PI Update: Remembering The Hub

The Hub. Located at the intersection of Hill Street and the pathway that ran between Mannequins and Raglan Road, it was the center of Pleasure Island. But as we can see in this photo, it's still there!

And with it's all-points compass star built into the pavement, it's still considered the center of Pleasure Island if not the entire Disney Springs complex.

Back in the day, PI Live Bar sat in this slightly lowered section at The Hub. The bar closed with everything else on the Island in 2008 but they reopened it just months later when they discovered the Island became a dead zone after dark with nothing going on.

It was ultimately demolished and replaced with a row of store fronts beginning at that famed corner. The first occupant was Erwin Pearl Jewelry, one of our favorites. Gideon's Bakehouse now occupies that spot....at The Hub.

Looking straight ahead, Rock'N'Roll Beach Club was located there but that retail spot on the lower left side remained empty during most of my years on the Island. I do recall there being a game room in there at one time and DJ's in the PI Live booth nearby liked to point their camera into the room and display the video of an game player onto a large screen on the adjoining (not pictured) Hub Stage for passersby to watch, unbeknownst to the player!

RRBC was razed to make room for Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar....at The Hub.

I could not find a picture of the previously mentioned PI Live DJ booth in the Blog archives. We only have this one of it being torn down. The booth was home to DJ's playing music to everyone on the Island as they passed between club options. Like the Island itself, it closed in 2008 but was reopened a few months later to create some liveliness on the Island after dark. The DJ booth was then moved to the top floor of the Laffers Cantina building and the original booth razed.

The booth was built on top of and slightly to the side of the Fuego by Sosa Cigars building, which lasted a few more years before it too came down.

When Fuego came down, the patch of dirt that it sat on became the last remaining parcel of land on the Island that had not been built upon. It later did get built on with the construction of Wine Bar George which is there now.....at The Hub.