The neighborhood I grew up in was a rural-ish area of Ormond Beach, Florida (right outside of Daytona Beach). My neighborhood was sort of a narrow strip of land that was separated from other areas by a river on one side and a major highway on the other. This major highway, however, doesn’t see much traffic unless there is a special event. Even so, we never crossed that road, and so were often confined to our narrow strip of land and the river, if we had access to a canoe or our parents took us out on the boat. That being said, we obviously didn’t have high mobility.
There were woods in our neighborhood that we spent most of our time in. There was also a corner convenience store we just called “The Jiffy Store”- I don’t think that was the real name. We walked there on occasion as kids to get gum and things like that. We mostly walked anywhere in our bare feet. Things like that were allowed back then. That store was on our side of the main highway, so it was the closest we ever went to the highway. We didn’t really wander much from our little area of the neighborhood. If it took more than five minutes to walk there, that was usually too far. We spent a lot of time with the kids on our street, in each other’s houses, on the street in our neighborhood, or in the woods. Not too much time was spent in the river as there were lots of alligators, but we didn’t particularly let that stop us, either.
I felt a connection with the area where we got our groceries- it was and still is called “The Trails Shopping Center.” I loved the grocery store- I knew some of the people who worked there. That plaza had everything- restaurants we visited to get lunch, the community rec center with a fantastic playground, and an adjoining subdivision where a few people in my family lived, as well as a few friends from school. This area was about four or five miles from my house, but in my memories, it might as well have been next door- I felt just as comfortable there as I did in my own neighborhood.
I also lived really close to the beach, and we would spend a lot of family time there. There were always certain special events throughout the year that my town would organize. These were events that our family participated in every year, and many of these were held on the beach or near to it. I wouldn’t say I was as comfortable there as I was in the other two areas I have described, but I felt safe for the most part, and it is a huge part of the sense of place I have for Ormond Beach.
I always felt safe in my own neighborhood. We all knew each other, we knew the quirky people across the street, the guy who worked on cars all day in his garage, the families with kids, the neighbors, etc. We walked regularly into these people’s properties and even houses without invitation (well, a polite knock at the door, of course) and talked with them. We were a little wary of strangers who came into our neighborhood (didn’t happen often) and often came up with crazy stories about how they were kidnappers or thieves, or something ridiculous like that. I guess we didn’t like strangers (ha ha).
Traveling anywhere outside of these areas was something I didn’t really like all that much. I didn’t feel comfortable in many other places, especially when we went downtown for anything. There was a lot more crime in those days than there is now, so I think I knew that intuitively. Places were run down (a lot of downtown areas across the country were, at that time), and there were just a lot of people wandering about, not doing much of anything.
As far as icons go for my hometown- well, we are the home of the Daytona 500, one of the largest of all NASCAR races. We also had a lot of Greyhound racing (dog tracks) and Jai-Alai (long since gone). Those were the big things I can remember about my hometown, what it was known for. However, I think it has a much bigger effect on the city now than it did when I was younger. For example, now they have created wonderful entry ways to the city, whereas, when I was younger, it was just a sign saying that you were inside the city limits. Pretty exciting.
The sense of place I had for my hometown was generally good, but it definitely depended on where I was. My neighborhood, the grocery plaza, the beach, my school, etc., were all wonderful places for me. Like I said, however, the downtown/business areas were becoming pretty derelict at the time, and I do not have fond memories of those areas. They have begun cleaning these areas up over the past ten years. It’s been great to see that occurring.
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