More Memories...

You grew up in Miami if you remember?

Land crabs in your front yard
The Eagles concert at the Miami Baseball Stadium
Western Sunset Bowl
Don Carter's was the ONLY thing on 137th & Kendall
When you could get a bucket of shrimp at Kentucky Fried Chicken
Miami??See it like a Native When there was a canal down the center
of
Miller Road �The Dungeon� on Saturday morning T.V.
Bowl - O - Mat on US1
St. Timothy's annual carnival
The water tower in South Miami Heights
When Quail Roost Drive was nothing but avocado groves
Big Daddy's Lounge on US1 and Coral Reef Drive
When there wasn't a turnpike - we drove on it before it was opened
When Black Point was the old shack store and
there was nothing but shrimp boats there
A&W Drive-In - served birch beer and the waitresses came out on
roller skates
The air raid sirens in South Miami
Polar Palace on 36th Street
The old skinny rickety bridges to Key West
Mike's Drug Store in the South Miami Heights shopping center
Eureka Park's little orange pumpkin
Six year olds being able to walk to school on your own (I did - 5
blocks)
Gen & Wren's (it's the Shack now)
Hurricane Donna
The dump at the end of Eureka on Old Cutler Road
W. T. Grants and Grant City (where the Best Buy is now on US1 &
Marlin)
Hey, Culligan Man
The waterslide in Florida City
Zayres on US1 in â??Pinecrestâ? where the Home Depot is now
When Pinecrest was Sunniland
The Tigertail Lounge in the Grove - love that Bobby Dykes
When there was a Winn Dixie where Cocowalk is now
When Flannigans was the Loggerhead and it had
pool tables and didn't serve food
Royal Castle on US1 and Carribbean OR Galloway and Sunset?
When you didn't have to pay to launch your boat at Matheson
Hammock
Jai Lai on US1 behind the Bowl - O - Mat
Dixie Drive-In where the big Publix is now on US1
Neisner's in the old Cutler Ridge strip mall
had a picture booth, pay a quarter and get 4 pictures on a little
strip
Mr. & Mrs. Burr owned everything on the west
side of Burr Road and Mr. Mixon owned everything on the east side
Camp Choee on Colonial and 117th
Camp Mahachee by Matheson Hammock park
When there was no Mt. Trashmore
Beefsteak Charlie's on US1 across from Bowl - O - Mat
You could find shells in the water at Matheson Hammock wading beach
Ford Fairlane 500
Gooney golf at the Colonial Palms Course on US1 & 136th St
Patty Murray on WGTR
The Dupont Plaza Hotel on the Miami River
Monroe Station
My Mom & Dad met at Jimmy's Hurricane
Coral Gables was "the" high school
South Dade was the Rebels
24 Hours of Smugglers Blues
The bowling alley at the end of Cutler Ridge strip mall (where Sears
is now)
The little walk-in movie theater in the back of Cutler Ridge's
strip mall
Richard's Dept Store was the anchor at the Cutler Ridge
strip mall
Private camps in the everglades
Pole beans on Kendall Drive
The Coconut Grove Arts Festival was free and you
could actually buy something there
The Trail Theater on Douglas/8th St
Pizza Patio on Bird Road with its roller skating
waitresses and car-side service (remember the
metal trays that clamped on the side of carâ??s
window opening - windows that you cranked down);
The Huddle House (at the corner of SW 8th street
and 76th before 826 cut off the only way to turn down 76th,
The Coral Way Drive-In that was down the street
from the football stadium local high schools
played their games in (the area of Coral Way between 74th and 70th);
Concord Shopping Center and Movie Theater;
Food Fair, Quick Check, and Super-X;
The Sword and Marlin Club;
Anthony Abraham's home along with the
neighbors on either side of him in the Gables
putting up the most amazing Christmas decorations
When Kendall Drive was â??the road to nowhereâ?
Colonial Palms Golf Course on US 1 and SW 136th St
When I-95 didn't reach here
When Miami's Best Pizza was the original Little
Caesars
The Five & Dime Store at Coral Way and 27th Ave
When Les Violins was a hot spot
When the people on South Beach were older than the buildings
WCIX - Channel 6 - be a part of it all
Big Wilson
The original Holsom Bakery Christmas display in
South Miami - it always smelled so good there
Peter Frampton and Elvin Bishop at the Miami Baseball Stadium
Howard Schnellenberger was â??kingâ?
The Austrailian Pines that lined the trail on the way to Miccosoukee
The zoo at Crandon Park had kiddy rides there too
Larry Csonka and Jim Kick
Zayres, Diskay, Woolworth, and Woolco in
Westchester and what was then Midway Mall;
WFUN and WQAM were "the" stations to listen
to if your car only had an AM radio - If you
were lucky enough to have FM, you listened to Y-100;
Burger Castle in Westchester and Lums were the
places to go with your friends after school and football games;
Mr. Donut had the BEST doughnuts and eclairs;
Sambo's (in the Gables across form Sears),
Sweden House (on Dixie Highway), and The Flame (also on Dixie);
When Tamiami Park was Tamiami Airport and there
were cow pastures across the street from it;
The animated, talking cow in Dressels Dairy's
ice cream parlor along with Toby the Robot on Skipper Chuck.
The Serpentarium
The Copacabana Supper Club
James McDuffie and Neville Johnson
Johnnie Jones and gold plumbing
Boston Blacky
Pizza of UM
Lou Saban
Murf the Surf
K-102, I-95, and the original Zeta 4
Arthur Godfrey
A time when Frank Forte and Don Noe weren't on channel 10
Molly Turner and Alec Gibson
Arthur Godfrey Show from Miami Beach
When trains ran parallel to U.S. 1 (at ground level)
The roller skating rink at South Dixie and SW 27th Ave.
When the 836 toll was 10 cents
The Miami Marlins and the Ft. Lauderdale Yankees
When FIU was a "senior college" and the
school's nickname was the Sun Blazers?
The Miami Daily News
Miami Rowing Club
The Seminole Indian Village on NW 27th Ave. and 21st. near the Miami
River
K-land on Kendall Drive
The Ft. Lauderdale Strikers
Flipper in the open end-zone at the Orange Bowl
When Crown Liquors got shot up
Cocaine Cowboys
Tent City
Packer Pontiac
Hurricane David and that masking tape that's still on all your
windows
Grand Union
When the Norway was the largest cruise ship in the world
When the Rusty Pelican burned down ? again and again
Miami Dade Junior College
The Coffee House on Douglas Rd
The Lemon Twist
The Monk's Inn
The French Connection (restaurant)
Monty Trainer's Village Inn
Jordan Marsh
Peaches Records and Tapes
The Coca Cola Bottling company in the grove
Super Skating Centers and Tropical Skating Center
Air Florida and Eastern Airlines
Glen Rinker & Ralph Renick
Gator Kicks on Tamiami Trail
When there was a grocery store in Dadeland Mall
The Mariel Boatlift
When Ana Azcuy married Kid Curry
Heiny Wine "The wine that made Medley, Medley"
When the 94th Aero Squadron had good food
The Tropicaire Drive in Theater
When there was a Burdines at the Mayfair mall
Centrust
When SunTrust was Sun Bank
The Dadeland Twin Theater, The Riviera Theater, and Plitt Gables
Theater
The Coral Theater, The Gables Theater, The Coconut Grove PlayHouse
Gordons Docks
The Collusium Opera House 1928; Boxing -
Wrestling - Ice Skating - Roller Skating Rink (Bowling Center in the
60'??s)
Indy car races at Tamiami Park
The Hialeah race track with demolition derbys
When Shorty's burned down
When the Rickenbacker was a drawbridge - and cost 25 cents
Biscayne Dog Track
Campus Life Haunted House
When the Youth Fair was at K-Land on Kendall Drive
When the Mark IV was the best ride at the youth fair
All the Dairy Farms; (Where Miami International Airport sits Today).
Uncle Gordon reads the Sunday Funnies on the
radio (at the Freedom Tower Bldg Formerly the Miami Daily News
Bldg).
The Skipper Chuck Show and the Sunday Funnies
Miami Marine Stadium and Hydroplane races
Hugo the whale
Velvet Creme
Planet Ocean
Monkey Jungle
Club OZ
Tom Thumbs in the Grove
When the Mall of the Americas was Midway Mall
Rory Sparrow
Black Caesar's Forge
Grant's Five and Dime - Downtown
Rick Shaw
WIOD
The Big Wheel
Pizza Palace
Ice Palace Ice Skating Rink on NW 36 St.
Key West was a long, lonely trip,, and the Key Lime Pie was
?real
The trips down to the Rod and Reel Club at Jew Fish Creek on Key
Largo
The Red Diamond Italian Restaurant
The El Bolero Restaurant
When La Carreta only had one location
Dressels Dairy for Ice Cream and Pony rides on a
Sunday afternoon on Milam Dairy Road;
Sealtest Icecream parlor near Jimmys Hurricane on Bird rd.
Luskin's High Fidelity
Lyles Pharmacy
Lindsley Lumber (how about Renuart Lumber??)
A.J. Duhe
Victoria and Abbey Hospitals
Malibu Grand Prix
Jackson-Byrons; JByrons; Jacksons
The rides on top of downtown Burdines each holiday season.
McCrory's Five and Dime - Downtown
Roland Your Hatter in the Seybold Bldg.
Bayfront Auditorium with the Saturday Dances
Bayfront Park
5th Street Fishing Pier and Charter Boats -
Downtown (where Bayside sits today)
FunLand Park on NW 27th ave.
Krome Ave. was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out in the sticks.
Seminole Indian huts out on Tamiami Trail that
did not have Parabolic antennas sticking out of the tops
Pan Am Seaplane Hangers (where real live
seaplanes took off many times a day) in the Grove on Bayshore
Mansene's Spaghetti House
The Studio Restaurant
The Yorkshire; The Hampshire
Leonard La Pena's Steak House
FIRE Station #1 across from the old Courthouse
The Old Miami train station just across the street from the police
dept.
Coral Gables Bus station
The Boys Club of Miami (before it became Co-Ed)
A & W birch beer joints
Royal Castle burger joints
The tennis courts at Coconut Grove park next to the basketball court
Florida Pharmacy in the Grove
The Light House on Key Biscayne was â??Red Brickâ?
Elliot Key - A simple picnic place w/ NO Seawall.
Fair Isle was just that,, an island
P. B. A. park on N. W. 14 St.
Miami Senior High before air conditioning
Biscayne Cafeteria in the Gables
M and M cafeteria on SW 27 Ave and 8 St
WQAM
King Arthur's Court off 36 Street
Big Daddy's
Midnight Drag Races on Kendalll Drive waaaaay out there towards
Krome Ave.
Allen's Drug Store at Red and Bird (still there!)
WINZ Radio
Miracle Theater in the Gables
Tropicaire Drive-In Theater
Bird Bowl
The original Scotty's Grocery in the Grove
where tomatoes and artichokes were the size of your hand;
When Westchester was out in the country...way outside of
Miami...
When there was NO FIU;
When Miami Coral Park Senior High School was predominantly Jewish;
When the UM Football Team were 0-10...always....
and their games in the Orange Bowl were played to empty stands;
Miles of strawberry fields on Kendall Drive after you passed 107th
Avenue;
No Town & Country Mall on Kendall Drive;
No "West Kendall" at all;
The Miami Police Station across the street from
the old courthouse in down town Miami,, close to Burdines
All the Banyan trees that lined South Dixie Hwy
The HAMLET bar on Main Hwy
The little drive-in place that sold whisky at South Dixie and 27th
Ave.
The Zoo at Crandon Park (and the park too)
Stiltsville was a seldom frequented place on the sand bars
Lejune drive in, where the Marriott is now.
Widow McCoy's in the Grove was the hotspot for live jazz;
The Grove Movie Theatre and the midnight
Rocky Horror shows every weekend;
All the funky shops on Grand Avenue before Cocowalk and Mayfair took
over;
When there was no traffic on the Palmetto
Expressway or there was NO Palmetto Expressway;
When the city of Sweetwater was just some
trailers and small farms and houses on the other side of the
canal?
and there was NO Fountainbleau development;
When there was NO Midway Mall, International Mall, or Dolphin Mall ;
Royal Ice Company on Douglas and US1
Great Value grocery store in Cutler Ridge, next to Dadâ??s Hardware
Breezeway Drive-In in Homestead
Shaw's Nursery on US1 and Killian Dr
Rhodes Brothers club on US1 & 136th
Luria's
Bird Bowl had a gas station
Tropical Park was a horse track
Police Athletic League dances at Bird Road and 72nd
When Coral Park High School was only 10th grade (1964)
We had channel 4 (CBS), 7 (NBC), 10 (ABC) and then 6 (WCIX)
Bird Bowl & the skating rink
Drink & Sink...all the skating & beer you can
drink for $5...do you know how hard it is to go
to the bathroom with skates on ??
The Playboy Clubs...disco dancing...the
"bunnies" had little cotton tails...
Orangeade, frozen pizzas & foot long hot dogs at Pizza Palace
FULL SERVICE AT GAS STATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL the woods we had to mud bog in
Taking the bus to shop in the Gables
All the worms on the sidewalks & in the hallways at school after a
big rain
Tadpoles in the puddles
Camping at Browns Farm
The Circus Restaurant on Bird Road
The Brasserie by the airport
The 1800 Club
The pizza place on 103rd street that showed
Little Rascal videos...& had the BEST pizza too!
Skiing at the Airport Lakes
The Sportatorium in the middle of nowhere (West
Broward County) where national rock bands came to perform
When Miami Beach restaurants and bars closed at
11 PM and there was no South Beach scene;
Earl Cashmoreâ??s Shell Station on the corner of Eureka and Franjo
Sunniland Theater where the Oriental Rug place is now
Tom McCann shoe store in the old Cutler Ridge strip mall
Tony Segreto was the sportscaster on the local NBC station (channel
7)
Greg Budell came out as a drug addict to Rick Shaw on the air
The haunted Biltmore Hotel
Camping on the levy on Tamiami Trail in the Everglades
Orange Julius in the malls
The Yumbrella in South Miami
The old zoo & train rides at Crandon
Sorrento's Italian Restaurant
Jody's Little Store on the corner of Quail Roost and US 1
Grant's AND Neisner's were at Cutler Ridge SHOPPING CENTER
When Miami Dade Jr. College - SOUTH opened in
various locations: Suniland Theater, Palmetto
Sr. High at night, Tennis at Continental Park, Archery at K-land
The day Shortyâ??s burned down! Oh...how many times DID Shortyâ??s
burn?
Burger King walk up with screened in patio area to eat in.
What was the name of the theater across from
UM? and the Chinese restaurant in the Gables, and STEVENS market...
Was the ice cream parlor on Miracle Mile Jahnâ??s?
Jackie Gleason ("and away we go")
The Hasta Restaurant
Girl Scout meetings in the South Miami Library on Sunset
Dairy Freeze on Sunset
Crusin' at Hot Shops
Riviera theater in front of UM
The Blue's Image--rock on!
Carnival at Epiphany
Austin's Dive Shop on Dixie Hwy. (still there yet)
Diving in the "lakes" off Miller
The herd of black and white belted cattle at the Palmetto and 153rd.
Snowden's (need we say more?)
Submarine races on the shores of Miller lake.
Robert's Western Wear and feed and grain at Dixie and Sunset
Foster's Department Store on Sunset with the open back doors, where I
waved as the train went by.
Floor fans, ceiling fans, swatting flies and PeeWees on ice.
Selling Crispie Cremes on Saturdays door to door.
South Dade "Rebels" in Confederate uniforms
Plinking with .22's off west Sunset in the canal.
Seeing Santa at the downtown Burdine's
Riding the bus from So. Miami to Coral Gables and downtown
Having lunch on the seawall at Immaculata while watching Coast Guard
seaplane fly in and out
Pony rides
Aero Country Club
Brown's Field (prior to Aero CC)
Old Tamiami Airport (now FIU)
You could only get to the Cape Florida lighthouse by boat
The old Crandon Park Zoo and kiddy rides
Virginia Beach was for blacks
Dairy Queen had "white" and "black" water fountains.
Frankies Pizza
Open-air Dadeland
Suniland was THE shopping center (along with K-mart)
Miracle Mile--was

South Miami

Driving in to work this morning I started thinking about South Miami. Not the South Miami of today, but the one with the Holsum Bakery with it's Christmas display each year...the one with Robert's Western Wear and Connie Banko's Custom Bathing Suits. The first pair of Converse sneakers I bought came from Zip's on Sunset. They were so cool! Each panel of canvas was a different color. My friend, Eva, got the same pair. I wonder what ever happened to those hightops.....

Anyone remember when they first "redid" South Miami and put up "The Bakery Center"? What a bomb that was. I think I may have gone to it one time. Hated it. Not wild about Sunset Place now, but I can handle it. Seems like everything there is way overpriced. But I do love the movie theater!

Faded and Gone...

I found this neat link to old tourist attractions in Florida. Most were not in Miami, but anyone living in Florida since the mid-eighties will at least recognize a few of them.

http://www.lostparks.com/index.html

I remember going to Circus World, Masterpiece Gardens, Fred Bear Museum and the wax museum in Miami. At least Bass Pro Shops bought up Fred Bear's stuff to put on display in their stores.

Parrot Jungle

This is a picture of me and the grandson of the original owners of the Parrot Jungle.

I'm not the only one who remembers...

My friend Dave sent me an email:
"I remember the Red Road & Sunset 5 & 10 buying model airplane kits,
model monster kits. Sunset drug store that had a soda fountain and
grill. We also used to go fishing in Snapper Creek by the dam near the
old Parrot Jungle and buy candy & sodas @ the little Parrot Jungle gift
shop on Red Road.

This might be before your time but there was a Jeffersons Dept store
where K-mart is now on 104th & US 1 near the old Black Angus. I can
remember the old AM rock radio stations WQAM 560( Rick Shaw) and WFUN
940 and even calling the Fun Phone with Don Wright.

Channel 7 had a TV program called The Dungeon that starred Charlie
Baxter as M.T. Graves (Unibrow bucktooth fiend inmate with a hook) who
would host a B&W horror film each week. We kids loved the comical
situations he got himself into and the Warden would always howl like a
wolf to signal a commercial.

There were 4 Royal Castles, we would go to while growing up. One on
87th
Ave & Bird, One on Coral Way and 70 ave near the old Central Stadium,
one on US 1 and 27th ave, and one that was less than block from my
grandparents on SW 13th Street and South Miami Avenue. After eating a
couple of those little hamburgers with onions and drinking ice cold
mug
of birch beer, walking to Simpson Park with my Dad and playing hide &
seek! Those were great times.




Going to Lums and eating an Ollie
burger! There used to be a bowling alley in South Miami, and one near
132nd & US 1. and of course Western Sunset Bowl. Great Fun! I remember
the Drive ins- going in my older brother's '62 corvair on friday or
saturday nights and watching Elvis movies because his girlfriend loved
Elvis. Remember the old movie theaters that had only one screen and
they
actually had curtains that would close and open for each movie. Riviera
Theater, Miracle, Caribe, Sunset.
Do you remember the old Grove Cinema that would play off-beat &
foreign
movies and of course Rocky Horror Picture Show! Drinking red zinger
tea
a
nd eating butter popcorn!"

Old Airstrips

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/FL/Airfields_FL_Miami_N.htm

This is an link to some old airports/airstrips of the past.

When I was little, they used to have great airshows at Tamiami Airport, Homestead Airforce Base and even Opa Locka. Now all we have is the Air & Sea Show in Ft. Lauderdale. What the hell happened?

Correction!

A few posts ago I said that Kermit Week's air museum was gone. It's not! WooHoo!!! Now I have another place to go to once of these weekends :)

A couple more

Black Angus on US1 and 104th. I still have a glass from there :)

Dime stores. None in particular, just dime stores in general...or "5 and dimes".

South Beach??? It was always just Miami Beach to me growing up!

I remember when they built the 878 fly-over that goes from the Don Shula to US1. I rode my bike on it. That extension separated my neighborhood from the one next door. There used to be a horse and a guinea hen farm at the end of my street. We'd walk down there all the time when I was little. Then they buit the 878. No more horse. No more guinea hens.

Do you remember the time before cable? Every house had an antenna on the roof (I still do!). The channels down here were 2 (pbs), 4 (cbs), 6 (wcix-local), 7 (nbc) and 10 (abc).
Every weekend on channel 6 they showed "Creature Features"...sometimes "Creature Feature-Double Feature"...old horror movies in B&W. I loved them!

The McDuffie Riots?

Skipper Chuck!!! (I was on it once) I watched him every morning on channel 6 while I ate my cereal before school. Peace, Love and Happiness!

Royal Castles? (There still is one on 27th Ave., close to downtown. It even looks like it still has the original paint job)

I tend to group my memories into "BA" or "AA"...Before Andrew or After Andrew. I wonder if anyone else does that? I see pictures I took of Old Cutler and say "Hey, that was Before Andrew. Look at the trees". Or others, "That was After Andrew. There aren't any trees."

Tamiami Airport

Tamiami Airport used to be the end of the world. Boystown was right next door. Now it's called Camp Matecumbe and is owned by the Park & Rec Dept. Houses are built all around, warehouses and even a HUGE new Lexus dealership. It makes me sick. The agricultural fields are becoming fewer and fewer. Ugly cookie cutter houses. YUCK!

That's why I love driving around Coral Gables and older neighborhoods. The houses are all different! No stupid "homeowners associations" either. Real yards, too. I don't understand why any sane person would want to move into one of these new subdivisions. I just don't get it.

I miss Kermit Week's museum that used to be at the airport. He had a Fokker triplane that I was so in love with! Andrew did a number on theplace, though. Now he has Fantasy of Flight in Polk City. It's very, very nice and I highly recommend seeing it.

I learned to drive at Tamiami. My son now practices at Tropical Park. Tropical used to be a racetrack. I can barely remember that. But I do. There was a drive-in across the street on Bird. I went there a couple times in high school. Drive-ins are so fun. Oh, but they stand in the way of progress, right? Tear 'em all down and put up another strip mall. God knows we don't have enough of those!

Key Biscayne

Remember Crandon Park Zoo? I used to beg my parents to take me there! Of course, the Seaquarium is still there. I used to know we were getting close when I'd see the shark in the cage as you approach the tollbooth. I think they changed it to dolphins or something now. Wusses...

My parents had friends who lived on Key Biscayne, and I remember to get to their house, we'd drive by Richard Nixon's place. It had a helipad out back...big white house. I've tried recently to find it again, but whoever owns it now must've done some major remodeling because I can't find it. When/if I do, I'll post the address here for anyone interested.

Further down from Crandon, at the end of the island, is Cape Florida. Hurricane Andrew did a number on that place! It used to be lined with big old Australian pines. Not native, but pretty, and the wind sounds cool blowing through their needles. They are all gone now, and though in it's more natural state, Cape Florida just isn't the same. Little shade, and very crowded! The lighthouse has been repainted back to it's original color - white. When I was growing up, it was natural red brick. You can still see what remains of Stiltsville when you look across the Bay...

What I'm remembering today

Today I thought about Gold Triangle and the Dadeland Twin movie theater on Kendall, across from the mall.

Gold Triangle was a cool store I used to love going to with my Dad. They had a big wooden "boat" in the middle that's where all the fishing stuff was. I used to climb up and pretend to steer the boat using this big wooden ship's wheel they had. I also remember buying my first Beatles album there...

The Dadeland Twin was right next to Gold Triangle. A big pink building with *gasp* only 2 screens! I remember standing in line for hours to see Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark there. Fun times. They tore down both buildings to put in a parking lot and a crappy CompUSA. If you look, there are still signs up in front of that parking lot that say "Theater Parking Only". Faded, but still there. I need to take a picture and post it here.

Of course, there are lots of other stores I remember that are no longer around: Richard's at Cutler Ridge Mall, Zayre's, Jefferson's, Grant's, Jackson Byrons (later JByrons, then just Byrons), Food Fair in South Miami, Grand Union, and now Eckerd's! And restaurants like Lums on Kendall and US1, Black Angus @ 104th and US1. The Hampshire Inn on Sunset.

Bowling Alleys are becoming a thing of the past in Miami. Western Sunset Bowl was a big hang out place for me and my friends. Don Carters on Kendall is now gone, recently torn down. The Bowl-O-Mat at the end of Galloway at US1. The only place left to bowl now is Bird Bowl and it is a crowded mess.

Anyone remember The Falls when it was first built? All the water and the restaurant built over the water? That place has changed alot, too. There used to be a gym there called Bogey's Barn that, for some reason, we took a field trip to at night when I was in high school.

Well, enough for now. I'll post more things as I remember them. Hope other find this site and add their posts, too!