Downtown and the Mills/50 (Vi-Mi) Districts

My favorite place in Orlando has to be downtown, a place that by day is bustling with business people and politicians and by night is packed with drunk club-goers. It's also probably Orlando's most walkable neighborhood. You really don't even need a car if you live on this end of town. You can walk to the bars, the supermarket, a movie theater, the courthouse, your job, and all the awesome restaurants and my favorite place downtown, Lake Eola Park

This first shot is along East Colonial near the Fashion Sq Mall. East Colonial Drive is like the All-American commercial strip of Big Box Stores, several shopping malls, fast food as well as full service restaurants, cell phone stores, among other various types of shops you can think of. You'll find them on East Colonial between Bumby Ave and Bennett Street

This is Colonial Drive looking east from the intersection at Mills Avenue. The Mills/50 area reminds me a lot of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. The narrow 5 lane avenues, the street lights, the old buildings built right up against the road, as well as the heavy traffic that is a regular occurrence here. Mills/50 is Orlando's Vietnam town. There are lots of Vietnamese shops and restaurants serving Pho in this area

                                          This place here is Wally's Mills Avenue Liquors. In business since 1954, it is Orlando's oldest bar in continuity. I went inside and the place is real divey, reeked of cigarette smoke and seemed like a place old drunks would hang out. The bar opens at 7:30 in the morning and is open till 2 am 7 days a week

 

Shots around Hunter's Creek

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon today and I was fortunate enough to be off work. I decided I'd get out on my bike and take some pictures of Hunter's Creek and South Orlando

Hunter's Creek was named lat year as the 22nd Best Place to live in the United States by Forbes Magazine, due to its high median income combined with relatively affordable housing. Hunter's Creek is about 14 miles south of Downtown Orlando and has a population around 25,000. The main intersection in Hunter's Creek is John Young Parkway and Town Center Blvd

Most of these shots were taken in the subdivisions west of John Young Parkway, mainly in Braddock Oaks and the Hunter's Creek Vistas

Some homes on the water off Hunter's Vista Blvd

 

A home in the Sierra Vista Subdivision.

As I rode my bike through Sierra Vista, I found a house that was available for rent. Not as big as the house pictured above, it was a single story house. Rent for the house was $2180! Not sure how many bedrooms or square footage but it's fair to say you have to be living a premium lifestyle in order to live here

Here is a home for sale in Sierra Vista, didn't get the price but I'm sure its at least $300,000

The more I rode around, the more impressed I became by some of the homes I saw. This one above is in Hunter's Creek's Braddock Oaks subdivision

I suppose suburban life really is a competition. It seems like each homeowner was trying to out do one another with a bigger house back when these homes were built in the early 2000s

This pic I feel is like a holiday contradiction, only in Florida could an inflatable snowman share a front yard with palm trees (and maybe California and Nevada too)

Here is a photo of Shingle Creek which basically divides the Vistas and Braddock Oaks from the rest of Hunter's Creek. Shingle Creek is considered the "Headwaters of the Florida Everglades and between Hunter's Creek and Williamsburg, this land is protected from development

 

I had just wanted to take a shot of the sky as I rode my bike home north on John Young Parkway, there are a few more shots below

                                                 The JW Marriott Hotel in the distance

 

Welcome to Orlando Beyond Disney

So I've Created This Blog about my hometown of Orlando, FL where I have lived most of my life. This blog is going to be a hobby of mine about the City of Orlando beyond what most Americans know about it which is usually just Disney, Universal, and Sea World. I am going to feature photos of different neighborhoods, fun places to check out, good food and just share with everybody a slice of life in Central Florida's largest city

About me, I'm David. My family has lived in Orlando Since 1995