Saturday, June 22, 2013

Jumpin' J Street!

This is the other post about the interesting items we had on this month's Historic Resource Preservation Board meeting agenda (6/12). Click here for link to the city's video of the entire meeting. Above, we have two different scenes of the 800 block of Lake Avenue shown above - I think the bottom view is the older one. These are prior to the hurricane of 1928.

801 Lake Avenue - the building at the southwest corner of J Street and Lake Avenue - was on our agenda for a Certificate of Appropriateness for window replacements and a major re-do of the building. The owners were there and stayed through the entire meeting. They are interested in Lake Worth and definitely want to improve their building.
This is the eastern elevation of the building.

This is the northern elevation of the building. Its style is referred to as Mission Revival and was popular during the boom period of south Florida development in the 1920s.

This is the existing condition of the eastern facade of the building. In the course of the improvements, all the louvers will be removed and existing windows will be replaced with new impact units.

Another view of the same facade looking northwest, showing the building's prominent location in our downtown. The owners have no specific plans for the building, other than likely a retail space on the first floor and the possibility of office or residential use of the second floor. The building requires a lot of work and has been like this for a long time.

Further south down J Street, we have the Blue Orchid building - another Mission Revival structure that houses the popular entertainment venue the "Bamboo Room" on the second floor and the Poutine Dog Cafe on the first floor.
Below is the storefront of the Poutine Dog Cafe. At the same meeting, the board approved a distance waiver for beer and wine sales at this popular eatery.
And just south of the Blue Orchid building is the headquarters of all good that happens in the city, the Lake Worth CRA offices. And just beyond that is the historically intriguing Maple Leaf apartment building.

And on the east side of the street, we have Fat Sals - a real Italian deli where they are having a "create your own" sandwich contest through this month. Your submission might appear on a future version of their menu. Drop in and be greeted by this happy face behind the counter.
So, J Street seems to be the budding, happening location in the downtown area right now. Remember Propaganda will be having some special events during the summer that will be closing down the street, creating a special event environment during selected weekends.