Jacksonville

The Jacksonville Riverwalks are located on the north and south banks of the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The Riverwalk was... originally a boardwalk on the south bank of the St. Johns River that opened Nov. 8, 1985. It was intended as a venue where tourists and local residents alike could view the beauty of the river and the skyline of the city. On a sunny day, the view from the walk includes shimmering water, shiny buildings, sailboats & speedboats. Today, the riverwalks are among the most popular and well-used attractions in the downtown area. The 1.2-mile walk was designed by Perkins & Perkins Architects to be a festive waterfront public space linking Friendship Fountain and Harbormasters Restaurant with hotels and office buildings east of the Main Street Bridge. The riverwalk was constructed, but never lived up to the expectations created by the project blueprints. As of late 2011, the Northbank Riverwalk ran from the Fuller Warren Bridge to the former Shipyards property, owned by the city of Jacksonville.
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Friendship Fountain is a large fountain in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located in St. Johns River Park at the west end of Downtown Jacksonville's... Southbank Riverwalk attraction. The world's largest and tallest fountain when it opened, it has been one of Jacksonville's most recognizable and popular attractions. The fountain and park were designed by Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick in 1963 and opened in 1965. The fountain's three pumps could push 17,000 US gallons of water per minute up to ten stories in height. Friendship Fountain remained one of Jacksonville's signature attractions through the 20th century, but severe corrosion and deterioration to the equipment resulted in periodic closures in the 2000s. In 2011 the city completed a $3.2 million renovation to the fountain and the surrounding park. The fountain and Friendship Park was designed by Taylor Hardwick, the Jacksonville architect who also designed the Haydon Burns Library. 14 acres of land were donated for the project by the Southside Business Men's Club, an organization dedicated to the improvement of the Southside that was established in 1932.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, also known as MOCA Jacksonville, is a contemporary art museum in Jacksonville, Florida, funded and... operated as a "cultural resource" of the University of North Florida. One of the largest contemporary art institutions in the Southeastern United States, it presents exhibitions by international, national and regional artists. MOCA Jacksonville was founded in 1924 as the Jacksonville Fine Arts Society, the first organization in the Jacksonville community devoted to the visual arts. In 1948 the Museum was incorporated as the Jacksonville Art Museum, and in 1978 it became the first institution in Jacksonville to be accredited by the American Association of Museums. In late 1999 the Museum acquired its permanent home, the historic Western Union Telegraph Building on Hemming Plaza, adjacent to the newly renovated City Hall, and became the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art . In 2000, a series of preview exhibitions opened in a temporary exhibition space while the building facade was restored to its original Art Deco style.
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The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens is a public museum located in Jacksonville, Florida. The museum focuses on portraying European and American... artistic paintings. The museum also has a large collection of Meissen porcelain. On 02010-01-25 January 25, 2010, the Cummer Gardens were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum opened in 1961 on the grounds of the former residence of Arthur and Ninah Cummer. There are three flower gardens on the museum grounds, the oldest dating back to 1903. The permanent collection of the Museum currently includes over six thousand works of art dating from 2100 B.C. to the 21st century. Art Connections is a nationally known education center that increases the cultural learning of over 50,000 students each year and offers hands-on-art experiences for the museum visitors. The Museum is housed in a series of modest 20th century buildings, but opens onto the St. Johns River, an historic and active Florida waterway.
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David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the... popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch. Hasselhoff also produced Baywatch for a number of seasons in the 1990s up until 2001, when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii. Hasselhoff also crossed over to a music career during the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s. He was noted for his performance at the Berlin Wall at New Year's Eve 1989; he enjoyed a short-lived success as a singer primarily in German-speaking Europe. More recently, Hasselhoff has been involved with talent shows. He was the first celebrity eliminated from the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars on September 21, 2010. He was also a judge on NBC's America's Got Talent from 2006 to 2009. In 2011, he joined the Britain's Got Talent judging panel, alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Michael McIntyre. He appeared as himself in the 2004 film The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
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Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early... 1960s. Among his hit songs were cover versions of black R&B artists' songs . He sold over 45 million albums, had 38 Top 40 hits and appeared in more than 12 Hollywood movies. Boone's talent as a singer and actor, combined with his old-fashioned values, contributed to his popularity in the early rock and roll era. According to Billboard, Boone was the second biggest charting artist of the late 1950s, behind only Elvis Presley but ahead of Ricky Nelson and The Platters, and was ranked at No. 9—behind The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney but ahead of artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Beach Boys—in its listing of the Top 100 Top 40 Artists 1955–1995. Boone still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week. At the age of twenty-three, he began hosting a half-hour ABC variety television series, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, which aired for 115 episodes .
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Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy... actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her." Arthur has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady." Arthur is best known for her feature roles in three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town , You Can't Take It With You , and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , films that championed the everyday heroine. Her last performance was the memorable—and distinctly non–comedic—role as the rancher's wife in George Stevens' Shane . Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier . To the public eye, Arthur was known as a reclusive woman. News magazine Life observed in a 1940 article: "Next to Garbo, Jean Arthur is Hollywood's reigning mystery woman".
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Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the African American civil-rights movement and the American labor movement. He organized and led the Brotherhood... of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly Black labor union. In the early civil-rights movement, Randolph led the March on Washington Movement, which convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II. After the war Randolph pressured President Harry S. Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, ending segregation in the armed services. In 1963, Randolph was the head of the March on Washington, which was organized by Bayard Rustin, at which Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have A Dream speech. Randolph inspired the Freedom budget, sometimes called the "Randolph Freedom budget", which aimed to deal with the economic problems facing the Black community, particularly workers and the unemployed. Randolph was born April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida, the second son of the Rev.
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Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He... was the older brother of the founder and vocalist of 38 Special, Donnie Van Zant, and of current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, to Lacy and Marion Van Zant. Van Zant aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Notably, Ronnie was interested in becoming a boxer and in playing professional baseball. Ronnie also tossed around the idea of becoming a stock-car racer. In fact, he would say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since Lee Roy Yarbrough. Van Zant formed Skynyrd late in the summer of 1964 with friends and schoolmates Allen Collins , Gary Rossington , Larry Junstrom , and Bob Burns . Lynyrd Skynyrd's name is a mock tribute to a gym teacher the boys had in high school, Leonard Skinner, who disapproved of male students with long hair.
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Laveranues Leon Coles is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of... the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State University. A Pro Bowl selection in 2003, Coles has also played for the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals. Coles was born in Jacksonville, Florida. While attending Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Coles played football, basketball, and ran track. In football, he rushed for nearly 5,000 yards in his career, was named to the Blue Chip Dream Team, and was a first team Class 4A All-State selection. In basketball, he was a member of a state championship team as a senior. In track, he recorded a time of 10.6 seconds in the 100 meter dash and 21.8 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Due to a scandal at Florida State which resulted in Coles's dismissal from the team, he often refers to his high school when introducing himself on Monday Night Football.
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Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early... 1960s. Among his hit songs were cover versions of black R&B artists' songs . He sold over 45 million albums, had 38 Top 40 hits and appeared in more than 12 Hollywood movies. Boone's talent as a singer and actor, combined with his old-fashioned values, contributed to his popularity in the early rock and roll era. According to Billboard, Boone was the second biggest charting artist of the late 1950s, behind only Elvis Presley but ahead of Ricky Nelson and The Platters, and was ranked at No. 9—behind The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney but ahead of artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Beach Boys—in its listing of the Top 100 Top 40 Artists 1955–1995. Boone still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week. At the age of twenty-three, he began hosting a half-hour ABC variety television series, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, which aired for 115 episodes .
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Rena Marlette Lesnar , better known as Sable, is an American model, actress, and former professional wrestler. She is primarily known for her stints... in World Wrestling Entertainment. Before gaining popularity in the world of professional wrestling, Mero worked as a model for L'Oréal, Pepsi, and Guess?. Along with her second husband Marc Mero, she began working for the World Wrestling Federation in 1996. As Sable, she was one of the first WWE Divas, and she gained considerable popularity, surpassing that of her husband's. After feuding with Luna Vachon, and Jacqueline, Sable became the second WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated into the company. After becoming a heel and leaving the company, Mero filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. In 2003, she returned to the newly renamed World Wrestling Entertainment where she was put into a storyline feud with Torrie Wilson, and another storyline as Vince McMahon's mistress. In 2004, she left the company to spend more time with her family.
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Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He... was the older brother of the founder and vocalist of 38 Special, Donnie Van Zant, and of current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, to Lacy and Marion Van Zant. Van Zant aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Notably, Ronnie was interested in becoming a boxer and in playing professional baseball. Ronnie also tossed around the idea of becoming a stock-car racer. In fact, he would say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since Lee Roy Yarbrough. Van Zant formed Skynyrd late in the summer of 1964 with friends and schoolmates Allen Collins , Gary Rossington , Larry Junstrom , and Bob Burns . Lynyrd Skynyrd's name is a mock tribute to a gym teacher the boys had in high school, Leonard Skinner, who disapproved of male students with long hair.
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Laveranues Leon Coles is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of... the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State University. A Pro Bowl selection in 2003, Coles has also played for the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals. Coles was born in Jacksonville, Florida. While attending Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Coles played football, basketball, and ran track. In football, he rushed for nearly 5,000 yards in his career, was named to the Blue Chip Dream Team, and was a first team Class 4A All-State selection. In basketball, he was a member of a state championship team as a senior. In track, he recorded a time of 10.6 seconds in the 100 meter dash and 21.8 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Due to a scandal at Florida State which resulted in Coles's dismissal from the team, he often refers to his high school when introducing himself on Monday Night Football.
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Merian C. Cooper was a film producer, film director, cinematographer and writer.

Elizabeth Anania Edwards was an American attorney, a best-selling author and a health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former... U.S. Senator from North Carolina who was the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee. Edwards lived a private life until her husband's rise as senator and ultimately unsuccessful vice presidential and presidential campaigns. She was his chief policy advisor during his presidential bid, and was instrumental in pushing him towards more liberal stances on subjects such as universal health care. She was also an advocate of gay marriage and was against the war in Iraq, both topics about which she and her husband disagreed. In the final years of her life, Edwards publicly dealt with her husband's admission of an extramarital affair and her breast cancer, writing two books and making numerous media appearances. She separated from John Edwards in early 2010. On December 6, 2010, her family announced that her cancer had spread and her doctors had recommended that further treatment would be unproductive. She died the following day.
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