Church Street Station – Marketing

Church Street Station marketing pieces were always classy, informative and exciting! These are a few samples of marketing pieces — some were mailers, some were free to take home to share with friends and family or keep as souvenirs.

ABOVE Featured Image: Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium – four view postcard from the hey days of Church Street Station in the 1970s when Rosie was young and vibrant. Going clockwise from the top left you see some of the architectural details that made Church Street Station famous. There was nothing fake or pretend. When you walked into Rosie’s you walked back in time to the gay ’90s and New Orleans bordello if they took a look at the wallpaper in the ladies room! The hand painted mirrors, gold busts and Victorian lighting ran the length of the bars down both sides and across the back on either side of the grand staircase. Stacked are the souvenir glasses for the house specialty – the Flaming Hurricane Special!

On the top right you see the beautiful mural painted on the west facing side of Rosie’s at the corner of Church and Garland streets. Folks who did not want to pay admission but just wanted to listen in while eating a made to order sandwich or red hot, could duck in the side, order a bite to eat and get an earful!

Bottom right shows the beautiful woodwork, the bar, the overhang from the upstairs balcony and a customer decked out in a Rosie’s straw hat (Styrofoam) and garter, getting her Flaming Hurricane!

The last photo on the bottom left is taken from behind the stage on the second floor. The stage is to the left with the red draping with gold fringe. You can see the beautiful real tin ceiling, the huge chandeliers and the crowds along the west bar.

The message on the back of the card reads: Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium – home of the famous Flaming Hurricane and Dixie Land Jazz . . . a part of Church Street Station. Rosie O’Grady’s Good Times Cards, Church Station, Orlando, Florida. The Continental card. B8428. Mike Roberts Color Productions, Oakland, CA 94623

VIEW Church Street Station Information Brochure
Four page pamphlet for tour group operators listing show times, prices, discounts, etc.

Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium / Apple Annie’s Courtyard bi-fold circa 1976.
VIEW  Cover and back    VIEW  Inside
Cover – 8 1/2 x 11 bi-fold marketing piece promoting Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium, Apple Annie’s Courtyard and the tethered hot air balloon rides from the center of Church Street in Downtown Orlando! The red and cream marketing piece features photographs of Rosie’s Red Hot Mama, Church Street Minstrel Man, and Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band.

VIEW  Rosie O’Grady’s Singing Waiters – postcard circa 1976

This post card features Rosie O’Grady’s Singing Waiters who, in addition to participating in the patriotic grand finale and performing the Rosie O’Grady’s welcome song before every show, would drop what they were doing and who they were serving and grab their trays to accentuate the grand entrance of Rosie’s Red Hot Mama Ruth Crews.

This photo was from Rosie’s heydays when there was “sawdust” on the floor like in the olden days and standing room only above and below with people lining the 2nd floor balcony and the filling the antique benches pulled from an old train station. Rosie’s served alcoholic beverages but it was a place where folks from newborns to almost-gones could have a rousing good time.

In this photo you can see the brass fireman’s pole in the middle of the stage. Most of the band members would make their entrance each show by taking the fireman’s pole from the top floor. The can can girls also arrived via this mode of transport. If you look closely you can see the large mirror behind the west bar – painted with the names and likenesses of specialty drinks.

LISTEN to Rosie O’Grady’s Waiters’ Welcome

Words and music by Bill Allred. Permission granted.

We’d like to welcome everybody to Rosie O’Grady’s, the place where all the good times are!
You can forget about your taxes, the weather, the wars, and leave your other cares and woes outside our swinging doors.
Welcome everybody to Rosie O’Grady’s, come in and belly up to the bar.
And if you do, it won’t be long before you see why, we’re rated up there with the flag and mom’s apple pie!
Welcome everybody to Rosie O’Grady’s, the place where all the good times are!

Sung by Rosie O’Grady’s singing waiters, this was the first song performed each night, and every word was true!

VIEW  Church Street Station’s Good Time Gazette – Fall 1977
The Good Time Gazette was available at all Church Street locations for tourists and locals to take home with them as a souvenir and a reminder of why they want to come back again. During Church Street Station’s golden years thousands of these Gazettes traveled from Orlando back home to all parts of the state, the country and the world!

This eight page newspaper gives in-depth info on the entertainers like Mother’s Choice, Rosie’s Dixieland Jazz Band, Red Hot Mama Miss Ruth Crews, and more. The Gazette also provides information and history of the entertainment and dining venues found at Church Street Station and highlights other interests like Rosie O’Grady’s Flying Circus that includes skywriter bi-planes and hot air balloons! Page three in the gazette features Apple Annie’s Courtyard and the group Mother’s Choice who performed folk and bluegrass favorites at Apple Annie’s six nights a week. Page seven in the Gazette features Rosie ‘Grady’s Flying Circus, the American Dream balloon and Rosie’s skywriters.

VIEW  Rosie O’Grady’s Postcard – Patriotic Finale – 1981
The patriotic grand finale at Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium was phenomenal! The finale would start with the band leader asking the crowd if there were any folks from the North. This would evoke cheers from the Snowbirds visiting Orlando. Then he would ask if there were any folks from the South. In true Southern fashion, this would evoke hoots, hollers and cheers. The Red Hot Mama and Church Street Dynamo would begin singing Dixie as it was written in almost hymn like tones. Then the two with Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band would burst out into a Dixieland Jazz version with the male waiters taking to the bar with rebel flags. Without skipping a beat, they would go into Yankee Doodle Dandy with the waiters now waving Old Glory from atop the bars. After several other songs, the crowd would be on their feet singing God Bless America with Uncle Sam (on stilts), a Statue of Liberty (from the audience), can can girls and Good Time Waiters. The back of the post card includes this description: PATRIOTISM, motherhood and mom’s apple pie at Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium. . . a part of Church Station Station . . . Orlando with a bourbon chaser. B8429 – Color Photos: Bruce Miley

VIEW  Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band postcard circa 1981

READ more about Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band
Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band members changed a bit during the years but during the hey days of Church Street Station before the decline the last few years, they were the best Dixieland Jazz band bar none! From Left going clockwise: Jim Maihack on the trombone, Kent Abreo on the clarinet, Don Lord on the cornet, (don’t know), Dave Gannett on the tuba, Randy Morris on the trumpet (piano player extraordinaire!), Boyd Bergeson on the banjo, and Warren Sauer on the drums.

The back of the card: Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Jazz Band swing out nightly with the greatest Dixieland Jazz in America at Church Street Station, Historic Orlando, Florida with a bourbon chaser. B8433 Color Photo: Bruce Miley. The Continental card, Mike Roberts, Berkeley 92710. Rosie O’Grady’s Good Times Cards, Church Street Station, Orlando, Florida.

VEIW Rosie O’Grady’s Red Hot Mama Ruth Crews postcard circa 1981    READ more about Ruthie
Rosie O’Grady’s Red Hot Mama Miss Ruth Crews was immortalized with her own postcard. Wearing her famous white boa and plums this photo goes well with her famous saying: “If you can’t hide it – decorate it!  This particular postcard is from Miss Ruth’s personal collection.

Church Street Station event schedule – October 1982  VIEW Inside fold out   VIEW Address section and front
Memberships at Church Street Station were quite reasonable for locals. One felt proud and privileged to be a member of the Rosie O’Grady’s Dixie, Racing and Marching Society, as it was called. Membership included free admission for an entire year, discounts on beverages and free admission to all special events and street parties except New Year’s Eve. Special calendars were mailed to members reminding us that when life seemed dull there was always something exciting happening at Church Street Station.

This direct mail piece from October 1982 is a great example. In addition to all the regular excitement and fun that could be had any night of the week, the inside page of the mailer advertises the Columbus Day Italian Street Festival on October 15 and 16th, the Ninth Annual Halloween Street Party. The back cover of the direct mail piece promotes Country singer Leon Everett performing at the Cheyenne Saloon on October 7th and the Helmut Hogl Band performing at Rosie O’Grady’s October 12th and 13th.

VIEW Church Street Station – 10th Annual New Year’s Eve Street Party – December 31, 1984
Advertisement published in the Church Street Gazette in 1984 promoting the 10th New Year’s Eve Street Party – at $14.95 per person it was a real bargain! Of course you still had to pay for your food and drinks, but you got the best music and most fun you could have legally in all of Orlando from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and it included a Champaign toast, noise maker, streamers, and Styrofoam 1890s style “straw hat”! What more could you ask for?

Entertainers listed: Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Dixieland Jazz Band with Bill Allred, Red Hot Mama Ruth Crews, Can Can Girls, The Cheyenne Stampede with Kenny James and Patty Stone, Tom Hook and the Terrier Brothers, Jumpin’ Boots Trio, The Executives and Joe Derrico Orchestra.  From the personal collection of Rosie O’Grady’s Red Hot Mama Miss Ruth Crews.

VIEW  Church Street Station – Orange Blossom Special and conductor post card
Photo at the Church Street Station with the totally renovated locomotive and club car dubbed the Orange Blossom Special. Standing to the left is “The Conductor” who greeted guests on Church Street.

VIEW  Church Street Station venues. show times and upcoming events
Venue and show times card provided guests upon arrival at ticket window. Inside provided list of upcoming events. This example promotes: Salt and Pepper Television’s filming of “Church Street Station” August 29-September 12 in the Cheyenne Saloon; Mack Vickery at the Cheyenne Saloon September 13 and 14; Buccaneer Day, September 23; Oktoberfest Street Party, September 23, 24, 25; Burrito Brothers at the Cheyenne Saloon, September 26 and 27; Italian Street Party, October 14, 15,16, and Razzy Bailey at the Cheyenne Saloon, October 24 and 25.

VIEW  Church Street Station’s Good Time Gazette – November 1985
Church Street Station Good Times Gazette from November 1985 announces the grand opening of the “Cuisine Des Chef’s Morning Glory Bakery” in the Bumby Arcade.  The calendar for November and December 1985 include: Opening of the Bumby Arcade and Grand Opening of the Morning Glory Bakery on November 15; Lighting of the great American Christmas tree, December 12; the Night Before Citrus Street Party, December 27; the Boola Bowl Pep Rally and Post Game Party, December 28, and New Year’s Eve Street Party, December 31.
The 12-page full color newspaper features photos and information on all of Church Street Station’s most well know entertainers and destinations.

VIEW  Morning Glory French Baker Menu
Menu from the Morning Glory French Bakery opened November 15, 1985 in the Bumby Arcade across the street from Lili Marlene’s Aviators Pub on the south side of Church Street Station.

VIEW  Church Street : CSS and the Marketplace post card
Church Street Station post cards were sent home to friends and family members across the country and across the world. Another tool in the Church Street Station marketing arsenal, the post cards highlighted every venue and eatery beckoning those who had never visited and those who’d been gone too long, to come back to Church Street for the fun and entertainment.

This postcard is circa 1995 featuring photos of horse drawn carriages lined up in front of the Church Street Market, The Exchange on Pine Street at Garland, Rosie O’Grady’s, Apple Annies, and Lili Marlene’s and Church Street Station after 6 p.m. when the barricades went up and the balloon came out and people reclaimed the cobblestones.

VIEW  The Cheyenne Saloon and Opera House post card

VIEW  The Cheyenne Saloon and Opera House Grizzly Bear – post card

VIEW  Church Street Station Train Depot at night – post card   
The Church Street Station Depot at night with one of the historic automobiles from the Church Street Station collection in front.

VIEW  Phineas Phogg’s Balloon Works discotheque – post card

VIEW  The Exchange post card circa 1992
The post card shows the then elegant Exchange located at the corner of Pine and Garland. The building still stands but many of the architectural details are no longer there making it look a bit old and sad. The first floor featured shops and the fudge factory. The second floor had more of the same but with a great food court for those tourist who did not want to spend a lot of money or time and for the locals who worked downtown. The third floor was Commander Ragtime’s – with every type of electronic game you could imagine as well as pool tables and a real Fokker D airplane suspended from the ceiling above the beautiful brass and glass enclosed escalator.

From the back of the card which appears to be from one of the multi-card packs that you tear at the perforations: The Church Street Station Exchange Shopping Emporium. This beautiful Victorian Shopping Emporium houses more than 50 distinctive shops and unique eateries adjacent to Church Station.

VEIW  Bill White – The Baron of Bourbon Street – post card circa 1994

Bill White came to Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium after Spatz Donovan made his exit. He worked with many bands before coming to Rosie’s and was well known for his Louis Armstrong tribute. Bill passed away several years ago and his obituary can be found at EpochLegacies.org

VIEW  Church Street Station Free Drink Coupon 1997

VIEW  Church Street Station information for tour group operators
Four page pamphlet for tour group operators listing show times, prices, discounts, etc.

Peruse all the images, links, and documents under attachments below for more information on these marketing items.