Brendan Bunting O'Connor of Bungalower.com

Meet Brendan--local artist, writer, co-host of "Bungalower and The Bus," Editor in Chief at Bungalower.com, drag bingo host, and all around fun fellow to be around.  We learn all about Brendan's formative years: growing up in Ontario, being a teenage rebel, stealing a horse in Turkey, landing a job at Disney's EPCOT, and taking the helm at Orlando's most popular local news and entertainment resource. Visit them online at https://bungalower.com

https://linktr.ee/helloapgdpod

Chapters

• 10:49 Discovering Counterculture in Orlando
• 19:08 Local Filmmakers and Orlando's Soft Power
• 27:10 Orlando's Growth and Neighborhood Identity
• 40:51 Neighborhood Development and Change
• 53:11 Exploring Community Development Opportunities
• 1:03:49 Artificial Intelligence and Creative Expression
• 1:16:23 Power of Drag and Bridging Divides
• 1:29:37 Urban Planning and Community Engagement
• 1:36:51 Downtown Demographics and Policies

Transcript

Brendan O’connor

Host: 0:12

Hi friends, thank you for joining us for another episode of Hello APGD, a neighborhood podcast about the Audubon Park Garden District in Orlando, florida. I'm your host, Michael Lothrop, and today we'll be speaking with Brendan O'Connor, local artist, writer and co- of Bungalower and the Bus, as well as editor-in-chief at bungalower.com. If you'd like to be a guest on the show or if you'd like to be a sponsor, please feel free to message me on Instagram at helloapgdpod. Thank you for listening. This episode is brought to you in part by Trevor Brown, Audubon Park resident and trusted Central Florida Realtor, with Fanny Hellman and Associates, proudly serving their clients for over 40 years For listings, market trends, helpful home buyer and seller tips. Email directly to trevor at fannyhillman.com or find him on Instagram at trevorbrownrealtor. And with me today is Brendan Bunting O'Connor, editor-in-chief of Bungalower, freelance writer, drag bingo , local artist, star of television's “Restaurants on the Radar”, co- and radio personality on Bungalower and the bus and co-author of “100 Things to Do in Orlando Before You Die”. Brendan, welcome, 

Brendan: 1:43

oh my gosh. Look at you reading my LinkedIn. I hope you didn't lose any listeners. 

Host: 1:45

You know after I wrote that I had to take a nap. I don't know how you do it. 

I know, seriously, it's amazing. I mean, thank you for being here. You obviously find lots of things to do with your time And you are an inspiration just being a local cheerleader, you know. 

Brendan: 2:00

It's weird that it's a job. You know It's cool. Regularly you have to pinch myself like what is this little niche you've carved out for yourself, Brendan? Isn't this real? Will it come crashing down the next day? Who knows? 

Host: 2:12

But I mean you have a big audience. There's obviously a need for it. You are really on the pulse of news in the city And it's a pretty big city. There's a lot of things going on and you cover downtown Orlando plus the bungalow neighborhoods, thus the name. 

Brendan: 2:27

Uh-huh, yeah, one who bungalows is kind of how we've been trying to describe it, because a lot of people who, if you've never heard of it before, they're like Bungalower. What is this You? can always tell right, Because they're just reading it. They've never heard it. It's just a test to see if somebody's initiated it.

Brendan: 2:45

Like, are you new? Like how? Do you know? Yeah, and generally it's one who bungalows, one who's downtown people who are out in the neighborhood living their best Orlando lives. 

Host: 2:56

Yeah, I love the name because I mean we live in a bungalow. Uh-huh, i think you would classify this as a bungalow. 

Brendan: 3:02

It looks like a beautiful mid-century ranch to me. Yeah, I love this.

Host: 3:07

Thank you very much. Thank you. I've been here for 20 years and, yeah, a lot of love for Audubon Park, just seeing it grow as it has. I feel like Bungalower is a really great kind of partner with main street organizations and kind of promoting and branding and just getting people excited about what's going on here. 

Brendan: 3:29

They all kind of started at the same time. I wasn’t the founder of Bungalower and I actually don't own it, I just kind of run it like I own it. So my friend Matt Broffman founded it and kind of grew with the main streets And so he was working on the streets with the director, So Joanne Grant, I think she's been around. I don't think there's ever been another director of Mills 50 Main Street. You know your current one. He was working with Kat Quast, who was before Jennifer Marvel, And so they were always hitting the streets trying to say these words as much as possible, right? So I hype everybody up and get them to drink Kool-Aid. 

Host: 4:08

Yeah. 

Brendan: 4:09

I just got excited and hit my mic. 

Host: 4:10

It's quite alright And nobody. There was a time when nobody knew what Audubon Park was Like. it's been called this for so long, but like other than a name on the map. 

Brendan: 4:20

I didn't care. right, I didn't care. There's an apathy about it because, like, what like? Why did you need to know what the name was? Because people weren't generally coming to the main streets as much We were very much just like a pass through neighborhood. 

Host: 4:34

We had you know the couple of plazas with small businesses in them. There was a Krispy Kreme in one of the plazas which is kind of wild just to think of like chains here, because it's not about that now. 

Brendan: 4:46

Well, that's the way it was designed right, Which is why you all have such a love-hate relationship with the traffic patterns and hopefully with the calming of Korean, you know, on the horizon that can help. But that's interesting because the people who've been living in Baldwin Park are there because they love the ease of going up and down Korean, going downtown, hitting I-4. And the idea of perhaps interrupting that flow with a couple extra seconds or minutes of drive time makes their knees quake, you know Does Or makes their hands turn white. 

Host: 5:21

They're not. They're not. Maybe some people are not used to having to wait. And you know, we've even seen it at this crosswalk. It's been kind of an interesting social experiment because you hit the button and the yellow flashing light comes on and then it's solid red. And you know some people are like I don't want to stop And just keep going. And that's terrifying. 

Brendan: 5:40

Yeah Well, we have one of those. We live in Mills 50 over. They have a flashing pedestrian crossway for the urban trail right Which crosses right at Ten10 Brewing. I would hazard, maybe hazard's a good word for it. Maybe 70% of the people who are supposed to stop don't stop, and that's the trail you know. So I can just imagine with y'all, with y'alls, it's just people who happen to be having to park on the other side of Corinne just so they can get into one of our parks, i know. There's not much of like a destination on the other side, but as that advances or as that yellow, is it a law firm in the yellow building on the other side As that like they're not going to be there forever And the next use there will probably be a restaurant or bar use, i would expect, and so as those interactions on either side of the street pick up and people use that crosswalk more, it'll be really interesting to see if people really abide by those crosswalks. 

Host: 6:38

Yeah, It is a traffic signal. You know it's a ticketable offense? Yeah, but who's going to be there to ticket? i know that's a good point, yeah, so we hope that everybody will abide, because this is how we do in a society right, it's how the dude abides. It's how the dude abides. We all do our part and that's how it works. So you Social contract, Totally exactly. So. you moved to Central Florida in 2003 from Ontario, Canada. I did. And you lived in Turkey at 16. I did, I've done my research. 

Brendan: 7:14

I was an exchange student. 

Host: 7:15

Yeah. 

Brendan: 7:16

A world's worst exchange student, Why My mom actually worked for Rotary Club. She was like their event planner, Okay, And and I know intentions of ever leaving Northern Ontario. You know podunk wilderness, kid, paint rocks and stuff on her own in her free time. I just didn't know of anything like that And I remember meeting I was. I was hauled into some Rotary lunch meeting and there was an exchange student there, Zanep from Istanbul, and she was smoking clove cigarettes and had this big flamboyant scarf and she gave a slideshow about Istanbul and where she was from And I was like immediately struck by A.) she's fabulous. Who is this person? People can dress like that Water, clove cigarettes, yeah, oh my God. I need to do this. Yeah. So many questions. Is this a life path you can do Right? And and I kind of just latched onto, my mom said I could apply as long as I didn't go to Turkey because she was super nervous And I put Turkey as my number one choice And I and I went oh no, number two, my number one was Iceland, but I didn't get it. 

Host: 8:26

And either sound great. 

Brendan: 8:27

I think they were They, yeah, but I went to a private school in Turkey and it's just like a Catholic school, but it was a Muslim And we didn't. I didn't speak any Turkish and neither did the other exchange students that were there, And they didn't want us to really participate. We were just kind of supposed to sit there for most of the day. Interesting. And I never skipped a day of school in my whole life. I didn't know that was an option either, really, and my friend from Mexico City, Mauricio Gonzalez, kind of he, he let us know it was cool, you know, let's get out of here, let's go hang out with some street street kids, you know, smoke cigarettes and hang out with skaters and and just stopped going to school. So I really kind of missed a whole year of school abroad but had a wonderful time and came back like not giving a kind of cuss, yeah, as within reason. 

Host: 9:19

Within reason Yeah, just not caring. I haven't checked the explicit box yet on any of the episodes, so I'm kind of proud of that. 

Brendan: 9:27

Okay, well, let's keep it that way. There's no need to do that. All right, clever enough that we don't need to resort to that. 

Host: 9:32

It forces us to be a little more clever. 

Brendan: 9:34

Okay, yeah, that was your unsolicited adventures of Brendan. I love it. 

Host: 9:41

I love it, and I mean, we stole a horse, mike. We stole a horse. 

Brendan: 9:45

What? Yeah, We skipped out. We told our  families we were going to go stay with somebody. 

Host: 9:51

None of us went to that place. I think what you did is you borrowed a horse, right? No, we stole it. 

Brendan: 9:55

Oh, we stole it from a field and rode it for a week along the Aegean. We all kind of took turns and the farmer eventually found us and got his horse back. Okay, we didn't go to jail. 

Host: 10:07

That's good I didn't get our hands cut off. Oh my gosh Midnight Express moment. Yeah, You hear about that. That kid that got caned for spring training for graffiti. 

Brendan: 10:16

We were there in a very secular time and we lived in Ankara but a lot of people treated us like kids of ambassadors, So we could kind of get away with a lot in the city. That's dangerous at 16. 

Host: 10:28

Oh, we could do anything, yeah. 

Brendan: 10:31

We were. We got in all the clubs and everybody thought I was a Russian prostitute. And I, yeah, it was fun. 

Host: 10:37

I had a great time. So really you've got a different kind of education than maybe they had carved out for you, right? 

Brendan: 10:43

And I went back to Northern Ontario thinking like I need to get out of here, like what is this place? And then I knew I was gay and and an artist and I had had my first you know dude crush at 16. I'd never really had that before. I didn't really know I was gay until I went to Europe and came back and just I just had a you know a real awakening of you know, Northern Ontario is great, but I don't think there's a place for me here. 

Host: 11:09

That's amazing, yeah, because you had room to maybe explore like just a different walk of life, right, just? being out of your hometown element And you know where. Nobody knows you right, and there are other people who are, you know, from other places as well, so you're just sharing this experience and kind of discovering limits. 

Brendan: 11:28

There's limits and boundaries that come from. Oh, look at these beautiful birds. 

Host: 11:33

I know these juvenile mourning doves They've been, they've taken up home here. Oh, it's. 

Brendan: 11:39

it's really fun. Yeah. 

Host: 11:42

Welcome to our bird show in Audubon Park. I imagine You know this is what we do here. 

Brendan: 11:47

I don't need to talk about that, oh my gosh. 

Host: 11:49

Well, anyways, yes, so I was very curious about moving to central Florida. It was Disney that brought you here. 

Brendan: 11:57

It was and I did the program. 2003 was the first time I came here. I came for the year -long program. They have a college program and an international program. And for the international program you don't have to be a student. And I came down for a year. They gave me a three month extension on my visa just because I was doing well And realized that because my mother's American I could take out a dual citizenship. And then I became like a seasonal employee And when I was going to school I'd come back on my breaks and pay off a student loan And it was the most money I'd ever made in my life, serving at La Selle steakhouse in Epcot And just killing it. And I didn't know anything about Orlando, I just thought it was, you know, the tourist corridor. I didn't have a car, so I just kind of experienced it through the Disney lens until I dated Jesus from the kitchen, this beautiful Mexican guy who I'd actually didn't know we were on a date. Until he took me. I thought we were just going to watch Frida together A little. Samahaya movie And he took me. 

Host: 13:00

How was that not a date? Come on, 

Brendan: 13:05

I didn't know, I just thought it was. I maybe kind of was wishing it was, and then it turned out to really be a date. I was very surprised. I don't know why That's fun. I was like I'm going to start us when they were renting videos. We rented Frida from Stardust And he was like this is Orlando. That was my first real experience with a counterculture in Orlando, which was very attractive to me at that time. And then I came back seasonally and met Scotty Campbell and he convinced me to transfer schools And I went to night school at Rollins and just kind of moved down. That's amazing. 

Host: 13:40

Yeah, oh wow, your first counterculture experience was in Audubon Park. 

Brendan: 13:44

It really was and it just clicked now It wasn't preplanned 

Host: 13:48

I love bringing these things out. You know, this is like a discovery for both of us. 

Brendan: 13:52

Yeah, that was. It was a destination for the chef. You know, like we, I remember we just kept driving and driving, and driving and I was like where are you taking me? Is this? I'm going to get chopped up or something. 

Host: 14:03

Yeah, because it's like a half an hour from Disney and at that time, you know, this neighborhood is very tucked away. Right. So you wouldn't really, you know you go to, there wasn't anything remarkable. 

Brendan: 14:15

I remember at the time I just like we pulled up and then it was about a bunch of hippies and VHS tapes and yeah And that was. It was very cool. Yeah. Yeah, just to find that little oasis. Yeah, yeah. 

Host: 14:29

Stardust. I remember visiting there when it was a video store and just being blown away. It was really the main reason that I bought this house. Oh, wow, I wanted to be in this neighborhood because I'm like this is a really cool kind of cultural anomaly, anomaly, you know, anemone, any of those, that's all of those things. And yeah, we've become, you know, friends with the owner Brett and yeah, it's like my favorite spot to get coffee. 

Brendan: 14:56

I think it's where I met Gabby back in the day doing your markets Yeah, she's still doing them.

Host: 15:01

Yeah, she had to take a break because of health reasons for a while, but yeah, she's a torch for a hot minute to somebody. Yeah, she's got a great employee that you know held it all up when she was going through things and she's doing so much better now. We both are. So we watched an episode of my gosh, it was very difficult to find…I don't know if you've gotten that feedback before. 

Brendan: 15:29

User experience, yeah. 

Host: 15:31

It was on Roku. And we basically had to. We did a search for the channel, Very Local right? which yielded no results. 

Brendan: 15:41

Oh wow Interesting. 

Host: 15:42

So we had to do a search for the TV show itself and watch the trailer, which is Very Local, so we added it that way. Okay that's a pro tip for anybody trying to get to your show. That cannot. 

Brendan: 15:53

Amazon Fire Stick Yes. Roku, yes. Hurst Media, the parent company for WESH have launched that online channel in, i believe, five cities New Orleans, boston, orlando. I think Seattle's one, I can't remember the other. 

Host: 16:11

Oh, and yeah, lucky, yeah, very lucky. 

Brendan: 16:13

A lot of places And I love that Orlando is one of those markets that they thought that they need this. Yeah, maybe just because we use the word local so much. We do love that word. We do, which is great. I love that that's trending enough that it would make a TV channel start here, yeah, yeah. And so they approached me as a location scout, which I do sometimes for people. We people approach us all the time for tip somewhere, like who's this shop? we're coming here to do something for guys, grocery games, or you know, like who's someone that we should have? 

Host: 16:46

I mean, nobody better than to ask them, because you're everywhere. 

Brendan: 16:50

There's a lot of people they can ask, but I love that they keep coming back, because that's yeah, it's great for us, it's great for our relationships with local businesses, and we're not just promoting people who are sponsors or work with us, but it does make us also look good When that restaurant remembers that, hey, they gave us a heads up. Yeah, they connected the dot here and we got a gig on TV. So I love that, yeah. I could connect dots all day for people. 

Host: 17:14

And you do, you really, really do that. The show is just so well produced. They did a wonderful, so good. 

Brendan: 17:21

Yeah, I'm very. I didn't expect that. My mom watching said it's just like a real show. 

Host: 17:27

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I mean, it wasn't like I was in your presence too? I mean, just like you are very cut out for it. Oh, thank you, you really, really just. I mean I was laughing out loud Like you were just you have just this, this presence. 

Brendan: 17:44

It's the hardest thing I've ever done. 

Host: 17:46

I was wondering about hard just thinking about all of these things that you control just visually and then like being on topic, it's like. 

Brendan: 17:54

You know, podcasting is one thing, but to be on camera, and especially with different locations and shots and things like that, it's like 12 hour shoot days, six hours per restaurant, and we were, you know, just because they were still trying to figure out, like, what the recipe is, and very local, which you know, great partners and we're so glad they did it. But they had a lot of input, yeah, and each time we would film something and send them a cut they'd say, well, let's try this on the next one. So in this first season a lot of them are kind of different. The pattern is different per episode. I think my favorite one was the one with Kwame from Chicken Fire And I think that's when we really found our pace. 

Host: 18:37

You, know what it should look like. 

Brendan: 18:39

So we're waiting to see if we get another season. When we first started, it was very scripted. They wanted me to memorize some things which I think I've done some permanent damage to my short term memory, so that was very difficult for me. And then we realized that more of my sweet spot was just ad libbing which is great And there was no pressure And it was just kind of experiencing it in the heat of it. And then they would. It was their job to capture it And it was. adrenaline films is the local firm that did everything. They shot it, edited it and then sent it in. They were wonderful. 

Host: 19:17

Yeah. 

Brendan: 19:18

Yeah, they really made me look good. 

Host: 19:19

Yeah, I mean it does. It looks beautiful, the editing is great, you know, even the music cuts and things like that, and just like, yeah, it just, it was a joy to watch. Yeah, I can't wait to watch all of the episodes. We only had access to one of them. 

Brendan: 19:33

Okay, it was like it's so weird, I wonder what's happening. I actually just got a text from somebody that tried to watch it And they got an error message, so maybe there's a little glitch. 

Host: 19:42

Yeah in the matrix. 

Brendan: 19:44

I hope it's working. 

Host: 19:45

I love it. Yeah, we watched the street food episode 

Brendan: 19:50

Okay that's the weakest one, Which is a shame, but that was pretty good. 

Host: 19:52

Oh what? Yeah, I mean it was great seeing Joe Creech from Hunger Street Tacos on there.

Brendan: 20:02

And I love that he gets more and more handsome every time I see him. He's a wonderful man. Korgette over at A La Carte, the little food truck. I made falafels for the first time from scratch. Really cool. I love learning that And I am a little bit of a foodie. I don't really think of myself as like a professional foodie, so that was a little bit of a stretch for me to like head a show which we're calling “Gay Fieri”, big ol' homo, like re-experienced food. I love it. Yeah, I think it worked. I think it worked. 

Host: 20:31

Yeah, thank you so much. Oh my gosh. Yeah, absolutely Yeah, yeah, And I hope it gets renewed for a second season. It's very deserving And I hope that you do come to Audubon Park. Do you get to select the restaurants I gave? 

Brendan: 20:42

them lists. I was a staunch advocate for more than a few of them, but there were a bunch that swished, wanting to hit some benchmarks of things. Like I actually didn't choose Seana’s, a Caribbean soul food place out in Gotha. I actually had not heard of it. Yeah, and I was super glad we went. So I got to meet them because ever since I've been, I mean I am in communication with every single one of those restaurants. Kwame (Chicken Fire) is so busy I never get to talk to him. But yeah it was wonderful to encounter some, but most of them I had I definitely wanted to cover. Yeah, I don't think we did Audubon Park at all in the show. 

Host: 21:23

Well, next season too, you know, gotta really push for that. 

Brendan: 21:28

Oh, yeah, I would love to. I'd love to know more about what makes them tick, especially that conversion over to a Mexican restaurant. I was a little worried about that happening, but I think they're doing pretty well and those operators just seem so wonderful. 

Host: 21:42

Yeah, I'd like to know more about them. Yeah, yeah, and Foreigner is coming in. 

Brendan: 21:46

Oh yeah, Bruno's restaurant. Bruno Fonseca. Yeah, that's exciting. Or light on the sugar too, or no? 

Host: 21:51

it's some Sugar Dough, but same operators. Do go there. Their stuff is so good. 

Brendan: 21:56

I haven't been in months. 

Host: 21:59

It's time to go back, Yeah they've got a lot of new stuff, great social media presence, that sort of thing, speaking of which your social media is really really wonderful, as well, For Bungalower, Yeah, I mean you're getting very good at the reels. 

Brendan: 22:16

Oh, thank you. You have to learn our reels and be our own. Yeah, an intern showed me how to edit things on my phone. Before that I had no idea.

Host: 22:21

There's a lot there right. There's so much you can do with reels. 

Brendan: 22:26

Yeah, it's so important, especially with how much Instagram and Facebook are pushing video content. Yeah. YouTube I never kind of got a hold on, which is a shame I wish we had. We could do more with that. I think we need, like our own YouTube specialist, to just make content there. But I think I've always been, when I started at Bungalower, or it was just the website and the newsletter And that was it. And you know, bless Matthew, but he just didn't want to do anything else. That's what he wanted to do. Were those two things? Yeah. And I was like that's great, but not everybody wants a newsletter, not everybody wants to read the website. So I am a firm believer that we need to meet people where they are, which is why we have so many platforms, right? So the social media like he had. He didn't really have Instagram. I think we had like 30 followers or something on Instagram, yeah. And I remember Mark Baratelli from The Daily City you know, (as wonky crazy as he is) was always like Instagram's where it's going, and if you can't tell your story on social media then you're going to be in trouble. So that stuck with me, yeah, and just using that as a way to mobilize your stories. I think it's just very important. Our radio. We lucked out and got the radio show on 104.1, which I had never really listened to “Real Radio” before. I knew nothing about it, and that's its own little weird pop culture Island there in Central Florida. 

Host: 23:56

it really is. 

Brendan: 24:02

And we're so hyper local. I wasn't sure if that would fit, because there's people out at Cocoa Beach now listening to us talk about things that are very specific to Downtown Orlando, like your new crosswalk. We talked about that on the show and, for whatever reason, it's okay. People are still listening over in Cocoa Beach. 

Host: 24:18

I mean Cocoa Beach. People are going to come hang out here too, you know right Eventually. Yeah, eventually, eventually, everybody comes to Orlando. 

Brendan: 24:28

All roads lead here. They do. 

Host: 24:30

It's not a bad thing, but we need better roads, and that's part of what Bungalower covers as well is different things that are happening with construction and policy issues and things like that. 

Brendan: 24:44

We have a dinner table test. It's like things people are going to. Are they going to talk about it at the dinner table? Can people talk about it at the dinner table? So we don't do crime? Sometimes we're going to when it's like really, you know, I can't imagine, I can't remember one. 

Host: 25:02

Like the art museum

Brendan: 25:03

Yeah which is more like just that's a news headline. It is. It is rooted in crime. 

Host: 25:05

Yeah, that's a crazy story. 

Brendan: 25:06

Some fraud right? Some fraud, some light fraud, just like allegedly. 

Host: 25:14

It's a great museum. By the way, Gabby and I got married there, it's very close to our hearts. We do a lot with them. 

Brendan: 25:20

oh wonderful, yeah, awesome It's not gonna stop us from talking about how “batpoop crazy” that was. 

Host: 25:26

Yeah. 

Brendan: 25:27

Just absolute guano. 

Host: 25:29

Well, and I wonder, that story probably just went around the world, because it's so fascinating to 

Brendan: 25:38

The New York Times seems to be talking about it every week. Every week We're talking about Orlando. 

Host: 25:42

You got to be known for something. 

Brendan: 25:43

I you do. You know there's a great magazine called Monocle and they're out of UK, which I am super inspired by (for our magazine) and they talk a lot about growth and economics and urbanism and design and I it's all the things I ever want to talk about all in one little magazine. And so, but they have a concept that they regularly talk about soft power versus hard power being like military might and things like that, soft power being more like cultural influence. And Orlando–when you look at–we have “Visit Orlando” and “Visit Florida”, it's interesting to see the stories that they promote which are more tourism-related versus things that are more newsworthy. And we're in this constant struggle now because the stories that are coming out of our land or not the ones that we should really be focusing on right, yeah, they're not good news stories, not good news stories. So that soft power ranking, I feel like, is just always decreasing a little bit. you know, like road safety for cyclists, lawsuits against Disney for being their own autonomous political engine, right. How awful that those are the ones that are constantly coming out versus so much more here There is. There's a lot here. Yeah those are very sexy headlines but, I think we also have some other sexy headlines I'd love to see. 

Host: 27:10

Well, and there are a lot of people who you know maybe have only been to Disney, you know, like in your early times here of just like, well, this is, this is Orlando, right, because you know the perimeter kind of around Disney is it's, it's grown a bit But like for a while it's just sort of in the middle of the woods in a way right Everything that. 

Brendan: 27:30

Then it grows around the parks, you know, like the suburbia and the sprawl or like they're almost like. It's almost like amusement park slums. I say slum liberally. I shouldn't you know that's not the exact word Like I drive sort of. Yeah, those types of developments are like no man's land. There's no identity for those, for those neighborhoods. That's what people are encountering when they come to Orlando versus Audubon Park. But we're seeing more Audubon Park because of its connections, like Gideon's Bakehouse having that annex there now in Disney Springs. I just came from dropping magazines off at East End Market and there's a line around the corner and there are people wearing Disney shirts there because they discovered through all these bloggers that it's easier to get these cookies at Disney offsite. And then they're encountering all of these other brands while they're here. 

Host: 28:26

How wonderful is that? It's the best Yeah more of that. I was. I went to Disney Springs last Sunday and we were in the area for a conference and I wanted to see what that whole Gideon's location looks like and get an idea. And I see this line and I think I thought it was for Morimoto because it was like right outside of there. But it was actually three blocks long and a half an hour before they opened at 10 am on a Sunday, and it was all Gideons, All Gideons. It was. I mean, it's just so impressive how, what a huge machine that has become. and you know, cookies, cookies, Yeah. 

Brendan: 29:09

So the “Visit Orlando, and not to dump on them, but there's downtown Orlando, the CRA. There's been this target in mind to try to capture 3% of tourist traffic that goes to the parks and bring that downtown Right? Oh, i've never seen it really happen. No, I successfully, as this cookie is doing it, Yeah. And. I would love to see more of that happen. Imagine if these tourist engines could help, maybe supplement, like through the DDB paid for like Mad Cow–we know how that went, but they paid for Mad Cow to open up on Church Street. Imagine some of those dollars going to incentivize some real cheerleader local brands that we know would translate well with tourists to maybe go out to Disney Springs and have a presence there too. I just, i would love that, like these little Bogo location, dlc to drive more people downtown too. 

Host: 30:05

We've covered most of the things that I wanted to talk about. I love the podcast. I haven't listened to it like on the radio, but it's very easy to access it on the podcast. It's great to hear Eugene's voice and that opening song. 

Brendan: 30:19

Thank you, What a treasure. We do not do him enough justice giving him credit for the opening song. We need to fix that.

Host: 30:27

This is your opportunity. You can add yet to the end of that sentence. I learned that recently. This is about a growth mentality rather than the other mentality that we forget about. 

Brendan: 30:39

There's a lot of grace in that. Right Grace was my challenge for 2022 and I didn't succeed. 

Host: 30:45

I think it's an ongoing challenge all the time, but that is another great thing about podcasting and listening to podcasts is what you can learn, just from other people's experiences and conversations. Who? Are you? You're such a guru. I'm just a person. I am on this journey, we're on this journey. On a ball, hurdling through the heavens, absolutely And yes, I think it's just about noticing and paying attention. 

Brendan: 31:13

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that's most of our journey as humans. I think so. 

Host: 31:19

And I mean editing is part of it as well. When you have so much information coming in, it's very interesting to hear how you select your stories of what would be talked about. I love getting your newsletter on Monday mornings. It's just so consistent. Thank you, and 10 things that you should know. There are 10 things. 

Brendan: 31:38

Yeah, top 10. Top 10 things you should know this week. 

Host: 31:42

Yeah, And I imagine that that must be difficult to choose. I mean, it's like you know that something's going to have to be left out, but you know you really want to find the things. 

Brendan: 31:52

Yeah, When we started that Matt specifically wanted a newsletter with just 10 links, and that was it. And then I started the second section, which is in case you missed it. Yeah. Because there's too much you know, and if we're really going to try to provide people with a comprehensive email of things you need to know And again it's all about plugging people into their town We just have to have more than just 10 links. Yeah so it's grown, you know. So now it's the top 10 headlines. 

Brendan: 32:38

And like an urbanist. now there's an urban section of like cool urbanist headlines which I was a big proponent for, and our slogan is building stronger cities you know, that's Bungalower slogan. We can only really do that through informing people. 

Host: 32:57

Yeah, yeah, and I think that it does make people feel more connected because they know what's going on And you know it's not just like here's the latest gossip, you know. I mean there might be some gossip in there. Of course. 

Brendan: 33:09

We love that Yeah you know I'm a gay man, so it's nice. He always want to be a little sassy with the gossip, but I think that comes through on the radio show much more so than in the copy of the website. You know that's. I don't have many rules, you know. besides the dinner table test, it has to be in the bungalow neighborhoods of downtown Orlando, which I expanded to Winter Park when I took over. 

Host: 33:30

Yeah, that's fine, and nobody was writing about that. There's a lot of bungalows there too. Yeah, a lot of McMansion bungalows that you know They're historic neighborhoods They want to be included. Yeah, you know, and they should. They've got a lot of cool stuff too. 

Brendan: 33:42

And when we did that we actually had some of the Westlake's districts in Paramore too, because Paramore's one of the oldest neighborhoods in town. 

Host: 33:49

Yes, and nobody was covering them. 

Brendan: 33:51

So I made sure to add Paramore. 

Host: 33:54

And they're really going through a lot of change and gentrification there And it's very hard. It's really hard to watch, you know, people getting pushed out of their homes And it's 5,000, i think residents are left in Paramore. 

Brendan: 34:06

Most have moved to like Pine Hills or Holden Heights, you know, just south, and that's going to continue. That's like regardless. that's just going to continue. And it's interesting to see the city's solution to that is to build affordable housing in Paramore. But like you can't just put all of our affordable housing properties in one neighborhood. It doesn't make sense. That's not sustainable for the neighborhood. And it's not great for everybody to be living in the same zip code with this thing. Like you need to diversify that Absolutely, and Audubon Park could have some. You'd never see it. 

Host: 34:45

Yeah, and the colonial plaza, from what I understand it, at Bumbie, that is going to. That's going to be part of that project, i think. 

Brendan: 34:54

Affordable housing. I've heard that. Good for them. Yeah, yeah, that's a little hot tip for you. 

Host: 34:59

They are listening, they hear you. on that, i think. 

Brendan: 35:02

They're Kimco. The people behind that are very clued in. There are tax dollars to be saved by doing some affordable housing. The Pine Crest development that's going into Pine Hills is going to have some affordable too. But instead of putting it through all of the buildings, they're having to squeeze it all into one building at the far corner of the development, furthest away from the bus stop. So it's interesting to see how it gets applied to development in town right now. People are just happy to be seeing it included. Yeah, yeah, which is okay, I guess, as long as they're doing it, but it'd be great to see it as more of a center part. Yeah, yeah. 

Host: 35:49

I mean the complexity of just our entire economic system. it wears me down thinking about it Because I want everybody to do well. I want everybody to have a good life And it's like we can only do our part and vote and these things are important and be kind of attuned to what part we can play. 

Brendan: 36:11

Yeah, and ask these questions of our commissioners And we have commissioners it becomes like a career, like a lifetime career for some of our commissioners. This is it for them, This is what they do and they will not let go. Or, you know, I love Commissioner Stewart. He's very nice as a person But it's he's like part of this good old boys dynasty here in town where he, his family, the Stuart boys, are very integral to a lot of the moving and shaking of the community in the neighborhood, especially College Park, And I can't imagine anybody successfully running against them. We continually see people running against Commissioner Stewart and then nothing happens. But because there's no turnover in that, is there more growth left in College Park Or does it continue to grow along the same lines that it's done for the past few decades? right, And we know we need to see some changes there, because there's a lot of turnover in businesses on Edgewater Drive, because we don't see a lot of like. The turnover that happens in College Park is so much higher than the turnover that happens at Audemars Park. 

Host: 37:21

It is, and it's a bigger district, each comes with its own challenges. It was really great. 

Brendan: 37:29

I think you all support your businesses more and Audemars more. 

Host: 37:31

I know it's true, there's a lesson there right, and you know it was interesting talking to Commissioner Stewart and I believe just outside of College Park there is going to be a homeless shelter facility that is going in. So I know that he is pretty in tune with you know helping those who are in need And you know his work with nonprofits and things like that. 

Brendan: 37:57

It was a job at the Christian service. He is retired now, but it was Yeah. 

Host: 38:02

So I think you know over the years he's done a lot of helpful things for people and just having grown up here and seeing the changes and kind of understanding, the pace might be a little bit different, I think, for somebody that's doing that. 

Brendan: 38:18

So, like you know, I'm very interested in long-term generational Floridians and families that have had these longstanding impacts On how Orlando has grown. Yeah. And then how their children, through real estates or larger longstanding, long term businesses, have their fingers in all the pies, like how that grows. And the longer I've been doing Bungalower the more I get to meet these families and the people who are making things actually move and shake behind the scenes. Yeah. Super interesting. And the stories are one of them, you know. College Park has had a large role in the way that Orlando has grown, Even down to the fact that they have, you know, like those walled off streets if you're going up OBT. 

Host: 39:10

Oh, it's so bizarre Yeah. 

Brendan: 39:12

Could any other neighborhood do that? Would any other neighborhood do that? It's terrible. Yeah, it's very, very classist and very racist. 

Host: 39:20

And yeah, it's just, it's hard for them. These things are kind of built into the city structure and undoing them. You can't even imagine what it would take to undo those things, right, yeah, how, how was that legal? How, how are they able to do that? And just like, how is it never going to change Wall up a street? You know, yeah, multiple streets, multiple streets. 

Brendan: 39:44

Just walled off. So now if there's an issue like fire department or anything, they have to go through and around these neighborhoods to try to get to those homes. It's just very interesting And I've never seen them applied anywhere else in town. I guess Baldwin Park versus Audubon Park is kind of similar, but your demographics are different And Audubon Park is on such an upswing at the moment. Real estate. 

Host: 40:07

Well, and we have very wealthy neighbors with Winter Park and Baldwin Park And you know we are becoming that sort of affluent neighborhood as well. 

Brendan: 40:16

Like with the housing. Great school too. Everybody wants to come over here because I have access to that school. 

Host: 40:21

It's so true, it's, yeah, it is like these things have really changed the neighborhood, And you know I want this for everybody. You know what I mean, And it's like I love celebrating it, I love sharing it. But you know, that's also just a component of just like, you know, I, I, I get sad when I drive through some other neighborhoods and I want, I want everybody to have access to this. 

Brendan: 40:45

The issue is whether it's uh, it's still accessible, right And so like. When we started writing about uh like house of the day, you know, I tried to have a target where nothing was really over $250,000. I wanted to write about things that were over 250, almost impossible. Yeah. You just can't do that. We used to have a rental roundup of homes and places you could rent for under $1,500. I can't, I can't do that anymore. Everything's $2,000. And it's like for studio apartments. Yeah. Uh, and so we're part of that. Like us talking about the neighborhoods and the businesses and making them more desirable than these. Thousands of new people or it's a thousand new people move here every week. Uh they see these things. They know these are the neighborhoods where you want to come and hang out. 

Host: 41:33

Yeah. 

Brendan: 41:33

It's just very interesting to see how that changes and who has the access to live, uh, in these communities as they change. And Audubon Park is a little bit different because you have the it's so concentrated at that intersection, really right. Of your, your cross streets of the, the big gas stations right. Your, your commercial center doesn't leach out as much into the neighborhood, So it's a little bit easier for homes to say the same. Mills 50, Ivanhoe Village, though, on the other hand, are on the front, you know like they're. They're right in the middle of this, of this fight versus these very growing, strong commercial sectors and retail and bars, right, And then how they interact with the abutting neighborhoods, Yeah, And there's a rule coming out which I still we haven't written about it yet, and maybe about a time this comes out we have, but they're, they're about to change, like what is a nightclub and what is a bar, and and what are their requirements, then if you're like hammered limb, because they charge uh cover sometimes and they have a place for dancing, they will probably qualify as a nightclub, which means right. So, this sudden shift for them, or island time because they do a drag brunch. Yeah, these events will make them qualify as a nightclub And as a nightclub shift. Uh, what does that mean for noise ordinances And what does it mean for, uh, more lighting and and they're all going to require more parking? I live right over by Quantum Leap, uh, on this little triangle of confusion And uh, it's so great over there. It is, it's wonderful. I love that we live there. Yeah, and I hope we can continue to live there if we can buy this house that we've been renting for 10 years. Yeah, uh, our landlord is letting us rent for $1,000 a month. Never raised the rent. It is, yeah, it is two, two houses you know, water included And that location too. 

Host: 43:27

That's incredible. 

Brendan: 43:34

It was wonderful. We just stumble out into things. you know the house on Lang has moved in which you know they're doing crazy events in the back. They'll have concerts and night markets and they're killing it. It's so cool. Uh, the uh lampshade fair is going to become a bar from the investors behind Saddle Up And they say it's going to be completely different, but that's like a downtown vibe. uh, that's going to be applied to mills 50. And then how does that interact with the neighborhood? Yeah. Like you don't think about that, And that whole corridor is like they did an audit and it's 66 spaces short of the parking it needs. And yet three new businesses have just moved in since that audit took place. Oh my gosh, you're like why, how does this work? And so it will be seeing more of that uh, in the coming, i would say, two to three years. You can see some lawsuits from neighboring residential uh people. What does it look like? Like you're right behind. You're very close to Corrine. I'd say what a block away from Corrine. Yeah. Um, you know, eventually everything along here will be condos, right, cause they'll want higher buildings, denser apartments facing these main streets, right. And so you can slowly stagger out into the single story neighborhoods and they're going to. that's what they're all going to look like. That's where the main streets are going, because, as you'll fit more people in, it helps with the buffer between businesses and single family homes. 

Host: 45:04

Well, hopefully not, i mean, i don't want to lose my house. 

Brendan: 45:08

You know it'd be you won't lose it, cause you're here, but like as you sell or someone's going to come along with an offer that maybe you can't refuse. Right And you know, you plus some other people next door, those snatched up and building an apartment building here, and that's what the city wants. They want to see more of that as these main streets develop. It's just interesting to watch that happen. 

Host: 45:29

Yeah, and I mean the way that we are set up. You know it was a tirade on our soapbox, that was great. 

Brendan: 45:58

Yeah, that's an important rule of conduct. Aren't built to last, which is why you're going to see more turnover in those homes than you would in people who've been living generationally in homes like yours. Right, yeah Yeah, just interesting to see. 

Host: 46:14

Yeah, so if you buy an Audemars Park, please keep your home and just make the renovations. It's great. 

Brendan: 46:20

Age in place. We want to stay here. 

Host: 46:23

We do, You know, get you guys a grocery store and call it a day We do. We're all doing our part. We all have a role to play, yeah. 

Brendan: 46:31

Yeah, it's just Andrew, I love watching that kind of thing happen. Yeah, you know, poor little Lake Formosa neighborhood is just with the incoming of the yard, the yard at Ivanhoe, and that giant food hall. Yeah. There's no parking there. They have people drunk driving through their lawns and you know for blocks away and that's or their sandwich between the yard and Mills Park, right. And then someone eventually will buy up those places along Virginia Drive. I believe actually the guy who owns The Yard is instrumental in moving Hideaway across the street. They're about to build another yard-like development on that street, you know, on Brookhaven. I see that happening here. There's too many single story cheaper properties on Virginia Ave and you're too close to Baldwin Park and Winter Park for things like that not to happen. Yeah. You're like the hourglass guy, Giovanni Fernandez, my fake boyfriend, because he's so handsome. I met him the first time I met him. He was stepping out of his truck when a gust of wind came and rustled his beard and he was so I forgot all the questions I was supposed to ask him. And he's a developer, that's what he's here for. But he's building communities Like that's. He bought up that intersection at Hourglass There was no name for that neighborhood. We did it at Hourglass District and then started buying up these strip malls, redoing them, investing in the businesses to put in there. He's like his own Main Street District right. And the whole plan was to keep it single story, but then they changed it. The city wants multi-story properties there, and so he's now building this giant mixed use building, and that's what's going to happen all along Curry Ford or buildings just like that. 

Host: 48:17

Yeah, and he helped, but think that that is going to be the model when you see it happening in a couple of districts and little neighborhood nodes right And that's you know as a city planner. 

Brendan: 48:27

That's what he went to school for. That's why you established these neighborhood nodes so you can start. You want people to have everything they need within a 10 minute, 15 minute, you know jaunt from their home. 

Host: 48:42

There's like a walkability score that you can look up online. and yeah, yeah. 

Brendan: 48:48

And that's why they built Thornton Park. Yeah, yeah, yeah. South Eola, it’s crazy how fast that went up. That's the densest neighborhood in town. Yeah. It's like walking through New York. Some of those It is, And it's going to be packed. That's what Paramore is going to look like. 

Host: 49:01

It's true, just like South Yola. Yeah, it's on its way there, isn't it? 

Brendan: 49:05

Yeah, they have all those stadiums there. I think there's like three new properties coming up that are going to look like the towers, like Creative Village, Craig Ustler, who's a big urbanist, there's going to be these. He's a big proponent of what's the missing middle, that's what the urbanists call it. So in between the high rise and the little apartment building, what does that look like? 

Host: 49:27

like It's building across from Advent on Orange as well, right. 

Brendan: 49:31

Yeah, he does all the housing properties for Advent Health. He built the IV there just across the street. 

Host: 49:37

Yeah, all of these city changes and keeping up with all of this news, all of these things happening, it's kind of incredible what you do if you think about it. 

Brendan: 49:49

Well, I'm a big nerd and I love all that stuff. 

Host: 49:50

I love it.

Brendan: 49:53

And I, for whatever reason, this became my drive. You know I wake up and I want to know what's happening and thankfully it's an addiction that helps others. 

Host: 50:06

Yes. 

Brendan: 50:07

Yeah, I often would argue otherwise. He hates that I work. I work all day, like every day, like I'm always if I'm walking by someone and I know that they're working on something, and like I'll need to go talk to them because I want to know what's happening And it's not. If it's malicious, I don't think it comes from like a controlling, weird, perverse way to benefit from that news. I just want to know and I know that other people are going to want to know too. So just keeping that in mind as Orlando grows and as we grow Bungalower, just keeping that true to form as we continue to move forward because we haven't messed up yet. Like I don't think we betrayed anyone's trust. You know, knock on wood, It's all coming from a place of just trying to lift ships. 

Host: 50:56

Well, and that is very clear to me, and that was actually definitely a point that I wanted to make, just like your heart is in this for the right reasons, and you can tell. 

Brendan: 51:05

Oh good, if you really can. Oh, okay, it does. 

Host: 51:08

It comes through Like yeah, you're just, you're fascinated with it and you're wanting to share the news and like and care about it in that way. 

Brendan: 51:19

I get really sassy like the city people, which I should get a little less sassy because it's so hard. I worked for the city of Winter Park for a hot minute, I was in the sustainability program and I did all the volunteer stuff, But I like the pressure that they're under in public service jobs. But there's a complacency that I'm seeing recently with city people, especially the downtown development board and the CRA and the treatment of downtown. So maybe I try to wrestle between a frustration with things that I see in the public realm and local development news and just presenting facts. And so thankfully we have a format with Bungalower where it's not a lot of waxing poetic on the news or presenting an opinion. It's really just like the who, what, where, when, why on the website. If, for some reason, there's going to be some sass, I'll put it in the image choice or something. That'll let you know where I'm standing with it, maybe the caption for the image. 

Host: 52:16

Yeah, yeah. 

Brendan: 52:17

That's where it can come out sometimes. Just to set a little jab. I just can't. I can't hold it back. Well, and that's what makes it very palatable for everybody that's looking at it too, because and they, you know, I think people understand what's coming through sometimes too, But also your opinion on those things doesn't become the point, which I think is Yeah, it's not about me, right, then that's a microcosm and it's just, and it could be a little masturbatory with some blogging. You know it's not, it shouldn't ever be about me and my interpretation of it. Again, that's what the radio shows for Maybe some of the social stuff, but the website should primarily just be where you get your audio information to make your own decision Right, and hopefully that's the way it continues into the future. 

Host: 53:04

And it does. I think it shapes outcomes just by people being informed and getting involved. And So important It's where it starts right. I had a really wonderful meeting with a new property owner. It's a family business that you know. They bought two properties in Audubon Park and they had leveled a building that had sat dormant forever. 

Brendan: 53:26

It looked like a monastery. 

Host: 53:28

Well, yes, yes, it had a brick facade. I love those little archways. I know I kind of wish that they kept the archways, because that was pretty cool. 

Brendan: 53:35

Yeah, they gave it to a park. 

Host: 53:36

Yeah, I know. Well, they are totally open to ideas. They, you know, this isn't kind of their main source of income, but they're looking to do something that will be a good fit with the neighborhood And they, you know, that's interesting. Yeah, I love that. And they might do kind of a phased approach where they start with just building a parking lot, essentially like maybe a paid. You know, use your phone. 

Brendan: 54:00

Is parking really that much of an issue for Audubon Park? It is Yeah, even with the school because I know the school works with people. 

Host: 54:07

I know some people, yeah, depending on the day of the week, And honestly, you know, I've talked to a couple of the business owners and they would be very excited to even, you know, pay for a daily rate just so that they can put their employees there. 

Brendan: 54:22

It's tough, like when the guy that bought Wally's not too long ago lovely, he purchased the old car lot across the street with the idea of changing that into parking four meals, 50, which has a definite parking problem. Yeah. And the city wouldn't let them do it, because they're just against primary, like they don't want just parking lots to open, sure, but they're needed. 

Host: 54:46

They are needed And I think you know what might make this possible as a plan is that it would not stay a parking lot permanently. Yeah, so they, you know they are kind of planning for the future, when maybe supply chain stuff gets worked out a little bit and you know construction costs and things like that. So how can we utilize this space in a meaningful, helpful way while we are short? 

Brendan: 55:13

of waiting for. 

Host: 55:14

Yeah, right. 

Brendan: 55:15

So I think, Do you know if the district has a laundry list of things that you'd love to see? Is there like an audit that y'all have done, of like, maybe of opportunities? 

Host: 55:26

We'd love to put that out there, for sure, yeah. 

Brendan: 55:30

I think people have done that in the past. I've seen that with previous directors in other districts. I don't know how long they've lasted, but like a little audit, you know, here's how many like we have. like, don't do another pastry shop if you don't want to, because you have. you are the baked goods district right, yeah. So it's tougher right. to carve out that niche You'd have to be a real contender. you know some sort of chain with its own draw, but like what does Audubon Park need that it doesn't have already? 

Host: 56:01

We'll put the word out there, for sure. 

Brendan: 56:02

Yeah, like a fun little audit That'd be fun to do. Yeah, maybe we'll do it Cool Back of the day. I think there used to be things like. 

Host: 56:10

I wish this was. Was that a call-out? Yeah, I loved that call-out. 

Brendan: 56:15

Which I should bring back, and there's an opportunity. That is it right We used to do that for people who don't know what we're talking about There was. We would look at underused or what I thought was maybe misused, yeah, or vacant properties that were in districts And we and I would try to just imagine, through some poor Photoshop design skills, what it could be. And the first one we did was hoods up. 

Host: 56:42

I just thought back then. It's a perfect example, right, yeah, yeah. 

Brendan: 56:45

Come on And it's the poor woman who her husband owned. It passed away, left that to her And she just has no interest in selling it at the moment And I've been with people I know, many developers who've almost succeeded in convincing her to sell it to them Wow. And then something happens. she just doesn't feel right, So she just keeps on holding on to it. 

Host: 57:09

Storing those fun noodles. Storing those noodles. 

Brendan: 57:13

All people talk about it, those pool noodles Which I'm sure don't even float anymore. 

Host: 57:17

I don't know What's left. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Brendan: 57:19

Weird pool noodle off-gassing inside. It just looks stink. 

Host: 57:23

It's kind of just storage right now. It used to be an auto garage. It was Just in the milk district in its prime real estate on the corner there. It's a beautiful building. It has so much potential. It could be something simple. 

Brendan: 57:36

We imagined at the time there weren't many breweries, you know, that were open when we started that. 

Host: 57:41

Sideward, is right across the street now, yeah, which is so awesome. Good luck continuing. 

Brendan: 57:45

Yeah, they kind of have everything under wraps in the Milk District. They're killing it. They do. That crew is so nice. 

Host: 57:50

They are so nice. 

Brendan: 57:52

Yeah, but I thought, like a beer garden, you know, food truck, a bear garden, yeah, it would be cute, kind of like A La Carte, but they have like those overhangs. You could just park something in there, put a bar inside Lots of plants and call it a day, yeah. 

Host: 58:05

It begs for hanging out, like it just really does. It has picnic tables and lights, market lights. 

Brendan: 58:12

It could be like the community center that kind of clenches everything together. for the milk district They need. 

Host: 58:19

The only thing that they're missing is that corner anchor. 

Brendan: 58:22

Yes. 

Host: 58:22

And Hoods Up, whatever it's going to be, they should keep the name because it's perfect. Just keep that sign. keep the name, like I don't know who's going to get it. 

Brendan: 58:31

I agree, I hope they don't just knock it down. Oh it makes something weird, but that would be terrible. Right, but it's just going to be some environmental cleanup that's going to have to happen, because it was a car auto service under. Who knows what that dirt is like underneath. But yeah, it's stuff like that. There's a lot in Thornton Park, right next to the laundromat, that's been empty for as long as I've been here in town And we thought that could be cute like community garden extension to you know, maybe a rebrand of the laundromat and it becomes like a buds and suds bar slash laundromat. 

Host: 59:05

We need one of those in town. 

Brendan: 59:07

Why is that not a thing yet? It's crazy, I'd love to do that. If anyone's listening and you want to invest in that idea? let me know. 

Host: 59:13

I'll hook up with you Seriously. 

Brendan: 59:15

Yeah, we need a bar slash laundromat. You can have an outdoor-like little stage, a cute community garden where people can just chill on great Wi-Fi, get their work done and get out. Yeah. Or maybe it's just like a bunch of self-serve fridges. You scan your card and you can buy a bottle of wine and then go hang out outside. I think there's a lot of potential for things like that in town. Yeah. I just don't see it. It just hasn't happened yet. Thornton Park would be a great spot for that, because that's what they do in Thornton Park. 

Host: 59:43

You day drink and hang out with friends. Yeah, it's a perfect spot for it, and we've had some adaptive reuse in the neighborhood just in recent years. I know that. 

Brendan: 59:55

Five points to Gryffindor for saying adaptive reuse. I love that. Yes, sir, yes sir, thank you. 

Host: 1:00:00

Thank you, thank you And where you just work, lobos Coffee. 

Brendan: 1:00:04

Great job on that build-up. 

Host: 1:00:05

It's beautiful, isn't it? 

Brendan: 1:00:06

It was three times more expensive than we expected. 

Host: 1:00:09

I imagine that to be correct. Yeah, it sat for a while. It was kind of a convenient store gas station for a bit. 

Brendan: 1:00:16

Owned by the other gas station across the street. Too funny. 

Host: 1:00:19

I know the fact that we had three gas stations in the center of our main street. It's very weird. I mean it definitely shows the history of the neighborhood. 

Brendan: 1:00:29

Of what it was used for. Yeah, three gas stations. 

Host: 1:00:33

Yeah, and funny because Stardust used to be a 7-Eleven and a pizza shop and an arcade a video game arcade, yeah, so it was three different things in that building, and so when you walk in to the counter of Stardust, that was a pizza shop. And that's why they have the oven and everything. So the other section of it where you go in and go to the right, that was the 7-Eleven And the spot to the left was the video game arcade. I just recently learned that from somebody who was here, like back in the day. 

Brendan: 1:01:10

We need to find some photos, i know. 

Host: 1:01:12

I love that. 

Brendan: 1:01:13

Yeah, we should do more retro stuff of like what this used to be. Yeah, this used to be a dot dot dot. That's a whole new series. 

Host: 1:01:19

I know I've been scouring the Facebook pages of like Orlando history and like Orlando historic photos. There's like some really good groups with cool stuff in there And you know Gene’s Auto, which is now the Salty (Donuts). Such a cool place. 

Brendan: 1:01:38

Wonderful job they did on that building. 

Host: 1:01:40

It's gorgeous. 

Brendan: 1:01:41

Yeah, you never would have thought. 

Host: 1:01:43

No and it was just like a few years ago you know, So dumpy It was so dumpy. I mean, it was what it needed to be when it was just an auto garage, and now it completes that section. 

Brendan: 1:01:55

Yeah, yeah, it's great to see how that one great use can really tie together a neighborhood. 

Host: 1:02:01

Totally. And the fact that Bem Bom used to be BB&T, the bank. You know. I remember when they pulled out the bank vault from there and just had it sitting in the lot, This huge steel box. 

Brendan: 1:02:13

I thought they kept it, isn't that their wine room? No, I think maybe they put it back in So they weren't sure what to do with it. 

Host: 1:02:19

So it was just sitting out there, like in the parking lot. It's just, it's amazing watching these things change over and, like you know, in very good ways too, like people are using these, these spaces, for good, And it's exciting to know. You know what. What else is going to be happening. I mean this, the counseling center over here and some other offices that used to be two houses, which I just found out about recently. They just connected them with an overhang. 

Brendan: 1:02:50

Yeah, and now it's a big thing on Robinson Street. You see a lot of those homes that have been converted more into offices and they just kind of patch onto them. 

Host: 1:02:59

Yeah, just adds to the identity of the neighborhood And it's yeah, that stuff is really cool. 

Brendan: 1:03:05

We know you're really cool. Thank you. 

Host: 1:03:06

You're really cool, brendan. Thank you so much for your time and all the websites that you have bungalower.com obviously your your personal website. 

Brendan: 1:03:17

Oh, it's Brendan O'Connorme which is like the behind the scenes crud. Yeah, Yeah, You can. It's very, very much more candid. It's fun. A lot of pictures of me in drag and just doing weird things around town. 

Host: 1:03:31

Yeah, yeah, and and you're. 

Brendan: 1:03:33

I can't believe that's so funny that you knew about it I generally assume, nobody knows what that is. 

Host: 1:03:36

Yeah, I'm just dumping things on it. I mean it's, it's, it's definitely worth checking out. You've got a lot of cool stuff on there. Thank you. And I love your AI art that you're doing. It's amazing. 

Brendan: 1:03:49

I can't stop. It's a bizarre and cool journey. Yeah, okay, do we have time to talk about it? Yeah, we do. Okay, yeah, I have all the time in the world to talk about this. but Mid Journey is a new artificial intelligence platform where you type in word prompts and the artificial intelligence will scrub the internet for images that match those prompts and then create a whole new image. Scary, yes, also very interesting. I still don't know how I feel about the IP rights, you know because, you can also put in a prompt for a specific photographer If you want it to look a certain way. Wow, there's a Dungeons and Dragons artist who a lot of people are using as a prompt to get like the perfect dragons and the perfect wizards, and so now and at first he thought it was great, but now if you do a Google search, it's actually crowding out his original artwork and you're finding more of these artificial AI things that have nothing to do with him. Oh, wow, so it's harder now to find his work online because that's going as high on Google. That's a weird thing to be pushed out by. Yeah. Other people's work is inspired by yours that they're not really making. No, And it's people are saying oh, I created this on AI. We're really becoming art directors. Yeah, right. You're directing the software to make something for you and you can refine it with other prompts or you can reload it And we just the cover of our new, of our September's in just came out, it is a man's beard made with bees and that was made with AI. 

Host: 1:05:26

It's incredible. 

Brendan: 1:05:27

I'll be doing much more. I'm addicted, I can't stop. But I think the beautiful part is using those images and then applying it to something like, interpreting that in a different way through Photoshop or you know when you can apply your own skills and your own talents to that as a base. Yeah, or as your blank slate, then interpreting it in another way, cause art is all about context, right, and if you change the context, you're changing the message and the art, and I think that's where it can get really exciting. So hopefully people can push it. Yeah, but a lot of the people who are using it are people who maybe are too nervous to pick up a paintbrush or they've never really done art, you know, in quotation marks before. I've also seen a lot of great design professionals using it as a as an early base prompt for, maybe, storyboarding or film. People are using it for ways to just kind of imagine out there what they're going to shoot with their film, like what could it look like first? A really cool tool, mid Journey. You can get to it on Discord, which is like a Reddit. 

Host: 1:06:34

I've heard of that. Yeah, very weird. 

Brendan: 1:06:37

Yeah, I don't 100% understand or condone the scene, but it's a very interesting journey to be on and I love stuff like that. 

Host: 1:06:45

That's so cool, you got to keep learning new things. Right, we do. Yeah, we're on this journey, we're learning. 

Brendan: 1:06:51

We are. 

Host: 1:06:51

We are Oh, we're always learning And speaking of which, the print edition. So you have a monthly print edition. You've been doing that for a few years now. 

Brendan: 1:07:00

Yeah, I think we're on issue. I think we're about to hit issue 60. 

Host: 1:07:06

That's so cool, which is? 

Brendan: 1:07:07

great, so one a month? Yeah, I always wanted a print issue. I was trying to prove to my boss that we should do it. And the minute we started doing print we got like Advent Health wanted to work with us Orlando Regional Medical Center. So there were these larger advertisers that suddenly took us more seriously because we had a print. That is fascinating. 

Host: 1:07:28

Even though it's just a little mini magazine. Yeah, it's like literally the definition of a zine, right, I think? 

Brendan: 1:07:33

so, but not a lot of people. I think the zine community doesn't think it's a zine because it has advertising in it And it's also designed like we're designing it. But I wanted, like a penny saver slash, you know, just something small I really wanted. The original idea was to put it between the catch ups and mustard at diners. 

Host: 1:07:54

Yeah. 

Brendan: 1:07:54

That's what I wanted. 

Host: 1:07:55

Yeah, um, it's a good way to branch out to that. You know people that aren't already subscribers of your newsletter? Yeah, you know the flier. And you know I would be remiss to not talk about your book that you cooperate to 100 things to do in Orlando before you die. 

Brendan: 1:08:15

Yeah, that's a third edition, my friend, Jon Busdeker, he's on the radio show with me. He had done the second edition with, I want to say his name is John Baker, who was another news guy back in the day, he who wrote the first one. who invited Jon Busdeker to do the second. John Baker moved out of town and then the publisher wanted a third edition And, uh, Jon was complaining to me that he had to find someone to do it and I'm a glutton. So I said, yes, please, I would love to put that on my laptop. 

Host: 1:08:46

Do you ever say no to things that come your way? Well that's why you're here today too, which I like. I love that. I really I was so stoked when you said yes. 

Brendan: 1:08:57

Uh generally no, that's how you get to do things. You didn't think I'd say yes?

Host: 1:08:59

I mean I, i just assumed that you're so busy, but I'm like I you gotta put yourself out there, right. I'm glad you did 

Brendan: 1:09:05

Um. I'm sorry you would ever feel in your heart that I wouldn't show up but, I, only see people like you. Yeah. When it's for work, just cause I'm working all the time and Sundays are my Mondays What we're doing? the newsletter all day today? um, you know I'm delivering these today too, so, but I generally only get to see people like you, uh, when it says sit down or something for work. 

Host: 1:09:30

Yeah, which is? 

Brendan: 1:09:31

not great. 

Host: 1:09:32

Right. 

Brendan: 1:09:33

But it's usually centered on something fun and creative. 

Host: 1:09:35

Yeah, so it's not that big of a problem. This is such a nice opportunity to do this, to catch up and to This is the longest we've been able to sit down and share. It's true. You and I saw each other at pause in the park and you were just about to do the Announcing for the dog costume contest. 

Brendan: 1:09:53

Yeah, I probably judge five dog costume contests a year. 

Host: 1:10:07

I need to put that on the list. Just keep going. You’re very good at it.

Brendan: 1:10:10

I just got asked to do it yesterday. Wow, we were at a soccer game. Uh, you're very nice. I don't think I'm great at public speaking.

Host: 1:10:16

I disagree wholeheartedly, cause I know we were talking beforehand and you're like “Oh you know, i don't really love doing these.”

Brendan: 1:10:27

I don’t. That's when my anxiety comes in. I generally assume I'm not everybody's cup of tea and once I just lose that baggage of worrying about what other people think And I'm just myself, That's when everybody has fun. 

Brendan: 1:10:54

And I'm learning how to do that more, Which is a good place to be right, yeah, cause I mostly drag bingo in Baldwin Park every week, Tuesday, 7pm at Tactical Brewing. It's fun. I didn't ever think it would happen. We had started something with Doug Bowser who had a character called Taffy Pinkerbox, who was a dear friend who passed away recently. But he, I'm so sorry, thank you. Yeah, Taffy just had his funeral at the Rep and it was literally a friend show. It was like a four hour long series of performances and interpretive dances and things for people who just loved him. 

Host: 1:11:26

That's beautiful. 

Brendan: 1:11:28

It was, but we started something in the pandemic because he lost all of his gigs and we had done bingo in the past and did really well and was like an extension for our (Bungalower) Buddy program. So we have those little key chains, things. 

Host: 1:11:42

I know about the Buddy program. 

Brendan: 1:11:46

Yeah, you did. Oh, I love it. I'm so glad, uh-huh, you know like you can show that key chain. You get happy hour prices at Ravenous Pig. 

Host: 1:11:53

I love it. Yeah, any day. I'm going to do that Tuesday, yeah, or actually yeah, i have plans already Tuesday, but I'm going to come to your bingo on Tuesday. 

Brendan: 1:12:00

That's a tactical brewing. It is, yeah, 7 o'clock. You'll get an extra bingo card with your keychain. 

Host: 1:12:05

Oh nice, good to know. Yeah, the benefits just keep coming in. 

Brendan: 1:12:09

Yeah, we throw everything at that program. You'll get a special email when we get free tickets to the soccer game. We do that all the time. We're at Hard Rock Cafe, we'll send out some discounts to concerts. Yeah. Yeah, so that kind of thing. I can't even remember what I was talking about. It's very well run. 

Host: 1:12:27

I love it.

Brendan: 1:12:30

So Doug, we started something in the pandemic for Doug because I personally have been to Persimmon Hollow Brewing at Lake Eola just because he needed a gig, so we sponsored it. We did that for I think a year, uh, and it went well. And then he needed another gig, so I got him something, a tactical brewing, and then he died of a heart attack And I would every once in a while, uh,  with him just for fun. Uh, you know, in drag I don't think of myself as a drag queen, but I love getting dressed up. I'm a Halloween birthday boy, yeah, and uh, any excuse to to put something on was always taken, always accepted and encouraged. 

Host: 1:13:11

Like your merman,

Brendan: 1:13:15

the dumpster legend, my dumpster merman. 

Brendan: 1:13:20

I went to a party, a Christmas party once. There were so many people I knew, like one person, and I heard at the back of the room “oh my God, that's the dumpster merman” from the back of this random party. That's a tangent to if you again, if you don't know what we're talking about. I did it at IMMERCE. 

Host: 1:13:38

I mean people can look these things up and they should. They absolutely Yes. IMMERCE which is a public art. 

Brendan: 1:13:46

Downtown, yeah, which is not going to happen downtown, I guess again. I think it's done downtown. Because they want the city to pay more money for it and the city doesn't want to do it. 

Host: 1:13:56

There are other places to do it. 

Brendan: 1:14:08

Yeah, I mean, I was a little mermaid. I had a bubble machine and I would use these little pearls, like these little light up balls. And there were my pearls of wisdom. And I'd say something nice to someone like I don't know always wear blush, you know, or I saw me weird but always brush your hair before you leave the house And then I blow on it and pull out this little stopper and then light would come on and I'd give it to them And I was like here's, that was your pearl of wisdom. And I kicked them to the curb And it was so fun. We gave out 3000 pearls of wisdom over two days. I lost my voice. People were shoving twenties into my boobs, like it was so crazy. I got propositioned by many swingers. That's what I had a beard to, so I just have this glitter beard and this little mermaid wig. It was so fun. So, yeah, that kind of stuff I love doing because it's, I mean, it's a joke. I'm not lucky, i don't. I'm not going to ever look like a woman. I'm a suspiciously large woman is what I tell people all the time. I think I got that from Bob the drag queen on RuPaul's Drag Race. I love it, and so they'll never you'll never think I'm a woman. 

Host: 1:15:21

You'll always know, and I'm just there to have fun. That's a little wink, though. I mean, that's sort of the thing when you see a drag queen with a beard. It is also that right. It is just like yes, we realize, right, I still look, I think I look pretty good. You do, you really do, absolutely. 

Brendan: 1:15:38

I'm not fishing as a mermaid, but I accept it, like I think I look pretty good at it and it's addictive, yeah, actually. So since and then Doug died, we assumed that was the end of bingo. I had already co-ed with him a couple of times to launch the new series too, so our buddies and our Bungalower readers were more, you know, give them incentive to come out, yeah. And so they asked me to just take it over for a couple of months, so we have like a three month trial. Okay, I think we're over a month in and it's going very well. I know they're very happy and I think our people are happy, so I think I'll just keep doing it till I run out of outfits.

Host: 1:16:20

I love it. 

Brendan: 1:16:23

And the power you get from feeling pretty, which is so weird. You know, I never thought I'm not an attractive man. I get to experience that.You know you would look very pretty.

Host: 1:16:28

I have dressed up for Halloween in drag. I did. 

Brendan: 1:16:43

Oh, really? Did you keep the beard? Yeah, I call that booger drag, is that right? You have never heard that. Cause you're not trying to be too fishy. That's what the kids say. Oh, okay, don't be offended, it's just the gay term is what we say. Yeah, nobody loves women more than a drag queen. 

Brendan: 1:16:55

Yeah, I don't know. It's fun to do. I mean, I'm not going to be in a drag queen's room and tell some jokes and get people laughing, and you look pretty and you got hair up to Jesus. It's just there's a, there's a power that comes with it that I don't want to let go of. You know, and it's very hard when, like, we go to a ball or like some big shindig, we get invited to that stuff all the time through Bungalower, and it's starting to be expected that I'll be in a costume now.  

Host: 1:17:23

That's a lot of work getting done, right?

Brendan: 1:17:26

Yes, but then you also command more respected attention than if I just show up and like a jacket and a t-shirt right. And so if I want, if it's something that I want to be noticed for, like, the Orlando Museum of Art had that uh I read carpet fashion events and I went in drag and I was. I felt so popular, so powerful. Otherwise I would have been eating in the corner and I didn't want anyone to look at me if I was a boy, right. Cause I get a little anxious in those situations. So I can put on this drag mask, show up, tell people they look ugly and touch their purses and kiss their husbands and leave and everybody thinks I had a great time. You know I'm a little bit of an introvert, So putting on that mask helps. 

Host: 1:18:12

Yeah. And it's a signal to other people that, like you're basically like down to perform in the party, right?  It's like you don't always want to do that and people are respectful of boundaries and things like that 

Brendan: 1:18:26

Generally. Yeah, Yeah. Don't wear an inflatable cow costume to Cows and Cabs. They'll tell you that people were deep-throating my udders, can I say that on your? 

Host: 1:18:32

You can. 

Brendan: 1:18:34

I've done it three years in a row and I get molested every time. Yeah, i stopped wearing them just because I would look down and there'd be two Winter Park blue-haired ladies doing gross things to my udders. I'd invert my udders so people would just stop touching them. 

Host: 1:18:49

It's an inny, sorry, yeah, it's an inny. It works both ways doesn't it? 

Brendan: 1:18:57

This isn't going to make it to the podcast. 

Host: 1:18:59

It's 100% making it a podcast. This is great content, Yeah, i think that just where you go, fun follows.

Brendan: 1:19:09

Oh my God. I? Otherwise, what are we doing? 

Host: 1:19:09

I know it is. Fun part of the point, really. 

Brendan: 1:19:12

Yeah. 

Host: 1:19:13

Like…Be good, have fun, treat others well. Make good choices. I want to feel good about my choices. I see other people kind of in the public eye doing horrible things to people, and especially in our local government, and I can't stop bringing it up in the podcast because it's just the worst 

Brendan: 1:19:47

Name names. What are you talking about?

Host: 1:19:49

I'm just talking about our governor right now. And he needs to be voted out because it is just so harmful. You know just the performative hatred.

Brendan: 1:19:52

So the radio shows on Real Radio, right? Like our show and that's a more conservative radio station. So at first, nobody wanted to have anything to do with us, I think when we launched and since being on the Jim Colbert show, you know he can be a little conservative too. As I'm on their show every Thursday at 4pm talking about events and things to do over the weekend. And I make sure I can be as offensively gay as possible. And just so if they, if they've never, but also fun. 

Host: 1:20:23

Yes, and not super offensive, you might win some people over. 

Brendan: 1:20:27

That's part of it too, right? Is that, maybe they don't like gay people because they've never met one. 

Host: 1:20:32

Right, You know so you got to invite people. They met one on the radio, And they did. 

Brendan: 1:20:36

And when they meet you and I don't know what it is about Real Radio people they like to collect you, like Pokemon. You know on the socials and you're in their house, you're in their car, they know you. And we've been doing that, for I think we've been on the show for four years, four or five years we've been doing it. And since I'm also on, I do Tom and Dan, I do Jim Colbert. And then our show. You know, people hear me maybe a little bit more than others, just because we're on all of those different channels. And again, that's the same as what I was saying before. Yeah, the more channels you're on, the more people you're going to reach where they are. 

Host: 1:21:13

You’ve gotta put yourself out there. Yeah, Meet them where they are, yeah. 

Brendan: 1:21:17

And they're very nice to you, but there's also a weird sense of ownership. But I think we have a very large conservative listenership, even though I am not conservative really at all. Maybe I'm more middle of the road, but as a you know Canadian gay man, it's hard to say Yeah, people I don't know. Our audience is very diverse. We have tons of conservatives who follow us just because of real estate knowledge and coming and going and development stuff. Yeah. And then I'm a gay drag queen who you know. Occasionally people like that. So there's this, we have this, we're just walking that line. And because we don't talk about crime, religion or politics, right, there's less reasons for people to maybe trip over something and hate us. And because we don't really do opinion except on the radio show, yeah, it's a little bit easier for people to engage with us too, and I think we're finding more parallels between people that you can like early in the week, which just draws a hard line Right. 

Host: 1:22:28

Right. Nice to work for them, so I can talk about them, yeah, but they I mean they don't shy away from that image as well. 

Brendan: 1:22:37

No, they've leaned into it, very much leaning into it. You know which can make people really mad, and then nobody listens and you're not taking anything away, because you just your cup is full. Yeah. And leaving any room for anything else, and that's not how you convince people of anything, or just have discourse with someone because they're already turned off. The minute you say hello, winning hearts. 

Host: 1:22:59

I mean, i think it's just we're at this point where, you know, there's a lack of understanding from kind of one group to the next, and empathy for sure, and any chance that we can get to sort of bridge those gaps and maybe teach somebody how to be more empathetic, or just Not being said if you're a dick, i'm going to block you. That's true. Yeah, I mean there are just some, some people, not my personal opinion. Some people who are lost causes in that way that are just you know haters are going to hate. It is a scientifically proven fact, That was the can you? 

Brendan: 1:23:34

I want that as a sound bite. That was so NPR…”Haters are going to hate.” “Salty balls.” What else you got? I can talk to you all day. 

Host: 1:23:51

I know this is really great. 

Brendan: 1:23:53

I mean, I want to learn more about you. We're going to have to have you in our show, so I can ask you questions. 

Host: 1:23:57

Let's do that. I would love to do that. Yeah, this venue, this “being on the radio” thing (or recorded) conversations. I think there's so much value to it. I love what you're doing. I'm glad that the podcast is going strong. I'm glad that you know that you love what you do. You know I was really hoping to find that today and talking to you that like this wasn't like a draining thing to be like constantly out there. And of course, you have to recharge. 

Brendan: 1:24:26

It can be. It's a balance. Yeah, I have. I have no balance. 

Host: 1:24:31

But you're like you're really getting out there and like yeah. Like using your, your talents and. 

Brendan: 1:24:37

A couple of years ago, I thought maybe I was done with Bungalower. You know and I just said I'm going to have a couple of years where I just go hard and see how much I can do in the next couple of years. I'll say yes to everything and see what sort of doors that opens for my next step. What does that look like? I got sick. You know, I found out I had a thyroid problem, like my body just was like, only a year into that two year, that two year sprint marathon and my body just said, nope, you can't do this, you need to slow down. I had to hire a wellness coach to teach me how to eat again and breathe. And you know, if you follow our Instagram accounts, i’m at all the restaurant openings. I had to learn that you don't have to eat everything that's on your plate. I didn't even know that was an option. 

Host: 1:25:26

That makes sense. I know you don't want to waste food, but sometimes you have to. 

Brendan: 1:25:31

You have to Yeah, Otherwise you're killing yourself you know, or or take it home and or take it home, or take it home And that sort of thing. I was in a judging contest at marketplace at Avalon Park. Beautiful new food hall over in Avalon Park. If you haven't been life changing, they do a wonderful job. I was super impressed. This isn't sponsored. I was just very impressed. That's cool. They invited me there with Pam Brandon from Edible Orlando, ricky Lee from Tacey Choms and a mom blogger whose name escapes me, and it was so much food, michael, i thought I was going to die. Every food stall made four entrees, you know, like with real entrees per person, yeah, and they just wanted us to eat the whole thing. It was crazy. 

Host: 1:26:15

That is unkind. It is unkind, that's that. 

Brendan: 1:26:18

Towards the end, I was like you. This is unacceptable. 

Host: 1:26:21

Yeah, like talking about not respecting boundaries. Yeah. 

Brendan: 1:26:25

But they were also just very excited to have us there and they wanted to really win, whatever. You know the bragging rights of being the best of the best and what they do. And when we finally thought it was over, we were judging and trying not to die. Upstairs, someone who ran in with a plate of beignets, you know, like oh, we forgot to give you these beignets and you have to judge because there's a dessert category. 

Host: 1:26:48

It's like oh my gosh but that's my life, yeah. You know. So how do you find that food in your face? Like food? 

Brendan: 1:26:55

all the free things. If people and I don't necessarily like free things, I also, because then it comes with baggage. Sure if you know, I owe them something. Yeah, and so like I try to, and I don't get paid a lot, but I do like to buy the things when we're out there, just so people know that we're really are here to support local, and I don't have it at expense account from Bungalower, so this is like my money. You know I paid for this coffee before it came here. So like I want to support as much as possible, I don't want anyone to ever think that we're using them. I don't want anyone to ever talk about that when we're not around behind our backs. Like they only do sponsored coverage. They only do things if you give them free things. not the case. We really try to buy everything we can, unless it's some sort of sponsored thing. If someone has invited us to cover them for the radio show. 

Host: 1:27:47

Yeah, like that kind of thing. That's part of the agreement at that point. Yeah, but that's also hard on your body you know, to have that. 

Brendan: 1:27:53

You can't eat rich foods every day. I like cooking at home. I'd rather have quinoa and sweet potatoes, you know, and some feta cheese, yeah, and just eat a mash and my stretchy pants and watch Netflix. That's a perfect night for me, without having to talk to anyone. 

Host: 1:28:09

Yeah, well, that's how you recharge And that's how you balance out, like all of the salty. 

Brendan: 1:28:15

Yeah, but the minute you're not doing that, you're not covering someone's event, right. So? and we're a small outlet, it's just me and my strategic partnerships director, mike Donahue, and Matt Brofman who owns it, but he doesn't really do anything day to day. It's just the two of us. There is room to grow, hopefully soon Lead a great pandemic. But you know, then coming out of the pandemic, everyone's kind of holding on to their dollars trying to see what this economy is going to do. Yeah, we've had a weird year since. Yeah, so I don't know. Yeah, it's just keeping. Trying to find that balance is difficult, especially for someone like me who just says yes to everything because I just want people to like me and I want their businesses to do well and I want bungalore to do well and I don't want to miss out on anything. I get it Right, i like you, i think. 

Host: 1:29:06

Yeah, i like you too. I know a lot of people do really enjoy you thoroughly. 

Brendan: 1:29:12

Yeah, I don't know where the bag came from. 

Host: 1:29:15

Yeah, I think that's something that we learn by putting ourselves out there sometimes. You don't have to be everybody's cup of tea, And the less you can kind of think about the people who aren't going to be into what you're doing, the better. 

Brendan: 1:29:28

I do that to an extent, but I'll say that to people too like “well, too bad if you don't like me.” But like in my heart–comments. I have to read all the comments. Oh, no, well yeah because we're policing, not policing. We're not going to. We don't delete any comments, but I want to make sure there's no questions. 

Host: 1:29:45

Okay, yeah, that makes sense, 

Brendan: 1:29:49

if someone asks a question that I can answer. I want to make sure I do that. I don't want to leave anyone unread. 

Host: 1:29:51

That's good of you. That's really sweet. 

Brendan: 1:29:53

That's the gig, right?

Host: 1:29:54

They could email you, though.

Brendan: 1:29:57

Oh nobody emails. It's on Instagram. I check all of them. I check all of our socials all the time. Maybe not Twitter, but I don't read comments on other people's posts, even because I'm just like I don't want to see any ugliness. It gets pretty ugly Yeah especially. 

You know. I know now when we write about a house, it's going to be a lot of nasty comments. And it's just because of the market, right? I'm mad that they can't afford to live in the neighborhoods anymore. 

Host: 1:30:23

Yeah, and there's a lot that goes into that, obviously, and people are venting their frustrations. 

Brendan: 1:30:28

Yeah, and it's a percentage of the people who are reading it, you know. I would say maybe 10% of the people who are seeing a post are going to comment on it. Yeah, we have to tell our advertisers that, too. Like I know, there's a lot of bad comments, but here's like 20,000 people saw this post, you know, and maybe 100 people talked and out of that, you know, 40 of them were in it. 

Speaker 3: 1:30:51

You're getting a lot of engagement. Don't you love these buzzwords. 

Brendan: 1:30:57

Yeah, it's all about engagement. That's what they're looking for. You know, if they're sponsoring it, that's if they need to know. Otherwise, I'm happy. I don't really care. 

Host: 1:31:05

Yeah. 

Brendan: 1:31:05

It's just how people engage with the content. 

Host: 1:31:07

Yeah, you are building a great product and you are constantly looking for ways to elevate it. 

Brendan: 1:31:13

Thanks, It's been a great platform for weird and wonderful ideas. You know we can. When people couldn't eat in the restaurants, we worked with my fake boyfriend, Giovanni Fernandez. He gave us a couple. He gave us like a grand and we got an awesome grant to do milk crate furniture and we donated it to the Milk District. And we built these tables and chairs out of milk crates and donated them to people who didn't have patio sets. You know, like Pom-Poms didn't have one at the time. Yeah, Mx Taco. And then people could go to those businesses and sit outside. We won a design award, you know, and I love placemaking. We're helping local businesses. We can be creative. Yeah, that's what I get off on, and so doing things like that through Bungalower is my favorite. 

Host: 1:32:03

Oh, that's so fun. Yeah, I think the first time you were on my radar was the chairs at bus stops. And each chair had a different design, you were painting chairs and chaining them to Lynx bus stops.

Brendan: 1:32:18

Yeah, I called it the SIT project. 

Host: 1:32:20

The SIT project. It's great. It's so simple and it adds something that is useful and cool. It was very memorable, just that kind of activation of the space because you see people standing there and it was so weird.

Brendan: 1:32:41

Lynx even got to the point where they were like “we can't say we love this, but we love this.” But we can't support it in case a chair falls apart and we get sued. Totally get it. Yeah, thank you. But like, how do we solve the problem that you don't have anywhere to sit in Florida? 

Host: 1:32:56

Yeah. Or covered. 

Brendan: 1:33:05

And it's such an experiment When you're looking at who's using the bus? Like so many elderly women that I see at these bus stops and with nowhere for them to go. It's really all started from one of them, from my house. 

Host: 1:33:12

It's really all mean-spirited, you know? I mean, just the way that we treat people, or just don't fill those needs. It's a simple thing. Just build a bench with a covering. 

Brendan: 1:33:22

There's like a “set it and forget it” mentality for a lot of public amenities. And, i agree, and “mean-spirited by omission” or by the user experience thing that's just ignored, i think, for public utilities and public parks departments, and that's a shame. There's a creative problem-solving part that just doesn't come to play. Disney Springs does it wonderfully. Their design of their downtown, so smart, like they have these little pods where you can break out with your family and sit. They have stages and their lighting is great and the murals and the plantings, everything was thought out. So everything's exposed, your sight lines are there, you never feel like something bad is going to happen around you. Why is that not being applied to our downtown? Yeah, who knows. 

Host: 1:34:16

Why can't we learn from Disney? They're you know, That's what they do. 

Brendan: 1:34:20

They plan functioning outdoor spaces. They're here on our doorstep. What a great opportunity to apply that to our downtown. And we're going through. What did they call it? The DTO Project. DTO, they're doing a whole vision downtown plan, a comprehensive plan of what to do downtown, and they have, I guess, the results of that. They just presented them somewhere. Nobody will give me a copy of what they look like until they're finished. Which, i'll be honest, is not okay. If I ask for it, they're supposed to give it to me for freedom of information. 

Host: 1:34:57

Right, the Sunshine Law. Sunshine Law is public. Yeah, absolutely. 

Brendan: 1:35:02

I'll be putting my foot down soon. But it's not going to be as good. I just know it's not going to be as good. And like we had a downtown czar, the bar czar, our night time economy manager right, who was Dominique Greco, and she eventually was kind of forced to leave because the city was under a lot of fire during the pandemic. They did this. You know, downtown was hard. They were doing some roadblocks and then they reopened for Halloween. You might remember?

Host: 1:35:37

I do. Right, wow, super spreader event. 

Brendan: 1:35:39

Yeah, but because they didn't. And that was at a bad time. They didn't control the access points. There were things they could have done to control the crowds that they didn't do And when it became a public debacle they blamed it then on this position. She was done away with, but along with Dominique, was this exit of the food truck pods that they had downtown. They had those little areas where these food trucks were allowed to gather. Super helpful, the public restrooms. We have no public restrooms downtown and they had those mobile restroom units, so those things have just gone away. I'm so interested. I cannot wait to see what the results of this vision plan are for downtown. I had a meeting with them earlier on. They just wanted to pick my brain and I just let them have it with these things. Good for you. Lighting. How is lighting so bad downtown? Yeah, it really is. The amount of times that people have been harassed, attacked, attacked in downtown Orlando And it's I'll tell you right now. Turn the lights on That's turning the lights on. 

Host: 1:36:48

That is one simple solution. One of them. 

Brendan: 1:36:51

It's a very complex issue, of course it is shifting demographics downtown, yeah, and now it's becoming very racially charged, because we're seeing a lot of black people downtown (or people of color) who you didn't necessarily see before downtown, who are feeling comfortable. And it's interesting because now we're seeing this racially charged argument of maybe that's why there's a spike in crime downtown, disregarding the fact that it's just a spike. That's happening because people have forgotten how to act in public. Now that we've come out of this, it's not a “free for all” mentality. People are suddenly, the city's mad. People are gathering in the streets. Then you don't close the street. Why are you closing the street and then getting mad that people are hanging out in the streets? 

Host: 1:37:35

Yeah, really interesting. It's nothing about race. It's about people who are in desperate situations and that haven't found help elsewhere and that the care that they need is not available essentially. And when you have somebody who is in a desperate situation, it's hard to imagine any other outcome for them- Yeah, i think it's an act of agency too, for maybe, like I think, maybe people feel they are allowed to act out downtown versus somewhere else, like there's, like when you go to. 

Brendan: 1:38:12

Bourbon Street in New Orleans like there's a lack of structure that would maybe prohibit you from acting out. Yeah. And that's gone, so you can do whatever you want downtown, even with these roadblocks. It's so interesting. They're putting these roadblocks downtown. And rather than control access or maybe stimmy some of those behaviors, it's really just pushed it over to like Magnolia, where people can go to Saddle Up or Stagger In rather to these places instead of having to go to the Orange Avenue bars. So really what it's done is send less people. It's making it harder for people to support Orange Avenue businesses. And they're just existing on the peripheries of the check-in points. And that's not a solution. It's not. It's not. You've just shifted the problem over Right And that could be a lawsuit for some of these private businesses. 

Host: 1:39:08

Yeah, and that's part of where the communication comes in. And that's part of the role that you are serving as Bungalowers’ and forming people about these policy changes and maybe these unintended consequences. 

Brendan: 1:39:22

Yeah, and I don't see there's a focus on downtown. So, like we do work with the CRA and the DDB. And I've written things for them, just as myself I've done some copy stuff for them, and so the narrative of downtown that this city wants to push is it's transitioning. They want it to be a neighborhood, right, because on paper, contextually, it's a business park, right, yeah, downtown, yeah, so work and play. Sure, business districts during the pandemic died because nobody was working in their offices anymore. So those businesses then that were supported by those office workers as they left or went to work were hit very, very hard. So then what came in was people just leaned into them, the evening audience, and they're attracting people downtown to just party without that moderation of people, maybe in their business suits and just hanging out on the patios. 

Host: 1:40:22

Yeah, like a more casual feel. Yeah, it was less of a mix of people from walks of life and circumstances. Yeah, Now it's just the free for all right, wow, and so now there's this I hadn't really thought about that, well it's yeah, and so they're not really talking about it, right? 

Brendan: 1:40:36

Maybe we should do a better job of talking about it, too on Bungalower. But so now we're seeing this knee-jerk reaction from the city, from them saying we need to turn off these public speakers. Right, we need to turn down this public street party atmosphere, less sidewalk cafes, less people in the streets because what they were seeing were people not going into the bars, they were just hanging out outside. Well, that's because they didn't feel safe going inside for a long time right, yeah. So of course they're going to hang out in the street where you've closed down the streets. There's a liquor store downtown that's selling travel or liquor bottles, so they don't need to go to those bars. They can get cheaper stuff, make their own drinks and hang out in the streets, right? So that became this big free for all street party. Where there are no bouncers, you can do whatever you want outside. Everyone's smoking weed, you know, because it's legal. Sure, you got to have your card and do whatever you want, and now there's this reaction from the city, from these people who don't necessarily even want to hang out downtown. So the people who are making the policies for downtown are not people that go downtown. Their downtown is Crest, their downtown is the Bohemian. There's the Dr Phillips Performing Arts Center on the periphery right higher end destination venues versus these other businesses and they want to make it a neighborhood. They want it to be family-friendly, they want people to live there with their kids and engage with downtown on a more wholesome way, and so they're going to be limiting bar uses, they're making it harder for businesses to buy a bar and keep it as a bar. And that's what we're going to see downtown. And they want it to be more like a main street, and so, like our main streets are live, work, play. Downtown is just work and play. 

Host: 1:42:18

Yeah. 

Brendan: 1:42:18

So they're trying to add that live component. I don't know if it's going to pan out. I don't know if that works downtown. 

Host: 1:42:24

It's tough to envision it, it's really tough. 

Brendan: 1:42:26

Who lives downtown? 

Host: 1:42:28

Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know anybody. 

Brendan: 1:42:29

Young people? Yeah right,

Host: 1:42:33

 Because I'm not a young person. So I don't know. 

Brendan: 1:42:34

We've aged out of that right? And then the people who complain about downtown are people who have aged out of downtown. 

Host: 1:42:40

Yeah, So, Brendan, thank you so much. This really has been a treat. I love what you do. I look forward to all the new things that you will add, because you keep elevating. It does make me feel connected to the city in a way that I wouldn't otherwise, and I know that I am not alone in that. I think that exactly the mission of what it is that you're set out to do. I think you're doing very well. And I think that that is why you reach so many people, because you do it with an honest heart and you do it for the right reasons, and it makes this place better, and thank you. 

Brendan: 1:43:19

Oh, you're welcome, Thank you. Thank you, that means a lot to hear. Thank you, yeah. 

Host: 1:43:26

And you probably don't hear that enough, specifically. But it's important to point out. And I think that It's nice to know it's not in a vacuum, so thank you so much. I would imagine that you can feel a little bit removed from it too, because people that comment are just commenting on specific stories and things like that or just generalizations, and they just don't really get what you're doing, but I think it's important to let people know that you see them and you like what you see. And I hope that you continue on into the future with this. 

Brendan: 1:44:04

Thank you. It's always nice to hear. My dad used to say that. “I see you.” He's an archeologist and so he'd always worked with elders and stuff, and so that was almost like a direct translation of what people would say forehead to forehead “I see you.” We're breathing the same air. So that means a lot. So thank you so much, and I love your show, I love what you're doing. Audubon Park needs voices. All the neighborhoods need great, steady, dependable voices. And yours is all of those things. So it's great to see that happening here.

Host: 1:44:41

Thank you. There's so many good stories here to tell, and just getting to know some of the people here better. And meeting some people that I hadn't met before but had heard so much about, it's a great way to kind of make those connections and to see people. 

Brendan: 1:44:56

It is right, it's just another excuse to sit down with people. So thank you so much for having me and letting me share too much. I promise, if you ever have me back, I won't drink all of the Lobos coffee before I show up. 

Host: 1:45:10

I think it was exactly the right amount. I think it's wonderful. Thank you, we'll see you soon. 

Outro:

Hello APGD, a Neighborhood podcast, is brought to you in part by Stardust Video and Coffee, Audubon Park's beloved neighborhood cafe, bakery bar and meeting place, located at 1842 East Winter Park Road. We're also sponsored by Redlight. Redlight Brew Pub. Founded in 2005, Redlight is widely known as the source for world-class imports and micro brews, a wide selection of natural wines plus award-winning beers brewed in-house. A full kitchen is in the works with an amazing menu by Chef Jes Tantalo, located at 2810 Corrine Drive. Please check out Redlight for all things beer and wine, and soon food. Our theme song is by Christopher Pierce, and special thanks to Tre Hester for all of his help in making this podcast a reality. We do hope you enjoyed this episode. If so, please click subscribe and leave a review, if you'd like. We'll see you next time.