"THE SOFTER SIDE"

                     OF THE NORTHBANK

(Source of image: Florida State Archives)

Dating from the Sixties, this St. Johns River photo shows the blue green Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Building on the left and the black & white Jacksonville Civic Auditorium to the right.  Dedicated in 1962, the auditorium represented the jewel of the city's waterfront development.  It even graced the cover of the local phone book that year.  After extensive renovations during the 1990s, nevertheless, the structure was reborn as the extraordinary Times Union Performing Arts Center.

Behind the auditorium stood the Mayflower (Mason) Hotel, the brown building with the white-colored upper floor.  The Mayflower structure was erected in 1912 and demolished in 1978. 

RIVERFRONT SHOPPING MECCA --  It surprises many Jax residents that Sears & Roebuck operated a downtown branch until the early Eighties.  Yet notice the red Sears sign behind the auditorium in the photo above.  The department store lay at the site of the present-day Omni Hotel.  Over 40,000 townsfolk turned out for its opening day in June 1959.  No doubt they packed the store's 700-car parking lot. 

The branch ranked as the largest of the chain's 734 outlets.  Indeed, it contained 260,000 square feet of floor space.  (The average Wal-Mart Supercenter requires 109,000 to 260,000 square feet or more.)  The main Sears structure consisted of four stories and a basement, with transport provided by escaladers and elevators.  A soft, soothing music played in the background, and early advertisements boasted about the air conditioning that refreshed the whole building. 

To some degree, the place operated as a mini-mall in 1959.  In addition to the usual departments, separate shops existed for pets, hobbies, gifts, tobacco, cameras, health products, and Boy & Girl Scout items.  Other features included a watch & jewelry repair service, a beauty salon called the Lyric, and a home furnishings center with four decorating consultants who gave advice in the store or at one's home.  Two comfortable rooms also allowed customers to listen to records, radios, and record players in sound-proof surroundings.  And Sears heeded the needs of harried moms with tots under school age.  While their mothers shopped, little Baby Boomers could be left at a free nursery supervised by a registered nurse.

FOOD & GAS -- Sears patrons dined on one of the specialties of the Jean Ribault Room, shrimp salad served in an abalone pearl shell.  This in-store restaurant, clad in cool, calming greens, was situated on the second floor.  It indicated its First Coast location through a 33-foot long mural by Jax artist Lee Adams.  The painting depicted the 1562 landing of Frenchman Jean Ribault at the mouth of the St. Johns River.  Appropriately, coffee was served to diners by two girls in 16th Century French costumes.  Patrons could also frequent the building's Peggy Kellogg coffee shop.  As one website visitor notes about this eatery, "I remember going in as a child and my parents would get me a chocolate milk drink."

Standing at the corner of Bay & Pearl was a mammoth Sears automotive center, which serviced thirty vehicles at a time.  Furthermore, customers could take advantage of a copious garden center.  This was connected to the main structure by a covered walkway and a bridge over a reflecting pool.  All in all, the entire Sears complex was staffed by over 1,100 employees.  

The complex had replaced a hodgepodge of old buildings.  These included a bus station, a meat business, a produce company, several warehouses, and some railroad offices.  However, Sears eventually closed its Northbank shopping utopia.  It followed other downtown department stores by relocating to outlying neighborhoods.  The company shuttered its Northbank outlet in 1981 so as to reopen in a new expansion at the Regency Mall. -- Click here for another Sears waterfront photo.

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