoods, and put her on a, on a block and say, what do you like about this?

Well, I don't know. It looks like that lot's smaller and that one's house is further back. And it was that there were diverse lot sizes. Then they went to College Park, similar. They went to Delaney Park and helped her visualize why You can't have the same lot size and you can't make, you know, we think it's a little cookie cutter for those of us that don't live in a planned community. 

But for a planned community, it was done so thoughtfully so it blends with Orlando and Winter Park because it was an infill,  right? 

Yeah. 

And they just did a beautiful job and Glendahood is, I'm just so proud of her for her having the vision and you know, she really withstood a lot of criticism. But if the other six BRAC closures around the country did not have success, they sold off their pieces and they just didn't have, the city didn't have the economic power to Benefit of the tax benefit.

Number one,  number two, they weren't places. Well, home park is a place. It's part of our community at this point.  And you know, that's where the it's, it's a history. That's not often told that impacts here where we are in Audubon park. 

Absolutely. 

Because that that's one anchor on one end. And, you know, the original plan for Baldwin park.

Was there was going to be a four lane road that goes to, from Corinne to 436. That's what somebody wanted. Just to 

cut through, right? Just, yeah. 

Would have been horrible.  

Absolutely. Yeah. 

And so, uh, the Miller cell and planning team, uh, created that kind of different ways to get through 

and 

they had to fight with the city and other entities that,  you know, traffic can still get through.

It's just not going to be a. Straight thoroughfare that's going to just disturb the life of that community.  So I think that added a really nice, elegant piece.  That could have been some, it could have made Audubon Park a different place if it wasn't done correctly. 

Yeah, it really could have. And the, I mean, the support that comes from Baldwin Park as far as the neighbors, you know, that come over here and are customers of the shops and the restaurants here, like, that's crucial for the survival of the business district.

You know, you need kind of all, all, all, All parties involved to support these, these businesses, because it is, it's hard. I mean, it's, the margins are not great in any small business and the challenges are many. So having kind of a built in audience is critical, which is what we have. 

Shop local, shop local, Audubon Park, shop local.

Indeed. 

Every day, if you can, you know, 

these things can only survive if we do that, if we support them and  it, it adds to the quality of life and you know, it, it makes it more personal when you're buying from somebody that you know, and you can meet the owners, you can, you know, the team behind it. It's a, it's a different experience altogether 

here.

Here you could tell.  You're talking to somebody that cares about the community when you come to Audubon Park and you shop in one of the shops. I will tell you a story about R. Nichols.  I was in Chattanooga visiting a family member  and went into a shop and there was a display of R. Nichols materials.  And I said, Oh my gosh! 

His original shop was in my neighborhood on Corrine Drive and I just saw him the other day. He's there all the time and they were dumbfounded.  No, really? He has his own shop and he's there?  We love his stuff. And it was so magical to be able to take that to Chattanooga and say, oh, yeah, he's from  Audubon Park.

That's cool. Yeah, it's like a celebrity sighting, right? 

That's right. 

We have a lot of talent here and it's, it's a real gift. 

And there's pride here in the, in the shops. And I think if anything, anybody that moves here, if they could stop and think, Oh, do I need to go up to a big box to get something? Just to stop and think,  you know, I wonder if I can find a shop on current drive that has that.

Yeah. 

It really could make a difference on the success of a business. If 20 families decide to do that every week instead of run up to a different big box store. 

Exactly. And there's so much that's offered here too. That is the lifeblood of the community. That anchor, that kind of meeting place, that third place where people go, and we just, we have so much of it here.

Well, the fact that you can walk there, um, we were talking about College Park. Our son just sold a house near  where the packing district is going. 

Oh, yeah. 

Um, and they can walk, he can walk up to Edgewater, and then they can walk to the packing district, but  it's only because of  that redevelopment that makes walkable living possible on that part of College Park.

We're fortunate we can, I mean, if, if you can ride your bike or walk as opposed to getting in the car. You know, that's. So much of Florida, our neighborhoods, suburban neighborhoods without a soul or a center like we have,  and we're lucky to have it. And, um, it's just awesome to be able to run up to Palmer's and pick up a new plant and get their counsel or to get a baby gift up here at, um,  You know, one of the stores or.

A birthday gift for a daughter and send it to Seattle because, you know, when they come back to town, we don't have to go far to hang out. 

Many weekends we're just walking to each of the places that we need to go. And yeah, I prefer it. I mean, I would love to live in a city where you could just rely on public transportation, not have cars.

It's not. It's not exactly realistic for here, but at least you can spend  an entire weekend, uh, not in your car at all. Uh, I think it changes the quality of life. I think it changes the temperature of things for us. 

It's important, and especially since you can now take your puppy up and Groomed. 

Yeah. 

Don't we have like a puppy food manufacturer here or a store?

We used to? Yeah. 

Rick's dog Deli. They actually, I think they moved, um, they have a new location. I'm not sure exactly where they are. It might be College Park. Um, but that started here, uh, right next door to Canine Glamour Club. That's right. Uh, which Misty goes to, actually, she's going there this Friday. 

It's, it's a real treat just to be able to do that, you know, drop the dog off for a spa day. There's no, no place else I would choose to live if I had it to do over again, or if I could just swap areas, it would always be Audubon Park. 

Having lived here and grown up here, and then moving to the north side of metro Orlando and Orange County, and then having the opportunity to move back. 

It was a wonderful thing, uh, at the time. Our kids ended up going to Winter Park High School. And it was a good time because this area was starting to blossom again, and the retailers, and the scene was, you know,  And the record shop, of course, is ultimately a cool place for any young person. So it made us kind of cool because we moved back to my neighborhood  for them. 

It is. I mean, it's, it's a place for, for people of all ages, but I mean, to have so many spots where young, People hang out. I mean, I love Stardust for all the reasons and like the fact that they have concerts there and you see kids bands playing there and it's like, they're doing it. They're doing the thing that, that I did when I was growing up, you know, just these like DIY venues, working it out, getting, getting songs together and performing and having an audience and having a venue for that.

There was a. a club actually off of Bennett called Club Nowhere. And, uh, so my band used to play there when I was in high school and we saw Green Day play there before they got big.  Yeah. So like, and you know, it became Red Light, Red Light, and then it became, um, Smiling Bison, which is such a special place. 

We definitely miss that. 

We do 

miss that. But now we have red light, red light has a kitchen and Chef Jess is doing food that is absolutely on par. She's. I don't know if you've eaten there yet. 

You know, we've been there once and I didn't order enough. We'll go back. 

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta, you gotta try a couple things at least.

But, um, I mean, we're there a few times a week having meals. And, uh,  yeah, it, it's hard to, it's hard to find anything better in town. So, yeah, we're, it's, it's ever evolving. And, uh, So much good stuff. 

There is. It's a great place to live. Audubon Park rocks and um, I feel privileged and I'll probably, you know, I grew up here.

I was born here. I'll probably die here. 

Yeah. 

And I will die happy knowing that I'm a lifetime Audubon Parker, start to finish. Went to Audubon Park Elementary School. Went to Glenridge when it was on Glenridge. Lot of good memories at Audubon Park Elementary School. As a matter of fact, my first grade best friend.

Was a gal who lived on Pelican and we ended up living together at the University of Florida and they moved their her family moved to Maitland and She is now back at on Merritt Park Drive  We walk together. We work out together and we hang out together and  That's a great part of my history  Passion about Audubon Park is my memory with my friend being a green You 

That's so cool.

Like all roads lead back to Audubon Park, right? It's the place, but also it's the people that make the place. 

Well, getting in from a real estate investment, it's just going to be a great investment too. Yes. Um, going forward.  No matter what you buy. So I think it's all around a safe place to be and a profitable place to be.

And it fills your soul when you, you know, you can walk, like you said, to places on weekends or go to a local vendor and pick something up.  That's what  neighborhood's about. And I love it. 

Yeah, I wonder too, I mean, talking about history and like the shops there, are there any other that come to mind? I know we, we talked about the grocery and the five and dime and 

well, Adam's jewelry, his father ran it and now he runs it, which is cool.

So that is a family business. That's generational 

as 

well. I'm just trying to, we, of course we all had our jeans body shop where, um, The salty is, did our work on our cars. 

The, the other gene. Yeah.  So an auto garage that's now a donut shop is, uh, yeah, I, I mean, that wasn't that long ago and I still, I forget about that.

And Bambam, which is now Grazi, um, was a bank. It was BB& T.  Yeah. And like these things that just, They transform and then you're like, Oh, there, there was a history that was vastly different from what's going on now. Um, with these structures and the historic preservation, keeping these buildings, the carrier building, you know, and the fact that red light kept the sign.

So you still have like that history right there on the wall. Um, so cool. 

It's funny. Those are the businesses that, that I remember the most. I should probably think of some more,  you know, Part of the, our family's history here was my dad was one of two or three men in Orlando that started Little League in Orlando.

And it was right here in Oak College Park at those baseball fields that are still there. And that brought a lot of people into the community when they started growing leagues and other parts of town or teams that it became, Oh, there's Audubon Park from people that lived in. South Orlando or Dulaney Park or College Park.

I think that helped, it had something to do with that kind of activity of a baseball league, right? And families decided they're going to go to a different part of town and watch their children play ball. And that kind of intermingling social event,  I think contributed probably to some great awareness of Audubon Park.

Okay. Because you have to cross town if there's only one other baseball team that you could play with. I think it was Delaney Park and Audubon Park were the first two. That was kind of fun for my dad to, to make that happen. With Mr. Yaros was the other name. And Kuykendall Insurance used to be here on Corrine Drive.

Jack Kuykendall and my brother were best friends. We still love each other. We still see each other. 

That's cool. 

And they lived behind. Easton Market, that was another business that they were the, the local insurance company that really helped everybody protect their homes and their cars with insurance.

That was a local company. If we only had a grocery store again, that was pretty cool.  

Yeah. 

It's a tough, it's a tough thing. It's a competitive business. So I, I don't know if we'll see that in our future. At least we have one in Baldwin Park. It's not too far. 

Yeah, it's true. I mean, and part of East End's mission was to sort of serve that purpose as well.

And it's, it's kind of changed a bit over time. It's, it is more of kind of like a food court, um, with some other offerings that, that can be taken home, but you know, the, the butcher shop and cheese shop, and those are kind of the main staples. Um, I do miss old hearth being there, you know, being able to get Your bread there and, um, local roots was there and, uh, they had a lot of great stuff there.

That's kind of, you know, that's where Matt Hinkley had some of his meats and now he's got the shop there. So 

we love Hinkley's meats. They do a beautiful job. 

Yes. 

You know what? I'll tell you another constant from when I was growing up to now 

is 

ABC. 

Oh, yeah.  The liquor store? Yeah, but you 

know the difference is you could drive up.

There was a point when you could drive up and order, I'd like a bottle of bourbon. 

Yeah. 

And they'd bring it to you. And there was a bar in the back. 

Uh huh. 

And, um. 

It was like the lounge, right? So it was an actual bar. Yeah.  

It was like Wally's or, or that bar, right? That was kind of like the choice, you 

know?

Uh huh. 

And, um, but it's so fun to be able to, you know, of course, growing up I didn't drink, but, My parents and my grandparents would, I'd be in the car. Oh, let's go get mama's milk. Well, now ABC, I go get my mama's milk  still.  

Yeah. And that explains like the large parking lot that's there too, right. Is that it used to be a place where people would go and hang out.

So you would need that extra parking, such an oversized lot for.  stop in, grab your stuff and go. And they've, they've gotten nicer about allowing people to park there, which is great for, you know, market nights and things like that. So that has evolved over time, which is great. 

You know, the only other thing I will say that having.

Met Jennifer through actually Karen Castor dental  learning that story about how the parking at Audubon Park that a lot of people depend on, you know, off hours and over the weekend 

at the school itself at 

the school and you know, uh, the school district is  very litigation driven as, you know, One could expect and there was some new rule where they were going to close off parking due to you know, risk and litigation Well, I just love the fact that Jennifer has been a Advocate she brought in Karen castor dental to help with negating that and coming up with an agreement 

Mm hmm 

that parking can still be had there.

But you know, that's, that's lifeblood, you know, people kind of come, not everybody can walk to Audubon 

Park. 

And people want to come shop at our shops and eat at our restaurants and hang out.  And so that was a very important thing that I think happened this year to protect this community and its vibrancy.

Because as much as we all know, Parking garages, that would not be great, but service parking makes it easy to get in and out if you're going to run up to Lobos or run into a store, and I think that is another thing that we're, we should all be grateful for that we have people that are passionate enough to battle for that.

Now, what I learned from Jennifer is Is that Karen was a teacher at Audubon Park, her first teacher's job. There was something special about being able to advocate to continue to make Audubon Park a community school as opposed to a school that's an island in a community. 

Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And Audubon Park school, the staff and the leadership there.

do so much to connect to the community. You know, they do class field trips, different places. They do Poemville, you know, and have like these, these poems that the kids write that are up in the windows of the shops. There's so much connection there. And the parking lot had nothing to do with the leadership of the school.

It was like, Orange County public school system. And luckily that agreement was reached and there was a lot of doing. I was like, kind of, I was stepping down from my role as board president for the main street organization. 

You were instrumental in that as well. 

So I, well, I had just sort of missed, uh, out on that fun.

I mean, I was in the emails and fielded a couple of calls here and there, but, um, yeah, my tenure, uh, took off. 12 years as board president. Uh, I had decided it was, it was time to let some, some other folks take on that, that leadership role. And, um, Thank 

you for that, Michael, for your leadership because you were leading the district as a volunteer  as it,  emerged into a healthier, vibrant district.

Thank you. 

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for that. 

I'm a professional volunteer as well. 

Nice. 

I just not done it. And you know, I haven't, that that's a different role. I'd really appreciate that. It's not easy.  

Yeah, it's so rewarding. It is definitely not easy. And it's one of those things that has to be a labor of love.

It was, it was an honor to serve in that capacity and, um, to have the, the trust of the board, all the things that I learned, all the memories, all, you know, I mean, important decisions, important connections happen at those meetings. And it. The events that we hosted and things like that. So, um, yeah, it was just like the podcast actually came as an extension of one of our meetings.

Somebody had mentioned like, Oh, there should be like a guided tour podcast or something like that. And I was like, well, what would it take to do that? And who's going to do that?  Uh, yeah. I was like, maybe I could, uh, yeah. And I, I really love it. I feel like I'll do it forever. So as long as I can find people in Audubon park to talk about Audubon park, um, this will exist.

So 

thank you for having me. I just feel it's a privilege because I'm so passionate about it. And thank Jennifer and you for.  Letting me tell my story. 

Absolutely. Thank you for taking the time. And I'm so glad to know you now. And, uh, we'll see you around the neighborhood. 

This episode is brought to you in part by the Audubon park community market. Join us every Monday from five to 8 PM rain or shine and the parking lot of Stardust video and coffee located at 1842 East winter park road.  This weekly gathering of makers, farmers, gardeners, fishmongers, ranchers, craftsmen, artisans, entrepreneurs, neighbors, and friends brings the very best of central Florida to you every week. 

Our theme song is by Christopher Pierce and special thanks to Trey Hester for all of his help in making this podcast a reality.  We do hope you enjoyed this episode. If so, please click subscribe and leave a review if you'd like. We'll see you next time.