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| Hollywood Beach 1925 State Archives of Florida/Romer |
By Jane Feehan
Florida boom
days of the 1920s drew people from around the United States looking for new opportunities.
A new frontier, the state provided a tabula rasa for shady fortune seekers and
solid entrepreneurs. Joseph Wesley Young was an entrepreneur with experience, a
vision for the future, and a knack for promotion.
Born in Seattle in 1882 (some news accounts indicate San Francisco), Young reportedly ventured to Alaska during its Gold Rush days of the late 1890s. However, a more lucrative career in real estate development awaited him in Long Beach, CA about 30 miles south of the new city (founded 1903) of Hollywood.
When Long
Beach flooding dashed near-term prospects for development, Young and his family
moved to Indianapolis in 1916. There, he served as head of Home Seekers Realty Company.
At the time, word about Florida opportunities made headlines. Miami then was
often referred to as the “Los Angeles of the South.” Also, the success of Indianapolis
native, Carl Fisher, the force behind the Indianapolis Speedway, Dixie Highway
and the development of Miami Beach, may have enticed Young.
Young visited
Miami in 1920 and reportedly purchased and sold 120 acres in Allapattah (Miami Herald Aug. 14, 1921), a
Miami suburb. He then bought 4,000 acres between Hallandale and Dania, bordered
on the west by Dixie Highway and in the east by the ocean. Influenced by the success—and
popularity—of Hollywood, CA, he decided to name his new planned
community Hollywood-by-the-Sea.
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| Hollywood Beach Hotel 1947 State Archives of Florida/Fairchild |
He began to
clear and plat land for his new community, much of it mangroves, during the
summer of 1921. Young’s newly formed Hollywood Land and Water Company operated
from the Columbia Building in downtown Miami. The company claimed it would
build a city of comfort and beauty. The municipality would include a wide boulevard
(120 feet reported as the widest in the state), a highly landscaped 10-acre circle
park, school, utilities and a train depot. He built 25 bungalows for “regular”
residents (year-round?) and later a tent camp near Dixie Highway for winter visitors.
He also built
the impressive 100-room Hollywood Beach Hotel (today Hollywood Beach Resort),
the Parkview Hotel in Circle Park, the Great Southern Hotel, the Hollywood
Hills Hotel and the Hollywood Golf and Country Club. Young could also be
credited with encouraging entertainers to consider Florida winter performances. He
paid as much as $4,000 weekly to stars of the day, including “Shimmy Queen” Gilda
Gray.
Young’s
marketing of the new community included ad campaigns in the nation’s Midwest offering
Pullman car transport to Miami and bus rides from there to his nascent community
18 miles north. He also offered a free meal to prospects, a fish bake whipped
up by famous chef of the day, “Dad” June of Indianapolis. He claimed thousands showed
up to see his new development.
Young’s advertising
savvy paid off.
It was
reported in 1934 that he had amassed $100 million in sales of Hollywood acreage
with the biggest one day of “aggregated sales” of $2.5 million. Young’s grand vision
became a reality in 1925, when Hollywood was incorporated. He was tapped as the city’s
first mayor. He was also a key player in the development of Port Everglades,
which opened in 1928 (see index).
The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 plowed through and damaged much of Hollywood, but as with most of South Florida, the city recovered.
Young visualized other projects, including Hollywood-in-the-Hills in Old Forge, NY. He claimed New York City as his permanent residence in the late 1920s but continued winter residency in Hollywood where he died in 1934 of a stroke and/or heart attack at age 51. He is buried in Long Beach, CA.
Young's house at 1055 Hollywood Boulevard has been added to the U.S. National Register
of Historic Places. Today, the city of Hollywood is home to about 154,000 and
is among Florida’s top 10 largest cities.
Sources:
https://www.geni.com/people/Joseph-Young/2667926
Miami News,
Aug. 14, 1921
Miami News,
Sept. 14, 1921
Miami News,
Nov. 19, 1921
Miami
Herald, Feb. 27, 1934
Miami News,
Feb. 27, 1934
