Church Street

First and foremost, what the hell happened to Church Street? With the exception of some random moments on the weekends, the whole street is a dead zone. Now, for the purposes of this rant, let us break Church Street into two halves (much like everyone does, anyway). There's the Garland half and the Orange half. The Garland half is a venerable ghost town at this point, whereas the Orange half has specific nights that seem to be working (Wednesdays).

The Garland half is composed of mainly eateries, such as: Rustic Steak, Hamburger Mary's, Brick & Fire, and Ceviche. Again, the other other side of the coin is the Garland half, full of booze, girls, and music with: Antigua, Chillers, Latitudes, Big Belly, Mako's, 23, Oakroom, Backroom, and Dragon Room. However, people don't seem to realize that Ceviche has a very interesting, upscale club-type venue and the Cheyenne has pretty good drink specials. So, inevitably, the Garland half suffers the ills of this economy far worse than the Orange half.

But, is it really the economy? Is that what is stopping the weekday fun times? The weekends downtown still seem to have life. Hell, even the homeless are happier on the weekends. More people to engage in 14 second conversations that start with an anecdote and end with peddling.

Where have all the people gone, Orlando? Why not come out on a Monday night and have a fantastic time. Tuesday isn't a valuable work day anyway, it's a Tuesday.

In the end, we are all left to wonder what will come of Orlando's infamous Church Street. Once beloved, sometimes still fawned over, and evermore vacant, the cobbled streets of The City Beautiful call out to all of us; begging for the cautious-walking girls in heels, the button-up shirt wearing mafia, the "thugged" out crews, and you. When will we return?