Miami's Often Forgotten High-Rise History [Archive]

Don Pacho

December 10th, 2005, 04:15 PM

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8722/fontainebleauunderconstruction.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Posted on Thu, Dec. 08, 2005

MIAMI BEACH

A look at the history of Miami Beach's famous hotels

BY DOUGLAS HANKS III

dhanks@herald.com

Carl Fisher helped transform Miami Beach from an isolated swamp to a thriving resort city. But he wasn't a big fan of the ocean.

When the industrialist scouted sites for his Flamingo Hotel, Fisher ruled out the island's ample beachfront. A yachtsman, Fisher saw the placid Biscayne Bay as the perfect venue for boat races, and for attracting the wealthy, refined traveler who liked to watch them.

And so Miami Beach's first huge hotel -- 11 stories tall, with a lighted dome that changed colors throughout the evening -- opened in 1920 not on prime oceanfront but on the western end of 15th Street.

Fisher's waterfront priorities give a taste of how much Miami Beach's hotel industry changed in the eight decades since the Flamingo's first guests shelled out their $15 for a night's stay. Veteran Miami journalist Howard Kleinberg charts the evolution in a new book, Woggles and Cheese Holes, The History of Miami Beach's Hotels.

Commissioned by the hotel industry's largest local trade group, the 124-page book recounts a familiar story of Miami Beach's building booms and lean times, and of developers taking big bets and sometimes coming up disastrously short.

The title comes from the Beach's most famous and controversial hotel designer: Morris Lapidus, the architect of such iconic resorts as Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc, and the Americana in Bal Harbour.

For the San Souci lobby, Lapidus wanted curving carpet shaped like a ''woggle'' and columns coming out of holes in the ceiling and floor like cheese holes.

Those kinds of flourishes charmed the traveling public but often won scorn from architectural elites. Frank Lloyd Wright once compared the Fontainebleau to an anthill, and San Francisco architect Robert Anshen called the Americana a ``monument to vulgarity.''

LAPIDUS' LEGACY

Today, many scholars view Lapidus, who died four years ago at age 98, as one of the most important architects associated with Miami Beach.

''The critics died,'' Kleinberg said in an interview Wednesday. ``He didn't.''

The Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association hired the former Miami News editor to write the book, a follow-up to an earlier history of Miami Beach itself. Proceeds will return to the association, which receives a $225,000 annual subsidy from Miami-Dade tourist taxes.

Stuart Blumberg, president of the association, said he championed the book's publication to commemorate his 50 years in Miami Beach's hotel industry. Blumberg worked as a bellhop at the Americana while a college student and went on to executive positions at the Hilton Plaza and the Fontainebleau before running the Beach's chamber of commerce and hotel association.

''I want to leave a legacy,'' Blumberg said.

Kleinberg writes approvingly of Blumberg for nearly two pages, but the book also notes Blumberg did not support early efforts at protecting the city's Art Deco architecture -- a style credited with helping spark South Beach's 1980s revival.

OTHER TIDBITS

Among the book's other tidbits:

• In the 1910s, hotel guests could open up two of Miami's daily papers and read about themselves. Both the Herald and the Metropolis printed lists of guests checking into Miami's Royal Palm, Halycon and Seminole hotels. But the first Miami Beach hotels weren't considered posh enough to merit similar coverage.

• Lapidus so despised Fontainebleau owner Ben Novack that the architect dropped the 'c' from Novack's name in both of his autobiographies. Novack and Lapidus both claimed credit for the Fontainebleau's distinctive curved exterior.

• Though a few hotels promoted themselves as open to ''Gentiles Only'' through the 1950s, Kleinberg said he could find no evidence that any hotel posted a ''No Jews, No Dogs'' sign. The slogan has been cited as Exhibit A of the lodging industry's anti-Semitic past.

• Before ''Art Deco'' took hold, the nautically inspired architecture that characterized Miami Beach hotels built during the 1930s was known as ''Zig Zag,'' ''Streamline,'' and ``Depression Moderne.''

• As recently as 1971, a critic dismissed Art Deco as resembling ''stranded ferry boats.'' Delano designer Philipe Starck caused a stir in the 1990s when he called South Beach's Art Deco district ``a pink fluorescent machine to pick money from tourists.''

• In 1968, Harry Singer ended his franchise agreement at the Hilton Plaza. He changed the name to the Hotel Plaza so he wouldn't have to throw out the china and towels bearing the HP monogram.

The book sells for $20 in hardback and $15 in paperback. For more information, call 305-531-3553.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13355027.htm

Pablo63090

December 23rd, 2005, 05:01 AM

Miami Skyline At Night, 1985

http://i.pbase.com/o2/69/503169/1/52353297.t17s048_DowntownMiamiNightFLJuly1985.jpg

Meepy

December 23rd, 2005, 05:31 AM

NICE FIND PABLO!!

MIAballinboi

December 23rd, 2005, 05:39 AM

nice one!

MIAballinboi

December 23rd, 2005, 05:43 AM

something cool
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/sharedMedia/SurroundedIslands/si2.jpg

Pablo63090

December 23rd, 2005, 08:09 PM

Christo's Surrounded Islands. It's sad that they were around for only a short while.

Meepy

December 23rd, 2005, 09:11 PM

Can anyone explain what that pink plastic around those island is?

archifreese

December 23rd, 2005, 09:52 PM

Can anyone explain what that pink plastic around those island is?
^ an installation from the artist Christo who just did the gates in central park ny. he does large scale art that often reflects on the nature of landscape (whether natural like miami's islands or artificial like central parks paths)
soon there is a project coming on the arkansas river. the miami and arkansas river projects receive a lot of controversy and opposition for their potential impact on their natural environment.
many like it many dont IMO hes okay it really depends. for more...
http://christojeanneclaude.net/si.html

Meepy

December 23rd, 2005, 10:08 PM

Ooo, thats pretty cool. Why did they remove it? :ohno:

rider_of_rohan

December 23rd, 2005, 10:30 PM

Oh man I remember that. I personaly thought the island thing was stupid. He was wraping everything in pink plastic back then.

Pablo63090

December 24th, 2005, 12:09 AM

Ooo, thats pretty cool. Why did they remove it? :ohno:

It lasted for a short while back in May 1983.

DGM

December 24th, 2005, 01:40 AM

Ooo, thats pretty cool. Why did they remove it? :ohno:

I know why I'd remove it. Sea grasses can't live without light. Without seagrasses you have no coral reefs, no pelagic fish (they are nurseries for large fish), and beaches erode.

Meepy

December 24th, 2005, 02:34 AM

Yea looks like it was a bad idea from the start... But with so many problems how did this project actually get accepted?

Pablo63090

December 24th, 2005, 02:45 AM

On May 7, 1983 the installation of Surrounded Islands was completed. In Biscayne Bay, between the city of Miami, North Miami, the Village of Miami Shores and Miami Beach, 11 of the islands situated in the area of Bakers Haulover Cut, Broad Causeway, 79th Street Causeway, Julia Tuttle Causeway, and Venetian Causeway were surrounded with 603,850 square meters (6.5 million square feet) of pink woven polypropylene fabric covering the surface of the water, floating and extending out 61 meters (200 feet) from each island into the Bay. The fabric was sewn into 79 patterns to follow the contours of the 11 islands.

For 2 weeks Surrounded Islands spreading over 11.3 kilometers (7 miles) was seen, approached and enjoyed by the public, from the causeways, the land, the water and the air. The luminous pink color of the shiny fabric was in harmony with the tropical vegetation of the uninhabited verdant island, the light of the Miami sky and the colors of the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay.

Since April 1981, attorneys Joseph Z. Fleming, Joseph W. Landers, marine biologist Dr. Anitra Thorhaug, ornithologists Dr. Oscar Owre and Meri Cummings, mammal expert Dr. Daniel Odell, marine engineer John Michel, 4 consulting engineers, and builder-contractor, Ted Dougherty of A & H Builders,Inc. had been working on the preparation of the Surrounded Islands. The marine and land crews picked up debris from the eleven islands, putting refuse in bags and carting it away after they had removed some forty tons of varied garbage: refrigerator doors, tires,kitchen sinks, mattresses and an abandoned boat.

Permits were obtained from the following governmental agencies: The Governor of Florida and the Cabinet; the Dade County Commission; the Department of Environmental Regulation; the City of Miami Commission; the City of North Miami; the Village of Miami Shores; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management.

From November 1982 until April 1983, 6,500,000 square feet of woven polypropylene fabric were sewn at the rented Hialeah factory, into 79 different patterns to follow the contours of the 11 islands. A flotation strip was sewn in each seam. At the Opa Locka Blimp Hangar, the sewn sections were accordion folded to ease the unfurling on the water.

The outer edge of the floating fabric was attached to a 30.5 centimeter (12 inch) diameter octagonal boom, in sections, of the same color as the fabric. The boom was connected to the radial anchor lines which extended from the anchors at the island to the 610 specially made anchors, spaced at 15.3 meter (50 foot) intervals, 76 meters (250 feet) beyond the perimeter of each island, driven into the limestone at the bottom of the Bay. Earth anchors were driven into the land, near the foot of the trees, to secure the inland edge of the fabric, covering the surface of the beach and disappearing under the vegetation.

The floating rafts of fabric and booms, varying from 3.7 to 6.7 meters (12 to 22 feet) in width and from 122 to 183 meters (400 to 600 feet) in length were towed through the Bay to each island. There were 11 islands, but on two occasions, two islands were surrounded together as one configuration.

As with Christo and Jeanne-Claude's previous art projects, Surrounded Islands was entirely financed by the artists, through the sale by C.V.J. Corporation (Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff, President) of the preparatory pastel and charcoal drawings, collages, lithographs and early works.

On May 4, 1983, out of a total work force of 430, the unfurling crew began to blossom the pink fabric. Surrounded Islands was tended day and night by 120 monitors in inflatable boats.

Surrounded Islands was a work of art which underlined the various elements and ways in which the people of Miami live, between land and water.

DGM

December 24th, 2005, 03:04 AM

The marine and land crews picked up debris from the eleven islands, putting refuse in bags and carting it away after they had removed some forty tons of varied garbage: refrigerator doors, tires,kitchen sinks, mattresses and an abandoned boat.

They didn't find beer cans? I've been on the island by the mouth of Virginia Key. It is covered in beer cans. I personally blame the jetskiers. They have no respect for the environment or other peoples property.

archifreese

December 24th, 2005, 04:30 AM

Ooo, thats pretty cool. Why did they remove it? :ohno:
it was meant to be a temporary installation as are all his other projects. i dont believe they would have ever considered it as a permanent installation though i like(d) it.

Pablo63090

January 4th, 2006, 10:57 PM

Metrorail, 1983 & 1984

The first three photos feature Metrorail crossing the Miami River for the first time back on November 3, 1983. You can notice that the Wachovia had been recently topped off.

http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam17.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam18.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam19.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam20.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam21.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam22.jpghttp://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam23.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam24.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam10.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam09.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam16.jpg http://www.davesrailpix.com/odds/fl/jpg/miam08.jpg

Toucano

January 4th, 2006, 11:19 PM

Nice Finds Pablo...

Lakelander

January 7th, 2006, 06:08 PM

Great educational thread. You learn something new everyday.

dave8721

January 19th, 2006, 10:25 PM

The old New Yorker Hotel at 1611 Collins Ave (now site of the bland 8 story condo between the Decoplage and the Loews). Built in 1930's.

http://www.hellomiami.com/miami/images/New%20Yorker%20Hotel%201611%20Collins%20Ave.jpg

Pablo63090

January 20th, 2006, 02:25 AM

Nice find. It looks like the picture is from the late 70's, early 80's.

Toucano

January 24th, 2006, 03:26 AM

Originally called Atlantic Boulvard, Collins Avenue was the first paved road suitable for automobiles on Miami Beach

http://www.miamibeach411.com/photos/history/collins_ave_400x400_1.jpg

http://www.miamibeach411.com/photos/history/collins_ave_400x400_2.jpg

http://www.miamibeach411.com/photos/history/collins_ave_400x400_3.jpg

Pablo63090

January 24th, 2006, 05:24 AM

How things have changed. The last picture shows the big three: The Fountainbleau, The Eden Roc, and The Doral (now the Wyndham). Now they're dwarfed by an ever-growing row of condos.

dave8721

February 8th, 2006, 06:04 PM

This aricle talks about a 1000-foot proposal from 1966. Any one around back then to remember this one? Or know of any renderings?

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/060209/story-viewpoint.shtml

Don't let still-unrealized aims become our claims to fame

By Michael Lewis
Miami long has sported grand ambitions, big dreams and exaggerated claims. Carl Fisher in the 1920s touted a spit of mosquito-ridden swampland as a great place to live. What a salesman. Today, it's called Miami Beach.
But reality doesn't always eclipse the hype. Sometimes the only reality is the hype. Miami's hardest task always has been to tell one from the other.
For example, turn back the clock 40 years, when grand plans bore resemblance to today's.
Like any local 1966 guidebook, Guide Miami sings praises. Of 17 pages that describe Miami's attributes, seven target the biggest. Can you name it?
Not sports, which rated a page before we had major-league teams. Not fishing, which also rated a page. Not outdoors, at two pages. Not culture, which got less than a page before we began building and building to house our performing and visual arts.
Certainly not business. It didn't even rate a footnote.
No, our major attribute in 1966 was Interama, which was detailed in seven pages of articles and pictures.
The name may not be familiar because Interama - the Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center, which was to attract 15 million visitors a year by 1968 - never existed.
Nor did its listed attractions: the 1,000-foot Tower of Freedom with its restaurants and observation platforms designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki or the four permanent areas - International, Cultural, Industrial and Leisure-Sports-Festival.
The Marine Amphitheater with its floating stage and seating for 12,000 wasn't built, nor were the symphony hall, the opera, the ballet and music theater, the dramatic arts theater, the art gallery or the museum.
The international bazaar with its artisans at work and the ceremonial plaza and the computerized, automated audio-visual library never came to pass. Corporate executives who were to meet at Interama to explore Latin American markets never showed up.
The meeting ground for the nations of the Western Hemisphere was no more real than today's vision of a headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas on Watson Island is so far, though the renderings were equally impressive.
Interama was one of those failed grand dreams despite the guide's introductory note: "The large concentration of construction activity in the northeast section of the Greater Miami area is the building of the world's largest and first permanent international exposition - the Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center, better known as Interama."
Thought the book noted that this massive hub was to open July 4, 1968, the "large concentration of construction activity" was poetic license for a project that literally never got off the ground.
Plans were grandiose, but the site that was to be Interama now is used in part by the north campus of Florida International University. The other part became, quite literally, a dump.
When the air came out of Interama, the City of North Miami received title to 350 of its acres in 1970 and two years later signed a lease with Munisport Inc. to create a recreational facility. Munisport got permission to raise low-lying areas with clean fill and construction debris but soon was burying the land under municipal refuse instead and then got a permit to turn the site into a sanitary landfill. Instead, the land was filled with drums of toxic waste and infectious hospital waste.
So much for the "world's largest and first permanent international exposition" - gone to waste.
Interama-Munisport is now the future home of Biscayne Landing, a $1 billion mixed-use public-private project being developed with the City of North Miami by the Swerdlow Group and Boca Developers, who say they are making the site "South Florida's premier residential community."
That transition encapsulates Miami, past and probably future. One site went from the world's largest international exposition to a municipal recreation area to a sanitary landfill without once becoming any of those things. Now it is about to become the region's "premier residential community."
That is Miami. We often promote the development that is not yet and may never be. We dream big dreams, and sometimes they come to pass. If we didn't dream them, they never would. Altogether, it's better to think grand thoughts than never to try to scale the heights.
Unfortunately, in the process, grand can become grandiose and then the figment of a large imagination.
Sometimes, but not invariably.
Concert halls that were to rise in Interama are rising today straddling Biscayne Boulevard just north of downtown.
International meeting halls are still on the drawing boards, this time on Watson Island as we wait for the yet-to-exist Free Trade Area of the Americas to anoint Miami its headquarters.
The art gallery and the museum are now targeted for Bicentennial Park - to be anointed Museum Park once the museums accumulate the hundreds of millions needed to build.
And the nonexistent 1,000-foot Tower of Freedom is almost matched by any of a half-dozen residential high rises on the drawing boards - and none any further off the ground.
Not all the Interama dream was pie in the sky. The concert halls are rising. All the rest might well.
We have become the business hub for Latin America without the formal setting of the Intern-American Cultural and Trade Center. Physical infrastructure wasn't the catalyst. Geography and the Cuban influx that rated less than one paragraph in the 1966 guidebook did the trick.
Today, as we dream big dreams of a home for Cirque du Soleil that would draw millions and a home for the Free Trade Area of the Americas that would cement our role as capital of the Americas and museums in the park that would be a cultural Mecca and a South Dade hub of theme parks and attractions that would make that region a tourist delight and on and on, we walk in the footsteps of those who knew Interama would be the making of Miami.
We dream big dreams, and we're better off doing so. We aim high, and it's far superior to having no aims at all.
But before we write a 2006 guidebook that sings the praises of our great projects, let's be sure first that they at least get off the ground.

Pablo63090

February 8th, 2006, 10:31 PM

Great find. Does anybody have a rendering of this?

rider_of_rohan

February 9th, 2006, 10:27 PM

Great find. Does anybody have a rendering of this?

I actually remember this (although not first hand as I was born in 1966). I dont recall where I saw it though. I think it was an attemp to start something off as a World's Fair bid by Miami. As with other worlds fairs thing stay after the fair goes and this was it. I do recall their being pictures too but not that clearly, I think they were like the city of the future thing. They had a map too. I think I wrote a posting in the thread about biscayne landing a while back saying that this was planned there years ago.

Here is some info about it though
http://www.lostparks.com/never.html
Interama
In 1951 the State of Florida created the Inter-American Center Authority to build a cultural and trade center. A trade center building was built, but the cultural part...
A permanent international exhibition park was planned -- inspiration taken half from past Worlds Fairs and half from the new Disneyland in California. It would be a theme park, but unlike other theme park projects, it was hoped that the governments of the various countries would contribute to the building of their representative pavilions much as they do for a Worlds Fair, except that this would be a permanent commitment.

The United States was looked to to provide the bulk of the financing, and bills to that effect were put before Congress by Rep. Claude Pepper, always happy to try and bring home the Pork to his district.

Land in North Miami was acquired and shortly after a huge sign touting the park's development was erected.

Congress, meanwhile, declined to fund the project. One after the other, Latin and South American Governments, with poverty to deal with in their own lands, declined to participate. (By the same token, Walt Disney World's EPCOT, which relies on sponsorships when building its national pavilions, showcases no South American nations.)

Private funding was sought, but little found. Interama continued to drift as a project for years, always hopeful, always just around the corner, never built.

Complications in the contracts involving the site itself, as well as a fight with the Department of Environmental Regulation over part of the site's use as a landfill, kept the land tied up right into the 1980's as the City of North Miami, stuck with paying off bonds on the unproductive land, lobbied the State of Florida to purchase the property.

In 1985 the State and City finally made a deal as the Legislature voted to buy the 300 acre tract, most of which would go to expand Florida International University's Bay Vista Campus.

There was a listing of it at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, maybe they would have some renderings of it.

Pablo63090

April 11th, 2006, 04:50 AM

The then CenTrust Tower on fire, on August 18, 1984:

http://image05.webshots.com/5/1/9/70/64910970xWLgZV_fs.jpg

By then, the Wachovia's exterior was completed, but it wasn't until 1985 when the whole complex was completed. People had been working in the tower since late 1983.

Downtown Miami's Skyline, February 1987:

http://www.timvp.com/87feb04.jpg

The Mad Hatter!!

April 18th, 2006, 12:29 AM

http://www.miamidda.com/images/1980s.gif
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami76.jpg
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami77.jpg
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami82.jpg
lincoln road-1960's
http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/images/ccLincoln-Road-1933.jpg
miami beach aerial 1960's
http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/images/ccConvention.jpg

magic-city

April 24th, 2006, 05:21 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/elnuevomundoscuplturemiami.jpg

Take a look at this sculpture located at Bicentennial Park. I took a bike ride around downtown a couple of weeks ago, and rode into Bicentennial Park. To my amazement, the sculpture is still there. It has not been maintained for several years and does have plenty of graffiti on it, but the view from there is spectacular. This sculpture frames the skyline and the bay.

Look at the old Coppertone neon sign that used to be next to the Freedom Tower.

I hope that they restore and bring back to life this sculpture which is now almost 30 years old.

Pablo63090

April 24th, 2006, 09:33 PM

It's a shame the way it looks now. It is made out of stainless steel?

magic-city

April 24th, 2006, 09:48 PM

Yep, stainless steel. It needs to be cleaned and polished. I hope they keep it as part of Museum Park's masterplan.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

May 29th, 2006, 03:18 AM

:wave: :rock: :speech: :okay:

http://www.miamidda.com/images/1980s.gif
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami76.jpg
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami77.jpg
http://www.progcovers.com/hydro/miami82.jpg
lincoln road-1960's
http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/images/ccLincoln-Road-1933.jpg
miami beach aerial 1960's
http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/images/ccConvention.jpg

MAD Uptown Hatter :) ,
Please more old pics like these if you have any more,
These are great :) , I just like to add some of my old postcard pictures someday, when I learn how to get them in here, lol. :old:

Thanks again MAD !!! :cheers:

Pablo63090

June 1st, 2006, 04:34 AM

Cultural Center Shots From 1984:

http://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/61121886-O.jpghttp://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62347596-O.jpg http://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62617393-O.jpghttp://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62617838-O.jpg
http://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62617313-O.jpghttp://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62617329-O.jpghttp://GaryMercerPhoto.smugmug.com/photos/62617818-O.jpg

The balloons shown in the pictures were put up to celebrate the opening of the Center For The Fine Arts (Now MAM). It's funny that the finished complex sat vacant for almost three years until the Library and Museums opened up in 1985. There were a bunch of problems with the fire detection systems and that delayed the opening from late '82 to '83. Then, for almost two years, the city waited to move and for the Metro-Dade Center to be completed. I remember back in 1982 when Philip Johnson came to Miami to inspect the complex and the Flagler Street vicinity. Then the first ceremony was held at the plaza, a AIA dinner honoring him. This was the first time in about 20+ years that people got together after dusk in Downtown for anything besides the Orange Bowl Parade. A couple of weeks later, a record crowd attended a Pavarotti concet at the Knight Center, which was the inaugural event for the complex.

rider_of_rohan

June 1st, 2006, 04:44 AM

That is a kick ass library (or was, dunno now), and I loved the whole setup. Was a museum there as well. Loved the view from the courtyard with the tall buildings on each side.

Pablo63090

June 1st, 2006, 06:49 PM

It's still the library. It's still prety adequate for today. The long rectangular building across the Clark Center is the Historical Museum of Southern Florida and the Square One across the library and the Museum Tower is the Miami Art Museum. The two latter buildings are pretty small for a city of Miami's size. Originally the Art Museum borrowed all its pieces from other museums and did not even start collecting until ten years ago.

Pablo63090

June 7th, 2006, 04:03 AM

MIAMI MARKET READJUSTS AS SURGE IN BUYING ENDS

By DEE WEDEMEYER
Published: March 7, 1982

The luxury condominium market in the greater Miami area is wobbling in the aftermath of a speculative buying spree. Only two years ago, people were lining up to reserve apartments in high-rise waterfront buildings whose construction had not even started. At one development, Brickell Key, 275 persons each left $5,000 deposits on a building that had not yet announced prices.
In many cases, the speculative ''buyer'' hoped to sell his purchase contract at a profit when the building was ready, or even before. Some listed their unit for resale immediately and found themselves with a profit without even taking title.
It worked for a while, but high interest rates persisted, the dollar strengthened and the pool of Latin-American buyers proved shallower than some developers had expected.
Now, many of the speculators find they have no buyers and are unable, or unwilling, to go to closing. In some cases, the buyer is walking away from deposits of $50,000. Others are bringing lawsuits to free themselves of contractual obligation.
''I think there are more attorneys trying to get people out of closings than into closings,'' said Irwin Adler of Adler-Ross Associates, the developer of L'Hermitage, a town-house project in the Coconut Grove area.
According to Lewis Goodkin, a marketing research expert, there are about 12,000 luxury, waterview condominiums on the market or under construction in Dade County. He says it could take three to five years to absorb that number. He defines luxury condominiums as those priced over $100,000.
Mr. Goodkin believes that 43 to 46 percent of the luxury apartments were bought by speculators and that the buyers today are 50 to 85 percent speculators and investors.
He points out that the current recession differs from the one in 1973 and 1974. Then, unfinished construction projects and vacant buildings created a gaunt skyline of steel as an unwelcome reminder of overproduction.
The overproduced units also were more in the middle-price range, not the luxury market, and they were in the hands of lenders who offered substantial reductions and financing to purchasers. The waterfront luxury condominiums are considered to be in strong hands financially.
Some builders, nevertheless, are slowing their construction schedules or doing only preliminary land development until the market changes, selling off sites that they were planning to develop, or even selling off blocks of completed apartments at auction.
A subsidiary of Cadillac-Fairview, in partnership with Southeastern Florida Properties Inc., a local group, postponed three developments, including La Excellence, where the foundations were already started. The Canadian company also allowed one parcel of land it owned in the same partnership to be foreclosed.
The same developers also put 150 units in several south Florida projects up for auction last week. In three buildings, apartments sold for about 50 percent of list price.
''If the builders had not made substantial profits on the units they sold, it would have been an absolute disaster,'' said Mr. Goodkin, speaking for the developers.
To others long experienced with the cyclical nature of Florida residential sales, the current market is seen as just another cycle. To them, this is the ideal time to start building.
''Take it from one who has seen peaks and valleys,'' said Lawrence J. Aberman, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Williams Island, which will deliver its first units in January 1984. ''The time to start a development of this nature is when we are in a valley, not when we are heading toward a peak.''
After the recession of 1973-74, the Florida market gradually began to absorb a huge, unsold inventory of new housing. New construction for both the second-home and primary-home market started to gain momentum as early as 1978.
Then on July 16, 1979, as many local people recall it, the sales force for Brickell Key came to work to find people standing in line to buy apartments.
Brickell Key was not much more than a barren site on Claughton Island connected to a prime Miami area by a bridge. There were no model apartments, just floor plans. People had to be given numbers to buy apartments.
In two days, the contracts on all 301 units were written at prices that averaged about $130 a square foot - from $60,000 to $650,000. In addition, there were the 275 persons who left $5,000 no-interest deposits for a second building that did not even have a construction starting date.
The developers, Cheezem Development Corporation and Swire Properties, are closing the first building. Charles K. Cheezem says he does not expect buyers to forfeit their deposits, but many have asked for delays. He will accommodate them where he can, he said, but the interest on construction financing on the completed building costs $24,000 a day. So far, 40 units have been closed. By their own count, 69 buyers sold their contracts, including someone who purchased a unit for $108,000 and sold the contract for $172,500.
The second building is under construction, but in a manner that may be as startling to some as the line of buyers was that day in July 1979. Construction has been slowed so that its completion will coincide with sales. The idea, Mr. Cheezem explained, was to delay the last six months of construction when the bulk of the construction financing is in place.
Before the sales program for the second building can begin in full force, the apartments offered for resale have to be sold, Mr. Cheezem said. At latest count, 24 were listed in the local multiple service. A scrapbook of advertising that the company keeps shows an ad for a buyer offering a new Cadillac with an apartment.
''I hate to say it, but basically those people are our competition,'' he said. The sales offices are a curious scene. Some are carpeted with stainless steel displays extolling the merits of Roman baths and gourmet sinks. There are bilingual sales personnel, but not many buyers to talk to. Other sales offices are a circus of activities - apartments being closed, decorated, listed for rent, titles transferred - all in a variety of languages. There is talk of mortgage applications from royal highnesses and tales of gold being smuggled out of France.
In some areas of Miami, particularly along Brickell Avenue, it will be a long time before the construction dust settles and all the apartment units are sold and closed. At one corner is The Palace, the 41-story development of Harry B. Helmsley of New York. Next door, the Villa Regina is going up 27 stories. Next to that is the Imperial, 30 stories. Just down the way is the Atlantis, 21 stories, and La Santa Maria, an Olympia & York 200-unit project now in the foundation stage and expected to advance slowly.
Another major area of construction is Turnberry Isle. It has two completed apartment condominium buildings, two golf courses, tennis facilities, a 120-room hotel, a spa and a yacht club. A shopping center is in construction, a third condominium building is opening and a fourth is in construction.
George Berlin, the project director, said he expected to lose between $6 million and $9 million in sales, or between 10 and 15 percent of the buyers, in Turnberry Isle's third condominium building. One, a man who deposited $50,000, already has walked away. Mr. Berlin said he let one man out of his contract because of a death in his family. He has given many buyers time to raise funds.
''If they breathe, we will finance them,'' he said. He said he was telling speculators that they were in the same position as someone who had speculated in gold or stocks. ''He bought on margin,'' Mr. Berlin said. ''He bought on 20 percent margin.'' After raising prices 10 to 15 percent three times, he has come closer to the original prices and is requiring 30 percent deposits. Even with cancellations on the third building, the units sold will be enough to pay off the construction loan, Mr. Berlin said.
Turnberry also sold off two building sites to other developers: one to a partnership of Larry A. Silverstein of New York with Shopco, a shopping center developer, and the second to Elliot and Gerald Monter, developers of the Hamlet, a single-family home development in Jericho, L.I.
Just across Country Club Drive from these two sites EquiNational, a Scarsdale, N.Y., group, in partnership with Finagest, a Swiss group, have bought a site from Arlen for Plaza del Mar, a development with zoning for 1,625 units. There is no construction financing, but there is a sales office for the first 566 apartments and town houses. A Florida subsidiary of Costain Ltd., a Canadian company, has purchased a 176-acre site just north of Turnberry with zoning for 3,677 units.
James MacKenzie, the president of Costain Florida, said the company would develop the land while they waited. ''We will go up to a certain point, and if the market doesn't improve, we will stop.''
Costain Florida will build The Waterways with six-story buildings of 83 units each. The apartments will sell at an average $100 a square foot, starting at $100,000, so they believe they have found a segment of the market that has not been overbuilt.
Many developers are changing their strategies with the economy and the competition. The Towers of Quayside, another large and successful development, began a marketing program in the Far East and will soon open a sales pavilion in New York.
Ronald K. Lavan, the executive director, said that the days when he handed out tickets to buy apartments might be gone but that he was still selling two to four units a week. He thinks some builders had unrealistic expectations.
''When you sell one building in one day,'' he said, ''you think, 'Oh, boy, this is going to be a cakewalk,' but the fact is, no one has ever closed more than 150 to 250 units a year in a development.''
The marketing program for the Terraces at Turnberry, the Silverstein-Shopco development, includes a videotape in five langages that sells Florida and the United States first and only in the last minutes extols the virtue of the apartments.
Because the investment aspect of the purchase is stressed, the Securities and Exchange Commission forbids showing the tape to American citizens. While sun-tanned models fish and play golf and tennis, a narrator points out that the threat of Socialism and Communism in the United States ''is virtually nonexistent.''
The first of three towers in the Terraces that will eventually contain 850 units is up two stories now, and 130 of the 285 units in the first tower have sold, Mr. Silverstein said. Buyers put down 10 percent when signing the contract, 5 percent when construction commenced, 5 percent in 90 days and 5 percent when construction reaches the floor on which their unit is situated.
Average sales are about $300,000, he says, but that is still at an average of $160 a square foot, about half what it would be in some luxury Manhattan condominiums. He thinks it will take two years to sell out the building, and he is not worried about cancellations.
''Our feeling is, if someone has the capacity of putting down 25 percent, they have the capability of closing,'' he said. Efforts to cancel contracts are becoming legend. According to Gerald Schlosser of Helmsley-Spear of Florida, the buyers of 24 units in the Palace have brought suit to rescind ther contracts. Of 254 units, 111 are closed and five have been foreclosed. Between 25 and 30 units are listed for resale. Mr. Schlosser says the company has not decided what to do with the apartments that will be foreclosed.
''People are getting default letters,'' he said, ''and many are saying, 'We really want to close. We don't want to lose our deposits.' I just don't know who the hard core are who won't close and will be defaulted.''
Alicia Cervera, chairman of Condominium Marketing Consultants, which sold the Palace and the Atlantis a few doors down, said that 69 of the 254 buyers resold their apartments before the building was finished. From a list that shows how much they deposited, how much they sold for and their return on investment, she showed that the average return was 71 percent, that the apartments appreciated in price 14 percent before they were even completed. ''The usual thing is to make 100 percent,'' she said.
Mrs. Cervera said she had received calls from several of her clients looking for four or five persons who did not want to honor their contracts and were willing to take a 10 to 15 percent loss. So far, she had not been able to put such a package together.
A Peruvian who identified himself only as Marco said he had bought six apartments, five in the Palace and one in the Atlantis. He backed out of the deal in the Atlantis, he said, then changed his mind, but it was too late. Someone had taken that unit. On four of the Palace apartments, he put $50,000 deposits and sold contracts for an additional $50,000, making 100 percent on his investment. On the fifth, he made $30,000.
''The brokers in Miami have a clientele,'' he said. ''All Mrs. Cervera has to do is call, and they come like bees. Today they may not come because there is no honey.''

DGM

June 7th, 2006, 02:34 PM

The luxury condominium market in the greater Miami area is wobbling in the aftermath of a speculative buying spree.
More doom and gloom :(. I hope it does topple, so long as it does just as I get out of college.

dave8721

June 7th, 2006, 02:54 PM

More doom and gloom :(. I hope it does topple, so long as it does just as I get out of college.

Assuming you get out of college in 1982 when that article was written :laugh: That got me for a second too until i saw that it was refering to "luxury" condos as those over $100,000 and goingcrazy over $300,000 condos (that is as expensive as Manahattan)...ah the cheap old days.

DGM

June 7th, 2006, 03:46 PM

Wow, I guess I should read more carefully. Vintage doom and gloom ;).

Pablo63090

June 7th, 2006, 06:51 PM

Hey guys, this thread is about the past. :okay:

SayHelloToMyLilFrein

June 9th, 2006, 12:37 AM

hey thank all that posted these old photos of the city ahhh I love them !!!!!!

dave8721

June 15th, 2006, 03:39 PM

Any of you guys remember the old Miami Stadium (it was called Bobby Maduro stadium at one point too right?)

http://www.digitalballparks.com/International/Miami_-_Aerial_1949_640T.jpg

Toucano

June 15th, 2006, 10:55 PM

Dave, I've been trying to find more information on it...Thanks for the picture, can you possibly share whatever you know about the old stadium and what currently sits at its former site...

dave8721

June 15th, 2006, 11:02 PM

Dave, I've been trying to find more information on it...Thanks for the picture, can you possibly share whatever you know about the old stadium and what currently sits at its former site...

It was located at 2301 NW 10th Ave just to the north of the Jackson Hospital area and near a metrorail stop. After it was demolished a spread out apartment community was built on the site.

Here is an article on it:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Miami_Stadium

Miami Stadium, also known as Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium, was dedicated on August 31, 1949 and demolished in 2001. It was the home of several Minor League teams and was also home to Major League Spring Training. Most notably, it was the spring home of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (for "A" exhibition games only) from 1950 to 1958 and to the Baltimore Orioles from 1959 to 1990. In 1987 the stadium was renamed Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium after Bobby Maduro, owner of the Havana Sugar Kings. The ballpark was also briefly used by the Gold Coast Suns of the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association in the late 1980s. In 1991 the stadium was the host to the Caribbean Series, marking only the second time the event had been played outside the Caribbean. (It was played at Miami's Orange Bowl football stadium in 1990.)

Minor league teams who played there were:

Miami Sun Sox, Florida International League (1949-1954)
Miami Marlins, International League (1956-1960)
Miami Marlins, Florida State League (1962-1970, 1982-1988)
Miami Orioles, Florida State League (1971-1981)
Miami Amigos, Inter-American League (1979)
Gold Coast Suns, Senior Professional Baseball Association (1989/1990)

An article about what replaced it:
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/010419/story7.shtml
If all goes as planned, the site at 2301 NW 10th Ave. will become the Miami Bobby Maduro Stadium Apartments, with 336 apartments, 480 parking spaces, a swimming pool, volleyball and tennis courts, a playground and a small baseball museum as a memorial to the ballpark

Pablo63090

June 15th, 2006, 11:28 PM

I remember driving on I-95 and seeing it.

magic-city

June 16th, 2006, 01:58 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Image1.jpg

Pablo63090

June 16th, 2006, 03:15 AM

Wow, look at that cute fishing village. LOL! Twenty years later the population in Dade County was 1/2 a million people. Twenty years after that, post-war Dade hit the one-million mark.

Roark

June 16th, 2006, 07:55 AM

Any of you guys remember the old Miami Stadium (it was called Bobby Maduro stadium at one point too right?)
Speaking of baseball, I ordered a throwback baseball jersey and they called me today to say it was ready to be shipped...finally. They said the logos were done by hand and it takes 12 weeks!
It's a replica of a 1953 Miami Beach Flamingo's Jersey.
This jersey has the Flamingo patch. The Flamingos were managed by John "Pepper" Martin, #1, the "Wild Horse of the Osage." Martin was a member of the Gas House Gang-era St. Louis Cardinals. The scrappy outfielder-third baseman led the National League in stolen bases in 1933, 1934 and 1936. He also set a record for best lifetime World Series batting average at .418. After his retirement in 1940, Martin went on to manage in half a dozen minor league cities. His managerial career was interrupted in 1944, when the war-era Cards persuaded a 40-year-old Martin to return as a player. He hit a respectable .279 that season.
To check out a picture of it click here (http://www.onlinesports.com/?AID=44165&PID=1904479) and enter keyword "miami beach" in the search box.

brickell

June 17th, 2006, 04:19 PM

Driving through the civic center area yesterday I saw a sign for the Miami Stadium. I too remember seeing it from afar when I first came here 8 years ago.

spellbound

June 17th, 2006, 06:00 PM

Miami Stadium was considered pretty state-of-the-art when it opened in the 40s...especially the swooping cantilevered roof.

Unfortunately, my memories of being there were mostly as the ballpark (and the surrounding neighborhood) were in serious decline. It just became a place you really didn't want to go eventually.

There's a "small baseball museum" in the public housing that replaced it?? Hmmm...I wonder if that really happened (doubtful, I'd guess). Anybody know?

Anyway, love this thread. Keep those great old photos coming, fellas!

ChuckScraperMiami#1

June 18th, 2006, 05:24 AM

Driving through the civic center area yesterday I saw a sign for the Miami Stadium. I too remember seeing it from afar when I first came here 8 years ago.

Brickell :) , my Friend :wave: ,Your so right :righton: !!!

The old green sign is still there, I drive by there almost everyday of my work :okay: ,
Southbound on N.W. 17th Avenue approching N.W. 20th Street, directly accross the street from the Walgreen's Store on the corner,
The " Miami Stadium :cool: " Sign, with a left pointing arrow below it . for N.W. 20th street back then was one of the main arteries to the old Baseball stadium where I worked at part time for games and Concerts such as " The Steve Miller Band :old: , and the Commodores :old: , with Earth ,Wind and Fire :old: concerts on the big huge concrete stage built by the City of Miami during the 70's into the 80's. :cheers: :cheers2: :cheers1:

Pablo63090

June 18th, 2006, 11:04 PM

Miami, "The Magic City", 1983

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/postcard/pc2171.jpg

SayHelloToMyLilFrein

July 7th, 2006, 01:33 AM

Pablo63090

July 7th, 2006, 03:08 AM

Wow are you sure thats 1983 and not 1953 lol .Also judging from that 1902 photo I wounder if there is any original houses in some of the ghetto areas around down town Miami that should be preserved as land marks. hummm

Most have been torn down, but some, such as the Jackson House have been saved. I wouldn't say that the areas outside of Downtown are ghetto's. They are areas that have been stagnate for a long time, but with someone investing and giving a crap about the area, things can be quickly changed. Simply said, all those areas just need investment. The problem is finding someone suitable to manage it. Going back to historic homes, the areas just outside of Downtown have great examples of early 20th century architecture, but they are in need of serious repair.

magic-city

July 7th, 2006, 04:13 AM

Miami, "The Magic City", 1983

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/postcard/pc2171.jpg

Pablo:

Great image!

No CenTrust Tower now BOA
Metro-Dade Center under construction
Southeast Bank parking structure u/c
No 700 Brickell
Flagship Bank's Drive-in tellers in view next to Four Ambassadors

Imagine what the next 20 years will bring - Perhaps Miami's tallest will be in this future view.

TopperCity

July 7th, 2006, 06:44 AM

Miami.. humidity is a killer but the water in the ocean is truly a paradise. It surely has changed so much.

dave8721

July 8th, 2006, 07:33 AM

Cool old picture of Miami. Notice the Port of Miami hasn't been built yet and the land where Bayfront Park is to go is underwater!!! Bicentennial park was a port back then.

http://www.library.miami.edu/archives/cards/a002mr.jpg

spellbound

July 8th, 2006, 08:12 AM

I think Bayfront Park may well have already been filled-in by the time of that photo (I don't believe the Freedom Tower predates it and the vast majority park would be south of the photo), but the area that became Bicentennial Park certainly hadn't.

Love these great old photos...please keep 'em coming!

Pablo63090

July 13th, 2006, 05:38 AM

Miami Skyline, 1981
http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/commerce/c820484.jpg

Brickell & Metrorail, 1984
http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/prints/pr06786.jpg

spellbound

July 13th, 2006, 06:50 AM

The old Metrorail shots remind me of when the system first opened (was it around late 1983?). Did anybody else here take that free ride the very first day?

I remember the trains being packed to the gills...standing room only...and everyone excited to check out this new entry in to "big leagues."

Well, the system may not have worked out as originally envisioned (at least not ridership-wise) but that very first day remains a really great memory.

Hopefully, as the system expands (and we all grow old in the process) Metrorail will fulfill the potential it has---even if getting people out of their cars in South Florida is like pulling teeth.

Then again, they might be paying 17 bucks a gallon in 2030 to keep those cars running.

But I digress...thanks for yet more great old photos. Love that stuff!

Pablo63090

July 13th, 2006, 11:15 PM

spellbound

July 14th, 2006, 12:44 AM

Metrorail opened on May 20, 1984. It only ran from Government Center to Dadeland South. I hope Metrorail doesn't grow to the level were everyone's is packed like a sardine. It's nice having a whole seat to yourself.

I don't think there's any chance Metrorail will ever see that kind of ridership.

I WOULD, however, like to see it grow from being one of the least-utilized systems in the country into something much more successful...but that can only happen with a LOT of expansion (which may or may not happen given the mood in Washington towards federal funding of mass transit).

It's still baffling how they could have designed the original line without a stop anywhere near the airport. Beyond idiotic.

Pablo63090

July 14th, 2006, 04:14 AM

spellbound

July 14th, 2006, 09:37 AM

Ronald Reagan said that it would have been cheaper to buy everyone in Dade County a limo, instead of a billion dollar monorail system.

Here comes the math:
20 stations/21 miles: $1.1 billion
Dade County Pop., 1980: 1,639,000; A Limo Back In 1980 Was About $50,000; Total Cost: 81.5 billion!

Yep...I remember that quote from Reagan.

People latched onto it, too, despite how moronic and detached from reality it was.

Not that I'm sugarcoating Metrorail. By and large, it HAS been a huge failure financially and ridership-wise.

But that's mostly because it was poorly designed in many ways has always been FAR too puny a system to have a real chance to thrive. Atlanta had the same problems until MARTA finally expanded enough to be considered a genuine urban rail system.

Obviously, there's going to be tremendous opposition to spending money on a system that bleeds cash...but big-time expansion is the ONLY way Metrorail will fulfill its potential.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

July 15th, 2006, 02:05 AM

Pablo :hi: and Spell bound :wave: , IMO, 2010 Miami-Dade population, 2,639,000 :righton: . Average riders on MetroRail, 39,000 rider counts per day :weird: . That counts riders going to work, then coming back home, makes two counts per rider, lol. :cheer: :uh: :ohno:

Roark

July 15th, 2006, 06:47 AM

Ronald Reagan said that it would have been cheaper to buy everyone in Dade County a limo, instead of a billion dollar monorail system.

Here comes the math:
20 stations/21 miles: $1.1 billion
Dade County Pop., 1980: 1,639,000; A limo back in 1980 was about $50,000; Total Cost: 81.5 billion!
Correction: When discussing the RIDERSHIP of the Metrorail, Reagan said that it would be cheaper to give everyone that RIDES IT a Limo.
That certainly isn't moronic, or detached from reality.
The earliest ridership figures that I could find were 26,231 in 1989. That's $41,935 per rider for the captial costs to build it and that number does not include the operating funds to operate the system. I suspect that ridership was even less 4 years before 1989.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

July 15th, 2006, 06:06 PM

Correction: When discussing the RIDERSHIP of the Metrorail, Reagan said that it would be cheaper to give everyone that RIDES IT a Limo.
The earliest ridership figures that I could find were 26,231 in 1989. That's $41,935 per rider for the captial costs to build it and that number does not include the operating funds to operate the system.

ROARK :) , well that's true my friend :righton: , It was about 1985 :dunno: , when our president Ronald " Actor " Reagan said that to our County Manager back then, remember he was the head of the county, Merritt Stierhiem :hm: . I was about 5 years working for Miami-Dade county when Reagan said that comment :cheers: .

p.s., does anyone know the ridership total around these days lately ??? :cheers2:

Roark

July 15th, 2006, 08:16 PM

ROARK :) , well that's true my friend :righton: , It was about 1985 :dunno: , when our president Ronald " Actor " Reagan said that to our County Manager back then, remember he was the head of the county, Merritt Stierhiem :hm: . I was about 5 years working for Miami-Dade county when Reagan said that comment :cheers: .
p.s., does anyone know the ridership total around these days lately ??? :cheers2:Ahhh yes....i was still in high school, but do you remember who Reagan's Urban Mass Transit Administration advisor was?? The Honorable Arthur Teele.
Metrorail Ridership Total for FY 2005 was 17,034,513. Source (http://www.miamidade.gov/transit/transitfacts.asp#rail)

Toucano

July 15th, 2006, 08:22 PM

I think the original projections for Metrorail ridership were ridiculously inflated...It may have had that potential to carry that many riders had companies not started springing for the suburban office complexes in doral, blue lagoon, and downtown coral gables...

Pablo63090

July 16th, 2006, 03:13 AM

According to the Miami Herald, "March 4, 1985: President Ronald Reagan criticizes Dade's Metrorail system, saying "It would have been cheaper to buy everyone a limousine"."

Rx727sfl2002

July 16th, 2006, 04:21 AM

i love the projects that have popped up around the metrorail
it looks like rideship might just increase soon enough when we get more density miami needed to go vertical and now we are doing so...

Roark

July 16th, 2006, 04:34 AM

According to the Miami Herald, "March 4, 1985: President Ronald Reagan criticizes Dade's Metrorail system, saying "It would have been cheaper to buy everyone a limousine"."Yes...I read the Miami Herald's account in that little time capsule (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/photos/4069562.htm).
Not surprisingly, the Herald didn't give the whole story. What you are referring to did not put that quote in context Pablo. Reagan wasn't referring to "everyone" in the universe, or "everyone" in the world, or "everyone" in Dade County. He was referring to "everyone" that rode the Metrorail. I know the issue well. While in college, we studied the biggest government spending blunders...Detroit's People Mover and Miami's Metrorail were case studies of ill conceived wastes of money, and of course the politcs were considered in our education.
I am a big fan of the Metromover and the Metrorail, and I ride them frequently. I am also a big fan of the government incentives to encourage development on those lines of transportation. In fact, that is why I bought, and encouraged everyone I knew to buy on the highrise that is next door to the Metrorail, Brickell on the River. It would be great if everyone who whines about transportation and gas prices put their money where there mouthes are and live near transportation and minimize the use of their cars.
The current ridership is pretty impressive.

Pablo63090

July 16th, 2006, 05:08 AM

I agree with your statement. I just wanted to bring more detail to when R.R. made his little statement. The Herald is kind of sloppy with facts.

logybogy

July 17th, 2006, 02:56 AM

1984 flashback....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2q-FfOYhp4&search=WSVN

Pablo63090

July 17th, 2006, 03:24 AM

Awesome, but it's from 1985-1986. The CenTrust Tower was being topped out and WSVN was the NBC affiliate back then.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

July 17th, 2006, 03:52 AM

1984 flashback....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2q-FfOYhp4&search=WSVN

Logy Bogy :rock: , my friend :okay: ,
You've done it again :righton: ,
GREAT Video, WOW !!!

Peter Ford and Sally Fitz :ancient: , I liked that woman as the news lady back then :old: now, lol.

Remember the show , " LIVE at 5 " :bowtie: :hi: in many places of the south florida area, showing the art and culture of Miami in the news LIVE !!! :cheers:

Roark

July 17th, 2006, 07:31 AM

1984 flashback....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2q-FfOYhp4&search=WSVNExcellent post!!!

Pablo63090

July 27th, 2006, 03:45 AM

Wolfson Campus, C. 1973:
(You can see the now demolished Cortez Hotel, which is right next to the Gesu Catholic Church. Also the MDC parking garage was half the size it is now.)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c341/DanFoto/Postcards/MDCC01.jpg

Downtown & The Dade County Courthouse From The El Comodoro Hotel, 1927:
http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc20364.jpg
http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc20363.jpg

dave8721

August 18th, 2006, 04:48 PM

A cool article i ran across that describes the history of the names placed on South Florida landmarks. For example, did you know that Killian Dr used to be South Kendall Dr (companion to North Kendall Dr)?

http://www.miamimonthlymagazine.com/features_aug/name.pdf

ChuckScraperMiami#1

October 1st, 2006, 07:48 AM

Thanks DAVE, I needed that update, Happy 2,000 Posts !!!
keep up the more Updates please, I read them all the time.

brickell

October 7th, 2006, 03:28 PM

Some nice pictures here with a report about the 1926 Hurricane (ie the Boom Killer).

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/newpage/Miami_hurricane.html

and one example
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/newpage/downtown_1926.jpg

FTL Beach Bum

November 7th, 2006, 03:42 AM

Thought you guys might like these, from 1962:

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/1559/miamido2.jpg

Biscayne Blvd:
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/8182/miami7362qu1.jpg

Courthouse, with the Florida East Coast Railway terminal and bag room on the left:
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/36/miami3lp5.jpg

CBD:
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/4975/miami2hl4.jpg

Haulover:
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/7659/hauloverya5.jpg

And my personal favorite...Tropical Chevrolet:
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4623/tropicalchevroletiw6.jpg

Enjoy ;)

Pablo63090

November 7th, 2006, 05:27 AM

Way to bring back the memories. Back in those days, Downtown ended right at the FEC railway. Now Metrorail follows that path. Awesome find!

rider_of_rohan

November 7th, 2006, 06:04 AM

Pablo63090

November 7th, 2006, 08:35 PM

spellbound

November 14th, 2006, 02:11 AM

Thank you VERY much for those pics, FTL.

They're significant to me because I was born in 1962, but especially because of the shot of Haulover---which is where my family has operated a party fishing boat business for over 50 years. You can make out the old wooden piers on the bay side where the boats used to dock, as well as the old "Lighthouse" restaurant at the mouth of the inlet, which burned down sometime in the mid 60's and never reopened.

My dad is planning to retire soon and relocate out of the area, and both my brother and I have lives and careers elsewhere with no plans on returning to South Florida, so it's sad to think that the business will be in other hands before much longer...but thanks again for bringing back some very personal memories.

rider_of_rohan

November 15th, 2006, 06:17 AM

Those apartments came down in 1998 to build condos. (One Brickell?) But during prep work, the circle was found, and the project went down the drain.

How did the circle manage to survive the construction of those buildings I wonder.

GonzoToLuisToLee

November 24th, 2006, 02:15 AM

Hello everyone, my first post here.

A few pages ago someone asked about Bobby Maduro Stadium.

Here is the entry on Marlinpedia.com that I wrote up after I did some research. At the bottom of the page there are a few sites with more info and photo galleries.

http://www.marlinpedia.com/index.php?title=Miami_Stadium

Also, the little known Miami Field: http://www.marlinpedia.com/index.php?title=Miami_Field

I look forward to posting on here.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

December 5th, 2006, 09:12 AM

Hey nice pictures. I notice in the CBD picture that they are just building the interstate in the upper right hand part of the picture. Also on the native circle site on the river and brickell there are buildings, look like apartments in that picture. When did those come down?

Rider of ROHAN:) < Yes, my friend:banana: , that's the I-195, Julia Tuttle Causeway to 41st Street on Miami Beach, Alton Road and Mount Sinai Medical Center.:cheers:

and check out that First Pic picture of NO Port of MIAMI bridge or just Islands where the Turning Basin and the Port of MIAMI is today, WOW !!!:cheers:, and the NEW Federal Courthouse is Under construction in the Bottom Right of the old Courthouse in the same Picture

Bryan-Sereny

December 6th, 2006, 06:04 AM

Great old photos. Miami has come a long way!

magic-city

December 6th, 2006, 06:27 AM

This was the beginning of the skyscraper era in Miami. This image is circa 1920 and shows the 'Boom" in progress. The McAllister Hotel, I believe, was the first building over 10 stories in Miami. It was adding its third tower, look closely at construction in progress. You can also see the famous Elsers Pier at the foot of Flagler Street and the bay. This was the place to be! Dancing nightly and arcade for toursit. Bayfront Park was in the planning stages, as was the grand palm-lined Biscayne Boulevard. Now the old Mc Allister site will be the 50 Biscayne Condo. The evolution of Miami's skyline is truly amazing!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/12-5mcallister.jpg[IMG]http://[IMG]

magic-city

December 6th, 2006, 06:38 AM

This is a great aerial view of Downtown Miami circa 1920's. The most incredible thing about this image is that it shows the natural shore line of Miami before Bayfront Park was created from bay fill. You can see the Royal Palm Hotel, new County Causeway, now MacArthur before Watson Island was filled, and the beginning of Burligame/Claughton Island now Brickell Key. The Brickell Avenue bridge has not been completed, as the only crossings over the Miami River were the Miami Avenue Bridge and FEC Railway Bridge. Imagine what the developers and dreamers back then would think if they saw our metropolis today. I hope you all enjoy viewing this image and the evolution of our great city!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/12-5miamiriver.jpg

magic-city

December 6th, 2006, 06:47 AM

This is an image of the famous Neon Santa Claus that adorned the street over Miami Avenue in the 1950's. This was part of the Burdines Christmas Display Downtown. There used to be a lighting ceremony just after Thanksgiving to greet and welcome the Holiday shoppers to Downtown. I am not sure how long this tradition lasted for. if any forumer know, please let me know. Calling CHUCK, Calling Chuck....Do you have any info on this Miami tradition.

Well, I wish all forumers the best for the Holiday Season and all the best for the New Year. May 2007 bring more cranes and skyscrapers!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/12-5santaatburdines.jpg

GRmama

January 6th, 2007, 07:11 PM

Cool:)
great pictures :banana: :cheers:

Rx727sfl2002

January 15th, 2007, 03:19 AM

Biscayne Island is the westernmost of the Venetian Islands, a chain of artificial islands in Biscayne Bay near Miami Beach, Florida. Biscayne Island was once the site of Viking Airport. It is now home to apartment buildings, residential neighborhoods, and a toll plaza portion of the Venetian Causeway.

http://show.imagehosting.us/show/1882774/0/nouser_1882/T0_-1_1882774.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.us/index.php?action=show&ident=1882774)

http://show.imagehosting.us/show/1882779/0/nouser_1882/T0_-1_1882779.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.us/index.php?action=show&ident=1882779)

dave8721

January 27th, 2007, 06:35 PM

Miami Skyline 1939:

http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/cushman/full/P01557.jpg

floridian-will

March 1st, 2007, 08:54 PM

Its just fun to look at what Miami use to be, great pics guys.

Toucano

March 2nd, 2007, 06:40 AM

Hey Guys,

I compiled a website with most of the pictures featured in this thread along with a brief description on Miami's History to be included on a link from my website...

http://transitmiami.googlepages.com/home

Like I said, I used the pictures you all posted, so, If anyone has any issues with it please let me know and I will be happy to remove them. Also, If anyone has some more pictures they'd like for me to share, then e-mail them to me: MoveMiami@gmail.com

Let me know what you all think...

spellbound

March 2nd, 2007, 01:29 PM

The site is awesome, Toucano. What great photos. Kudos! The only correction I'd make is that it was the "Roney Plaza" on Miami Beach, not "Rooney Palace"

Toucano

March 2nd, 2007, 03:47 PM

Ha, Mental Typo...

Thanks...

rider_of_rohan

March 2nd, 2007, 11:22 PM

Very nice! Good work man.

Daybreaq

March 26th, 2007, 12:42 AM

This thread is so cool! I live on Brickell Key and it's really interesting to see what my neighborhood used to look like, particularly seeing my home back when it was a sandbar! I'm going to try to upload some pictures a snapped from my balcony when I first bought my condo back in Sept 2001. It's not ancient history I know; but I took some this morning and in less that six years it has already changed a lot.

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view1.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view2.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view3.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view12.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view13.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/view14.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

I hope this works. I've never uploaded photos before and I'm no photographer.

ETA: Ok, wrong code. I'm fixing right now.
ETA2: OK, this should work now.

Daybreaq

March 26th, 2007, 12:54 AM

And here are the photos I took earlier today ...

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/32007-1.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/32007-2.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/Daybreaq/32007-3.jpg (http://www.imagecoast.com/)

coruna

March 26th, 2007, 01:57 AM

And six years, it will have changed the same amount from 2007-2013 as it did from 2001-2007. With the addition of Met 3, the completion of Epic and Dupont, Met 2, and Icon Brickell, your views from the north end of Brickell Key will continue to improve!!!

coruna

March 26th, 2007, 01:58 AM

**********(Edited to be blank because of a duplicate post by accident.)**********

Andyxox

March 26th, 2007, 02:01 AM

Took the liberty of taking two of your photos and fading them against each other:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8722/miamichangecr3.gif

ChuckScraperMiami#1

March 26th, 2007, 03:15 AM

^^ ^^ ^^

ANDY:) , my friend,
WELCOME !!! Fantastic Way of Posting PICS
Your a Winner !:dance:
" Best Two Pictures at Once Award ":cheers:

Congrats, and please Post more like that,

Thanks again !!!:banana: :applause: :cheer: :pepper:

BornInTheGrove

March 26th, 2007, 03:38 AM

awesome

Daybreaq

March 26th, 2007, 04:44 AM

Really cool Andy! Thanks!

The biggest improvement with the new construction is in the night view ... not that it wasn't beautiful before. I was a bit concerned about losing sight of some buildings mainly the Bank of America building (I'll still miss that one after the new construction is completed.) but the new buildings are attractive too. They have spotlights coming from the bottom of the One Miami condo that create a really dramatic effect. You don't really notice the Carnival Center in the daytime; but at night, it really pops even from a distance.

I tried to take some night photos but they really didn't come out. Like I indicated, I know very little about photography and I really can't take night photos.

coruna

March 26th, 2007, 04:51 AM

I tried to take some photos last night when I went to dinner at the River Oyster Bar in Brickell.....but none of them came out right, I'm not experienced in photography either and it's really hard to take pictures at night. You have to have a special camera in order to do that so you probably will not get the pictures from nighttime. The BOA really looks great though at night.....all of those different combinations of lights make it the best nighttime skyscraper in Miami.

mileageman

March 29th, 2007, 09:02 PM

isU5iUChjuU

brickell

March 29th, 2007, 10:43 PM

great find

Hanshin-Tigress

April 28th, 2007, 10:39 PM

wow imagine what miami will be like in 2012

Taylorhoge

April 30th, 2007, 03:23 AM

I can hear the Miami Vice theme music playing in the background of the 80s skyline
great pics

brickell

May 11th, 2007, 04:08 AM

From the Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/102998.html

Miami Stadium: Field of broken dreams
BY LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

Cuban millionaire José Manuel Alemán believed that building a new stadium in 1950s Miami would lure major league baseball to the city. And he was willing to stake his personal fortune on it.

Alemán was dead wrong.

Billed as the most ''significant ballpark built since Yankee Stadium,'' Miami Stadium never lived up to its hype following Opening Day in 1949.

To be sure, the ballpark in Allapattah saw the likes of Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Satchel Paige, Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr. during its 52-year history. But it failed miserably at drawing fans, playing host to only minor league teams and spring training games.

By 2001, it was demolished, dying with little public outcry under the name Bobby Maduro Stadium. It had been renamed in honor of the famous Havana Sugar Kings team owner.

Today, 60 years since the original plan for the state-of-the-art stadium was unveiled, the tragic history of the stadium and its father-and-son owners is being revived in a documentary, White Elephant: What's There to Save?. It premieres Saturday night at Little Havana's Tower Theater.

''Miami Stadium was a total folly,'' said Rolando Llanes, a local architect who spent a decade obsessed with the stadium's history and who teamed up with local filmmakers and producers Joe Cardona, Mario De Varona, John Graham and Gabriel Mena to chronicle its demise.

''The story of the stadium,'' said Llanes, ``transcends baseball.''

Indeed, the Cuban Revolution, millions of dollars stolen from the Cuban government and a cache of hidden weapons for Fidel Castro's rebels are all part of the tumultuous tale of one man's ambition to bring baseball to Miami.

The story begins in 1947, when the St. Louis Browns, who played spring training ball at the long-gone Miami Field next to the Orange Bowl, made a familiar threat: Build us a better ballpark or we're leaving.

The city said no, but the Browns' demand sparked an idea with José Manuel Alemán and his Miami business partners. Why not build a stadium to turn the then-sleepy winter resort city into a spring training mecca and eventually a major league hub? With Cuba so close, they felt they had built-in competition and fans.

'There was a sort of `if they build it, they will come' mentality at work, which can still be found today. These guys were dreamers, and Miami has always attracted dreamers,'' Llanes said.

The stadium was to be the jewel in the Alemán family's Miami real estate holdings, which included Cape Florida, now Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park; a home in the 4000 block of exclusive Pine Tree Drive; and the well-known McAllister Hotel in downtown Miami.

Alemán was a brazen and wealthy Cuban politician and a land baron who split his time between Miami and Havana. In Cuba, he rose to become minister of education, just like his father. He had pedigree, too. His father had been a hero of Cuba's war of independence.

In 1948, the investors formed the Magic City Baseball Club. Alemán was the silent partner with the deep pockets.

That same year, Alemán became a controversial figure in Cuba. He allegedly took part in the noontime theft of a $174 million fortune from the Cuban treasury's vault.

It's unclear if Miami Stadium was built with stolen money, but cash flowed freely for the project from the start.

The same week as the heist, the group purchased a local minor league team, the Miami Tourist, for $64,000, top money at the time. The Tourist were renamed the Miami Sun Sox.

The deal also included architectural drawings for a new stadium, a structure with a Broadway theater-like marquee and a cantilever roof which helped provide a rare, unobstructed view and shade for spectators.

Within nine months, the $2.2 million behemoth concrete and steel stadium rose on the corner of Northwest 10th Street and 23rd Avenue, near the railroad tracks.

Inside, the grandstand was meant to be a crowd pleaser, with luxurious lounges for club and reserved seat customers. It featured an 80-foot high elevator tower to the press box. Its signature feature: a 10-foot neon sign that flashed ``Miami Stadium.''

On opening night Aug. 31, 1949, the Sun Sox played against the Havana Cubans. ''The greatest single event in local baseball history is scheduled for tonight,'' that day's Miami Herald declared.

Typical of Miami fans, they bought up 13,007 tickets, deceiving owners into thinking they would always be there.

In attendance: Baseball Commissioner A.B. ''Happy'' Chandler. The owner's only son, José Braulio Alemán, then 17, gave the welcome speech. Someone yelled: ''Play ball!'' and everyone thought it would be forever.

Hardly.

The stadium never again attracted such a large crowd. Alemán's ambitious project would soon lose steam.

The following year, the elder Alemán died at age 46 of Hodgkin's disease. His teenage son became the stadium's sole owner.

Meanwhile in Cuba, political upheaval raged as Fulgencio Batista returned to power.

Rookie baseball executive Alemán became consumed with the island's future. He joined other prominent Miami Cubans in throwing financial support and guns to Fidel Castro's rag-tag army. He even stored rifles for the rebels under the stadium's grandstand and allowed them to train there at night.

The stadium dream was dying, and so was the younger Alemán's interest.

Fans, too, were losing interest in the Sox. One game attracted only 300 spectators. The team folded in 1954.

Alemán, then 25, wanting to be rid of his white elephant, sold it to the city of Miami in 1958 for $850,000 -- and it became the city's headache for the next 43 years.

Over several decades, the stadium was the spring training home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, a shelter for Nicaraguan refugees, a flea market and even a concert venue. Today, an apartment complex sits on the site.

It never made it to the majors.

For Alemán, life was never the same. He moved to Cuba in 1959 after Batista was overthrown. But it didn't take long for his vast family fortune to be confiscated by the Castro government. Betrayed, he returned to Miami and disappeared from the public eye.

In Miami, Alemán became a recluse. He kept his curtains drawn. He couldn't hold a job. He moved in with relatives.

His glory and wealth gone, he spent the rest of his years fighting personal demons. Friends and family said he believed ''the communists and the Mafia'' were trying to kill him. They said he would pass his days walking back and forth across his room, chain-smoking. At night, he fought insomnia.

He made news one last time. It was a Sunday morning in July 1983. He opened fire with a 9mm pistol inside the family's modest Miami home near Little Havana. He shot four relatives, killing his elderly aunt. He then turned the gun on himself.

He was 51.

For those that don't know.

http://www.digitalballparks.com/International/Miami1.html
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.miamidade.gov/hfa/images/200_pic_bldg/p_miami-stadium.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.miamidade.gov/hfa/project/pro_miami_stadium.asp&h=150&w=200&sz=22&hl=en&start=40&um=1&tbnid=myEDtxFgmG4SmM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmiami%2Bstadium%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN
http://miamistadium.net/

magic-city

May 16th, 2007, 03:47 AM

Take a look at this great old image. Look north towards the bay, Margaret Pace Park is not there yet; it was also filled-in from bay bottom as was Bayfront Park. Buildings still standing: Sears Tower, Trinity Church, Miami Women's Club, Shrine Bldg, AKA BLVD Shops, bldg now housing Manhattan Deli and others.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/BISCAYNELOOKINGNORTH.jpg

magic-city

May 16th, 2007, 04:01 AM

In this view looking south, you can see the Royal Palm Hotel, which was demolished around late 1930's. You can also see Brickell Key, the old Port Of Miami, Belcher Oil Tanks and the new Bayfront Park completed around 1926. You can also see the old P&O docks with train tracks which transported tourist to Cuba and the Bahamas. This is the railroad track that still exists next to the Freedom Tower. In fact, the orginal FEC Depot was located on the site of where the Freedom Tower now sits. It was later moved to just opposite the Dade County Courthouse.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/BISCAYNELOOKINGSOUTH.jpg

magic-city

May 16th, 2007, 04:12 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/FLAMINGO.jpg

magic-city

May 16th, 2007, 04:19 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/SEARS.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/SEARSSTREETLOOKINGSOUTH.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/SEARSSIDEWALK-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/SEARSSIDEWALK.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/PIGGLYWIGGLY.jpg

magic-city

May 16th, 2007, 04:25 AM

Burdines had a store on Biscayne Boulevard before Sears. Then Sears built its flagship store and later bought out the Burdines space to enlarge its Dept Store. Not too many people know about this part of Miami's history.

Take a look at these images, one a very rare one of the Burdines interior staircase. I beleive I recently saw an image of the Sears staircase before demolition on this forum, but could not find it now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/BURDINES.jpg

Interior of Burdines --Later became Sears. This is a very rare image of the interior I wanted to share with everyone here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/INTERIOROFBURDINESSEARS.jpg

Toucano

May 16th, 2007, 05:55 AM

Stunning Pics Magic City, Thanks for sharing!

Roark

May 19th, 2007, 10:08 AM

Thanks MC! Fantastic image...the first luxury hotel in Miami Beach is now the the most luxurious resort condo in Miami Beach.
Just like Henry Flagler demanded of the rooftop lighting, Zyscovich gives a big salute with the Blue beacon that demands attention.
What a visionary Flagler was...
I'm sure that in a hundred years my children will be thrilled that I bought in the same place the HF did!
Right now, I'm chillin' in that same place that Sinatra did...and in the same place that President Harding did!!!
Can you imagine... our President staying at the Flamingo?!?!?!?
(Before anyone says it...if old Billy still has it in him...he'd be here!!!..)

MIAMI MAN

May 21st, 2007, 05:38 PM

I was born in 1989 so for me to see what Miami was like back in the days makes me feel proud of where I am from. I love Miami an I love the people in Miami and I love when I go out of town and tell people that I am from Miami and it's amazing to see how people get so jealous.

GO MIAMI:cheers: :cheers: :banana: :banana: :cheers:

Toucano

May 22nd, 2007, 03:07 AM

Magic City, do you mind if I post these up on my blog? I`m writing an article on Macy's and they will fit in well...

Toucano

May 22nd, 2007, 05:40 AM

Ha, No Problem! Thanks...

magic-city

May 22nd, 2007, 05:40 AM

Toucano, Please used them. Just PM me when you write the article and send me a copy. Thanks!:)

Toucano

May 23rd, 2007, 08:15 AM

Here it is:

http://www.transitmiami.com/2007/05/whats-in-name-whole-lot-more-than-youd.html

floridian-will

May 23rd, 2007, 06:25 PM

Great job, I enjoyed reading it.

Rx727sfl2002

June 10th, 2007, 06:14 AM

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/5645/cccollins1921xoc4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

1912 - John Stiles Collins - The 5 foot - 3 inch giant, who fathered Miami Beach. Founder of the largest avocado farm in the world, the largest wooden bridge in the word - the smallest canal in the world. John Stiles Collins died when he was 90 years old, on February 11, 1928. If you should ask for his monument, look about you, for Miami Beach is his monument. Collins was 74 when this was taken in 1912, when he started his wooden bridge across Biscayne Bay.

http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/NEWCITY/DEPTS/clerk/historic_photo_gallery.asp#1912

Rx727sfl2002

June 10th, 2007, 06:17 AM

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3881/ccht000000xtl1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

1921 - February 21, 1921 - The Cuban steamship Hatuey, the first ship to land at the docks by the power house . It brought a Cuban band and the polo players. The larger ship operated between Miami Beach and Havana.

noland123

June 20th, 2007, 07:48 PM

Stunning Pics Magic City, Thanks for sharing!I just wanted to know where the old training hotel once was in downtown Miami? I remember a Royal Castle restaurant being right next door. I stayed there for three nights at 6 dollars a night back in 1976.What building is in its place now and does anybody have a picture of it?

noland123

June 21st, 2007, 01:35 AM

I just wanted to know where the old training hotel once was? I stayed there for three nights at 6 dollars a night back in 1976.What building is in its place now and does anybody have a picture of it?Why did they get rid of thr library in Bayfront Park? I thought that was a beautiful building.

minty

June 23rd, 2007, 04:36 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/elnuevomundoscuplturemiami.jpg
Look at the old Coppertone neon sign that used to be next to the Freedom Tower.

In my mind, the neon bulbs were coordinated to move around. Am I misremembering. And what was the name of that building? Wasn't there a little gas station under the sign?

spellbound

June 23rd, 2007, 09:56 AM

In my mind, the neon bulbs were coordinated to move around. Am I misremembering. And what was the name of that building? Wasn't there a little gas station under the sign?

You remember VERY well, minty.

The gas station under the Coppertone sign was a "Sinclair." Remember the "Dino the Dinosaur" logo?

I think you're right about the coordinated lights as well.

TAN...don't burn...use COPPERTONE:lol:

(and a belated thanks for posting those old horse ride pics from Northside!)

Rx727sfl2002

June 28th, 2007, 12:31 AM

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9227/image2qa3.gif (http://imageshack.us)

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1898/image3yg1.gif (http://imageshack.us)

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6828/rc20434nm1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7479/olympia01uy9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1150/olympia02so4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

spellbound

June 30th, 2007, 11:45 AM

Just in case anybody thought "open all night" was a recent phenomenon on the Beach. Note the backlit glass bricks (how hipster) :cheers:

http://images.oldhouseweb.com/stories/bitmaps/12237/bar.jpg

dave8721

July 2nd, 2007, 04:39 PM

Interesting article from the Herald this weekend:

http://www.miamiherald.com/486/story/155080.html

Hindsight: A South Florida historian looks back
Boom of the '20s helped make Miami's name

BY PAUL GEORGE
Special to The Miami Herald

Miami and Southeast Florida's building frenzy rekindled my interest in the great boom of the mid-1920s, which transformed a young city still rooted in its recent ''frontier'' past to that of an emerging metropolitan area.

While the present boom is broader in its reach and deeper in its financial underpinnings, the earlier expansion was a seminal moment in our history.

Miami, the center of the earlier boom, was riding a growth spurt as its population had soared from 5,500 in 1910 to nearly 30,000 by the onset of the 1920s -- the highest percentage growth of any American city in that era. By 1923, the city's population had reached an estimated 47,000. Two years later, it exceeded 150,000.

Many of the new arrivals were ''boomers,'' speculators drawn by the chance to get rich quick through real estate, especially in the sun-drenched Southeast. Others were brought here by alluring promotions from larger- than-life developers like George Merrick of Coral Gables, Carl Fisher of Miami Beach and Hugh Anderson of Miami Shores. New roads coursing through the Sunshine State made it easy to reach Miami.

The boom peaked in 1925, when hordes of speculators poured into Miami and real estate prices soared. Thousands of licensed real estate agents, as well as many who had never sold anything before, plied their trade day and night in the Miami area. A majority of them, led by the notorious binder boys who were ''professional'' speculators from the Northeast, worked the area along East Flagler Street. Some even ''accosted strangers'' on Flagler ''for the purpose of selling real estate,'' one observer said at the time.

More than 970 subdivisions were under construction by 1925. Hundreds of millions of dollars fueled the frenzy. A parcel of land selling for $1,000 in 1900 could command, by 1925, in excess of $100,000.

John Jackson Bennett, a longtime Miamian, recalled that during the boom, ``everything went kind of crazy. [Some days] I'd come up town, and it wasn't so long for [sic] I'd have a deposit on a piece of property. Maybe a few hundred dollars. In 48 hours you'd sell it and make several thousand dollars.''

All booms face the inevitable downturn, and Greater Miami's came in 1926. Buyers and investors grew scarce with the increasing wariness over the wildly inflated prices, as well as adverse rulings from the federal Bureau of Internal Revenue. Shipment of building supplies halted because of an overburdened railroad system and a harbor unable to function owing to a sunken vessel blocking its turn basin. That slowed building and increased doubt on the part of many that the expansion was still viable. The boom was over by the summer of 1926, before a mighty hurricane smashed into the area and exacerbated the economic downturn.

But the boom's legacy was new communities including Miami Shores, institutions such as the University of Miami and singular structures, including the Olympia Theater (today's Gusman Center). It lured new residents -- future community leaders. Lastly, the area assumed its place among the great resorts of North America.

spellbound

July 2nd, 2007, 09:03 PM

Good article, dave.

Some of the most interesting aspects to the 1920s boom to me are the things that didn't get built. Miami Springs, for instance, was supposed to carry its "theme look" far more extensively than it did...North Miami Beach (then called "Fulford By The Sea") was planned to have wide, elegant boulevards with fountains and exotically-named subdivisions...and the University of Miami was originally conceived on a very grand scale with the same mediterranean architectural style the Gables is noted for. In the original plans, the campus would have resembles a virtual "Subtropical Stanford" with bell towers, ornate buildings, and a huge on-campus stadium done "Coliseum" style like those on older campuses.

Unfortunately, the money ran out and the UM spent decades in temporary housing (including trailers and apartment buildings)...hence the regrettable nickname of "Cardboard College" that it held in years past.

dave8721

July 2nd, 2007, 10:15 PM

Some old maps:
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/county/dade/dade.htm

1859 - Miami labelled as Fort Dallas:
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/newy59/photos/13newy59.jpg

1888 Map from Rand McNally, interesting to see that Miami, "Cocoanut" Gove, and "Cutler" were the only populated places in Miami-Dade given names. Also Dade County went all the way up north of present day Palm Beach County:
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/rand88/photos/13rand88.jpg

Another 1888 Map with Miami Beach labelled as "Bulls Isla":
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/sanf88/photos/13ssnf88.jpg

By 1893 another location called "Biscayne" had been added to maps:
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/geor93/photos/13geor93.jpg

1897 - Lemon City added to maps
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/cent97/photos/13cent97.jpg

A 1910 Map:
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/cent97/photos/13cent97.jpg

1916 - Miami Beach still listed as "Bulls Island"
http://www.fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/nati16/photos/13nati16.jpg

spellbound

July 2nd, 2007, 10:29 PM

Love it!

Interesting to note how Dade County stretched all the way to the present-day Martin County line in the 19th Century ( I believe the county seat was actually Juno in those days).

Also, "Biscayne" was the site of present-day Miami Shores (there was little more than one or two homesteads along the bay approximately where NE 103rd street is today), "Arch Creek" is present-day North Miami, "Fulford" was where North Miami Beach exists, and "Larkins" is the site of South Miami. The populated areas (small as they were) in that 1916 map clearly show the impact of Flagler bringing the railroad down. Virtually everyone lived near the tracks.

Thanks for posting those great old maps, dave!:cheers:

Toucano

July 2nd, 2007, 11:03 PM

Nice Maps, Thanks!

Hia-leah JDM

July 2nd, 2007, 11:15 PM

In that last map Allapatah is the Western Frontier lol

DGM

July 3rd, 2007, 02:30 PM

Unfortunately, the money ran out and the UM spent decades in temporary housing (including trailers and apartment buildings)...hence the regrettable nickname of "Cardboard College" that it held in years past.

I noticed a plaque outside the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center that stated that the old 'Cardboard College' was located there.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

July 3rd, 2007, 05:33 PM

Dave:) , my friend,
Great old maps posted,
Thanks, :cheers:

If you notice in the Last map of the Now Miami-Dade county,
in 1916:banana:
It's the F.E.C. Train Line,
Not the road going through the county to the florida keys,
There was no U.S. # 1 then,
How I know:ohno: ,
The old " Arch Creek " ( marked on the 1916 map there ) Train Station is still there today , it was used for the North Miami Driver's licence place ,
the train Lobby was the driver's licence office and the old Arch Creek train station was used for the written test:nuts: and a waiting area to test the cars:nuts: .

spellbound

July 3rd, 2007, 07:32 PM

I noticed a plaque outside the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center that stated that the old 'Cardboard College' was located there.

The school was cobbled together using vacant hotel space, apartment buildings, etc. for nearly 25 years after its founding in 1926. The "Cardboard College" nickname came about because of the cheap partitions that were used to separate classrooms. UM didn't start to resemble an actual campus until the 1950s.

spellbound

July 3rd, 2007, 07:34 PM

The old " Arch Creek " ( marked on the 1916 map there ) Train Station is still there today , it was used for the North Miami Driver's licence place ,
the train Lobby was the driver's licence office and the old Arch Creek train station was used for the written test:nuts: and a waiting area to test the cars:nuts: .

That old North Miami FEC station was very close to where I grew up. It also makes a brief appearance in an "I Love Lucy" episode.

magic-city

July 31st, 2007, 01:27 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/elnuevomundoscuplturemiami.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/IMG_0837.jpg

magic-city

July 31st, 2007, 01:35 AM

I was here over the weekend to see the USS Eagle. Took the shot in the prevoius post before the storm got bad.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/elnuevomundoscuplturemiami.jpg

Take a look at this sculpture located at Bicentennial Park. I took a bike ride around downtown a couple of weeks ago, and rode into Bicentennial Park. To my amazement, the sculpture is still there. It has not been maintained for several years and does have plenty of graffiti on it, but the view from there is spectacular. This sculpture frames the skyline and the bay.

Look at the old Coppertone neon sign that used to be next to the Freedom Tower.

I hope that they restore and bring back to life this sculpture which is now almost 30 years old.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

July 31st, 2007, 06:26 AM

Oh Yeah, Magic CITY:) , our friend,
That is so Kool, and you got the USS Eagle in the background pic of the " NOW " Picture,:banana:
That was great thinking,
I was there at that Bicenntinnel Park back in 1976 , I believe the park just got finished for the opening ceremony July, 1976 party carnival rides weekend back then with the Arch in the park,
Very nice pictures Magic !!!:cheers:

I had to re-edited this one,
IMO, and I think this is true from my old family pictures when we were there in 1976 for the ceremonies and party , that Arch is now over 32 years old in that park, and I hope it stays there when the one or two Museum Buildings are put up there in the next 20 years , lol.

brickell

July 31st, 2007, 03:48 PM

what a shame that bicentennial park has been allowed to degrade to such an extent. I was there saturday to see the ship and it was also my first time in the park. Such a beautiful place and so much potential to be a great urban park.

MarcM305

August 6th, 2007, 10:30 PM

Thanks for the article Dave8721.
One day in about 100 years people will be talking about the incredible Real Estate market at the turn of the Millennium, and about all skyscrapers that were built during that time.
Booms and downturns are cyclical, just growing pains for our magic city.
:cheers:

Citi Boi

September 3rd, 2007, 06:02 AM

magic-city

October 2nd, 2007, 06:31 AM

Take a look at this view. The Templar City area in this image will be the site of Miami's Tallest in the future. The building at the foot of Biscayne Bay was the Royal Palm Club. You can also see the old Amphitheatre, site of the failed assassination attempt on Roosevelt in 1933 which killed the Mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak. If you are ever at Bayfront Park, look for the Historic Marker near the WW II Monument marking this event.

1937

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/templarcitymiami.jpg

201? What do you think the people from 1937 would think of such a beautiful building? :applause: Let's hope this masterpiece gets built for future generations to marvel at our epoch!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/BayfrontPark-lg.jpg

rider_of_rohan

October 9th, 2007, 04:10 AM

Check this out gang,

http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/memories

magic-city

October 11th, 2007, 06:10 AM

In this image you can see Brickell Avenue's first "Skyscraper" the 550 Brickell Medical Building, now the site of 500 Brickell Condos by the Related Group. The 550 Building housed the famous Bridge Restaurant which was operated by one of the founders of Burger King. He credits his experience here with his later success with Burger King. You can also see the old Brickell family home just north of the Church and south of the Brickell Apts, now Miami Circle site.

The Public Library in Bayfront Park was fairly new in this image. Imagine if Bayfront Park would have been extended to the mouth of the Miami River and the old DuPont Building site (Still not developed in this view). These parcels were in private hands and the City of Miami did not have the money or foresight to lock these parcels up for future public use.

This image is over 50 years old. Imagine what our city will look like in another 50 years.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/miamifrombrickell.jpg

Hia-leah JDM

October 12th, 2007, 04:11 AM

what happened to Brickell in the fifty years up to the booms of the 80's and today!?!? It looked like a real neigborhood west of the Brickell avanue, and today before all this construction it looked like a wasteland with empty lots and abandoned houses and warehouses!?

phillybud

November 13th, 2007, 06:42 AM

My family moved from Long Island, NY to South Florida in June 1963. I was eight going on nine years old that summer. Taking a drive to Miami Beach down Collins Ave. Past the new Doral and the Eden Roc and the Fountainebleau was so glamorous and exciting! We felt we were living in one of the best places on earth!

Real2travel

November 21st, 2007, 05:44 PM

who is interested to know more: visit
http://www.saudi-directory.net

Prince Victor

November 22nd, 2007, 01:22 AM

Oh, I can't believe about the old pictures that I've not ever seen them before, but thanks for the pictures. :)

Kailyas

December 11th, 2007, 11:00 AM

Yeah, we need to know our city history so that we could love our city more.... everlasting love.......

VisionMIA

January 13th, 2008, 08:17 PM

10 years ago..back in 1998!
pic courtesy from Quantum2010..
this was his balcony!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/Sotomon3/WestAvenue-1.jpg

Hia-leah JDM

January 14th, 2008, 12:44 AM

OMG!?! What a horrible city to be a skyscraper/skyline enthusiast, lol. Who would have thought. OMG what has happened in Miami the last 3 or 4 years is truly something amazing.

Quantum2010

January 14th, 2008, 12:57 AM

OMG!?! What a horrible city to be a skyscraper/skyline enthusiast, lol. Who would have thought. OMG what has happened in Miami the last 3 or 4 years is truly something amazing.

This is what I used to wake up to every morning, and I prayed to God to send me a skyline. :ohno: The pic is a bit grainy because somebody stole the original and this is from a copy, but you can see the difference. Only 4 buildings over 500 feet tall in 1998. :ohno: The Santa Maria had just been completed. That was the beginning of the move across the Bay. :)

stewie12

January 14th, 2008, 02:12 AM

wow what an incredible drastic change, it is by far the only city in the US that has accomplished such a drastic change when it comes to skyline. btw miami is not know for its skyline like NYC and chicago are. even if that was the current picture today it will still be unique of course for you skyscrapers aficionados will be kinda sad lol.

FIDEL CASTRO

January 14th, 2008, 02:22 AM

What a melancholic photo. :fiddle:

:hug:THANKS GOD FOR THE BOOM.!!!:drunk:

:applause:

FTL Beach Bum

January 14th, 2008, 03:05 AM

:shocked: Holy cow!

If anyone can find a recent shot from roughly the same angle somewhere here on the forum (I'm pretty sure at least one exists), post a link to it...I'll do a before-after GIF. :)

Quantum2010

January 14th, 2008, 03:31 AM

floridian-will

January 15th, 2008, 12:04 AM

Wow, thats amazing, it blows my mind away, words can't describe it.

FTL Beach Bum

January 15th, 2008, 12:07 AM

^^

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4725/westavenue1rx2.gif

:)

(Centered on the Wachovia bldg)

Quantum2010

January 15th, 2008, 12:40 AM

Great work, FTL Beach Bum, and great job of centering so that we really get the effect of 10 years of change. It really does look as though a forest of skyscrapers grew up out of nowhere. With the view I had compared to what the skyline looks like now, I think a lot of you better understand where I'm coming from now. :lol::cheers:

VisionMIA

January 15th, 2008, 03:39 AM

Wow! Beach bum that is awesome! yeeaaahhhH!!!You da Man Dude!!

Hia-leah JDM

January 15th, 2008, 06:07 AM

The evolution of Miami! OMFG!!!!

FTL Beach Bum

January 15th, 2008, 08:13 AM

The evolution of Miami! OMFG!!!!

And it's only going to get better. :D

stewie12

January 15th, 2008, 02:16 PM

holy s***

Quantum2010

January 16th, 2008, 12:25 AM

:shocked: Holy cow!

If anyone can find a recent shot from roughly the same angle somewhere here on the forum (I'm pretty sure at least one exists), post a link to it...I'll do a before-after GIF. :)

After having time now to study both pics, I don't think we could have found two better pics to compare. From the angles, I would say this Marc Averette is only a couple of buildings north of where I used to live at Forte Towers, now the Mirador. The Wikipedia shot looks as though it might have been taken from The Floridian. There is only a slight difference in the distance between buildings. :cheers:

betto8677

January 16th, 2008, 02:53 AM

Take a look at these two pics from 1985. I have tons of pics from 92-04 from miami, the problem is i am too lazy to scan them all, but soon i will scan then so we can compare. I used to go down on the rickenbacker causeway every year and take a picture of the skyline to compare. well, in these first picture you can see the Metrorail beeing built, and a lot of scrapers going up on brickell ave.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5332/216930460085954349b0ogk8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
brickell 1985

in the second picture you can see the brickell area in 1985 by night, you can also see the first condo built in brickell key, the brickell key one.
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3549/21685124416209f7ac89oeg6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

here are some videos from youtube. These one is from the movie crime busters by bud spencer, shot in miami in 1977

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I11LfvUKuDg

these one is called odds and eves, shot in 1978. The only tall skyscraper was the one biscayne building.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sqhFh95HWs0

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 16th, 2008, 05:35 AM

^^^^^^
Everyone Please click on those YOU TUBES !!!:cheers:

BETTO:)
:banana::cheers:,
Our friend,
You are the MAN of the Day !!!

Everyone:) !!!
My friends:banana:,
You have to check out Both of those YOU TUBES,
there below,
The second one has the Old Orange BOWL without the extended WEST endzone Rounded out part,
Fantastic Pics of MIAMI, Miami Beach and Hollywood Beach in the late 70's !!!:cheers:

Pablo63090

January 16th, 2008, 05:43 AM

Awesome shots, but that's Brickell in 1982, not 1985. Metrorail was still being built. Those shots were taken when the then Southeast Center was under construction.

spellbound

January 16th, 2008, 10:00 AM

The second one has the Old Orange BOWL without the extended WEST endzone Rounded out part,
Fantastic Pics of MIAMI, Miami Beach and Hollywood Beach in the late 70's !!!:cheers:

Chuck, that's actually not the Orange Bowl...despite the similarities. The west endzone took its current form well before the 1970s when this movie was made. I believe that expansion was done in the mid to late 1950s.

I think the stadium in the video is actually the old Tangerine Bowl in Orlando.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 17th, 2008, 06:25 AM

Chuck, that's actually not the Orange Bowl...despite the similarities. The west endzone took its current form well before the 1970s when this movie was made. I believe that expansion was done in the mid to late 1950s.

I think the stadium in the video is actually the old Tangerine Bowl in Orlando.

SPELLBOUND:),
our friend,
You could be right:banana:,
I was there in 1976 for the filming of " Black Sunday ":nuts:, as one of the fans getting knocked down by the fallen GoodYear Blimp in the crowd of 80,000 football fans:lol:,
and the West endzone expansion was just completed in 1970 for the Miami Dolphins:banana:,

Could still be an older 1965 film tho:ohno:,
But I have to look closer to that " You Tube " to see the markings on the football field there.
Sure did look like the Old Orange Bowl of 1964 !!!:cheers:

p.s. But remember SPELLBOUND,
my friend,
The Orange Bowl was over 65 years old and built in stages from a small stadium back in 1942 , Wow It was Old , my friends !!!

floridian-will

January 17th, 2008, 06:28 AM

I own a piece of the old Polyturf that was used in the Orange Bowl from 72-76. Its a piece of history :lol:

floridian-will

January 17th, 2008, 06:37 AM

Heres a pic. http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4742/1001361kz7.jpg

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 17th, 2008, 06:47 AM

I own a piece of the old Polyturf that was used in the Orange Bowl from 72-76. Its a piece of history :lol:

Floridian WILL:),
my WPB friend now living in Minnesota for college:banana:,
Good to see your great posts again,
and hope your keeping warm up there:cheers:,
I remember seeing that Polyturf grass in 1975-76 while being there for the film making,
After looking at that second " You Tube " closer,
Those are Orange Bowl Parade floats going on to the Orange Bowl field in that You Tube,
But What year was that Film taken for the Movie series,
1964 ???:ohno:
in Hurricane Cleo:bash: in Aug - Sept , 1964, the West endzone was the smaller version in the old pictures I have still from that Hurricane back then.
I'm trying to find that out still.
Spellbound could still be right.:cheers:

AddictedToSpace

January 17th, 2008, 06:54 AM

floridian-will

January 17th, 2008, 07:03 AM

Floridian WILL:),
my WPB friend now living in Minnesota for college:banana:,
Good to see your great posts again,
and hope your keeping warm up there:cheers:,
I remember seeing that Polyturf grass in 1975-76 while being there for the film making,
After looking at that second " You Tube " closer,
Those are Orange Bowl Parade floats going on to the Orange Bowl field in that You Tube,
But What year was that Film taken for the Movie series,
1964 ???:ohno:
in Hurricane Cleo:bash: in Aug - Sept , 1964, the West endzone was the smaller version in the old pictures I have still from that Hurricane back then.
I'm trying to find that out still.
Spellbound could still be right.:cheers:

Well Im tryin to keep warm:lol:, it hasnt been too bad yet. I'll have to watch those You Tube vidioes. Hope you figure out your Miami mystery soon:cheers:.

floridian-will

January 17th, 2008, 07:05 AM

It is possible that they used old footage. If you look at City Furniture commercials you will notice they are using footage that is at least ten years old. If you are not a resident of Miami-Dade, that follows the progress of the Skyline you would not notice that it is old footage.

Man I always loved the footage they used for the City Furniture commercials, but I think they should name themselves Miami Furniture.

Quantum2010

January 17th, 2008, 07:43 AM

The new national commercials that are coming out with Miami in it are pretty impressive. They leave you wondering what city is that until you recognize some of the new buildings. :lol::cheers:

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 17th, 2008, 07:52 AM

The new national commercials that are coming out with Miami in it are pretty impressive. They leave you wondering what city is that until you recognize some of the new buildings. :lol::cheers:

Quantum:),
our friend,
Also , there's the 2010 Superbowl here in Miami:banana:,
Wow, what an image of Downtown Miami that will be !!!:cheers:
All 3 Icon Brickell Towers completed with 600 Brickell Financial tower , Epic hotel and MET 2 office and Hotel towers completed with MINT , IVY and WIND , all completed with 1450 Office Tower and Capital One Tower completed with Infinity 1 completed and maybe Infinity 2 under construction,
How about that MET 3 Under construction by SuperBowl Game time and up Vertical by then !!!
WOW, I say it again,
Go Cranes and The Miami Dolphins in 2009:cheers:

floridian-will

January 17th, 2008, 08:00 AM

Quantum:),
our friend,
Also , there's the 2010 Superbowl here in Miami:banana:,
Wow, what an image of Downtown Miami that will be !!!:cheers:
All 3 Icon Brickell Towers completed with 600 Brickell Financial tower , Epic hotel and MET 2 office and Hotel towers completed with MINT , IVY and WIND , all completed with 1450 Office Tower and Capital One Tower completed with Infinity 1 completed and maybe Infinity 2 under construction,
How about that MET 3 Under construction by SuperBowl Game time and up Vertical by then !!!
WOW, I say it again,
Go Cranes and The Miami Dolphins in 2009:cheers:

New head coach, and we got "The Tuna" maybe by then they could turn it around.

betto8677

January 17th, 2008, 08:04 AM

Glad you guys like it.

Quantum2010

January 17th, 2008, 08:30 AM

Quantum:),
our friend,
Also , there's the 2010 Superbowl here in Miami:banana:,
Wow, what an image of Downtown Miami that will be !!!:cheers:
:cheers:

I have often thought about what the city is going to look like for tourists coming to the Superbowl that year. People who have been here before, but not in a while, are not going to believe it. :lol::banana:

spellbound

January 17th, 2008, 10:25 AM

SPELLBOUND:),
our friend,
You could be right:banana:,
I was there in 1976 for the filming of " Black Sunday ":nuts:, as one of the fans getting knocked down by the fallen GoodYear Blimp in the crowd of 80,000 football fans:lol:,
and the West endzone expansion was just completed in 1970 for the Miami Dolphins:banana:,

Could still be an older 1965 film tho:ohno:,
But I have to look closer to that " You Tube " to see the markings on the football field there.
Sure did look like the Old Orange Bowl of 1964 !!!:cheers:

p.s. But remember SPELLBOUND,
my friend,
The Orange Bowl was over 65 years old and built in stages from a small stadium back in 1942 , Wow It was Old , my friends !!!

Wow...I was also there for that "Black Sunday" filming, Chuck! All I really remember is being told to run for the exits over and over...:lol:

They also did some of the filming at a Dolphins/Colts game in the fall of 1975. I remember being there with my dad and watching the blimp fly VERY close to some of the light towers at the stadium. It's funny to see it in the film since those shots were done on a typically hot, hazy, and cloudy fall day and much of the other stuff was filmed on cool, crystal-clear days in midwinter. Doesn't fit at all...but hey, that's "movie magic" I guess.

Anyway, I did a little sleuthing and I'm convinced that the stadium in the video is not the Orange Bowl. Turns out the west endzone was filled-in (lower deck) in 1944, and the upper decks---both sidelines and west endzone---were completed by the mid-1950s. Since the video clearly isn't from that long ago (looks more like the 70s) it can't be the OB. From what I recall, the old Tangerine Bowl in Orlando looked a lot like what's seen in the clip at that time...so I think that's where it was shot. Plus, they had their own bowl game of the same name there, which would explain the marching bands, etc.

spellbound

January 17th, 2008, 10:33 AM

I own a piece of the old Polyturf that was used in the Orange Bowl from 72-76. Its a piece of history :lol:

That's awesome, Will!

That stuff had to be one of the crappiest fields in the history of football (just ask Larry Csonka how he felt about it) but man oh man did the Dolphins play some badass ball on it.

Very cool slice of history you've got there. :cheers:

Quantum2010

January 17th, 2008, 10:34 AM

You mean you guys might have met back then and didn't even know it? Kind of reminds of Dr. Zhivago. :):cheers:

spellbound

January 17th, 2008, 10:36 AM

New head coach, and we got "The Tuna" maybe by then they could turn it around.

I like the no-nonsense approach Parcells and Co. should bring to the franchise.

That said, this won't be a quick turnaround. The team needs help nearly everywhere and they'll likely get a lot younger and more inexperienced as this rebuilding job takes form.

Still, I think they may have finally have found some real direction. That's a first step back to respectability.

spellbound

January 17th, 2008, 10:42 AM

You mean you guys might have met back then and didn't even know it? Kind of reminds of Dr. Zhivago. :):cheers:

LOL...yeah...except for snowy backdrop to the Russian revolution part! :lol:

Funny to think Chuck and I were both running around the OB pretending to be panicked that day. I just don't understand how we were denied Oscars for our performance...:cheers:

Quantum2010

January 17th, 2008, 10:49 AM

LOL...yeah...except for snowy backdrop to the Russian revolution part! :lol:

Funny to think Chuck and I were both running around the OB pretending to be panicked that day. I just don't understand how we were denied Oscars for our performance...:cheers:

Oh, God! You're killing me! I'm trying not to wake the neighbors. Maybe since I work graveyard now, I'll try to get some acting work! Gotta have the Screen Actors Guild mail my new SAG card though.

betto8677

January 17th, 2008, 03:01 PM

Glad you guys like it. Here are a few more:
Miami supercops 1985
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RVg1Wx-rhzA Looks a lot like miami vice.

this one is very cool, it shows the entire metromover line. First there some shots at Boston if i´m not mistaken, then you can see downtown in the 80´s. The guy said it was shot in the early 80´s, but it looks like 88,89 because the J. Knight center was allready built.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GSE4-LyRXok

this is the ``mojo´´ series, the video is very retarded and pointless, it´s about a guy who acts like a monkey and get´s in trouble, but a least you can see the metromover and metrorail and a little Miami downtown 1986.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NKGOISO7GbE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qaAQhbcsVOE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AqgefQIq8Aw

the ``today show´´ from nbc shot live at the Bayside mall in feb 1989. very cool
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oVpYBxXhXj0

this one is a very beautiful video, it´s about a cruise trip in 1993. At the begining you can see the bayside, the port of miami and the Brickell area from the intercontinental hotel, see how the brickell avenue change in 15 years...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=owy_1sCqYIc
the part two of the video is hosted at another website, it takes for ever to load the hole video, probally because is a netherland website, but it´s defnetly worth watching, there´s a lot of skyline views from the ship.
http://www.123video.nl/playvideos.asp?MovieID=119676&q=+Ecstacy+&CatID=&zoek=Zoek&familyFilter=ON

this one is the ``today show´´ 1989, theres some cool advertising, and jane pauley discussing the Miami mass transit.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eISimpg9i6Y

this video is not old, is from 2004 or 2006, but i loved to see a helicopter fliying over the miami skyline
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-8B-xSzqQeQ

this video is very rare. It´s a complete footage from the Hurricane Andrew in august 1992. You can see coconut grove and kendall after the storm.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PFps53Yj9a0

Well that´s it for now guys, hope you enjoy, and sorry for my bad english.

Quantum2010

January 18th, 2008, 08:59 AM

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 18th, 2008, 01:19 PM

I love the Volvo S80 commerical with the woman leaping from a yacht to a helicoptor to meet her husband in his Volvo S80 to get her anniversary gift. It's a great True Lies spoof and the Miami skyline is featured all through it. :lol::cheers:

Quantum:), Our friend,
That was great,
and BETTO:), our " You Tube " friend:banana:,
thanks again:cheers:,
Jane Pauley looked beautiful back in 1989, wow what woman:) !!!
and in the Miami Supercops,
The real title was as showed in the clip there,
" DIE Miami COPS " lol.
so that 's the way other countries see our cops, humm.:nuts:

Euromax

January 20th, 2008, 09:35 PM

here i got some pictures from the downtown :) and a old post
:banana:
:cheers::|:rock:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f148/euromax/367351707_a2ec2fd992_b.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f148/euromax/419286697_c20453ed24_b.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f148/euromax/854714568_3653c5e61d_o.png

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f148/euromax/2058559112_b466d6cb62.jpg

Quantum2010

January 21st, 2008, 09:21 AM

I want to see a remake of the Creature from the Black Lagoon done here in Miami and have the thing running loose through Brickell Village and down Ocean Drive! :lol::banana:

ChuckScraperMiami#1

January 21st, 2008, 06:35 PM

I want to see a remake of the Creature from the Black Lagoon done here in Miami and have the thing running loose through Brickell Village and down Ocean Drive! :lol::banana:

Quantum:),
our Creature Movie friend,
That would be great:banana:,
watching the creature on top of the Mary Brickell Village parking garage in the back of the Unfinished foundation stacks of concrete pilings with the creature grabing the steel rod pointers and yelling " dammit woman , finish this Skyline Tower Now !! ":cheers:, then the creature starts jumping from tower to tower starting with the Axis twin towers to the south to the Infinity 1 tower leaping off that tower over to One Broadway tower, jumping over the 1450 office tower project onto the Four Seasond Hotel and condo tower,
leaping north over all the South bayshore drive towers starting with the Jade and going over the Plaza on Brickell towers,
jumping over the ICON Brickell towers onto the Epic Hotel and then onto MET 1 , then climbing to the top of the Wachovia Tower , then leaping onto the Everglades on the Bay towers,
then o marina Blue , 900 biscayne , then out on the 395 to South Beach, lol.

Quantum2010

January 22nd, 2008, 05:57 AM

Chuck, I didn't know you had such imagination. You could probably write a few movie scripts yourself and come up with something more interesting than what we have in the theaters today! :lol::cheers:

eddie88

January 24th, 2008, 08:46 PM

Wow! I didn't know that Yamasaki had designed the Mutual of Omaha building on Brickell.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/12-6-05mutual.jpg

one of my Grandfather's old buildings. thats the reason miami will always have a place in my hart

dave8721

February 14th, 2008, 05:31 PM

Interesting story from the Herald:

Completed in 1912, Burdine's five-story store at South Miami Avenue and First Street was downtown Miami's first "skyscraper."
http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/01/30/11/609-burdines-rc19936.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.jpg

http://www.miamiherald.com/996/story/402118.html

HISTORY IN THE MAKING | BY PAUL GEORGE
Roddey Burdine, Miami's 'Merchant Prince,' helped redefine city

Two seemingly unrelated events, one of recent vintage, the other impending, are linked by the legacy of Roddey Burdine, Miami's ``Merchant Prince.''

In 2005, Burdine's department store, known as the ''Florida Store'' with 51 full-fashioned outlets in the Sunshine State, was swallowed up by Macy's, America's largest department store chain.

Soon, the storied Orange Bowl Stadium, originally called Roddey Burdine Stadium, will face the wrecking ball. For many longtime Miamians, both events represent additional assaults on the city's rich history and on the memory of one of its finest citizens.

Roddey Burdine came to Miami at age 12 in 1898, when his father William Burdine moved the family to the two-year-old city from Bartow.

Soon Burdine & Son, a reference to the oldest sibling John, was operating in a tiny space on the site of today's Macy's in downtown Miami. Roddey did not enter the family business until the early 1900s, after William Burdine learned that his son had been suspended from Miami's grammar school and put him to work in the store. Roddey swept out the store and performed other menial tasks before working his way up to the level of a salesman and, later, a buyer in the shoe department.

Roddey exhibited a remarkable aptitude for the ''dry-goods'' business, and when William died in 1911, his 23-year-old son became president of the firm, which was then among the young city's most successful businesses with 15 employees, 5,000 square feet of floor space, and annual sales of $250,000. Among the enterprise's best customers were Miccosukee and Seminole indians, who had been trading partners with Burdine's since its inception.

In the early weeks of Roddey's presidency, Burdine's acquired contiguous property pursuant to erecting Miami's first five-story building. The completion of the city's first ''skyscraper'' in 1912, an audacious venture for a 24-year-old, created an immediate sensation. Burdine's retail space grew to 10,800 square feet, far larger than that of any of its competitors. Miami was growing rapidly, too, its population soaring from 5,500 in 1910 to nearly 30,000 in 1920.

This growth was a prelude to the great expansion and development that overtook Miami and other parts of Florida with the real estate boom of the 1920s. The boom transformed Miami, still exhibiting vestiges of its frontier past, into an emerging metropolitan center with an unofficial population of 150,000, and etched an awareness of the region into the nation's consciousness for the first time.

Burdine's was at the retailing epicenter of the boom. For fiscal year 1925-26, the store employed 1,750 people and registered sales of $10 million, the largest figure recorded up to that time by a department store south of Baltimore. The firm's advertising campaigns now reached into the northeastern United States, while its fashion apparel had gained a wide following among northerners preparing to visit Miami. Burdine's opened a second store on Miami Beach, and another in West Palm Beach.

Behind this growth was Roddey Burdine, a superb merchandiser and marketer with a hands-on approach to his employees and customers. Typically, Burdine would walk the floors of his stores with George Whitten, his top assistant and lifetime friend, at his side taking notes in his ever-present notebook on Roddey's suggestions and approaches to displaying and arranging goods.

Burdine's suffered from the economic downturn of 1926, as the boom dissipated and a mighty hurricane smashed into Greater Miami. Always concerned with the welfare of his employees and Miamians, in general, Roddey distributed through his store 50,000 free garments to storm victims.

Though the area slipped into an economic depression three years ahead of the rest of the nation, Burdine's continued to turn a profit while undertaking an extensive remodeling of the downtown store and opening, in 1929, another store on Biscayne Boulevard.

In the same year, Burdine's introduced ''Sunshine Fashions,'' its distinctive brand of warm-weather wear, which was enthusiastically embraced by visitors and brought the store an ever-larger national following.

By the mid-1930s, Burdine's financial picture had improved significantly. It was the 10th largest department store in the United States in terms of sales. The spectacular opening of the beautiful Art Deco-styled store on Miami Beach's fashionable Lincoln Road on the night of Jan. 10, 1936, drew thousands, including a bevy of models flown in from New York City.

Roddey Burdine, however, was not present for the event. He was suffering from undulant fever, an illness acquired from cows stricken with Bang's disease. Its symptoms are extreme fatigue, lingering fever and inflammation of the brain. Burdine succumbed to the malady in February 1936. He was 48. Miami's populace was shocked by the news of his death, for he was one of the municipality's most popular citizens. In the days following his death, the city's two major newspapers devoted several pages to Roddey Burdine.

The Miami Herald observed: 'Throughout the length and breadth of the city persons who had been his friends, who had been his customers, those too who had been his competitors were proclaiming Roddey Burdine as the `Merchant Prince of Miami.' ''

Two years later, the city's new football stadium, built by the federal Public Works Administration, was dedicated to the memory of Roddey Burdine in a stirring ceremony preceding a football game between the University of Miami and the University of Georgia.

Roddey Burdine Stadium, as it was known until the Miami City Commission renamed it the Orange Bowl in 1950, would touch more people in a greater variety of ways than any other structure in Miami and South Florida.

At the same time, the department store he placed on the path of greatness would ultimately expand throughout the Sunshine State. At least for a time, both institutions bore the Burdine name, a fitting tribute to Roddey Burdine, who impacted the lives of untold numbers of Miamians.