Hurricane Irma rips into the Orange County Regional History Center’s Collection Facility

Posted on by Thor

After weathering Hurricane Irma, a category 2 hurricane, I helped Pam Schwartz to clean up all the broken tree limbs in her yard. Her property is gorgeously landscaped but that meant she had tons of fallen branches. The pile we built curbside was, and still is, 10 feet wide and as high as my hips. We bagged the smaller branches and those were picked up, but the rest of the debris is still on her lawn killing the grass, but providing home to many snakes. She was without power for the week.

We were exhausted from moving so much debris but late that afternoon she said she had to stop by the Orange County Regional History Center off-site facility. She just wanted to see that everything was OK. The plan was to do a quick check and then pick up some food. We hadn’t eaten all day, there was too much to do.

En route, my phone warned me that there was potential flooding. Within the next quarter mile, sure enough the road looked like a river. Her SUV made it through without a hitch. It was getting near sunset when we drove up to the facility. We were shocked by the view. The large parking lot in front of the building looked like a lake. We parked on the far side of the lake and took our shoes off to wade across. The water was up above my knees in the deepest section of the lot. In hind site we should have checked to be sure there were no downed power lines. Luckily we weren’t electrocuted.

The warehouse is a bit above the parking lot level and the front entry of the facility was clear with no water. Then we entered the conservation room where most of the work to preserve Pulse memorial items had been done. The ceiling panels were soaked, and several waterlogged panels had fallen to the floor. The panels must burst on impact under their own weight because shards were scattered everywhere. Pam groaned.

Pam is the chief curator of the Orange County Regional History Center. This is a curator’s worst nightmare, secondhand only to fire. With just two panels missing in the conservation room, the damage didn’t look too bad. Boxes on the floor had soaked up the water. Pam asked me to salvage a box of Pulse related archives, cards and notes of remembrance. I lifted the waterlogged box and then took all the papers and laid them out to dry in the break room. So much work had gone into preserving the memorial items from Pulse. They had been saved from the afternoon rainstorms that are consistent on any summer day in Orlando at the memorial sites. Now they needed to be saved once again.

After cleaning up much of the mess in the conservation room, Pam called me outside. A giant double rainbow now arched above the newly formed parking lot lake. Maybe things were looking up. Then, back inside, Pam opened up the double doors that lead into the main area of the storage facility. She let out a gasp. I couldn’t see around her. The damage wasn’t limited to the conservation room we had been working on. Ceiling panels had collapsed throughout the storage facility. Pam went into triage mode and my first assignment was to save the art which was below a fallen soaked panel. I found large tarps to cover the art as a short term solution. The point of the off-site facility is to maintain a museum standard of temperature and humidity. With the ceilings compromised everything was at risk.

For the rest of the night, I picked up ceiling panels and soaked insulation and made a debris pile in the loading dock area. The small mountain I built was about 10 feet in diameter and about 5 feet high. I decided not to touch any artifacts, I would leave that to the pros. For some reason I paused as I lifted a panel off of this large industrial lamp behind an old citrus ladder. The lamp was on a wooden skid which protected it from the water. Ironically the lamp was in the History Center’s Reflections magazine that just came out this week. The new acquisition was donated by Tom Bessa and is from McCoy Air Force Base. It dates back to the 1950s and a workman removing the item offered it to Bessa. Now it is part of Orlando’s History. Every item in the storage facility has a similar personal story.

Pam called her entire collections staff that night to help get the facility under control. Thank goodness Joe Austin sent snacks for us with Jessica Domingo, by that time Pam and I were running on fumes. Anything on the floor was at risk of water damage. Water was still dripping from every open ceiling panel. I cleared a walkway so the staff could move items from the collection to dryer ground.

We later learned that a metal roof access hatch had blown off and the hurricane force winds had propelled it over the roof. Each time the hatch crashed down it ripped a hole in the roof’s covering.  From there, the water dripped down into the insulation and ceiling panels which would crash down from the weight. Large puddles of water were everywhere. By the end of the night most of the museum artifacts had been moved away from collapsed panels. Much of the Pulse collection was in the worst affected areas, so the need to act with speed was critical with already compromised artifacts.

All of the water has now been removed from the floor and a small army of about a dozen humidifiers is working around the clock to remove moisture from the air. The interior walls that touch the floor all developed mold in their inner cavities. Simply put, black mold isn’t good when you are hoping to preserve historic artifacts. The lower drywall panels were removed from all the affected walls. Plastic encapsulations now separate the spaces with zippers allowing access between rooms. The plastic is intended to protect the collection as workers reinstall drywall and to assist in regulation/stabilization of temperature and humidity. Work is now under way to repair the walls, the ceiling tiles and insulation have been replaced. Conservation is still ongoing to restore any artifacts that suffered from water damage, but every single item of the few thousand affected artifacts were saved. The incredibly fast response of the core collections staff of the History Center helped avert what could have been a much bigger tragedy. With the lessons learned from this disaster, they are offering advice to Leu Gardens Historic Home, which suffered damage after a tree fell on the roof of the home.

P.S. These sketches were created post-event from my photographs. This is an anomaly as that is not the way I tend to work. However, this wasn’t the time to sit down and create art.

Downtown Paper Launch Party

Posted on by Thor

Volume 1, Edition 1 of the Downtown Community Paper arrived in my mailbox in September. This monthly paper is devoted to keeping downtown residents like myself informed about what is new and trending. A simple article titled “Why would anyone want to live in the heart of Orlando?” reaffirmed all the reasons why I have been living and working downtown for this past year. I contacted the editor Michelle Rocheleau about contributing to the paper since I am documenting the arts scene and lifestyle downtown everyday already.

The paper held a launch party at the Orange County Regional History Center and I decided to sketch. The publisher Debbie Goetz and Michelle were pulled in all directions. Debbie already publishes a College Park Community Paper and when she met Michelle the idea of the Downtown Community Paper took form. The paper is founded on the principles that include bringing the community together and highlighting inspiring individuals who live in the area. The paper doesn’t plan to compete against the Sentinel or The Bunglaower to cover hard-hitting news. They instead  are committed to only positive uplifting news.

At the launch party, singer, songwriter, Justin Kangrga, entertained the crowd performing covers on his acoustic guitar. Tom Petty died this week, and Justin performed one of his songs. It was a lively launch party where advertisers got to meet staff and enjoy a drink and hors d’oeuvres. The paper’s demographic isn’t the 20 somethings hitting the downtown bars each night, instead they focus on the older more established demographic that calls downtown home.

The paper will be delivered monthly to 8,000 homes in the area and is also available at Newsstands downtown. There is a digital version posted on the paper’s website.

Leaving Vietnam: Building a New Life in Central Florida

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Coinciding with WUCF TV’s September presentation of The Vietnam War, the new 17 hour documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, this retrospective exhibition at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Boulevard Orlando FL 32801) uses oral histories to explore the war’s impact on Central Florida. Learn about the parts local veterans played on the front lines and how the experience shaped them. Discover the roots of Central Florida’s Vietnamese community and its impact on leadership, local commerce, and Orlando’s food scene.

I attended and sketched the opening reception for the exhibit. Veterans and members of Orlando’s Vietnamese community came out to see the exhibit in which their words and artifacts were assembled. As I sketched, a Vietnamese woman took a keen interest in my work. She wanted to know all about the ink I was using and my brush with the water in the handle. She said she needed a sketch done, so I gave her a card. A veteran in a wheel chair also stopped to chat. He was shooting video on his iPad. He is a documentary film maker and told me about the footage he shot on a parachuting mission.

I have become a binge watcher of the Ken Burns Vietnam series. Though I don’t have a TV, the series can be viewed online. There ar some amazing audio tapes that point out the reservations, fears and frustrations of several presidents who couldn’t see a way out of the war. Some of the footage brings back childhood memories of burning hutches and graphic violence that aired on TV at the time. On display in the exhibit were hand-made incendiary devices made from soda cans designed to blow off a soldiers hand. The text panels in the entire exhibit are bilingual, in English and Vietnamese. A letter home from Vietnam that had likely been unread for over 50 years, had one viewer in tears when she read it in the exhibit.

Active-duty and retired U.S. military personnel (including National Guard members) will receive a $2 discount from History Center general admission prices ($8) during this exhibit. Disabled veterans will be admitted at no charge. The exhibition runs through November 5.

Broadway Brunch at Hamburger Mary’s

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I joined the staff of the Orange County Regional History Center when they went as a group to Hamburger Mary’s for Broadway Brunch. Mimosas flowed and then we ordered some very juicy burgers and cheese fries. The Minx, and Nicky Monet, acted as the hosts who kept the show lively. The Broadway Brunch Bunch dancers and some stellar singers show up to this weekly showcase to belt out their favorite show tunes. No two shows are alike. Production numbers were from Mary Poppins, Hairspray, Grease, Les Miserables, and so much more.

I had seen Dream Girls on Broadway when the show opened so I couldn’t resist singing along to those tunes. One act consisted of a singer slowly coming out of what might have been a sleeping bag or sheet w-Honda around her. She spread her arms and it became clear that she was a butterfly. It was an amazing act and I just sat back and enjoyed instead of stressing about trying to catch it all. Acts often circulated around the room collecting tips and singing up close and personal. One singer pressed between two men on the History Center staff and pressed them to her chest.

If you haven’t been to the Sunday Broadway Brunch, you need to go. The hosts stressed that the fun shared here needs to flow out into the world so that hate has no reason to flourish. In Orlando we lost 49 joyous souls. By singing laughing and dancing, we honor their memory.

Guests will each pay a $2.99 entertainment fee and be required to
purchase an entree or two alcoholic beverages.  Call 321-319-0600 to
grab your seat!

 Upcoming show dates:

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The Orlando Shuffle.

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Shuffleboard is free at Orlando’s Beardall Courts, (800 Delaney Avenue Orlando FL) each month on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month from 7PM to 9PM. I challenged Pam Schwartz to a game figuring I have an advantage as an artist given my eye and hand coordination. I got off to a great start taking a lead but then slipped back as Pam warmed up. I lost by a humbling amount. I tried to erase the chalkboard score but I was held back as a photo was taken of the score. I can claim ignorance and a short memory as I gloss over the score.

At a Tacky Tourist event at the Orange County Regional History Center a shuffleboard court was set up on the floor of the museum lobby. That game I won as Pam teamed up with Whitney Broadaway‘s daughter. It wasn’t a full court, but I am sure Rick Kilby set it up to the official specifications. For some reason Pam refuses to accept this clear victory and perhaps a rematch is needed.

The bottom line is that shuffleboard is some free fun, so get out and give it a try.

Mike Perkins presented a Collective Narrative.

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Mike Perkins, the Orlando Regional History Center director gave a talk at the Albin Polasek Museum‘s Capen House (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) titled “A Collective Narrative” about the museums efforts after the Pulse Nightclub massacre to collect and preserve the memorial items left at sites around Orlando.

The goal at the Orlando Regional History Center is to present History in an interesting way, You are going to have challenges as you work through your career, but you don’t expect to have something so incredibly changing, with such a huge impact to the community happen, and all of a sudden, while you are at the job it becomes your task to collect and retain this history that just happened. It was a shock to all of us. Pam Schwartz, who is the museum senior curator carried the bulk of this initiative.

It was of course the middle of summer. We had to collect at Lake Eola first since the city wanted to have July 4th fireworks. Collecting began on June 26th and went on for about 3 months? The question was directed towards two members of the museum staff, Emily Arnold, and Whitney Broadaway in the audience of seven. After Lake Eola was cleared, Dr. Phillips Arts Center (DPAC) became the primary site for a memorial.

Mr. Greg Zanis brought his 49 wooden crosses to Orlando Regional Health Center and that became its own memorial site. When the crosses were eventually collected, items left around the crosses were also collected. The crosses were stored in specially designed archival boxes and the items left at each individuals cross were put in an accompanying box in the museum archives. Photos are on the museum’s online digital archive that show the crosses when they were first put in place and then several photos document the memorial items as they were left at each cross. Mike gave credit to Emily Arnold for all the photos in his presentation but from the audience, she had to let him know that all the photos were by a photographer named Phelan Ebenhack.

All the candles couldn’t be collected. Only particularly beautifully decorated candles were collected the rest went into land fill (most have been kept for potential use). American flags that had touched the ground could not be collected. Those couldn’t go into the museum collection. After much of the memorial had been cleared at DPAC, Boy Scouts collected the flags and gave them to the military or fire department to be properly disposed of. There were huge banners that were often covered with other items and flowers. The banners were folded up or rolled up. Flowers could not be collected and they were turned into mulch. Keep in mind it was hot out. The sun and fading of items became a problem.

Candles would get kicked over and drip wax onto other memorial items. Items that were most at risk were collected first. The collecting was only the beginning of the work. Gathering was in some ways the easy part of the process. Once items were safely back in the museum archives, they were cleaned, and processed to be made stable for the collection.

Then of course Pulse became a memorial site and items are still being dropped off precipitously. So obviously a tremendous effort went into this. A tent would be set up and the History Center van would be close by. There were archival boxes, blotter paper, and a press, all to stabilize items so they cold get to the History Center with low humidity and temperature control. The collection now is called the One Orlando Collection and it has over 6100 items. The exhibit that we opened on June 12th was visited by about 700 family members. It was seem by about 2,400 people that week.

A question from the audience: “Were people upset when you took memorial items away?”

Mike: “When we told them what we were doing, generally they thanked us.”

Question: “Did you call the City or did the City call you?”

Mike: “We are a County institution.”

Question: “How did that happen? Did someone say, ‘Hey you need to do this?'”

Mike: “It was an organic thing. If anyone deserves credit, it would be Pam Schwartz.”

History in a glass.

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The first History in a Glass took place on June 22 at the Orange County Regional History Center, 65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801. History in a Glass pairs fun and fascinating historical collection
artifacts with delicious hand-crafted cocktails. Three bar districts –
Downtown, Mills/50 District, and Winter Park – battle for the championship to see
who can win people’s choice in designing the
best custom cocktail based on a story from the history of Central
Florida. Three ace mixologists from each district will go head to head
with their colleagues, the winner advancing to the series finale in
December.

In the first competition mixologists from three popular downtown Orlando establishments – Hanson’s Shoe Repair, The Woods, and The Courtesy Bar – received a brief biography of Billy Bluebeard, Orlando’s first swan to create their drink from. Billy was brought to Orlando in 1910 by Charles Lord and placed at Lake Lucerne with his mate Sally. They were a rather romantic pair and Billy took quite an interest in their domestic affairs. Sally would sit on their eggs, but each day Billy would come by to relieve her so that she might swim about the Lake and stretch her legs.  One day, Billy was running a bit behind and Sally decided to take off before his arrival.  Their eggs grew cold, Lord knowing they would be dead, removed them from the nest. Upon finding an empty nest, Billy was furious. He swam out to Sally in the middle of the lake, grabbed her by the throat, and held her head under until she died.

Billy was given a new mate, Mary, who was quite a bit younger than he. Billy grew ill and was taken to a veterinarian. Once he was better, he returned home to find Mary with another swan! Unfortunately Billy wasn’t quite the fighting swan he once was, and the new, younger Charlie wasn’t having any of Billy’s attitude. Lord made the decision to remove Billy to another lake where he eventually passed away.  Some say it was old age, others say Billy died of a homesick broken heart.

In 1933, the proprietor of W.H. Swan Company had Billy stuffed and placed in the foyer of his department store where he stood until becoming one of the very first donations to the History Center.

Mark your calendar! The next History in a Glass, “Hog Wild” Edition is Thursday, August 24 at 6 PM – 9 PM. Not far from the present-day History Center’s
door, razorbacks once rubbed their backs on the steps of Orange County’s
wooden courthouse in the 1870s,
when Florida was a wild frontier. Florida still has an estimated one
million feral pigs on the loose. Just recently in the news, wild hogs
are still running amok in Brevard County! Come cheer on your favorite bartender from the Mills 50 District in a competition to create the best history-inspired beverage. The winner will advance to the series finale in December.

Admission tickets include great music with a DJ, three hand-crafted cocktails, and tasty cuisine
from a local restaurant. Member tickets are $20, general admission $25. This event is for guests 21 and older. For details, call 407-836-7035. Doors open at 6 p.m., cocktail competition and drink service start at 6:30.

The Great Florida Road Trip Tacky Tourist Party.

Posted on by Thor

The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801) held an evening of historic proportions as they saluted the Tacky Tourist in Florida. The event was free for History Center members and a $10 suggested donation for others. Rain certainly did its part to thin the crowd and it was pouring when I arrived.

There was a book talk with Cathy Salustri, author of Backroads of Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida. After the slide presentation the audience could test their Florida knowledge with trivia.  I was invited to be one of three judges for the Tacky Tourist Costume Contest. The winner wore every conceivable piece of tacky tourist paraphernalia, shopping bags were full of Disney plush toys and trinkets. Shuffleboard was offered in the lobby. I managed to win a round thus reclaiming my dignity as a shuffle board champion.

Rasha Mubarak discusses her life after Pulse.

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On a sketch excursion to The GLBT Center, I watched Rasha Mubarack, Orlando’s regional coordinator for the Council for American /Islamic Relations, as she was interviewed on camera. The Center was holding an event in which a large group of people gathered to offer love and support for Manchester via a video message.

She explained in an oral history at the Orange County Regional History Center, that she was exposed to injustice as a child. Her uncle was a successful businessman who lived in Isleworth Florida. His home was invaded, probably because he was Islamic. Islamaphobia had become mainstream in America. When exposed to one injustice, you become aware of others. A sheik was at the site where hospitalized names were read from a list. If the name of your loved one wasn’t on the list, then it was a worst case scenario. Parents and loved ones were in despair. Some were banging their heads on the walls. This was a hard scene to re-live.

At the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts vigil, Rasha was one of the people on hand to read the names of the 49 victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Back stage, she was nervous about the idea of being a Muslim reading the names. Backstage, there was pain and comfort. Reading the names was shattering. Each name had the age next to it. Each of these people have stories. The Methodist Church across the street rang the bell for every name on the list. That moment seemed to last an eternity. Everyone assembled comforted each other. There is mercy in adversity. We are all in this together.

Right after the Pulse Nightclub massacre, Rasha felt personally affected. She went to her mosque as usual and realized that no one else knew what was going on. When she got home, she was hyperventilating and felt the full weight of the tragedy. She was soon called upon to do an interview outside Pulse. It all seemed unreal. How could someone really kill 49 people? This was clearly not a person of god, any god. That first week after Pulse, she was asked many times, “How are you?” Her stock response was, “I’m OK.” One man told her something that stuck with her, “God puts you where he wants you.” When he told her that, everything else seemed OK. She just needed to do the right thing, be on the right side, and keep going.

There was a backlash after Pulse, but it could have been a lot worse. Islamaphobia has increased 500% in Central Florida in the past year. What side of history do you want to be on? The Council for American /Islamic Relations is fighting for civil liberties for all Americans. At a Democratic partisan event, Rasha was pulled aside for appearing “suspicious.” She fights for marginalized people and found herself marginalized.

Orlando is a place where people come to get away. On June 12, a criminal tried to dismantle that. He forever changed the lives of 49 families. How do we react when our world is disturbed? Our hearts fall in and out of love with everything. Out hearts have memory. We need to remember the beauty that came out of it all. We need to understand the diversity and stand for civil liberties for everyone.

Screw fireworks, we all need some Santa on July 4th.

Posted on by Thor

Usually on the first Monday of each month, I host Orlando Drink and Draw (ODD). In May, I decided to host the event at Frosty’s Christmastime Lounge (50 East Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801). Frosty is a snowman, Frosty is also what you call a cold cocktail or beer. However you interpret it, it is correct. Frosty’s wants to give you the feeling of the holidays all year round. Why wait until December?

Located right near the Orange County Regional History Center, Frosty’s does sport plenty of Christmas bling, like stockings hung with care under the liquor bottles, to a fat Santa near the entrance and the the sexy leg lamp won in the film “A Christmas Story.” Old school large bulb Christmas lights were strung from the rafters and the TVs only played Christmas specials and movies like “Home Alone.” The images on the screen have a strange blue electric haze that may or may not have been intentional, but looked like it was a short circuit.

The specialties at Frosty’s are the craft snow cones with names like, Porky’s Liposuction, Coconuts roasted over an open fire, and the last wurd. I was the only artist around, so I figured it might be a short evening and I ordered a Heineken. Besides myself, there were only 3 people at the far end of the bar. The sketch progressed quickly. Mandi Ilene Schiff stopped by with her fiancé Robert Johnston. Mandi worked up an intricate redesign of the Frosty’s logo. They were soon off to another party as I was finishing up my sketch.

Going to Frosty’s early on a Monday night wasn’t very exciting, but I am sure the place perks up as the evening wears on. I heard that there is snow sometimes, but I didn’t witness it myself. I might return as the weather cools down a bit.