Hi! I'm Sarah Schwartz, a local real estate agent in Jacksonville, Florida. Ever wonder what the neighborhood of San Marco in Jacksonville is like? Today I'm going to take you through this quaint historic neighborhood and highlight what makes San Marco so special.
San Marco is an 80-acre urban suburban area located east of the St Johns river, just south of downtown and a short drive to Avondale and Riverside. San Marco is named after the St Mark Square in Venice, Italy, and features several Mediterranean-style buildings and a large fountain in the center with three lions. In fact, the three lions in the square represent the three lions in the St Mark Square in Venice. As you can see the lions are dressed in pink right now to show support for breast cancer awareness. They often change the theme of the lions which really shows the support of the community and just how much we love those lions. The entire area has a unique contemporary character to it correlating to the early 1900s in Italy.
Let's begin with talking about the parks. There are three main parks in San Marco. The first is the Alexandria Oaks Park. This park has a serene walking trail, and plenty of room for soccer, football, or a nice afternoon picnic. This is by far the largest park in San Marco and has beautiful oak trees. One of my favorite features about San Marco is the landscaping. I love all of the large oak trees engulfed with Spanish Moss. Next, we stroll down to Landon Park. This one you'll want to take your kids too. There's a great children's part with swings, a large play structure, and a really cool climbing structure. The next park is Southside Park. This park has four pickle-ball courts and eleven tennis courts, six have clay and five hard. There's also a practice court right next to it so you can practice your swing or play handball. There's actually one more park connected to San Marco called Riverfront Park. It's rightly named as it's literally on the St John's River. This park has a long strip of grass so it's really nice to stand there and watch the sunset. Some people like to go there just to check out the views or if you like to fish you might want to go there. This is definitely one of the best places to go near downtown Jacksonville.
San Marco Square is the neighborhood's commercial district area. The triangular district is located at the three-way juncture of Atlantic Blvd., Hendricks Ave., and San Marco Blvd. A tiered fountain at the center of the square originally marked the convergence of these streets. In 2013, the square underwent a major renovation which changed the direction of traffic and expanded the small park in the middle, Balis Park, into more of a green space for people to hang out in. Another cool feature in San Marco is the San Marco Theater which was built in 1938. Fun fact, San Marco Theater has been recognized by USA Today as one of the 10 Best Classic Cinemas in the United States! This theater showcases newly released movies while The Little Theatre showcases live performances and plays. Thinking about hosting an event? You can rent the Preservation Hall. It's a really cute venue if you want to have a wedding, a bridal shower, a business meeting, whatever you can think of. Voted Jacksonville Magazines 2020 and 2021 Best Historic Venue.
While San Marco Square is home to many of the area's restaurants, there are other amazing restaurants just around the corner. Altogether they boast a vast variety of different types of foods. To name a few, let's start with one of my favorites, Bistro AIX, serving French cuisine. Another one is Fuji Sushi. Taverna has not only Italian but also Spanish meals. Are you a fan of biscuits? Because Maple Street Biscuit Co. basically serves breakfast and lunch on a biscuit. The Loop has great burgers, pizza, and much more. Then there's Seafood Island, Town Hall, which is an upscale American restaurant and cocktail bar. Hightide Burrito, serving contemporary mexican. Hurricane Grill, is one of the local sports bars. Rue St. Marc, which has modern French and delicious cocktails. Matthews which has amazing, elegant, american dishes. Good Dough, which is an artisan donut and coffee shop, is pretty amazing! European Street Cafe, which features a German-inspired menu. The Bearded Pig, which has a delicious barbecue and an outdoor bier garden or there's V Pizza serving wood-fired Neapolitan pizza with amazing wings. Just up the road from that you have BB's which serves American food and desserts. Then there's Basil Thai or you have the Charthouse right on the St John's River. So as you can see there's enough food in this small quaint community for everyone.
Are you interested in the nightlife that San Marco has to offer? Sidecar, which is a hip bar connected to V Pizza, has a really nice outdoor patio. Grape & Grain has a secret door that leads you to a speakeasy where they host live music and events. The Pink Salt Restaurant and Wine Bar, The Wine Cellar, are both great for dinner and wine. Or there's Aardwolf Brewing Company, which is a massive brewing company that serves their craft brew that they make on-site. These spots in San Marco square often come to life during happy hour and at night but if you're more interested in live music you should check out Jack Rabbits, an intimate live concert venue that has a full bar and hosts local and regional artists.
Now let's talk about housing. San Marco boasts a variety of homes dating all the way back to the early 1900s. They've got everything there from small apartments, and single-family homes to multi-million dollar riverfront estates. When I do the Gate River Run every year, one of my favorite parts is running around San Marco. You have one part where you're running down the tree-lined streets and another where you're running right next to the St John's River. One of my favorite roads to go down is River Rd. You guessed it, it's on the river. The homes on River Rd are absolutely gorgeous and the trees are great so it really makes for a relaxing walk or run. There's also Marco Lake located behind the homes on the other side of the street and the other side of Marco Lake is just a few homes away from the square. To say this neighborhood has a high walkability score is definitely an understatement. I've gone over quite a bit and let me tell you this isn't even everything. San Marco is definitely a place you need to explore for yourself and taste some of the food.
Thanks for reading my neighborhood tour of San Marco in Jacksonville, Florida. If you liked what you read, please take a moment to Check Out My YouTube Channel and Subscribe below so you'll get notified every week when I upload a new video exploring Jacksonville. Be sure to check out my other videos on the Top 5 Things I Love About Jacksonville and also the Top 5 Things They Don't Tell You About Living in Jacksonville.
