Visiting the Florida Panhandle.
This article highlights Seaside and some of our restaurants. And a touches on the Customary Use battle...
New York Times
AUG. 5, 2019
White Sand, Clear Water
Every year, families pack up the minivan
and head to the Florida Panhandle for a
beach vacation with a Southern accent.
By SHANNON SIMS AUG. 5, 2019f
Excerpt
... "Of all of the communities along 30A, perhaps none draws as much attention as Seaside, a remarkable feat of modern urban design, which was aimed at creating an utopian neighborhood of bike paths, cul-de-sacs and central plazas. The community of 475 “cottages” is so idealistically and tightly masterplanned that the town served as the setting for the film “The Truman Show,” as a showcase of stifling perfection. But the intention, says Robert Davis, the community’s founder and visionary architect, was to recreate the feeling of his childhood in the 1940s and 1950s.r
Mr. Davis, who now lives in San Francisco, said in a telephone interview that his idea was “big screened-in porches and ceiling fans, built off the beach so it wouldn’t float away when a hurricane came.” His concept, which is considered a touchstone of the New Urbanism architectural movement, was that every home was a walkable distance from the town center, and the success of that concept along 30A is evident: New communities mimicking Seaside, like WaterColor and Rosemary Beach, have cropped up and continue to grow in popularit
“The main thing people got about Seaside,” Mr. Davis said, “was that here you could have free-range kids, and often it was for the first time in these kids’ lives.” Indeed, Seaside’s narrow streets are busy with unchaperoned elementary-age children passing by on beach cruisers, and packs of teenagers flirting in front of the ice cream spot. “I find the mating ritual really amusing to watch,” added Mr. Davis with a chuckle.
"There is, though, one hitch in paradise, and it’s a relatively new one. Last year, a Florida law passed that has restricted public access to the beaches of Walton County. Now, the sand in front of some beachfront buildings and private condos is cordoned off by ropes that run nearly to the water, identifying their sandy property. Public access is only permitted on the wet sand portion of the beach, which varies day to day with the tides. It’s a controversial change in this region where beach traditions are so strong. The good news is that state parks, just off 30A, like Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Grayton Beach State Park,leave beach access open to the public, and offer clean bathrooms as well.
The cuisine also reminds you of where you are; it’s a blend of Atlanta meets New Orleans and low-country meets Cajun, with excellent local seafood. At Stinky’s Fish Camp at Santa Rosa Beach, with its views over the lilypad-covered lagoon brimming with turtles, your choices span the region’s palate: creamy Louisiana crawfish pie, grillades and grits, frog legs a la meunière. Just be sure to try the hush puppies: fried balls of cornmeal that take the edge off the spice. Hurricane Oyster Bar in Grayton Beach, the self-declared “Pearl of 30A,” stays true to its name and serves both hurricanes — a super-sweet, high-octane cocktail usually found on Bourbon Street — and Gulf oysters. At Bud and Alley’s, the central food hub for the Seaside community, you can sit up on the beachfront roof deck and dig into crab cakes and drafts of summery local IPAs like the 30A by Grayton Beer Company or the East Pass by Destin Brewery, all with a breezy view of the sea. And for decades visitors have considered no trip to this region complete without an evening spent on the crowded, rounded porch at Elmo’s Grill, dunking gator nuggets in spicy sauce, peeling shrimp, hammering crab claws, and making friends at picnic tables as a guitarist performs “Sweet Home Alabama” and the crowd sings along..."
More
White Sand, Clear Water
This article highlights Seaside and some of our restaurants. And a touches on the Customary Use battle...
New York Times
AUG. 5, 2019
White Sand, Clear Water
Every year, families pack up the minivan
and head to the Florida Panhandle for a
beach vacation with a Southern accent.
By SHANNON SIMS AUG. 5, 2019f
Excerpt
... "Of all of the communities along 30A, perhaps none draws as much attention as Seaside, a remarkable feat of modern urban design, which was aimed at creating an utopian neighborhood of bike paths, cul-de-sacs and central plazas. The community of 475 “cottages” is so idealistically and tightly masterplanned that the town served as the setting for the film “The Truman Show,” as a showcase of stifling perfection. But the intention, says Robert Davis, the community’s founder and visionary architect, was to recreate the feeling of his childhood in the 1940s and 1950s.r
Mr. Davis, who now lives in San Francisco, said in a telephone interview that his idea was “big screened-in porches and ceiling fans, built off the beach so it wouldn’t float away when a hurricane came.” His concept, which is considered a touchstone of the New Urbanism architectural movement, was that every home was a walkable distance from the town center, and the success of that concept along 30A is evident: New communities mimicking Seaside, like WaterColor and Rosemary Beach, have cropped up and continue to grow in popularit
“The main thing people got about Seaside,” Mr. Davis said, “was that here you could have free-range kids, and often it was for the first time in these kids’ lives.” Indeed, Seaside’s narrow streets are busy with unchaperoned elementary-age children passing by on beach cruisers, and packs of teenagers flirting in front of the ice cream spot. “I find the mating ritual really amusing to watch,” added Mr. Davis with a chuckle.
"There is, though, one hitch in paradise, and it’s a relatively new one. Last year, a Florida law passed that has restricted public access to the beaches of Walton County. Now, the sand in front of some beachfront buildings and private condos is cordoned off by ropes that run nearly to the water, identifying their sandy property. Public access is only permitted on the wet sand portion of the beach, which varies day to day with the tides. It’s a controversial change in this region where beach traditions are so strong. The good news is that state parks, just off 30A, like Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Grayton Beach State Park,leave beach access open to the public, and offer clean bathrooms as well.
The cuisine also reminds you of where you are; it’s a blend of Atlanta meets New Orleans and low-country meets Cajun, with excellent local seafood. At Stinky’s Fish Camp at Santa Rosa Beach, with its views over the lilypad-covered lagoon brimming with turtles, your choices span the region’s palate: creamy Louisiana crawfish pie, grillades and grits, frog legs a la meunière. Just be sure to try the hush puppies: fried balls of cornmeal that take the edge off the spice. Hurricane Oyster Bar in Grayton Beach, the self-declared “Pearl of 30A,” stays true to its name and serves both hurricanes — a super-sweet, high-octane cocktail usually found on Bourbon Street — and Gulf oysters. At Bud and Alley’s, the central food hub for the Seaside community, you can sit up on the beachfront roof deck and dig into crab cakes and drafts of summery local IPAs like the 30A by Grayton Beer Company or the East Pass by Destin Brewery, all with a breezy view of the sea. And for decades visitors have considered no trip to this region complete without an evening spent on the crowded, rounded porch at Elmo’s Grill, dunking gator nuggets in spicy sauce, peeling shrimp, hammering crab claws, and making friends at picnic tables as a guitarist performs “Sweet Home Alabama” and the crowd sings along..."
More
White Sand, Clear Water
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