THE HEART AND HISTORY BEHIND THIS HOUSE
Behind La Casa Studios is a simple idea: great communities need places where people can come together. It's a belief that has long shaped Gary McGeddy's vision for what he is building in downtown St. Augustine.
A St. Augustine local, Gary is the founder and owner of La Casa Studios and 17 King American Bistro. Currently, he leads a national business with the same steady confidence that he now pours into St. Augustine. His two downtown businesses may be distinctly different, but they are connected by a larger vision: creating places that bring people together and contribute to the life of the community—an integrated hospitality ecosystem.
That vision is what led to La Casa Studios. Rather than creating a space built around a single purpose, Gary saw the opportunity for something more—a house where art, events, creativity, production, shopping and community could coexist under one roof. A place people might come to for one reason and leave having discovered another. For Gary, the businesses are about more than what happens inside their doors. He believes locally owned businesses have a responsibility to invest in the community around them and that gathering places play an important role in keeping a city vibrant.
That vision has also become a family endeavor. Gary's daughter, Madison, is building her own entrepreneurial path alongside him. Madison is the owner of Stay Sunny Boutique in downtown St. Augustine and Stay Sunny South, located within La Casa Studios. Her education and entrepreneurial experience bring a new generation of creativity, retail expertise and perspective to the house. Together, their story adds another dimension to La Casa Studios: a business rooted in community, built with intention and shaped not only by what it is today, but by what it can become.
"Great things happen when a community has places to come together. That's what we're building here." — Gary McGeddy
Mi Casa Su Casa
THE HISTORY
Long before La Casa Studios opened its doors, this house had already witnessed history. The building that is now home to La Casa Studios once housed a Woolworth's department store and its lunch counter. In July 1963, during St. Augustine's struggle for civil rights, young Black protesters challenged segregation at the Woolworth's lunch counter located here. Among those arrested were four teenagers—Audrey Nell Edwards, JoAnn Anderson, Willie Carl Singleton and Samuel White—who refused conditions for their release that would have required them to give up further demonstrations. They would spend approximately six months incarcerated in jail and reform schools and become known as the St. Augustine Four. Their courage drew national attention, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would later call them "my warriors."
That history remains part of this house. Today, reminders of the building's Woolworth's past remain visible at the entrance, where "Woolworth's Self Service" can still be seen on the door handles. Inside La Casa Studios, a replica of the Woolworth's lunch counter stands beneath a collection of historic photographs and a tribute to the St. Augustine Four. The counter is not the original; it is an intentional acknowledgment of the courage shown here and of a chapter of history that should not be forgotten.
