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Daytona
Beach
Daytona
Beach is the center of the larger Daytona Beach area. Communities
as far away as Palm Coast Edgewater and Deland still revolve around
Daytona Beach as the largest nearby commercial center.
Daytona
Beach has more business and industry than any of the other surrounding
communities. Daytona Beach has the largest mall in the vicinity,
the Volusia Mall. The Volusia Mall is a large modern mall with
4 department stores: J.C. Penny, Macy's, Dillards and Sears plus
numerous other retail stores from clothing to books to shoes to
jewelry to music to vitamins to hair salons to places to eat.
The Volusia Mall is a very complete and inclusive Mall.
The
Volusia Mall is located on the main incoming street into Daytona,
International Speedway.
International
Speedway is the main street for most retail businesses including
Best buy, Barnes and Noble, Circuit City, Staples, Old Navy, Michael's
Arts and Crafts, Red Lobster, Carraba's Restaurant, and many many
more business locations.
Plus
International Speedway Blvd. provides access to the Daytona Beach
airport, the Daytona Beach Speedway, Bethune Cookman College,
Daytona Beach Community College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Daytona
Beach has long been famous for its raceway, Nascar, the Daytona
500, and the world's most famous beach. The beach in part is famous
because the first auto races in Daytona were held on Daytona's
beach.
Nowadays
races are no longer held on the beach but the city is still reknowned
for racing at the Daytona Speedway, including the Daytona 500
and the Pepsi 400. Daytona is also reknowned for Bike Week, Spring
Break and of course the beach. All in all there are considered
to be eleven event weeks alhtough there are only 5 or six really
big ones.
During
the events the hotels are busy all along International Speedway
Blvd. near the raceway and along the beachside. During the remainder
of the year families are the main occupants of the hotels and
the whole focus of the community is moving away from event weeks
to a family orientated city.
The
experience of Daytona Beach, and the living areas can be mainly
divided into beach side and mainland. The big hotels along the
beach are located on the beachside. These are where the toursists
come. This is where you will find most of the entertainment of
the city and most of the action. Cars when they cruise cruise
up and down A1A or Atlantic Avenue. Atlantic Avenue has most of
the area hotels, as well as numerous restaurants, condos and even
the Belair Plaza full of stores right next store to Daytona Beach
in Ormond.
As
well as Atlantic Avenue Daytona Beach beach side has two main
retail business, and entertainment and restaurant streets. These
are Main Street which is the center of bike week and has numerous
bike related stores as well as numberous bars and several restaurants.
Seabreeze
Blvd. is a little more upscale, mainly because it is newer and
wider, and it also has a wide variety of restaurants as well as
several bars and clubs.
Behind
this commercial activity, mainly north of Seabreeze and south
of International are residential areas and houses, mostly inland
on the peninsula between Atlantic Avenue and the Halifax River.
Many of these houses, especially along the Halifax River are multimillion
dollar homes in their own little communities on more or less private
streets. There are also many more modest 3 bedroom bungalow type
houses between the riverside mansions and Atlantic avenue both
north of Seabreeze and south of International Blvd.
There
are 4 bridges from Daytona Beach to the mainland. These are the
Seabreeze bridge, the Main St. bridge, the International Blvd
bridge and the silver Beach bridge. The main and silver Beach
bridges are drawbridges which raise to let boats pass. The International
and Seabreeze bridges are high overpasses that the boats can easily
go under.
Returning
to the mainland of Daytona there are numerous widely dispersed
businesses mainly along streets north south streets such as Ridgewood
Av., Nova Blvd. Clyde Morris Ave. and the east west streets of
International Blvd., Mason Ave. and Beville Avenue.
Within
this gridwork of businesses are residential houses of a wide variety
of neighbourhoods tending to be more expensive the closer the
proximity to the Halifax River, though not exclusively. There
are upscale neighborhoods near the raceway, near Clyde Morris,
near International, near Beville, near Mason and Ridgewood.
Daytona
Beach is famous for many things. Daytona Beach is also the financial,
business, retail, arts, and entertainment center for the entire
larger Daytona Beach area.
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