Before there was Gatorade or Tropicana, there was Celo. Information on the forgotten drink Celo is on Lucy Jones’ Florida History blog. It’s about a Sarasota (that’s where I am!) drink called Celo. It was made with celery, apparently grown in the celery fields in eastern Sarasota County. The fields wereMORE HERE
Please make graphic designers stop. First Pepsico does a number on Tropicana, and then this G for Gatorade. Annoying. Can we not just make the product and sell it? We keep seeing it on the shelves and tried to ignore it. Certainly, the new design is tasteful. And we haveMORE HERE
MIAMI – Macy’s (NYSE: M) is considering revitalizing its important, and historic downtown Miami store. The store is the former flagship Burdines. At right, a vintage photo of their old tea room. Macy’s Florida President J. David Scheiner said to a meeting of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce thatMORE HERE
WINTER HAVEN – Cypress Gardens Adventure Park is thankfully ditching its disastrous foray into becoming a theme park, and will rename itself Cypress Gardens with an adjacent Splash Island Water Park. Cypress Gardens closed on Nov. 17 and was the last day under old ownership for the park. Read theMORE HERE
Drive Thru Restaurant Analysis? SARASOTA – Here in this retiree mecca, you can get a pretty good indication of the health of America’s restaurants as you drive down our highway strip, Tamiami Trail. Of the chains along U.S. 41, a newly opened Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) is packed, and allMORE HERE
PALM BEACH – Those search for defunct colognes and perfumes often have a hard time. An essay in The Wall Street Journal By André Aciman tells of his search for Aria Di Palma, a cologne his father wore at a New York store called Battaglia. Aciman found the cologne, afterMORE HERE
PALM BEACH, NEW YORK – A revived Lilly Pulitzer retail operation has opened a boutique on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 1020 Madison Avenue. The story of Lilly Pulitzer, of how she opened up a juice stand in Palm Beach, started printing up some fabric, sold it asMORE HERE
WINTER HAVEN – Last weekend, the legendary theme park Cypress Gardens closed for four months while management said it would refocus on its water park and historic garden. In the process, it would drop its roller coasters and rides. This temporary shut down is not the first closure for theMORE HERE
SARASOTA – While the queen isn’t around anymore, her name is still standing guard at her castle. We are talking, of course, about Leona Helmsley, who achieved a Paris Hilton-amount of fame in the 1980s for not only her travails, but her role as the woman who wouldn’t let anythingMORE HERE
The brand Marimekko, so popular across the world in the 1960s and 70s, has returned to retail. Here, a look at their store in South Beach, Miami. It’s a full concept store, and its right off Lincoln Road. Visit them at marimekkomiami.biz. Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi andMORE HERE