20030301 Along the Riverwalk

	Florida Trip: Bike Rides
	Florida Trip: The Las Olas Art Fair
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Our Florida Trip:
Along the Riverwalk

One of the nicest things about the location of my condo is that it is very close to the current eastern end of the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is a renewal project that was undertaken beginning fifteen or twenty years ago that resulted in a very pretty paved walkway along both sides of the New River from approximately Federal Highway on the eastern end and the Performing Arts Center on the west. This project led to the construction of Riverfront Center- a shopping and entertainment complex at Andrews Avenue- as well as a number of highrise condominium and apartment projects on both sides of the river.

In the scrollable window below, I've put an aerial view of the entire Riverwalk, plus the section between it's eastern end and my condo. The aerial view covers both the northern and southern parts of the Riverwalk; it runs along the New River on both the north and south sides for a ways, although most of it is on the north side. We have walked the south side before, especially when we want to go to Shirttail Charlie's. I'll be mentioning landmarks you can see noted on the aerial view as we look at some of the pictures we took during the week along the Riverwalk route. My condo is all the way to the right on the aerial view, so the first thing you'll probably want to do is scroll all the way to the right. Here is the scrollable window:

The Riverwalk itself is marked by the yellow lines; the usual route we take from the condo to the beginning of it is marked with the red line. We usually walk west along SE 4th Street, and go under the Riverside Hotel. Then we go up to Las Olas and west over the Kinney Tunnel and Federal Highway. At SE 5th Street, we go south about half a block to pick up the beginning of the actual Riverwalk, which begins right in front of a new condo building- The Las Olas Grand. This building appears in the aerial view but not in the pictures we took this year; it was constructed in 2007 or thereabouts. You might not see other buildings that exist now on the aerial view in my pictures, of course, as my pictures are older than the aerial view. On previous pages, for example, you've seen the River House under construction; it was finished in 2004.

Daytime Along the Riverwalk

Probably the easiest way to show you this trip's pictures is to put some thumbnails for them below, along with a short description for each. You can click on the thumbnail to look at the full-size picture:

This is a view of the Andrews Avenue drawbridge taken from in front of the Riverfront Center. The view looks back east. You can see that all along the river there are moorings for both private and public watercraft. This view of the Andrews Avenue bridge was taken from the patio of the Briny Irish Pub, which is just west of the bridge on the north side of the Riverwalk. It is a place we go to frequently to have a bit of lunch.

This picture was taken just east of the Andrews Avenue drawbridge, and from the north side of the river. The tall building is the AutoNation building, and the Justice Center is just beside it. Today, in this view, you would see a condo building called the Nu River Landing- between that midrise building and the shorter condos in the background. Over by Shirttail Charlie's, where we had some lunch today, Fred found some pretty purple flowers growing just outside the entrance to the marina complex where the restaurant is.

This is a view looking west along the New River, again from the north side and from right in front of Riverfront Center. There is a Water Taxi stop here, and you can see it in the picture. Across the river is the only boatyard facility on the river in the downtown area; most of them are upriver by the I-95 bridge. This picture was taken on the short Las Olas extension that is on the west side of Andrews Avenue and a block north of the river. It shows the central tower; the Sunrise Cinemas multiplex is behind it. The river is to the left (my right) in this picture.

Over at Shirttail Charlie's, where we often have lunch, there are good views back downriver (east) from the outside dining area, and that is part of the attraction of eating there. You can see the Florida East Coast Railway bridge and, in the background, River House under construction. Fort Lauderdale has a lot of tropical vegetation of course, stuff we don't have at home. At home, we have Esperanza, a beautiful yellow flower that grows in shrub form and freezes in the winter. Here it grows in tree form and blooms pretty much year round. It is quite beautiful.

This view was taken from the south side of the Riverwalk, directly across from Riverfront Center. You can see one of the Water Taxis stopping there, and there is quite a bit of activity going on. Sadly, the recent economic upheavals have cut severely into customer traffic at Riverfront Center, and quite a few of the businesses have gone empty. It is a great location, and I hope things pick up. Up and down the Riverwalk, an effort has been made to beautify the river. The walkway itself, chairs, docks and so on have certainly been upgraded, but there are also mosaics like this one on all the bridge pedestals.

Below are players for a couple of movies that Fred made; they are interesting and you might want to have a look:

The Andrews Avenue Drawbridge in Operation
River Activity Near Shirttail Charlie's

The Riverwalk at Night

Although there is a lot of activity along the river in the daytime, it is just as interesting to walk along the Riverwalk and along Las Olas at night. One evening, we left the condo and walked over to Las Olas and then headed west. When we'd crossed into the block where the Riverside Hotel is located, we paused in front of Cheeburger, Cheeburger so Fred could get a picture. I might point out that as of this writing, in 2011, the Riverside Hotel had purchased the entire block, presumably for expansion, and has torn down all the buildings you see at left in the picture. Then the presumed expansion never took place. At the moment, the entire area to my right in the picture is a lawn; I have no idea when, or if, the hotel plans to develop the parcel. The shops they took out were eclectic and funky, and gave a lot of character to this area of Las Olas, so I think it is a shame they are gone.

As we continued west on Las Olas, we crossed over the Kinney Tunnel beneath us, and then we reach an area that is more office buildings than shops.

In front of the old SunTrust building there is a very nice fountain, and I stopped to take a picture of Fred at the fountain. A short way down the street there is yet another fountain in the courtyard driveway area for a different building, and we stopped there to take a picture as well. You can see pictures of me with both of these fountains if you click on the thumbnail images below:

We continued walking west along Las Olas until we came to Andrews Avenue and Wayne Huizenga Park (named for the founder of Blockbuster Entertainment which, at one time, was headquartered in Fort Lauderdale). At the corner of the park nearest the intersection of Andrews Avenue and Las Olas is a really nice fountain. It is pretty in the daytime, but even more so at night. There are six or eight fountain controls built into the wall around it; if you hold your hand over the control you can adjust the height of the nozzles that each one controls. By raising or lowering your hand you raise or lower the height of the individual spouts of the fountain. It is all a lot of fun, especially at night when it is lit up.

Click on the two thumbnails below to see a couple of pictures of Fred and I at this interesting fountain:

Fred made a couple of good movies here at the color fountain, and you can watch them with the movie players below:

From the fountain, we walked over towards the river and then west along the Riverwalk to Riverfront Center. This evening there were quite a few people here, and there was a show going on up on the performance stage which is a relatively small circular area right on the river. We stuck around here for a while listening to the music. You can listen to it, too, and watch the performance as well, with the movie player at left.

We then began our walk back along the Riverwalk towards the condo. As we got near the east end of the Riverwalk where the dinner cruise boats dock, I got a picture of Fred and The Sir Winston- one of the four or five charters that are moored there.

The Riverwalk is always a pleasure to walk, and it is just as interesting at night as it is in the daytime.

You can use the links below to continue to the album page for different activity from our Florida trip.

	Florida Trip: Bike Rides
	Florida Trip: The Las Olas Art Fair
	Return to the Florida Trip Index

	This is a view of the Andrews Avenue drawbridge taken from in front of the Riverfront Center. The view looks back east. You can see that all along the river there are moorings for both private and public watercraft.		This view of the Andrews Avenue bridge was taken from the patio of the Briny Irish Pub, which is just west of the bridge on the north side of the Riverwalk. It is a place we go to frequently to have a bit of lunch.
	This picture was taken just east of the Andrews Avenue drawbridge, and from the north side of the river. The tall building is the AutoNation building, and the Justice Center is just beside it. Today, in this view, you would see a condo building called the Nu River Landing- between that midrise building and the shorter condos in the background.		Over by Shirttail Charlie's, where we had some lunch today, Fred found some pretty purple flowers growing just outside the entrance to the marina complex where the restaurant is.
	This is a view looking west along the New River, again from the north side and from right in front of Riverfront Center. There is a Water Taxi stop here, and you can see it in the picture. Across the river is the only boatyard facility on the river in the downtown area; most of them are upriver by the I-95 bridge.		This picture was taken on the short Las Olas extension that is on the west side of Andrews Avenue and a block north of the river. It shows the central tower; the Sunrise Cinemas multiplex is behind it. The river is to the left (my right) in this picture.
	Over at Shirttail Charlie's, where we often have lunch, there are good views back downriver (east) from the outside dining area, and that is part of the attraction of eating there. You can see the Florida East Coast Railway bridge and, in the background, River House under construction.		Fort Lauderdale has a lot of tropical vegetation of course, stuff we don't have at home. At home, we have Esperanza, a beautiful yellow flower that grows in shrub form and freezes in the winter. Here it grows in tree form and blooms pretty much year round. It is quite beautiful.
	This view was taken from the south side of the Riverwalk, directly across from Riverfront Center. You can see one of the Water Taxis stopping there, and there is quite a bit of activity going on. Sadly, the recent economic upheavals have cut severely into customer traffic at Riverfront Center, and quite a few of the businesses have gone empty. It is a great location, and I hope things pick up.		Up and down the Riverwalk, an effort has been made to beautify the river. The walkway itself, chairs, docks and so on have certainly been upgraded, but there are also mosaics like this one on all the bridge pedestals.