Roadway Art

            Now .................. and............................Then

Contrary to folk lore, the Orange Man was really an Orange Bird. This photo was provided by Rosemary Myers, whose father, Armand Fischetti (ala Armand Beach, etc), owned the Artesia Gardens, a fruit and vegetable market just south of the Hammock Dunes Bridge in the Hammock. She said he got the idea for the bird from the Orange Blossom Honey logo. The photo was taken around 1982 when the market was just opened. This was the second Hammock fruit sales location, the first being at 16^th Rd where the Publix and SunTrust Bank now stand. The belly of the  Orange Bird was made from a buoy that washed ashore in Marineland. It was filled with cement, which is probably why it has not fallen from its
original spot.

Rosemary's family owned the land that Publix is now on, which was an exotic animal attraction, Old Florida style, which of course is where those crazy peacocks came from, although they now seem to have disappeared.  There was a clear lake on the site, later filled in, which is now where the store is.  Rosemary is an environmental hero due to her tree preservation and support for good site planning during her negotiations with the developers.