Main Street and 63rd Street

Panama Park became the northern gateway to Jacksonville after the completion of the old Trout River Bridge. Over the next few decades, Main Street developed as Panama Park’s primary commercial thoroughfare and was the location of some of the city’s first shopping plazas outside of the downtown proper. Main’s prominence declined with the opening of the Jacksonville Expressway (I-95) in 1960.

Open since 1970, the Trout River Fish Company is a long time market featuring local wild caught seafood in Jacksonville and everything ranging from bait and tackle to crab legs, oysters, conch and fresh fish.

Joseph’s Pizza has been a Panama Park fixture on Main Street since 1956. The family-owned Italian eatery is known for its homemade dressings, sauces, meatballs, Italian sausage and breads.

East 63rd Street is the main east-west thoroughfare through Panama Park. It serves as one of the few direct connections in the neighborhood between Main Street and Buffalo Avenue. Like many of Panama Park’s secondary corridors, it includes a mix of uses ranging from residential and neighborhood commercial to light industry.

Article and photographs by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com