by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Larry Hazouri did his job so well that he managed to talk himself out of a job.
Hazouri, who opened the doors on the Desert Rider Sandwich Shop on Bay Street in 1971, is closing them today for the last time.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Hazouri spent many years as president of the Downtown Merchants and Property Owners Association. The organization was determined to do something about a decaying Downtown.
“At that time, downtown was really at a low ebb,” said Hazouri, seated at one of the Desert Rider’s long, yellow counters. “Hemming Plaza was a desolate place. Everything had closed up around there.
“We were encouraging City Hall and the courthouse to move off the river to make room for development and move to the Hemming Plaza area. We spent many years trying to get that accomplished, and, I’m happy to say, it did get accomplished.”
The first Desert Rider opened in 1969 on Forsyth Street in the old Florida Title Building. The Bay Street store was the second one.
Though one store is closing, Hazouri has three others that are flourishing. They are the Desert Rider Sandwich Shop, 217 Hogan St.; Enterprise Center Cafe, on the 10th floor of the Wachovia building; and the High Tide Cafe on the ground floor of the Stein Mart building on the Southbank, 1200 Riverplace Drive.
All locations are open from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch.
Years ago, Hazouri’s organization and the Chamber of Commerce, wanted some sort of “hub” established around Hemming Plaza, something to give long-term stability to the neighborhood. The “campus style complex” of government buildings has provided that.
“We have City Hall there, the federal courthouse, the JEA building, the new library,” he said. “The new county courthouse will be nearby. That whole area has come back — I’d like to think through some work our organization and the Chamber did.
“I guess I might have pushed myself out of a job.”
Hazouri didn’t have any particular idea about what should replace the current courthouse and City Hall Annex on Bay Street.
“We just knew we needed those properties on the tax rolls,” he said. “We felt, if we could get a critical mass of people around the Hemming Plaza area, they would walk back and forth to the Landing and visit those areas; the shops in between would open up. That was really the plan.”
Located across Bay Street from the Duval County Courthouse, the Desert Rider “was great when I opened. Just like it is now,” said Hazouri. “I hate to leave this location. This is not anything we would choose to do.
“But we understand about downtown progress. I’m happy that downtown is coming back. We have to make room for progress, that’s all.”
The restaurant’s name comes from its specialty sandwich, made with cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and a special sauce, all inside a wedge of pita bread.
“My old sign out in front had a palm tree and a camel, kind of a Middle Eastern type,” he said. “Pita bread was kind of a novelty then. There wasn’t a lot of pita bread being sold downtown in 1971.”
Hazouri said the building’s owners may put loft apartments upstairs and, perhaps, a fancy restaurant downstairs that would be open at night.
“And the new jazz club [Eclate] has opened nearby,” he pointed out. “That’s just part of the revitalization.
“By the time the Super Bowl gets here, this whole block will be spiffed up. And that’s a good thing for Jacksonville.”
Hazouri has a cache of “wonderful memories” created by the stream of customers who made a habit of stopping at the Desert Rider.
“We have people come in here who started at City Hall and the Courthouse when we started,” he said. “So we have people who’ve been coming here for 30 years.
“I’ve seen people come and go, retire. We know a lot of these people by their first name and their children and their grandkids.
“When you’re here for 32 years, they become more than customers. They become good friends. I always go out of my way to have personal contact with my customers; we care a lot about pleasing the customer.
“I hope that maybe that was part of the success of this place.”