Daytona Beach, Florida

"Daytona" and "Daytona Beach" redirect here. For other uses, see Daytona (disambiguation).

Daytona Beach, Florida
City
City of Daytona Beach
From top, left to right: Welcome sign when entering Daytona Beach; Daytona Beach Bandshell; Ocean Walk Shoppes; Daytona Beach Pier; Daytona International Speedway
Seal
Nickname(s): "The World's Most Famous Beach", "The Spring Break Capital of the World"
Location in Volusia County and the state of Florida
Daytona Beach Location in the United States
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Volusia
Founded	1870
Incorporated	July 1876
Government
• Type	Commission–Manager
• Mayor	Derrick Henry
Area
• City	63.78 sq mi (165.2 km2)
• Land	58.41 sq mi (151.3 km2)
• Water	5.37 sq mi (13.9 km2)
• Urban	190.65 sq mi (493.8 km2)
Elevation	13 ft (4 m)
Population (2010)
• City	61,005
• Estimate (2014)	63,011
• Density	1,044.4/sq mi (403.2/km2)
• Urban	349,064 (109th, U.S.)
• Metro	609,939 (90th, U.S.)
• CSA	3,045,707 (20th, U.S.)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	32114-32126, 32198
Area code(s)	386
FIPS code	12-16525
GNIS feature ID	0281353
Website	www.codb.us

Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It lies about 51 miles (82.1 km) northeast of Orlando, 86 miles (138.4 km) southeast of Jacksonville, and 242 miles (389.5 km) northwest of Miami. In the 2010 U.S. Census, it had a population of 61,005. It is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL metropolitan statistical area, which was home to 590,289 people in 2010. Daytona Beach is also a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida.

The city is historically known for its beach where the hard-packed sand allows motorized vehicles to drive on the beach in restricted areas. This hard-packed sand made Daytona Beach a mecca for motorsports, and the old Daytona Beach Road Course hosted races for over 50 years. This was replaced in 1959 by Daytona International Speedway. The city is also the headquarters for NASCAR.

Daytona Beach hosts large groups of out-of-towners that descend upon the city for various events, notably Speedweeks in early February when over 200,000 NASCAR fans come to attend the season-opening Daytona 500. Other events include the NASCAR Coke Zero 400 race in July, Bike Week in early March, Biketoberfest in late October, and the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race in January.

History

The area where Daytona Beach is today was once inhabited by the indigenous Timucuan Indians who lived in fortified villages. The Timucuas were nearly exterminated by contact with Europeans through war, enslavement and disease and became extinct as a racial entity through assimilation and attrition during the 18th century. The Seminole Indians, descendants of Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, frequented the area prior to the Second Seminole War.

A palisaded Timucua village

Daytona Beach

During the era of British rule of Florida between 1763 and 1783, the King's Road passed through present-day Daytona Beach. The road extended from St. Augustine, the capital of East Florida, to Andrew Turnbull's experimental colony in New Smyrna. In 1804 Samuel Williams received a land grant of 3,000 acres (12 km²) from the Spanish Crown, which had regained Florida from the British after the American Revolution. This land grant encompassed the area that would become Daytona Beach. Williams built a slave-labor-based plantation to grow cotton, rice and sugar cane. His son Samuel Hill Williams would abandon the plantation during the Second Seminole War, when the Seminoles burned it to the ground.

In 1871, Mathias Day, Jr. of Mansfield, Ohio, purchased a 2,144.5 acre tract of the former Williams Plantation, on the west bank of the tidal channel known as the Halifax River. He built a hotel around which the initial section of town, today the Daytona Beach Historic District, arose. In 1872, due to financial troubles, Day lost title to his land; nonetheless, residents decide to name the city Daytona in his honor, and incorporated the town in 1876.

In 1886, the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway arrived in Daytona. The line would be purchased in 1889 by Henry M. Flagler, who made it part of his Florida East Coast Railway. The separate towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach, Kingston, and Seabreeze merged as "Daytona Beach" in 1926, at the urging of civic leader J.B. Kahn and others. By the 1920s, it was dubbed "The World's Most Famous Beach".

Daytona's wide beach of smooth, compacted sand attracted automobile and motorcycle races beginning in 1902, as pioneers in the industry tested their inventions. It hosted land speed record attempts beginning in 1904, when William K. Vanderbilt set an unofficial record of 92.307 mph (148.554 km/h). Land speed racers from Barney Oldfield to Henry Seagrave to Malcolm Campbell would visit Daytona repeatedly and make the 23 mi (37 km) beach course famous. Record attempts, including numerous fatal endeavors such as Frank Lockhart (Stutz Black Hawk, 1926) and Lee Bible (Triplex Special, 1929), would continue until Campbell's March 7, 1935 effort, which set the record at 276.816 mph (445.492 km/h) and marked the end of Daytona's land speed racing days.

On March 8, 1936, the first stock car race was held on the Daytona Beach Road Course, located in the present-day Town of Ponce Inlet. In 1958, William France Sr. and NASCAR created the Daytona International Speedway to replace the beach course. Automobiles are still permitted on most areas of the beach, at a maximum speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).

Geography

Daytona Beach, "beachside" on left (east) of the Halifax River, mainland on right (west)

Daytona Beach, Florida
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     3.1     68 47     2.7     71 50     3.8     75 54     2.5     79 59     3.3     85 65     5.7     88 71     5.2     90 73     6.1     90 73     6.6     87 72     4.5     82 66     3     76 57     2.7     70 51 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     80     20 9     70     22 10     98     24 12     65     26 15     83     29 19     145     31 22     131     32 23     155     32 23     168     31 22     114     28 19     77     24 14     69     21 10 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm

Daytona Beach is located at 29°12′N 81°2′W (29.2073, −81.0379). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 64.93 sq mi (168 km²). of which 58.68 sq mi (152 km²) is land and 6.25 sq mi (16 km²) is water. Water is 9.6% of the total area.

The city of Daytona Beach is split in two by the Halifax River lagoon, part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and sits on the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered on the north by Holly Hill and Ormond Beach and on the south by Daytona Beach Shores, South Daytona and Port Orange.

Climate

Daytona Beach has a humid subtropical climate or Cfa – typical of the Gulf and South Atlantic states. As is typical of much of Florida, there are two seasons in Daytona Beach, the hot and wet season (late May through October) and the warm and dry season (November through April).

In the hot season (summer) average daytime highs are in the 80s and low 90s (26 to 33 °C) and average night-time lows are near 70 °F (21 °C) in Daytona Beach. The Bermuda High pumps hot and unstable tropical air from the Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico, resulting in daily, but brief thundershowers. A large amount of the yearly rainfall in Daytona Beach falls during this time of year. Fall and spring are considered near perfect weather-wise, warm and sunny, with daily highs in the 75 to 80 F (21 to 24 °C) range and overnight lows in the 50s to low 60s (10 to 17 °C).

In the warm and dry season (winter), Daytona Beach has mostly mild and sunny weather typical of cities on the Florida peninsula. The coolest months are from December through February; average daytime highs range from 65 to 70 °F (18 to 21 °C) and nighttime lows are near 50 F (10 °C). Occasional cold fronts often drop the daytime temperatures into the 50s F with nights in the 30s F a few times each month. Like much of Florida, Daytona Beach often can be very dry in late winter and early spring, and brush fires and water restrictions can be an issue. Daytona Beach averages only 6 frosts per year according to the National Weather Service office in Melbourne. There is no record of snow on the ground in Daytona Beach in the last 109 years; however, snow flurries have been observed twice since 1880 – on January 1, 1977 and in January 2010.

Climate data for Daytona Beach, Florida (Daytona Beach Int'l), 1981–2010 normals
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	92 (33)	89 (32)	92 (33)	96 (36)	100 (38)	102 (39)	102 (39)	101 (38)	99 (37)	95 (35)	90 (32)	88 (31)	102 (39)
Average high °F (°C)	68.4 (20.2)	70.7 (21.5)	74.5 (23.6)	79.2 (26.2)	84.7 (29.3)	88.4 (31.3)	90.2 (32.3)	89.6 (32)	86.9 (30.5)	82.0 (27.8)	76.0 (24.4)	70.4 (21.3)	80.1 (26.7)
Daily mean °F (°C)	57.9 (14.4)	60.4 (15.8)	64.3 (17.9)	68.9 (20.5)	75.0 (23.9)	79.9 (26.6)	81.6 (27.6)	81.5 (27.5)	79.5 (26.4)	74.0 (23.3)	66.6 (19.2)	60.5 (15.8)	70.8 (21.6)
Average low °F (°C)	47.3 (8.5)	50.1 (10.1)	54.2 (12.3)	58.6 (14.8)	65.4 (18.6)	71.4 (21.9)	73.0 (22.8)	73.4 (23)	72.2 (22.3)	65.9 (18.8)	57.3 (14.1)	50.5 (10.3)	61.6 (16.5)
Record low °F (°C)	15 (−9)	24 (−4)	26 (−3)	32 (0)	40 (4)	52 (11)	60 (16)	63 (17)	52 (11)	39 (4)	25 (−4)	19 (−7)	15 (−9)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	2.74 (69.6)	2.77 (70.4)	4.24 (107.7)	2.18 (55.4)	3.13 (79.5)	5.83 (148.1)	5.83 (148.1)	6.40 (162.6)	6.96 (176.8)	4.50 (114.3)	2.68 (68.1)	2.63 (66.8)	49.9 (1,267.5)
Source: NOAA

Hurricanes and tornadoes

Hurricane Charley, Crossed Florida and left land near Daytona Beach on August 13, 2004.

Typically tropical cyclones pass offshore once they reach the northern portion of the Atlantic coast of Florida. As such, the hurricane risk for Daytona Beach is significantly lower than areas of southern Florida like Miami and Key West. The 2004 hurricane season was by far the most active in the Daytona Beach area in the last 50 years. However, since 1950 there has only been one direct hit by a tropical cyclone to the Daytona Beach area, Hurricane Donna in 1960.

Although Daytona Beach has a significantly lesser tornado risk than areas like the Great Plains and Midwest, there have been a few deadly and destructive tornadoes in the last 100 years in Daytona Beach area. Most recently, on February 22, 1998 a tornado killed 3 people, injured 70 people, and caused $31 million in damages.

Rogue wave

On July 3, 1992, a 28-mile (45 km) long rogue wave hit the Volusia County beaches. The wave's range was from Ormond Beach in the north, to New Smyrna Beach on the south. The crest was 9 feet (2.7 m) high and centered at Daytona Beach. Sailboats crashed ashore onto cars and many people suffered cuts and bruises from glass and debris. Two people required hospitalization and 200 vehicles were damaged. 75 injuries were reported. The prevailing theory is that an underwater landslide caused the rogue wave, although others have theorized that it was the result of a squall line.

Law and government

Local government

Under Daytona Beach's commission-manager form of government, voters elect a City commission which consists of seven members who serve four-year, staggered terms. Six are elected by district, the Mayor is elected city-wide.

The City Commission establishes ordinances and policies for the city. It also reviews and approves the city budget annually. The Commission appoints a City Manager, who carries out the will of the Commission and handles day-to-day business.

Law enforcement

Main article: Daytona Beach Police Department

Law enforcement in Daytona Beach is provided by the 241-member Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) headed by police chief Mike Chitwood. In a unique and controversial program to help fund the Police Explorer program, run by a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts of America, T-shirts with the words Scumbag Eradication Team: Not in Our Town are sold at the police headquarters.

The T-shirts contain a caricature of Chief Chitwood standing next to a toilet bowl with the legs of multiple individuals sticking out. The T-shirt has been cited in at least one lawsuit against the DBPD alleging police brutality, the lawyer in the case in which the client sustained broken ribs and a fractured eye socket during an arrest for an open container of beer, claims the T-shirt shows the DBPD condones violence.

The Volusia County Sheriff's department, headed by Ben E. Johnson is a countywide law enforcement agency with 446 sworn positions, 438 civilian employees, 300 volunteers and an annual operating budget of $73 million that has jurisdiction in unincorporated areas of Volusia County and provides additional law enforcement support to Daytona Beach during such events as the Daytona 500 and aids in joint investigations of certain crimes.

The Volusia County Beach Patrol provides law enforcement as well as EMT services along Volusia County beaches including the beaches in the city of Daytona Beach.

Eminent domain case

The city of Daytona Beach made national headlines when it designated the several mile radius around Main Street on the barrier island portion of the city as a blighted area and has targeted it for redevelopment by private developers. This follows the Supreme Court decision of the eminent domain case in Kelo v. City of New London, which upheld the right of municipalities the right to use eminent domain to take private property for redevelopment by private entities.

Federal, state, and county representation

The United States Postal Service operates a post office at 500 Bill France Boulevard in Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach is part of Florida's 6th congressional district. It is part of Florida's 25th and 26th State House of Representatives Districts and the 6th and 8th State Senate Districts.

Florida's 6th congressional district, which extends from the southern Jacksonville suburbs to New Smyrna Beach and includes St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, is currently represented by Republican Ron DeSantis.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1910	331		—
1920	825		149.2%
1930	16,598		1,911.9%
1940	22,584		36.1%
1950	30,167		33.6%
1960	37,395		24.0%
1970	45,327		21.2%
1980	54,176		19.5%
1990	61,921		14.3%
2000	64,112		3.5%
2010	61,005		−4.8%
Est. 2014	63,011		3.3%
U.S. Decennial Census

Daytona Beach Demographics
2010 U.S. Census	Daytona Beach	Volusia County	Florida
Total population	61,005	494,593	18,801,310
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010	−4.8%	+11.6%	+17.6%
Population density	1,044.4/sq mi	449.2/sq mi	350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	57.8%	82.5%	75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)	54.4%	75.4%	57.9%
Black or African-American	35.4%	10.5%	16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	6.2%	11.2%	22.5%
Asian	2.3%	1.5%	2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial)	2.3%	2.1%	2.5%
An Other Race	1.8%	3.0%	3.6%

As of 2010, there were 33,920 households out of which 19.5% were vacant. As of 2000, 18.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.1% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.6% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.77.

In 2000, the city the population was spread out with 17.6% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $25,439, and the median income for a family was $33,514. Males had a median income of $25,705 versus $20,261 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,530. 23.6% of the population and 16.9% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.9% of those under the age of 18 and 12.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Languages

As of 2000, English spoken as a first language accounted for 90.37% of all residents, while 9.62% spoke other languages as their mother tongue. The most significant were Spanish speakers who made up 4.01% of the population, while French came up as the third most spoken language, which made up 0.90%, and German was at fourth, at 0.86%, as well as, Arabic with 0.66% of the population.

Culture

Museum of Arts and Sciences

The Museum of Arts and Sciences is the primary cultural facility for Daytona Beach and Volusia County. Other museums located in the city include the Southeast Museum of Photography and the Halifax Historical Museum. The Museum of Arts and Sciences is actually a collection of museums and galleries and includes the Klancke Environmental Complex, the Cuban Museum, Root Family Museum featuring one of the largest Coca-Cola collections in the world, the Dow American Gallery and the Bouchelle Center for Decorative Arts which together form what is probably one of the finest collections of furniture and decorative arts in the Southeast. There are also changing exhibitions and a children's science center opened in 2008. Since 1952, the non-profit Daytona Beach Symphony Society has sponsored performances by U.S. and international orchestras, opera and dance companies each season at the Peabody Auditorium.

Sports

Practice laps for Daytona 500 (2004)

Daytona Beach Golf Course, South Course

Daytona Beach is home to the headquarters of NASCAR, IMSA, International Speedway Corporation, United States Tennis Association in Florida, and the LPGA.

Baseball

In addition to motorsports, Daytona is also the home of the Daytona Tortugas, a minor league baseball team of the Florida State League who play at Jackie Robinson Ballpark; it was established in 1993 and currently has 6 championships.

Golf

There are a number of golf courses in Daytona Beach.

• Club at Pelican Bay: Two courses, North and South Courses
• Daytona Beach Golf Course: Two courses, North and South Courses designed in 1922.
• Indigo Lakes Golf Club
• LPGA International: The headquarters of the LPGA are located in Daytona Beach. The golf club offers two 18-hole courses, Hills and Jones (originally Legends and Champions). The golf facilities are owned by the City of Daytona Beach and operated under agreement with the LPGA.

Special events

The city attracts over 8,000,000 tourists each year. Special events that draw visitors to Daytona Beach include:

• Speedweeks (Daytona 500 NASCAR race, Rolex 24 sports car race, and others)
• Coke Zero 400, NASCAR race on the first Saturday of July (Traditionally called the Pepsi 400 or Firecracker 400)
• Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 motorcycle races, bike shows and biker reunion in March
• Biketoberfest in October
• Turkey Run car show and events during Thanksgiving weekend (Traditionally called the Turkey Rod Run)
• Spring break (date varies, usually the first and second week of March)

During motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area. The city is also often associated with spring break, though the efforts of the local government to discourage rowdiness, combined with the rise of other spring break destinations, have affected Daytona's preeminence as a spring break destination. It is the destination of Dayton 2 Daytona, an annual event that draws over 3,000 University of Dayton college students since 1977.

Media

Newspapers

• The Daytona Beach News-Journal – Daily newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach Area.
• Hometown News – Weekly newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach Area.
• Orlando Sentinel – Newspaper and news site based in Orlando with a bureau covering Daytona Beach and Volusia County.
• The Avion Newspaper – Student college publication of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.
• The Daytona Times – Black newspaper covering Daytona Beach
• HeadlineSurfer.com – Internet-only newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach-Orlando Area.

Radio

AM

• WNDB, 1150 AM, Daytona Beach, News/Talk/Sports
• WROD, 1340 AM, Daytona Beach, Oldies
• WMFJ, 1450 AM, Daytona Beach, Religious
• WPUL, 1590 AM, Daytona Beach, Adult Contemporary/Newstalk

FM

• WHOG, 95.7 FM, Daytona Beach, Classic rock, "The HOG".
• WJLU, 89.7 FM, Daytona Beach, Religious
• WCFB, 94.5 FM, Daytona Beach, Urban Adult Contemporary
• WJHM, 101.9 FM, Daytona Beach, Mainstream Urban "102 JAMZ"
• WIKD-LP, 102.5 FM, Daytona Beach, Campus Radio of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University "The WIKD (Wicked) 102.5"
• WVYB, 103.3 FM, Daytona Beach & Holly Hill, Top 40 "1033 The Vyb"

Television

• WESH, Channel 2, digital channel 11, NBC
• WDSC-TV, analog channel 15, digital channel 33, PBS
• Central Florida News 13, Bright House Networks cable channel 13

Economy

Daytona Beach

A major part of the Daytona Beach area economy is involved in the tourist industry. Over 8 million visitors came to the Daytona Beach area in 2004.

The area's economy includes other industries besides tourism, such as manufacturing. Daytona Beach has industrial sites within an enterprise zone and sites within a foreign trade zone adjacent to Daytona Beach International Airport. Prime Interstate 4 and Interstate 95 sites are available with access to road, air, rail and water transportation.

Companies and organizations that have their corporate headquarters or a major presence in the area:

• Brown & Brown
• Halifax Health
• Halifax Media Group
• International Speedway Corporation
• Gambro-Renal Products
• Ladies Professional Golf Association
• NASCAR

Shopping

• Volusia Mall, 1700 West International Speedway Blvd. The largest shopping mall in Daytona Beach. Anchored by Sears, J. C. Penney, Macy's, and Dillard's.
• Ocean Walk Shoppes, 250 North Atlantic Ave. Open-air shopping center, located in the heart of the beach area.

Education

Primary and secondary schooling

Public primary and secondary education is handled by Volusia County Schools. Daytona Beach has two public traditional high schools, two middle schools and six elementary schools. Some of the larger private schools include Father Lopez Catholic High School.

Elementary Schools

• Ortona Elementary
• Champion Elementary
• Palm Terrace Elementary
• R.J. Longstreet Elementary
• Turie T. Small Elementary
• Westside Elementary

Middle Schools

• David C. Hinson Middle
• Campbell Middle

High Schools

• Seabreeze High
• Mainland High

Colleges and universities

The life-sized Wright Flyer statue is located at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

• Bethune–Cookman University
• Daytona State College
• Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University
• University of Central Florida, Daytona Beach Campus

Vocational schools

• The Airline Academy – Offers flight training for pilots and other airline professionals.
• Keiser College
• Phoenix East Aviation – Offers flight training for pilots.
• WyoTech (formerly AMI) motorcycle repair, and marine repair training.

Infrastructure

Health systems

Healthcare in Daytona Beach is dominated by Halifax Health (formerly known as Halifax Hospital). The Halifax Hospital Taxing District was established in 1927 by an Act of the Florida Legislature as a public hospital district. There are dozens of individual practitioners and Professional Associations (PA) in the Daytona Beach area.

Utilities

Basic utilities in Daytona Beach (water and sewer) are provided by the City Government.

• Florida Power & Light is Daytona Beach's local electric power provider.
• TECO/People's Gas is Daytona Beach's natural gas provider. [1]
• Bright House Networks is Daytona Beach's local cable provider.
• AT&T Inc. (formerly BellSouth) is Daytona Beach's local phone provider.

The city has a successful recycling program with separate pickups for garbage, yard waste and recycling. Collection is provided by several private companies under contract to Volusia County, Florida.

Transportation

Airports

Aerial view of Daytona Beach International Airport.

Passenger airline services are located at Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), which is centrally located within the city adjacent to Daytona International Speedway. The site was first used as an airport with terminals being constructed in 1952 and 1958. The present facility was constructed in 1992 at the cost of $46 million, and includes both a domestic terminal and an International terminal. Despite the new facilities, DAB has found difficulty in attracting and retaining carriers; Continental Airlines, AirTran Airways, and United Airlines discontinued flights to Daytona in 2007 and 2008. LTU & American Airlines also serviced Daytona Beach during the 1980s and 1990s, both of which ended all flights in 1994 & 1997.

Current passenger airlines serving DAB include Delta Air Lines (with nonstop service to Atlanta) and US Airways (with non-stop service to Charlotte). Both carriers offer connecting service from those cities to destinations worldwide. International flights from DAB fly to destinations in the Bahamas through air taxi and charter services Airgate Aviation and IslandPass; non-stop flights are available from DAB to Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay, and North Eleuthera. DAB is also heavily used for general aviation, largely due to Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, whose campus is located at the airport.

Larger airports nearby are Orlando International Airport and Jacksonville International Airport, both of which are approximately one and one half hours away.

Buses

The Volusia County Parking Garage in Daytona Beach provides a place for visitors to park and walk around.

• Daytona Beach is served by Greyhound Bus Lines, which has a terminal located at 138 South Ridgewood Avenue (US 1). The Greyhound routes from Daytona Beach connect with hubs in Jacksonville and Orlando.
• VoTran is the local bus service provided by Volusia County.
• D.O.T.S.(Daytona Orlando Transit Services LLC) has daily shuttles to and from the Orlando International Airport (MCO) every 90 minutes. D.O.T.S. has operated in the area since the early 1980s and is the only locally owned and operated private shuttle to and from the Orlando International Airport.

Automobiles

Daytona Beach is easily accessible by I-95 that runs North and South and I-4 connecting Daytona Beach with Orlando and Tampa. U.S. 1 (Ridgewood Avenue) also passes through Daytona Beach. A1A is a scenic North/South route along the beach.

The Volusia County Parking Garage is located at 701 Earl Street at North Atlantic Avenue (A1A). The garage is strategically located, next to the Ocean Center, Daytona Lagoon, and across the street from the Hilton Hotel and Ocean Walk Shoppes. Over one thousand parking spaces are available inside the garage, which also houses an intermodal transfer station for VoTran.

Bridges

There are four bridges over the Halifax River (and Intracoastal Waterway) at Daytona Beach. They include (starting from furthest downstream) the Veterans Memorial Bridge (which carries CR 4050 traffic), the Broadway Bridge (which carries US 92 traffic), the Main Street Bridge (which carries CR 4040 traffic), and the Seabreeze Bridge (which carries SR 430 traffic). All four bridges charge no toll to traffic.

• 

  Veterans Memorial Bridge

• 

  Broadway Bridge

• 

  Main Street Bridge

• 

  Seabreeze Bridge

Rail

Passenger railroad service to Daytona Beach was established no later than 1889 by the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway, predecessor of the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC). Passenger trains continued calling at Daytona Beach till 1968, when the FEC terminated passenger operations system-wide.

Daytona Beach is served by Amtrak by way of a Thruway Motorcoach connection between the beachside and Amtrak's DeLand Station, 28 miles (45 km) to the west. There, the service connects northbound with train 92, the Silver Star, and train 98, the Silver Meteor. Southbound connections from Daytona Beach are limited to the Silver Meteor's southbound train 97. The DeLand – Daytona Beach service is Amtrak's only Florida Thruway Motorcoach route provided by a taxi-cab, rather than a bus.

Points of interest

National Historic Places

• The Abbey
• Mary McLeod Bethune Home
• Bethune-Cookman College Historic District
• Delos A. Blodgett House
• City Island
• City Island Ball Park
• Cypress Street Elementary School
• Daytona Beach Bandshell and Oceanfront Park Complex
• Daytona Beach Surfside Historic District
• Bartholomew J. Donnelly House
• El Pino Parque Historic District
• Amos Kling House
• S.H. Kress and Co. Building
• Merchants Bank Building
• Olds Hall
• Rogers House
• Seabreeze Historic District
• Seybold Baking Company Factory
• South Beach Street Historic District
• South Peninsula Historic District
• South Ridgewood Elementary School
• Southwest Daytona Beach Black Heritage District
• Tarragona Tower
• Howard Thurman House
• Tourist Church
• US Post Office
• White Hall
• S. Cornelia Young Memorial Library

Other points of interest

• Daytona 500 Experience
• Daytona International Speedway
• Daytona Beach Boardwalk
• Daytona Lagoon Water Park
• Halifax Historical Museum
• Jackie Robinson Ballpark
• Main Street Pier
• Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center and Visual Arts Gallery
• Museum of Arts and Sciences
• News Journal Center
• Southeast Museum of Photography
• The Ocean Center
• List of Registered Historic Buildings in Daytona Beach, Florida

Tarragona Arch

Daytona Beach "beachside", looking east toward Atlantic Ocean from the Seabreeze Bridge

In popular culture

Novels set in Daytona Beach include:

• Day Number 142 (1974) by Edgar A. Anderson
• Last Cruise of the Nightwatch (1956) by Howard Broomfield
• Kick of the Wheel (1957) by Stewart Sterling

There have been a number of movies based on Daytona Beach, usually with a racing theme. The most recent example was the 1990 hit Days of Thunder, parts of which were filmed in Daytona Beach and nearby DeLand. Chris Rea wrote the song "Daytona" which was in his 1989 album The Road to Hell. Suzi Quatro's song "Daytona Demon" is often believed to refer to the city. Also, about half of the video for the song "Steal My Sunshine" by Len was filmed at Daytona Beach.

Daytona Beach was also the destination of a group of plagued teenagers in the movie Final Destination 2.

Daytona Beach was also one of the settings in the 2008 film Marley & Me.

Notable people

• Dan Allen, comedian
• Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, musicians
• Fulgencio Batista, 19th President of Cuba
• Pete Carr, musician
• Vince Carter, basketball player
• Ed Charles, former Major League Baseball player
• Bill France, Sr., founder of NASCAR
• Lee H. Hamilton former Indiana U.S. Congressman
• Danielle Harris, actress
• Zora Neale Hurston, writer, anthropologist
• Alex Kinsey, singer
• E. J. Kuale, professional football player
• Ryan Lochte, 2004 Olympic medalist in swimming
• Mark Martin, NASCAR driver
• Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights activist
• Walter M. Miller, Jr., author of A Canticle for Leibowitz
• Kevin Nash, professional WWE wrestler
• Ransom Eli Olds, automobile pioneer
• Josef Papp, engineer
• Kitty Pryde, rapper
• Glen "Fireball" Roberts, NASCAR driver
• Jackie Robinson, professional baseball player
• Bob Ross, artist and television host
• Galen Seaman, lawyer, Wisconsin State Assemblyman, and mayor of Daytona Beach
• David Sholtz, 26th governor of Florida
• Mike Skinner, NASCAR driver
• Howard Thurman, author and theologian
• Eric Weems, professional football player
• T. K. Wetherell, president of Florida State University
• Robert Wright, musical theater writer
• Aileen Wuornos, serial killer executed in 2002
• Smokey Yunick, mechanic and motor racing innovator

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Volusia County, Florida

References

Sources

• Kettlewell, Mike. "Daytona", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles, Volume 10, pp. 501–503. London: Orbis, 1974.
• Northey, Tom, "Land-speed record: The Fastest Men on Earth", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles, Volume 10, pp. 1161–1166. London: Orbis, 1974.

External links

• City of Daytona Beach
• Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce
• Daytona Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau