Fort Lauderdale's Little Yankee Stadium: work now, play later and people power

 

Little Yankee Stadium,
State Archives of Florida

Little Yankee Stadium

Today,  Floyd V. Hull Stadium
2800 SW 8th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-828-7275

 

By Jane Feehan

Some called him “candidate for a nuthouse.” But Floyd Vance Hull, attorney and father, showed the city of Fort Lauderdale what could be done with a little elbow grease and a lot of community spirit.

In June of 1963 he presented a plan for a Little League ballpark to the city commission and its parks and advisory board. The proposed site was a “swampy” piece of “surplus” city land, not far from where the  Yankees trained. 

The catch: the park wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime; it would be paid for with donations. He asked only that the city prioritize Little League operations for 10 years in exchange for a dollar a year. Hull’s proposal raised eyebrows and stoked ridicule. Mayor Cy Young held little regard for the idea and had wanted to sell the land.

Perhaps on a dare or convinced by Hull’s enthusiasm, Fort Lauderdale approved the plan in September 1963.

Hull delivered. By January 1965 he had raised more than $200,000 in cash, materials and labor. About 1,100 contributors stepped up to the plate (and were individually credited per terms of agreement); donations continued to flow as the first phase of the project was completed that month. 

Over 60,000 cubic yards of fill was donated and then leveled at no charge. About 12,000 square feet of sod was laid by volunteers—mostly fathers, mothers, Little League umpires and players. A slogan was adopted, “work now, play later.” Lighting eventually installed was deemed as good as that of Yankee Stadium and the Orange Bowl.

Little Yankee Stadium transitioned from a crazy idea to reality. City and county officials were “astonished.” Hull lauded retired U.S Army Reserve Captain Alan Morton and his Fort Lauderdale engineering unit for bringing the project to fruition. His team of 131 reservists worked with trucks on the field as part of their weekend training commitment.

In mid-February 1965, the Federal Little League and its senior division held tryouts for 24 teams with slots for 400 kids, 9-15 years old. A tournament was held that summer. The Broward County School Board installed 2,000 feet of fencing in exchange for rights to play junior varsity football at the park, which soon held three baseball fields and one football field. Sponsors such as Powell Ford lined up to help pay for state tournaments.   

By March 1971, stadium facilities, valued at $750,000 held 1,000 seats, included a press box, concession and restroom building. Little League headquarters claimed the park to be the “finest facility of its kind in the nation" and the “number one Little League facility in the world.” 

The Big League World Series featuring 16-18 year olds, was held at Fort Lauderdale’s Little League Stadium for 29 years until 1998. Slammed by low attendance and difficulties securing hotel accommodations for its nine-day schedule, the series moved to another state. (The series ran its course from 1968 until after the 2016 games.)

Today Fort Lauderdale’s Floyd Hull Stadium, a city park, features baseball/softball facilities, grills, tables, swings and more for recreation.   

Floyd Hull, president of the local Federal Little League, the Little League Stadium and director of the Big League World Series retired in 1998 or 1999. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, graduated from Pompano Beach High School and the University of Florida law school. He served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) from 1951-1954 and as municipal judge in Fort Lauderdale. A husband and father of four, he died at 87 in 2015. 

His was a life well lived and testament to “people power.”  

Today we need more with Hull’s vision, enthusiasm and ability to rally community spirit.

 Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 10, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, May 21, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, March 30, 1971

Fort Lauderdale News, April 3, 1973

Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 10, 1998

Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 29, 2015

Tags: Little Yankee Stadium, Floyd Hull, Fort Lauderdale sports, Florida sports, baseball, Fort Lauderdale history, Little League, Big League World Series

Short lived Winterhurst leaves Fort Lauderdale ice hockey legacy

 

Photo by Duckhunter6424, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Jane Feehan

Winterhurst, Fort Lauderdale’s first ice rink had a short run in the mid-1960s. Its most enduring legacy, perhaps, was interest in the feasibility of Florida ice hockey.

Ohioans Doris and John Nolan announced in September 1962 that ground was to be broken for an ice skating facility at 2829 North Federal Highway (today site of a Tesla showroom and service center). They brought 12 years of experience operating ice rinks in their home state and had raised $575,000 for their Fort Lauderdale project.

The 16,000-sf space would house an 85 ft by 185 ft ice rink with seating for about 800. A snack bar, lockers, rental skates, blade sharpening and sports shop to sell skates would also be available. A lot went into construction of that ice rink: 10 miles of pipe encased in concrete and 120 tons of refrigeration. Sepper Construction built the facility with a standard size ice hockey rink, and refrigeration experts Ahrendt Engineering oversaw rink construction.

It seemed like a good idea. The Viking, an ice-skating arena/restaurant and cocktail lounge had opened with some fanfare that summer in Dania Beach with Don Granger as president. The Nolan’s project had the support of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Cy Young who was enthusiastic about adding to Fort Lauderdale’s tourist attractions.

Winterhurst opened February 8, 1963. An opening attraction, the Zamboni, “a mechanical marvel,” cleared and polished skating surfaces (versions still operate today). Weekly advertisements for the rink announced a seven-day morning and night schedule for individual skating and figure skating clubs.  

By October that year, sponsors such as Cars-A-Popin and Anaconda Realty rallied to organize the South Florida Hockey Association; it was headed by Steve Craig. The association introduced their teams (based on age divisions), players and the sport to Fort Lauderdale on October 28, 1963—the first competitive ice hockey game in Fort Lauderdale. (Ice hockey was already a thing in Miami by the early 1960s.) 

Winterhurst hockey tickets, according to advertisements, were a $1.10, including tax. The association organizers hoped to see a “full-fledged professional hockey league” in South Florida. They also envisioned Fort Lauderdale as “one of the world’s sports centers.”  

Whether spurred by the high cost of operating or low attendance, the Nolans began transitioning Winterhurst to a teen dance center in 1965. They wanted to take a couple of months off to melt the ice and open the doors to teens for part of the year.  Fort Lauderdale teacher David McKinley partnered with the Ohio couple to oversee a place for local kids to go. Winterhurst could host as many as 3,000 dancing teens and already had a powerful sound system.

By June 1965, the place was opened to large teen dances, a hootenanny with square dancing and pool tables (a note from parents was required to play) and pinball machines. The arena was also the site for band auditions and charity flea market sales. The first dance drew 500 teens; about 1,350 attended the second dance. Competition may have come from the Armory where teen dances had been held for three years by 1965. There were also teen dances at the War Memorial Auditorium during those years.

Winterhurst patrons were locked out in October 1965 by the building’s landlord. (Some history is missing here because first news accounts indicated the Nolans owned the building.) The couple said they had not paid rent for two months while ice melted at the rink.  Another hangout for teens, Code 1, followed the Winterhurst occupancy. The Nolans moved on to manage the Orleans Inn in Pompano.

And ice hockey? Is this a back-to-the future tale about the Florida Panthers? Not exactly. But it does point to the keen interest locals and new residents have held in the sport since the 1960s. 

The missing ingredient was money. That arrived with billionaire Wayne Huizenga. He founded the Florida Panthers in 1993 after the National Hockey League granted him an expansion franchise. 

The Florida Panthers played in Miami until 1998 until they moved to Broward County to play at the FLA live Arena in Sunrise.The Florida Panthers, still on the move, will open a training facility at the War Memorial in late 2023. Skating will be open to the public as well as restaurants and other amenities.  

A full circle tale …

 Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Photo of skates: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tubeskate.jpg (D

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 29, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 25, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 26, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 17, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News Nov. 3, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 23, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, April 3, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, June 2, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, June 11, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 15, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, July 22, 1966

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 18, 1967

Florida Panthers

Tags: first competitive ice hockey game in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale ice skating, Florida Panthers

Actor Mickey Rourke debuts professional boxing career in Fort Lauderdale

 

Rourke (R), 1991
State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan

Among highly publicized events at Fort Lauderdale’s War Memorial Auditorium during its decades-old history was actor Mickey Rourke’s professional boxing debut in 1991. 

In March 1991 Sal Cherch, an entrepreneur and boxing promoter from Lauderhill, spotted Rourke at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach and asked him if he’d like to participate in a match two months later. Rourke, already a well-known actor (and nearly an icon in France) agreed. He had chalked up a number of amateur fights during the 1970s and continued to train, sometimes at the Miami Beach gym. Cherch picked May 23 as the date because he planned to donate event profits to the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 23.

Rourke, 34, would fight part time mechanic Steve Powell, 33, from the Fort Lauderdale area. Powell, a Medfield, MA native, came to South Florida less than a decade before and opened an auto garage in Oakland Park. He was also a boxer. By 1991, he had scored four wins out of eight professional bouts. Powell had just won a match in the Bahamas and was reportedly known for a strong right jab. He was promised $300 for a four-round fight with Rourke.

Thanks to Rourke’s team, the media expected to see a roster of celebrities including Don Johnson and wife Melanie Griffith, Kim Basinger, Sylvester Stallone and Gene Hackman. About 2,400 showed up to watch Rourke, a 168-pound super middle weight, duke it out with the part-time mechanic. Of the spectators about 375 presented press credentials. The event was expected to be a Hollywood story, if not a memorable boxing match.

The celebrity list of those who actually appeared at War Memorial that night was a short one. Counted among the famous was boxing promoter-trainer Angelo Dundee, fighters Leon Spinks and Alexis Arguello, Rourke’s girlfriend actress Carre Otis (Wild Orchid) and Robert Conrad who left “in disgust” after round 3.

Rourke, booed several times, reportedly connected a few questionable jabs to the back of Powell’s head. He also lifted and pushed Powell a few times through the ropes, more befitting a wrestling match rather than a boxing bout.

The four-round fight was called in a decision (no surprise) for Rourke. Two judges scored 38-37, the third judge, 39-37. The real winner was the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 23. As promised, Cherch donated the night’s profits, $8,553 to the group a few weeks later. The match took in $45,846 and costs were assessed at $37,293.

Mickey Rourke grew up in Miami and Miami Beach and attended Nautilus Junior High and Miami Beach High before his boxing and acting days. He went on to fight several more times in other cities after the Fort Lauderdale match. His acting career has captured far more headlines than have his pugilistic pursuits.

A fan of boxing (and of Rourke), I would have attended that match had I been in town, though I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much as his Pope of Greenwich Village, a film favorite.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Miami Herald, Dec. 30, 1990

Miami Herald, April 8, 1991

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 23, 1991

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 24, 1991

Miami Herald, June 9, 1991

Tags: Boxing, celebrities in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Mickey Rourke, Jane Feehan

Gulfstream Park: A tale of two starts in South Florida horse racing

Florida Derby 1969
Florida State Archives

Gulfstream Park

901 S. Federal Hwy

Hallandale, FL 33009

954-454-7000

Gulfstreampark.com

By Jane Feehan

It’s hard to believe today’s popular Gulfstream Park launched with a false start in 1939.

Local newspapers drummed up enthusiasm about the new park constructed in only a few months before the February 1, 1939 opening. Builder-developer, 29-year-old John C. Horning of the Hollywood Jockey Club and a Miami resident, and architect Robert Law Weed of Coconut Grove, assured reporters that Gulfstream’s grandstand would be “without peer at any track in the nation.”  

The grandstand could seat 7,000. Its roof extended 86 feet toward the track and could withstand 175 mph winds. The lower end of the roof sloped 52 feet from the track and would provide cover for judges and reporters; a camera was installed above their seats. For well-heeled or connected patrons, 130 boxes 8 feet by 10 feet were installed for added seating comfort and privacy. 

The 200-acre racing park sat between U.S. 1 and the ocean. Most grandstand spectators would have a view of the Atlantic Ocean just blocks away. Gulfstream’s infield held lush gardens and two lakes connected by a canal. Australian pines were planted along a driveway and around the site. Forty acres of parking were expected to be full on opening day.

In fact, the  parking lot overflowed on opening day. The crowd, estimated between 18,000 and 20,000—the largest ever to attend a track opening in Florida—jammed highways and tore through Gulfstream’s fencing to gain entry. Norwegian figure skater and film star Sonja Henie was on hand to cut the ceremonial opening day ribbon. According to news accounts, the day was “brilliant.” Newsreel cameras captured the carnival atmosphere. The inaugural event was attended by locals, winter residents and an A-list of attendees that included politicians and legendary columnist Damon Runyan.

Opening day, mutuel gambling play totaled $224,287. On the fourth day, gambling play plunged to $81,922. The revenue stream could not maintain opening day flow. An expected armored truck failed to deliver $150,000 to bankroll operations. Gulfstream Park shuttered after four days. Horning’s financial backing failed to materialize; he could not come up with the cash to continue.

Various reasons for the track’s failure appeared in news accounts. One reason may have been trouble from competitors. Hialeah sat only 12 miles from Gulfstream Park and 25 miles from Tropical Park. A state probe into gambling did not confirm improprieties. Some pointed to Horning’s youth. It appeared he had “been taken.”  The young developer, who received high praise was now considered a “chump.” The park, once off to a record-breaking fast start, sank into bankruptcy a year later in February 1940. Wrong man, wrong time.

Gulfstream Park 1948
Florida State Archives

The right man with the right timing, James Donn, Sr., purchased dilapidated Gulfstream Park in 1944. He repaired the buildings and grandstands and installed escalators and elevators. Opening day Dec. 1, 1944 was attended by far fewer—about 5,000—than the first opening. The 1944 event was affected by World War II gas rationing and other wartime impositions, but Donn’s word to pay off the track’s debts was trusted. He predicted shortly after he bought it that Gulfstream Park would be among the best in the world. He delivered.

He was already owner of the successful Exotic Gardens Florists, the company that later designed the park’s gardens and the unforgettable horseshoe wreaths seen in the track’s Winner’s Circle. In 1952, he established what became a horse racing classic, the Florida Derby. 

Some of the track’s success can also be attributed to Donn’s wrangling from Hialeah its coveted mid-winter racing dates. It took 25 years but the Scotsman, who first came to Miami in 1915 on his honeymoon with bride Nellie, lived to see Gulfstream racing during the best days of Florida winters.

When James Donn, Sr. was asked what he did for a living, he would often tell strangers he was a florist. It could also be said he was the right man who came to Gulfstream’s rescue at the right time.

For current day Gulfstream Park, visit: Gulfstreampark.com

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Miami News, Feb. 1, 1939

Miami Herald, Feb. 1, 1939

Miami Herald, Feb. 2, 1939

Miami News, Feb. 7, 1939

Miami Herald, Feb. 7, 1939

Miami Herald, April 23, 1939

Miami Herald, Feb. 4, 1940

Miami News, Feb. 15, 1940

Miami News, Dec. 1, 1944

Miami Herald, July 12, 1972

Tags: Florida sports history, thoroughbred racing, horse racing, Hallandale history, Robert Law Weed, Jack C. Horning, architect, Exotic Gardens

Greyhound dog racing gave Miami a new thrill

 

  State of Florida Archives

By Jane Feehan

The first greyhound dog racing track in Florida opened in 1922 amid a rising interest in the sport across the nation.

References to racing greyhounds appeared in newspaper stories in North Carolina in 1898. A circus came to Raleigh that year with “chariot-racing greyhounds.” (Some say greyhound racing was introduced in England in 1876.) In 1912, Owen P. Smith introduced greyhound racing in Emeryville, California on the sport’s first circular track. Dog racing expanded to other states.

Buzz about greyhound racing appeared in The Herald in Miami in 1921.

“Out in Missouri a popular sport is dog racing,” an account reads. “The races are most exciting. An electronically propelled device covered with the skin of a jack rabbit is shot across the racetrack and … greyhounds are released from their cages and trail madly away on the trail of the rabbit.” 

The writer praised it as the “cleanest kind of sport” because “there are no jockeys to bribe and no horses to go lame.” The betting was based only on the “dog’s record, his health and disposition.”  

A fews months after such praise, Florida granted the Miami Kennel Club a charter to conduct business as a corporation.  Owen P. Smith was tapped as president and general manager of the club and Florida was, as they say, off to the races. The first track in the state opened at Hialeah Park in 1922, nine years before gambling was legalized. Its inaugural six-week schedule, or meet, ended that April and deemed a success.

Hialeah Park
greyhound racing 1922
State of Florida Archives

"Greyhound racing has given Miami a new thrill,” reported the Herald. Its popularity spurred plans for improvements for the next season, including nighttime events, landscaping, a grandstand cover and dancing. Miami leaders were excited about its potential to attract tourism to the area.

Miami leaders had reason for excitement about greyhound racing. About 3,000 attended its first matinee of the 1923 season. Another track, west of Coral Gables, opened in 1927 and the West Flagler Kennel Club opened Jan. 3, 1931. 

Other Florida cities capitalized on the sport’s popularity. West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Sarasota soon opened their own dog-racing venues. By 1935, 10 tracks operated in the state; 11 tracks would eventually open in the Sunshine State, including two in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Greyhound racing was so closely associated with Miami that greyhound dog racing video clips were captured in the opening mosaic of Miami scenes for the 1980s TV series, Miami Vice. Greyhound racing was here to stay many thought.

Not so. Enthusiasm for the sport was beginning to wane by the early 1990s.  Gambling revenues dropped across the nation. More important, welfare of the racing dogs took center stage. According to the Miami Herald, 460 dogs died at state tracks between 2013-2018 due to a variety of causes both on and off track. Thousands more died yearly around the country.

“A global voice for greyhounds,” Grey2K (https://www.grey2kusa.org/), was established in 2001 to highlight abuses to the dogs including confinement, injuries and doping. Other animal rights groups rallied around the plight of the greyhounds. The awareness campaign resulted in a Florida vote to ban dog racing in 2018 and phase it out by 2020. The last Florida greyhound race was held Dec. 27, 2020 at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach.

Thanks to the efforts of Grey2KUSA and other animal advocates, greyhound racing is now illegal in 42 U.S. states.

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Raleigh Times, Oct. 28, 1898

The Herald (Miami) Dec. 18, 1921

The Herald (Miami), Feb. 22, 1922

The Herald (Miami), March 8, 1922

The Herald (Miami), April 11, 1922

The Herald (Miami), April 23, 1922

Miami News, Dec. 17, 1923

Miami News, Jan. 8, 1927

Miami Herald, Oct. 9, 1930

Miami Daily News, Jan. 2, 1931

Miami Herald, Sept. 12, 2018

Miami Herald, Nov. 8, 2018

Miami New Times, Jan. 2, 2019

NBC News, Jan. 1, 2021

https://www.grey2kusa.org/index.php

Tags: Miami history, history of Miami, greyhound dog racing, dog racing in Florida, Florida sports history

Jai Alai comes to South Florida in 1924 expanding sports offerings

By Jane Feehan

Dania Jai Alai Palace circa 1959
Florida State Archives/Rubel

Plans to close Dania Jai Alai were reversed February, 2022. A look back at the genesis of the game in South Florida highlights its popularity.

Miami realtors Carson Bradford and Joe Adams thought the Spanish game of jai alai, played in Cuba, would interest Florida winter visitors. The first U.S. jai alai fronton was built for the 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair and closed after a few months. But Bradford and Carson thought the sport would flourish in Florida. They were right.

On Nov. 28, 1923 they established the South Florida Amusement Company to promote and organize the sport in the Miami area. Bradford and Carson, president and vice president, offered executive positions in their endeavor to A.P. Vasque and E.A. Serafin, owners of two successful jai alai frontons in Cuba. Their expertise guided the Florida plans that materialized with Fronton Hialeah built 1923-24 near today’s 13501 NW 134^th Street.

Fronton Hialeah - 1924
Florida State Archives 

The building, constructed of reinforced steel and concrete in a Spanish architectural motif, cost about $200,000. Half the interior was dedicated to a playing court of 60 by 150 feet. The arena included a grandstand for 3,600 spectators, a dance area for 500 and a canteen. Six-foot tall letters with the building’s name could be seen for miles.

The grand opening on Feb. 2, 1924 drew capacity crowds, including high society women dressed in sequined gowns and fur wraps and men in dinner or polo jackets. Attendees came from Miami, Miami Beach, from yachts and hotels. The "in" crowd included Hialeah Mayor and Ms. Edward Romfh, Ms. Jane Fisher, wife of Miami Beach developer Carl Fisher, William Jennings Bryan, a Coconut Grove winter resident and political figure of national stature, and James Deering of the Deering Harvester Company and the Vizcaya Estate.

Fronton Hialeah averaged about 2,500 spectators a game until the facility was shuttered by the Great Hurricane of 1926. Biscayne Fronton, also damaged by the hurricane but not as extensively, operated for nine months before the historic storm. Known today as Miami Fronton (3500 NW 37^th Ave.) and as the “Yankee Stadium of Jai Alai.” The arena seats about 13,500 and is the world’s largest fronton facility. Jai alai serves as the basis for much of Florida’s parimutuel betting.

Biscayne Jai Alai 1926
Florida State Archives/Fishbaugh

Some facts about the game:

* Jai alai is referred to as the “World’s Fastest Sport”

* Jai alai means “happy time” or “happy festival” in Spanish

* The game, with origins in Spain and parts of France, is (and was) played by boys and girls. It was thought to be a “health-building exercise.”

* The top player in the 1920s made $50,000 for a nine-month contract– more than baseball players at the time. Average salaries ran $1,500-2000 monthly.

* Jai alai was expensive in 1920s Spain: According to a 1924 Miami News story, jai alai cost about $3 an hour to play with an $8 ball made of goat skin, 

* Several had been killed by the fast-flying balls in Spain, but Fronton Hialeah installed a wire mesh screen on the court boundary to protect spectators.

* Girls used a tennis racquet; boys and professional players used the traditional wicker basket or cesta.

* The world’s first female professional jai alai player is Miami’s Becky Smith.

For more on jai alai around the U.S. see:

 https://sayhili.com/the-first-u-s-frontons/

For Miami Fronton:

https://www.magiccitycasino.com/jai_alai

Dania Beach Jai Alai: (to close Nov. 28, 2021)

https://www.casinodaniabeach.com/jai-alai

Decision to close Dania site reversed. See Sun-Sentinel.

Copyright © 2021, 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

 Sources:

Miami News, Nov. 21, 1923

Miami News, Feb. 2, 1924

Miami Herald, March 2, 1924

Miami News, July 26, 1924

Miami New Times, May 24, 2019

https://sayhili.com/the-first-u-s-frontons/

Tags: Jai alai history, Jai alai South Florida, Jai alai US, Hialeah history, Florida sports history

Fort Lauderdale in the news - 1964

Kenann Building

By Jane Feehan

Below are Fort Lauderdale news tidbits from 1964 ...

Sky Harbor East  -The first high-rise condominium in southeast Fort Lauderdale opens adjacent to Port Everglades. The second co-op building, Breakwater Towers, opens nearby.

Jim Bouton, a New York Yankee, signs a contract for $18,000 in Fort Lauderdale  March 12 after being threatened with a $100-a-day-fine. He was the league’s first contract holdout in 25 years. Bouton had the league’s best earned-run average that year. He had demanded $20,000, a 100 percent increase in salary over the prior year. Mickey Mantle signed a $100,000 in 1964.

Kenann Building – Ken Burnstine opens the seven-story round building designed by architect Louis Wolff. Named for Ken and wife Ann, the Kenann Building remains a landmark at the corner of Oakland Park Boulevard and Federal Highway.

Hurricane Cleo, Aug. 26 – The storm moves north from Miami and hits Fort Lauderdale as a Category 2 hurricane. It was the only day the Fort Lauderdale News was not published.

Hugh Taylor Birch State Park – More people (about 500,000) visited this Florida park than any other in the state in 1964.

Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater – The Fort Lauderdale News endorses the senator for president of the United States.

Commercial Boulevard Bridge – After protest by some in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the $1 million bridge opens Oct. 16.

Brian Piccolo –Fort Lauderdale resident and Wake Forest football team full back named by the Associated Press as back of the week. Piccolo was 20 years old.

College Students – More than 15,000 students spend spring  break on Fort Lauderdale’s beach. (This number seems low for those who were there).

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Florida historical researcher, film researcher, Fort Lauderdale history, Florida sports history