Nominations through July

Nominations for the Historic Icons of Orlando, 1960-1985, are open through July 31, after which the community will have a chance to vote for the top 100 icons, through September. In October, the top 100 will be announced and folks can submit photographs, memories or artifacts related to the icons to become part of an exhibit at the Orange County Regional History Center.

To get you thinking, the project’s web pages and Facebook page (“Historic Icons of Orlando”) offer a few examples, such asMartin Luther King speaking at Tinker Field in 1964 (events), Mayor Carl T. Langford (people), the Lake Eola Fountain (objects), and Ronnie’s restaurant and Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium (places). Rosie O’Grady’s founder Bob Snow draws a beer at the antique bar in 1975. Rosie’s opened in the summer of 1974. The Church Street fixture closed in 2001. pie, railroad cars and whistles in the night, handlebar mustaches, sleeve garters, strawhats and the Fourth of July,” Snowdeclared when it opened.

To decorate the place, he had gathered architectural antiques and vintage fittings from all over theworld. The four brass chandeliers, each weighing 800 pounds, came from the former FirstNational Bank building in Boston, and the cut glass in the doorswas the heaviest ever made in NewOrleans, Snowsaid on opening day.

People loved it. “I remember the ’20s, the ’30s, the ’40s,” said one firstnighter. “This place comes real close to what itwas like, I’m tellin’ you. I’m gonna come here all the time. I like the atmosphere.”

And now, we remember Rosie’s as a symbol of Orlando in the 1970s and 1980s.

There’s so much to remember about this particular place. Members of its Good Time Gang still meet for reunions. Now, many more of us can join in the memories and pay tribute to the good times through the Historic Icons project. And Rosie’s is only one potential “icon.” We have 99 more to go!