Fort Myers

I spent today walking around downtown and if I dare mention, I visited a Star Bucks Coffee House. I really don’t like corporate coffee, but there isn’t anything else here. Downtown has been cleaned up quite a bit from the way it used to be. Unfortunately there isn’t much to do. It’s mostly made up of restaurants and bars and shopping is limited.

At one time it was full of antique shops, but they are all gone. You used to find all kinds of kitsch things. The city planners ran them all out because they wanted to revitalize the area and in doing so the rents went way up. It’s really quite a shame.

It seems the people here prefer to frequent malls and strip malls, which is evident from the suburban sprawl. The downtown area is completely dead because of it. It’s odd to me because in Savannah the downtown or historic district is the place to be.

Of course Savannah has its architecture, history and an art school which breaths life into the city. Fort Myers doesn’t have a creative scene. I believe that plays a big part in its lifelessness.

Downtown Fort Myers has the potential, but they have not discovered it as of yet so there are empty buildings everywhere with For Lease signs.

Below are some photographs I took today. Most of them are in sepia tone. Enjoy!