OBSERVED: New digs! Observer returns to Dillard Street

Smack dab in the middle of the Observer’s move from our former home on Garden Commerce Parkway to our new one on Dillard Street, I turned 48.

And with each packed box, office chair, desk, filing cabinet or shelf I hauled, I felt every one of those years.

Even as I type this, I have a pinch behind my shoulder blade every time I look down too far. I’m not one to pine for my youth, but it would be nice if my body weren’t in a constant state of rebellion.

Despite the pain, I am grateful, encouraged and pleased that after almost eight years, the Observer is back on Dillard Street. We left our longtime home at 720 S. Dillard St. in 2018 and now have found a new one at 210 S. Dillard St. We’re within walking distance of Plant Street. Natural light spills into our office from every window, and I can hear the constant buzz of downtown Winter Garden traffic.

Mind you, I appreciate our former home. It was large, efficient and designed exclusively for our needs. But there was a certain sterility to it, a starkness that stood in contrast to the warmth we hope our stories bring to our readers.

Our new home is the exact opposite. Built in 1929, it is small, cozy, oozing of character. Sure, the floor isn’t exactly level, the bathroom door closes by itself, there is a board on our front porch that could double as a Looney Tunes trap, and the front windows still have graphics from when the building was a nail salon. But what it lacks in right angles, it more than makes up for in vibe. And even when we were in the midst of moving, the place felt more inspiring, more creative, more us.

What’s more, because we moved almost everything ourselves, the Herculean team effort it took to make this change — while still producing our newspapers, website and the next Season magazine — taught me a lot about our team. In the three weeks it took to pull this off, I never heard a single complaint. No eyes rolled (that I know about), and we’ve emerged with renewed strength in knowing we can do hard things. And we made a lot of great memories together.

Of course, a building is just a floor, some walls and a roof without people to turn it into something more. And so in the months to come, I hope many of you will stop in to say hello. For those of you who want to find something we’ve published in the past, our archives still are available for perusal. And for those who come every Thursday for our new editions, our Big Red Boxes stand proudly in our parking lot.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue settling into our new home and get used to where everything is located. We’ll become familiar with the new sounds. 

And yes, we’ll remove those nail salon graphics.