Ocoee, Properly: Starke Lake, a Small Downtown and the Region’s Best Barbershop
A 225-acre lake in the middle of town, a two-block historic downtown in mid-renaissance, and the No. 1 barbershop in the region — Ocoee rewards the visitors who stop instead of driving through.
3 minute read
Most Orlando visitors never learn Ocoee’s name. Locals in West Orange County know better: this is the city that grew up on the shore of Starke Lake, kept its small historic downtown while the suburbs filled in around it, and now holds a distinction no larger neighbor can claim — the region’s No. 1 barbershop. Start with our Ocoee hub for the full picture, then use this guide to do the city the way residents do.
Begin at the lake
Everything in Ocoee orients to Starke Lake, a 225-acre natural lake that sits inside the city’s civic core rather than at its edge. City Hall, the Ocoee Lakeshore Center and Bill Breeze Park all stand on its western shore along North Lakeshore Drive, and the lakefront is where the city’s calendar lives: Food Truck Fridays and Movies in the Park on the third Friday of the month, the long-running Ocoee Music Festival, and a steady rotation of seasonal celebrations. On an ordinary evening, the park is simpler pleasures — a fishing dock, a boat ramp, a gazebo, the Veterans Memorial and a big open field that catches the sunset over the water.
Next door, Municipal Lakefront Park adds the working side of the waterfront: a boat launch, a fishing pier and picnic pavilions. Between the two parks, you can cover most of what Ocoee does for fun without starting a car.
The small downtown that is actually growing
Two blocks inland, Bluford Avenue and McKey Street form the historic downtown — compact, walkable and in the middle of a genuine renaissance. The anchor is Toll Road Brewing Company at 101 W. McKey Street, the city’s first craft brewery, opened in 2018, pouring around 20 beers on tap in a taproom and biergarten with rotating food trucks and live music. Around it, McKey Street has filled in with the kind of independents downtowns run on: The Ocoee Taco Company just around the corner on Taylor Street, Antojitos Loco’s — a family taco truck that earned a brick-and-mortar spot — and Wine O’Clock Bistro, the wine-bar evolution of the Bike Life Café concept.
On the lake side of downtown stands the Withers-Maguire House at 16 E. Oakland Avenue, built in 1888, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and now a city-owned house museum and event venue. Its upstairs rooms recreate early-1900s Ocoee life, and its wraparound porch may be the most photographed front step in West Orange County.
Eat on Maguire Road, shop on Colonial
Ocoee’s sit-down dining runs southwest along Maguire Road and Amazing Way. RusTeak Restaurant & Wine Bar at 1681 Amazing Way is the city’s flagship — a chef-driven New American gastropub with hand-cut steaks, a monthly-changing menu and a Wine Spectator-awarded wine list. Nearby, Daniel Gabor’s Alpine Bar & Grill at 1568 Maguire Road serves German-Alpine cooking — schnitzel, gulasch, strudel — in a hunting-lodge room that feels transplanted from another continent. For the full rundown, see where to eat in Ocoee right now.
The SR 50 corridor — West Colonial Drive — is the city’s commercial spine. West Oaks Mall, opened in 1996 at 9401 W. Colonial Drive, has reinvented itself over three decades: JCPenney and a Dillard’s Clearance Center remain, the AMC West Oaks 14 still draws moviegoers, and county services now fill former anchor space. It is less a fashion mall than a working town center, and Ocoee uses it accordingly.
The headline on Moore Road
Ocoee’s single entry in our rankings is a category winner. The Lion’s Lounge Barbershop at 340 Moore Road is ranked No. 1 in our Best Barbershops in Orlando program with a Net Score of 99.0 — the top barbershop in the region, full stop. Read its winner feature rather than taking our summary for it; the shop’s precision cuts, hot-towel shaves and membership model are profiled there in full.
Get outside, then get oriented
Beyond the lakefront, Ocoee’s outdoor inventory is unusually deep for its size: the 22-mile West Orange Trail threads through the north end of the city, the city-owned Forest Lake Golf Club offers an 18-hole championship course with no houses on it, Tom West Blueberries opens its fields for spring U-pick, and more than twenty city parks cover everything from the Ocoee Action Sports Park’s skate park and pump track to quiet Prairie Lake. Find the highlights pinned on the Orlando Top Spots Map, and pair this guide with our best things to do in Ocoee before you go.
Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons.
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