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Folio Weekly: 100 Things To Do In Northeast Florida Before You Die

Folio Weekly released their list of 100 Things To Do In Northeast Florida Before You Die, and while the list spans from Amelia Island down to St. Augustine, we’re especially proud of the 18 items found in #DTJax (bolded below). From Folio:

“Here’s the deal: ’Round-about this time of year, the holidayitis sets in, and we’d rather be doing just about anything else other than the Serious Journalism™ that usually occupies this space. We figured this week we’d do something fun instead. And so, without further ado, we present: 100 Things To Do In Northeast Florida Before You Die.”

Check out the top things to do Downtown – Oh, hello, First Wednesday Art Walk; fancy seeing you here – and in the urban core, because Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill, Springfield and San Marco are the best neighbors a Downtown could ask for:

  1. Have your engagement photos taken at Treaty Oak Park. Everyone else does.Screen Shot 2014-12-18 at 2.03.21 PM
  2. Good: Ride a water taxi to a Jags game at EverBank Field. Better: Go to a game where they actually win. (LOL/JK.) Best: Rock a Speedo at The Clevelander Deck, one of the two in-stadium pools paid for by tax dollars.13731979
  3. Your ears may curse you in the morning, but anyone interested in Jacksonville’s cultural underbelly should spend a Wednesday evening listening — and even joining in — at West Inn Cantina’s Jam Night. Of course, people in the know still call the joint Monty’s (3644 St. Johns Ave., Avondale).
  4. Commune with the living artwork in the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens’ riverfront garden (829 Riverside Ave.). Truly awe-inspiring, the massive Cummer Oak shades a generous portion of the 2.5-acre spread, which includes statuary, reflecting pools and a surprisingly Zen-like view of Downtown.
  5. Witness the Ritz Theatre & Museum Amateur Night, in which musicians, singers, comedians and poets perform in an audience-judged competition — with cash prizes! and booing! — at 7:30 p.m. the first Friday of every month (829 Davis St., Downtown).Ritz_Theatre,_Jacksonville_FL
  6. Hunt for rare and brand-spanking-new vinyl at Deep Search Records in 5 Points (822 Lomax St.). There are used books and cassettes in the bins lining the walls, and intimate indie concerts are held, sometimes at a moment’s notice, in the store’s front room.
  7. Spend a couple serene hours kayaking the St. Johns River with Up The Creek Xpeditions (jacksonvillekayakcompany.com). They’ll launch you from the St. Johns Marina boat ramp next to River City Brewing Company and guide you as you wind your way throughout Downtown. If you want — and you do want — you can take a little jaunt through a tunnel that leads under the Times-Union building out into McCoys Creek.Kayak Downtown
  8. Scoop up some cookies and other assorted delights at Edgewood Bakery (1012 Edgewood Ave. S., Murray Hill) before Shad Khan shuts them down.
  9. Check out First Wednesday Art Walk. Spanning more than 15 blocks, this self-guided tour of the city’s ongoing cultural boom takes place the first Wednesday of every month in Downtown Jacksonville, and features more than 40 participating museums, galleries, restaurants and nightclubs. Lotta stuff going on.1654602_10152106555278789_1830130487_o
  10. Wander through the Karpeles. Housed in a temple-like building that was formerly a church, Springfield’s Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (101 W. First St.) features changing exhibits of rare manuscripts, shows by local visual artists, and hosts everything from kirtans to free jazz concerts.
  11. Tie one on for cheap — oh, and, uh, watch some baseball, too — at the Jacksonville Suns’ Thirsty Thursdays at the Baseball Grounds (301 A. Philip Randolph Blvd., Downtown). (Shameless plug: Check out Folio Weekly-sponsored 50 Cent Family Feast Nights during some Tuesday home games, too.)DSC_5086-M
  12. Start a pick-up soccer game with strangers in Memorial Park (1620 Riverside Ave.) on a Saturday afternoon. Or, on certain Sundays, watch nerds get dressed up in Dungeons & Dragons gear and fake-sword-fight each other. That happens, too.
  13. Sing your precious little heart out during Thursday Karaoke nights at rain dogs. (1045 Park St., 5 Points). Don’t worry. People will applaud even if (when) you’re awful. And if you need some quick-hit liquid courage to channel your inner Whitney, duck across the way to Wall Street Deli & Lounge (1050 Park St.) or Birdie’s (1044 Park St.) for a shot. Karaoke starts at 9 p.m. There’s a nacho bar at 7.
  14. Order a Chemex-brewed coffee at Bold Bean Coffee Roasters (869 Stockton St., Riverside; 2400 Third St. S., Jax Beach, boldbeancoffee.com).
  15. Pro tip: Find a Fourth of July perch on the Ortega Bridge. It’s the best spot in Jacksonville to watch the fireworks.
  16. See a production at Theater Jax (2032 San Marco Blvd., San Marco), the oldest continuously operating community theater in the country, in operation since 1919.
  17. Get the “banana split in a cup” at Dreamette (3646 Post St., Murray Hill)
  18. Sip a cocktail atop Black Sheep’s (1534 Oak St., 5 Points) rooftop bar at sunset, taking in the St. Johns and Downtown skyline.
  19. Spend an afternoon supporting local food vendors, artists and musicians at the free, one-of-a-kind Riverside Arts Market (riversideartsmarket.com), almost every Saturday (they take a few weeks off in the winter) under the Fuller Warren Bridge.riverside-arts-market
  20. Jump in Friendship Fountain (1015 Museum Cir., Southbank) — which once had bragging rights as the world’s largest and tallest fountain, but doesn’t anymore, stupid Jeddah Fountain — on a hot summer night (keep your clothes on, please).

    24434830b5d63bcd290cf26ab21c9a90
    Friendship Fountain in the 1960s
  21. Have breakfast at the Cool Moose Café (2708 Park St., Riverside), and try to figure out which twin waitress is which. (One has a tattoo.)
  22. Go see the Saturday night drag show at Metro Entertainment Complex (859 Willow Branch Road, Riverside), then stop by the Rainbow Lounge and sing show tunes with AJ.
  23. Complete the Gate River Run 15K (gate-riverrun.com). There’s free beer after.

    Times-Union file photo Determined not to be just another face in the crowd, Bud Badyna from St. Simons Island, Ga., ran the 2005 Gate River Run in a SpongeBob costume.
    Florida Times-Union file photo.
    Determined not to be just another face in the crowd, Bud Badyna from St. Simons Island, Ga., ran the 2005 Gate River Run in a SpongeBob costume.
  24. Date/marry/ingratiate yourself to someone with a studio at CoRK (2689 Rosselle St., Riverside) to secure an invite to the arts district’s seasonal members-only oyster roasts. Don’t see any potential in, you know, artists? There’s always the St. Johns Riverkeeper’s annual fundraiser oyster roast, which will run you $100 per person, but for a good cause.
  25. Bar crawl the King Street District, like so: Riverside Liquors -> The Garage ->Dahlia’s Pour House -> Kickbacks/Goozlepipe & Guttyworks -> The Blind Rabbit ->Intuition -> Bold City -> cab ride home. (To do this in reverse would violate the all-important Beer Before Liquor rule.)
  26. Ride the Automated Skyway Express from Downtown to San Marco and have the whole car all to yourself to ponder why this thing still exists.

    Remember this J/K moment?
    Remember this J/K moment?
  27. Sneak into the old Public School No. 4 building — that’s the abandoned, supposedly haunted structure just off I-95, nicknamed the “Devil’s School” — and make out with someone.

    Credit: Jeff Hagerman
    Credit: Jeff Hagerman
  28. Wear a Seminoles shirt to the Florida-Georgia game.seminole-fans-1
  29. Walk through the secret door (OK, it’s not that secret) into the speakeasy at the Grape & Grain Exchange (2000 San Marco Blvd.). Try the absinthe.
  30. Perfect date night: a bottle of wine and a blanket to lie on with your significant other, while the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra serenades you under the stars at Metropolitan Park (4110 Gator Bowl Blvd., Downtown, jaxsymphony.org).

    Via thespecktator.com
    Via thespecktator.com
  31. Stroll the length of the Southbank Riverwalk, beginning at the River City Brewing Company (835 Museum Cir.). It’s only a mile or so, lazybones.Southbank-Riverwalk-2
  32. Have the steak frites at Restaurant Orsay (3630 Park St., Riverside, restaurantorsay.com).
  33. Serve breakfast to the needy at the historic Clara White Mission (613 W. Ashley St., LaVilla, theclarawhitemission.org). While you’re there, tour Eartha White’s home, on the second floor.DSC_0006
  34. Create something and enter One Spark (beonespark.com). Make your mother proud.9f1fa714a9a537d8a260df3dfc83c424
  35. The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is a nice event and all, but Jazz Fest After Dark is the real-damn-deal: Dozens of mostly local bands rocking stages all over The Landing and The Elbow, all for free.

    Underbelly
    Underbelly
  36. Exchange your paycheck for a dinner at Matthew’s (2107 Hendricks Ave., San Marco).
  37. Go scavenging inside Eco Relics (106 Stockton St., Riverside) for antique windows and used electrical equipment and architectural salvage and all sorts of what they call “cool relics” (like an old elevator, for instance).
  38. See a show at The Florida Theatre (128 E. Forsyth St., Downtown).1956-FlaThtr-Poster-Aug-320
  39. String some Christmas lights on your boat and float down the St. Johns as part of the annual Jacksonville Light Boat Parade. Or just watch the procession from The Landing._DSC6671-X2

With so much to see and do, if this list doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies about living Jacksonville, we don’t know what will. What’s your favorite thing to do in Downtown?