Historic Bonita Springs café to be moved downtown

Southwest Florida residents are sorry to see an old building go, but are happy that it will be salvaged and moved to a new location.

Alan Glazier moved to Bonita Springs when he was six years old, and has been here for 59 years. But he still remembers where he got his first root beer.

“Whistlestop, Dixie Moon, Good Bread Grocery Store.”‘

All names for businesses that were once under the same roof. But it’s been years since any sodas have been served.

Now that building is being relocated to downtown Bonita.

The property that the building sits on now will be redeveloped to include apartment buildings.

But by moving the former Dixie Moon Café to where there are sidewalks and other businesses, they hope to make it more accessible.

“Now it’s going to be right in the center where everything is happening and history is going to be told and preserved,” said John Paeno who is President of the Bonita Springs Downtown Alliance.

The process of moving a historic building takes awhile. From 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Thursday, crews will shut down parts of Dean Street, Old 41, Felts Avenue and Wilson Street to get the job done.

“We want to save what we can at the old stuff so that we can have some historic Bonita.”

For Alan Glezier, it’s worth the effort to keep the memories of historic Bonita Springs alive for future generations.