Fort Lauderdale in 1976, a U.S. Bicentenial year of news, numbers and places

 

Fort Lauderdale 1976 - looking north from A-1-A
Florida State Archives

 By Jane Feehan

Like most cities across the U.S. during 1976, Fort Lauderdale celebrated the U.S. Bicentenial. Many will also remember what defined the city that year: the places we went, the prices we paid, the movies we watched and what made the headlines.

A boat parade of 200 vessels from nearby towns converged at Bahia Mar where 600 red, white, and blue balloons were released. An air show, as well as power boat races drew crowds to Fort Lauderdale’s sands. At night, a street party with fireworks entertained hundreds at Las Olas beach. 

And, the British aircraft carrier HMS Royal Ark with more than 1,000 sailors docked at Port Everglades with 1776 emblazoned atop its deck. Its arrival honored the U.S. milestone. A few sailors teased, in good humor of course, about not losing that war, just "coming in second."

The Bicentenial here was recognized throughout the year by businesses. Retail stores ran ads with variations of 1776 as prices. Barstools were advertised on sale for $17.76 at Woolco. Scotty’s Appliances sold dishwashing machines for $177.60.  Realtors for Sea Ranch Lakes North condominium advertised “Bicentenial values,” i.e., special units for sale in the low $60s.

Fort Lauderdale in the news 1976

New Year’s Eve in Fort Lauderdale kicked off its third consecutive year of riots at the beach. Though slightly down from the prior year, arrests were made of “party” goers who threw rocks, brought down traffic lights and dared to run naked in the streets. Police arrested 60 of the partiers.

Fort Lauderdale High and Pine Crest School swimming coach Jack Nelson was named National High School Coach of the Year in 1976. The same year, he was tapped as Women’s Swimming Coach for the U.S. Summer Olympics.

Public restrooms at Las Olas beach and South Beach (Bahia Mar) were beset with problems such as drug abuse, vandalism and lewd activities.

The city’s winter tourist season was ranked as the “best ever,” but the state of the economy was top of mind for many. Fort Lauderdale saw a steep economic decline during 1974 and 1975 due to overbuilding. The unemployment rate in 1976, however, notched below the 8.9% reported the prior year.

Fort Lauderdale by the numbers in 1976

139,000: Population between census years of 1970 and 1980. Broward County was estimated at 935,000. In 1980 Fort Lauderdale residents numbered 153,279.

$13,420: Area median income estimated by the U.S. Census. Northern US income was reported  higher at $14,960.

$349: Price of sofa beds at Carl’s Furniture

$19.99: Price of bedspreads at Jordan March; pillows sold for $5.99

$4.50: cost of Easter brunch at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel

79 cents: Price of a dozen eggs at Publix by year’s end. Two loaves of rye bread sold for 89 cents.

Fort Lauderdale nightlife in 1976 

Mai-Kai Restaurant

Le Club International
Yesterday’s
Bachelors III
Broadway Dinner Theatre
Mr. Pip’s

Movies Fort Lauderdale watched in 1976 at local theaters 

Lipstick

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Silver Streak

Theater in 1976

Parker Playhouse with Zev Bufman productions such as Same Time Next Year

What some read in 1976
Trinity by Leon Uris
The Deep by Peter Benchley

The way we were in 1976 was notable. What will Fort Lauderdale be at the close of 2026, the 250th Anniversary of the U.S.?

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 1, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29. 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 4, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, April 11, 1976 

Fort Lauderdale News, July 1, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, July 18, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 26, 1976

U.S. Census

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in 1976, Fort Lauderdale in the Bicentenial Year

Caribe - high rise building frenzy visits Lauderdale by the Sea in the 1960s

 

Caribe near former site of hotel

Caribe, 4050 N. Ocean Drive

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea 33308

By Jane Feehan

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea did not escape the high-rise building frenzy of the 1950s-1960s in Broward County.

Though the small town had codified a five-story height limit, a variance* was granted in 1961 for a 15-story residential building in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Land for the project, the Caribe, extended east from A1A to the beach at the southern end of El Mar Drive, not far from the Galt Mile. The property was reportedly owned by Lauderdale Surf and Yacht Estates.

When the project, designed by noted architect Charles F. McKirahan (Mai-Kai, etc.) was announced by local news in July 1962, the developer and builder, Investment Corporation of Florida, claimed they had already sold 60 percent of the 149 or 150 co-op units. One-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments were sold, which included land for the building, for $12,500-$22,500. Monthly “assessments” were expected to run about $39 (!!). The company listed several projects in its portfolio at the time: Breakwater Towers, Breakwater Surf Club Homes, Lago Mar Place and Sea Club.

Construction on the Caribe started late July 1962.

Construction costs, reported during the early days were estimated at about $1.5 million. When completed, the project topped $2 million. One news headline months later claimed construction reached the top floor in only 69 working days, thus the customary tree was placed atop (is that still a thing?). The same Fort Lauderdale News story also included builder comments about concrete pilings used for the foundation amounting to 22 times taller than the Washington Monument.

The Caribe opened February 1963. Advertisements for the beachside co-op listed features such as a laundry room and storage on each floor, two elevators and a private beach. It took “only $5,233 “ to move into the Caribe, “the ultimate in oceanfront living.”  By 1964, all units had been sold.

 At this post date, units range in price from the $200,000s to the high $400,000s.  HOA fees and Co-op fees together are currently estimated at $1,000 (see real estate listings, these amounts are fluid and estimated as always).  

Having lived in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea once upon a time, I’ll always remember the giant cross of lights from top and width of the Caribe celebrating every Christmas and Easter. It was visible for miles. Never \more, I guess some would say.

 *Note: The 17-story Fountainhead condominium, with its Lauderdale-by-the-Sea address just south of the Caribe, was granted a zoning variance by the town about 1964-65. High rise buildings sit in the annexed beach area north of the original boundary of the town. Annexation occurred in 2001.

 

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, July 21, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov.17, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, March 4, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, March 16, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, March 30, 1964

Richard, Candice. Seventy-Three Years By The Sea: A History of Lauderdale By-The-Sea,  The Community Church of Lauderdale- By-The-Sea (1997).

 

USS Fort Lauderdale highlights bond between city and U.S. Navy

 

USS Fort Lauderdale 8.14.2025. Photo by Petty Officer
 2nd Class Joseph Miller (PHIBRON)

USS Fort Lauderdale leaving Norfolk, VA 8.14.2025

Photo by Seaman Andrew Eggert, 

By Jane Feehan

The city of Fort Lauderdale and the U.S. Navy have shared a strong connection since World War II. That link served as catalyst for naming a ship the USS Fort Lauderdale.    

The Navy Air Operational Training Command (Naval Air Station) in Fort Lauderdale  trained more than 1,700 pilots and crew members for that war, including young Ensign and later President George H. W. Bush. 

Fort Lauderdale was also departure site of U.S. Navy Flight 19 with its five aircraft and  search plane before mysteriously disappearing Dec. 5, 1945. Today the NAS operates as a museum and salute to Flight 19. It Iwas added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Decades later, a relationship with the U.S. Navy continues with Fleet Week in Fort Lauderdale when the city celebrates the Navy, Marines and the U.S. Coast Guard. Ships offer tours and displays of military equipment, drawing visitors from all of South Florida.

Mayor Jack Seiler (2009-2018) and Charles “Chuck” Black (d. 2016), U.S. Navy (retired), were instrumental in leading efforts for naming a ship for the city. Seiler brought a delegation from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C. in 2011 that paved the way to a green light in March 2016 from the U.S. Department of the Navy.

It was announced then that a ship would bear the name Fort Lauderdale, specifically a San-Antonio class ship, an amphibious transportation dock vessel. (It was reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that city officials mistakenly thought the name would be assigned to a coastal combat ship.)

San Antonio-class vessels support a landing force with supplies and personnel. They are named for cities such as New Orleans and New York. Three ships also bear names as tribute to each of the three cities attacked on September 11, 2001.

The USS Fort Lauderdale LDP 28, the U.S. Navy’s 12th such vessel at the time, was built in Pascagoula, MS by Huntington Ingalls Industries. In 2025, 14 sail out of a planned 26 similar amphibious ships. The vessel features advanced weapons, helicopter platforms that can also facilitate vertical takeoff and landings of other aircraft, and holds about 700 sailors and marines.

Launched on March 28, 2020, and christened Aug. 21, 2021, the USS Fort Lauderdale was delivered to the U.S. Navy Nov. 30, 2021. Its port is Naval Station Norfolk. 

The ship made national news when it was deployed to the Caribbean Sea in support of operations near Venezuela in September 2025.

No doubt locals will line up to see the first ship named for Fort Lauderdale during a future Fleet Week.

Characteristics:

684 feet long

105-foot beam

Draft 23 feet

Speed -22 knots

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources

South Florida Sun Sentinel, March 11, 2016

South Florida Sun Sentinel, July 12, 2016

Dvidshub.net or the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service  

U.S. Navy - James L. McQuiniff CDR USN LPD28

Tags: USS Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 2000s 

Palm Beach Gardens - year-round and winter residents, the rich, the famous and PGA golfers

Palm Beach Gardens
shopping center

By Jane Feehan 

Palm Beach Gardens wasn’t developed as a resort community. A project of insurance magnate John D. MacArthur, the town started out with his vision of 55,000 homes for year-round residents.

MacArthur (1897-1978) moved to Florida in 1958 from Chicago. He had already made millions in Florida real estate and owned 100,000 acres, according to The Miami Herald. The newspaper also wrote that he had put up money for the development of Carol City in Dade County.

His Palm Beach County purchase of 4,000 acres sat west of North Palm Beach and three miles from the Florida Turnpike. MacArthur wanted it to be named Palm Beach City.  Palm Beach County passed a resolution in March 1959 to prohibit use of that name because it could convey that the hub of Palm Beach County was a suburb.

The name Palm Beach Gardens seemed less of a threat; the city was incorporated June 20, 1959. MacArthur hired architect Tony Sherman (who also designed the Yankee Clipper and the Jolly Roger hotels in Fort Lauderdale) to put his talents to work for the new community.

MacArthur reportedly said, “property isn’t worth much until you bring people into the area.” In August 1960, after work began on Palm Beach Gardens, he struck up an agreement with Radio Corporation of America—RCA—to open a facility in the new city with their purchase from MacArthur of 104 acres and their plans for more than 1,000 jobs. RCA opened on land not far from SR-A1A in 1961 and operated there until 1986. A street, RCA Boulevard, remains off PGA Boulevard near the "Downtown" shopping center.

Like much of South Florida, Palm Beach Gardens grew over the decades, attracting both winter and year-round residents including some high-profile sports icons such as tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams and several entertainment figures. 

Palm Beach Gardens has garnered national attention for the PGA National Resort with its golf courses and tournaments. Recreation also includes its 1.6-mile beach, which sits in the beautiful John D. MacArthur State Park. It’s a protected hammock and mangrove strip off the barrier island with kayaking, picnicking and more.  

Juno, Jupiter, Jupiter Island, and Tequesta lie close to and north of Palm Beach Gardens. Abacoa borders Jupiter. It's all nearby.

This city attracts residents from communities as far away as Vero Beach who shop at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens, a center opened in 1988. It now includes Whole Foods, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s and a roster of high-end stores not found in other parts of county. 

Shopping in other PBG locations includes a line up of specialty food and clothing stores. A few top-notch restaurants also draw locals and those from nearby towns for a night out.

Palm Beach Gardens stats (refer to sources below article for data sources; stats are very fluid)

Population (2024): 63,284

Population growth: 2020-2024 estimated 7%

Winter residents - 11% + (probably more)

Median age: 50.1 years; about 31% of the population is over 65.

Composition: female – 52.6%, 77 % white with 23% combined Asian, Black, and Hispanic minorities.

Median household income  $110,563 (Data USA)

Industries of employment: healthcare, professional scientific, and technical services

Real estate, very fluid numbers (August 2025)

Zillow lists 841 homes for sale

Realtor.com lists 1,031 homes for sale

Median listing: $799,000

More on John D. MacArthur

John D. MacArthur owned Bankers Life and Casualty, once the largest health and life insurance company in the United States. Forbes noted in the late 1950s that he was one of the 10 wealthiest men in the United States.

He owned and lived modestly in the Colonnades Beach Hotel on Singer Island where he also conducted much of his business. Upon MacArthur’s death, his net worth was estimated at $700 million.

Since his death, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded more than $6.8 billion to “nearly 10,000 organizations and individuals in 116 countries and 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands” (https://www.macfound.org)

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

The Palm Beach Post, March 20, 1959

The Palm Beach Post, March 29, 1959

The Palm Beach Post, Aug. 14, 1960

The Miami Herald, Dec. 11, 1960

The Palm Beach Post, Jan. 5, 1978

New York Daily News, Jan. 7, 1978

Palm Beach Gardens- pbgfl.gov

Data USA

Data Commons

US Census

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/john-d-macarthur-beach-state-park

Tags; Palm Beach Gardens, PGA, John D. MacArthur, Palm Beach County history, Downtown Palm Beach Gardens

McCrory's downtown Fort Lauderdale - a five and dime bows to suburban growth

 

McCrory’s Store

221 South Andrews Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Closed 1985

By Jane Feehan

The Great Depression didn’t bring Fort Lauderdale to its knees as it did in much of the country. There were signs of life in the city, including a new hotel on the beach and another on Las Olas Boulevard. Businesses continued to open downtown.

Among newcomers to Andrews Avenue downtown was the Pennsylvania-based five and dime chain, McCrory Stores. Their doors opened in Fort Lauderdale December 26, 1936. R.F. Coppedge, vice president, claimed the new store was one of the company’s finest, with its 700-ft long mahogany counters and shelves, terrazzo floors. The two-story 4,800-sq.ft. building also featured unusually high ceilings (it later expanded to 10,000 sq.ft).

McCrory’s also installed “huge ventilators” that exchanged air frequently. According to Coppedge, the company spent more on the Andrews Avenue store than they did on most others. He also told the Fort Lauderdale Daily News that he was impressed with Fort Lauderdale and its possibilities.

According to news accounts, hundreds of shoppers showed up before McCrory’s opened at 8:30 am the day after Christmas 1936. Early advertising paid off. The company bought two full-page ads several days before the big day. Help-wanted ads for “50 salesladies” to work in their 27 departments appeared December 19. They also opened a lunch counter.

McCrory’s remained a popular spot to buy inexpensive goods for decades: bar soap for 6 cents in the 1930s; lampshades for $1 and boys’ shorts for 50 cents in 1939; fabric remnants for 29 cents in 1949; jeans for $13.99 and ladies’ shirts for $2.00-6.99, Liberty Bell pencil sharpeners for a dollar in the 1980s. The most expensive item in the store in the 1980s was a $30 bike.

McCrory’s opened up additional stores in Lauderhill, Margate and Deerfield. As Broward County grew, retail businesses shifted away from downtown Fort Lauderdale into the malls. Nationally, retail shifted into a new paradigm of five and dime stores to big box stores.

In 1984, McCrory’s announced it would close its Andrews Avenue store. The news drew disappointment, including that of U.S. Congressman E. Clay Shaw (1939-2013) who reminisced about how it was in the 1940s and that he wanted to preserve it if possible. Shaw said Fort Lauderdale’s downtown held lots of promise (it did but not for retail as today’s skyline proves). McCrory’s on Andrews shut its doors Jan. 31, 1985; the company declared bankruptcy in 1992 and ceased to operate in 2002.

The old McCrory’s sign remains at the old building above a popular night spot; But why the 1921 date? According to the National Museum of American History, a Smithsonian affiliate, McCrory’s founded Oriole Records in 1921 and exclusively sold their records from 1921-1938, which may explain the signage date. In 2004, the building owner told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he liked the sign. There it sits as a worthy reminder of Fort Lauderdale’s early days.

McCrory’s legacy leaves much beyond those five and dime stores: part of the company morphed into K-Mart and other retail businesses—much more than this post will detail. But something else the store on Andrews Avenue left are memories of great prices, a popular lunch counter and the way we once were.

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

National Museum of American History

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 21, 1936

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Dec. 17, 1936

Fort Lauderdale Daily New, Dec. 19, 1936

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Dec. 26, 1936

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 2, 1939

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Nov. 9, 1984,

The Miami Herald, Nov. 10, 1984

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 25, 1985

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 27, 1985

Tags: McCrory's Store, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale Retail history

A drive through Fort Lauderdale's Evergreen Cemetery, a visit with the city's past and its famous

  

Evergreen Cemetery (near Cordova Road, north of SE 17th Street)
1300 SE 10 Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-828-7050.

https://www.parks.fortlauderdale.gov/programs/cemeteries

 

Grave markers at Fort Lauderdale’s Evergreen Cemetery summon up thoughts about the city’s pioneer days. Many pioneers, as well as recent notables, lie in rest here.

According to the city, Evergreen Cemetery is one of its oldest. Before Fort Lauderdale was incorporated as a town in 1911, some residents were buried at a graveyard that later served as the site of South Side School on South Andrews Avenue.

In 1910 or 1911, pioneers Ed and Susan King carved out a section of their 90 acres for the cemetery. Near today’s Rio Vista neighborhood, it is bordered by Cliff Lake to its east. The city of Fort Lauderdale purchased the cemetery in 1917 for $2,000 and added to it with subsequent land buys. Evergreen Cemetery now occupies 11 acres.

Some graves serve as the final resting place of veterans including Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Edgar Bras from Iowa (search for post about him on this blog). A few veterans’ graves were moved from the old South Andrews site, so their markers display dates that predate that of Evergreen Cemetery.  A small section was set aside for Jewish residents, including Isadore “Pop” Sterling who owned an early Las Olas clothing store.

Other names should ring familiar: pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan, Philemon Nathaniel Bryan, Tom Bryan, City Attorney George W. English II, Logan T. Brown of Brown’s Good Food, gathering place for Fort Lauderdale’s influencers; former Mayor Virginia Shuman Young, early Judge Fred Shippey, third county judge Boyd H. Anderson, billionaire businessman H. Wayne Huizenga and actor-comedian Leslie Nielsen of the Airplane parody.

Evergreen is one of four cemeteries owned and maintained by Fort Lauderdale. The other three: Lauderdale Memorial Park, Sunset Memorial Gardens and Woodlawn (search for post about Woodlawn).

Evergreen Cemetery is a Florida State Heritage Site with a small, one-way road wending through grave markers. Roadside parking only. It’s a peaceful spot with gravesites still available. A brochure or map of Evergreen Cemetery with some graves listed resides at the URL above as well as hours of visitation. This cemetery is worth a visit. 

Its east border, Cliff Lake, looks like an elongated waterway rather than a lake. It includes a city park at 1331 SE 12^th Way that sits within an adjacent neighborhood.

Cliff Lake

Sources:

City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation

https://www.parks.fortlauderdale.gov/programs/cemeteries

Tags: Fort Lauderdale cemeteries, Fort Lauderdale pioneers, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1900s

Traveling in Florida before highways: age of the stern wheel

 

Lillie and the Roseada Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Canals, lakes, and rivers comprised key transportation networks throughout South Florida in the early 1900s. The North New River Canal facilitated commerce and leisure travel from Fort Lauderdale to Lake Okeechobee and on to Fort Myers.

Several stern-wheel boats, including the Lillie, Napoleon Broward, and Suwanee, operated from Fort Lauderdale carrying winter vegetables, supplies and passengers to the lake. Leaving Fort Lauderdale late in the afternoon, excursion passengers could look forward to reaching Lake Okeechobee by the next morning. 

A trip to Fort Myers was more complicated. A traveler would start in Fort Lauderdale on the North New River Canal, cross Lake Okeechobee, take the Three Mile Canal to Lake Hicpochee, then the Caloosahatchee River to Fort Myers – a trip of several days. Today, car travel from Fort Lauderdale to Lake Okeechobee would take about two hours; from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers, about two and a half.

Elements of the great plan to drain the Everglades, the canals. could get very low in dry winter seasons. Cargo boats would sit in mud for a week at times. When they finally made their destinations, shippers would sell vegetable cargoes for whatever they could get - or sell their boats. Everglades travel made shipping an unpredictable business but leisure travelers took in a world of wildlife we’ll never see.

Drawing of the Lillie, circa 1900 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Copyright © 2020, 2025. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Tags:

Florida transporation, Florida History
_______
For Lake Worth travel, see: 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/01/lake-worth-lagoon-early-florida.html

For Intracoastal as tollway see: 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/12/intracoastal-waterway-toll-days.html

Tags: stern wheel travel, Florida in the 1900s, early Florida tourism, transportation

Sources:
Weidling, Philip J., Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966)
Weekly Miami Metropolis, Sept. 8, 1916
Miami News, Jan. 11, 1922