Fort Lauderdale and Broward County fallout shelter craze in the 1960s

 

By Jane Feehan

Fallout shelters dominated controversial topics in South Florida and the nation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. People feared a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union when its leader, Nikita Khrushchev, sought to expand his sphere of influence by testing atomic bombs in 1958 and then shipping nuclear missiles to Cuba in 1962.  

Fears launched a few fallout shelter businesses in Miami and in Broward County (search this blog for Fallout Shelters a Miami Growth Biz in the 1960s). Homeowners served as the target audience for the defense product, but governments considered them essential to civil defense. In 1962, the Broward County Courthouse had already been recognized as first fallout shelter in Fort Lauderdale.

In 1963, both private and public entities were recognized for their civic duty by the Broward County Civil Defense Council. Commendations were awarded to people representing Broward County hotels, a variety of businesses and a few hospitals for their participation. 

The list below may reflect savvy public relations rather than civic inclinations for some:

Yankee Clipper Hotel; Pier 66 (planned but not yet built); Governors’ Club Hotel; Marlin Beach Hotel; Jolly Roger Hotel; Holiday Hotel; Boca Key Hotel; Sun Tower (motel-hotel); Esquire Hotel;  Sears Roebuck and Company (Searstown built in 1955); First National Bank; Homeowners Life Insurance Co.; New Blount Building; Las Olas Plaza; Burdines Department Store; Dania Jai Alai Palace; Gulfstream Racing Association; Illini Cooperative Apartments; Southern Bell Telephone Company; North Broward Hospital District; South Broward Hospital District; Holy Cross Hospital; City of Fort Lauderdale.

Supplies for shelters were ordered by the defense council and included food, water, sanitary supplies and radiation equipment (compare that to a list we'd have today). It was estimated that the supplied shelters could accommodate about 43,000 people for 15 days.

However, interest in building fallout shelters was waning even before the Cuba crisis. A nationwide study revealed that many thought the best protection would be a simple hole in the ground. City dwellers took a fatalistic stance since they would likely be the first target of a nuclear attack; others thought businesses were cashing in on fear more than anything else.

Complacency slowed nuclear defense preparations by the mid-to late 1960s—especially with the 1964 movie, Dr. Strangelove. A satire that poked fun at nuclear "paranoia," the film may have helped take out the air of the fallout shelter movement.  

However, it didn’t stop a Fort Lauderdale News reporter in 1964 from suggesting a fallout shelter as an ideal Christmas gift for the family member who has everything. Some of those shelters may serve as hurricane shelters today ...

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 3, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 19, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1963  

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 19,1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 12, 1965

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s; Broward County in the 1960s, fallout shelters

Mark 2100 Resort Hotel in Fort Lauderdale and an owner who left a gift for average students

 

By Jane Feehan 

The Mark 2100 Resort Hotel was one of a very few that sat directly on Fort Lauderdale’s sands. For more than three decades it attracted guests from across the nation to its unpretentious accommodations. 

Locals probably miss this hotel for its Mark 2100 Ocean Lounge. Live jazz, a great bar and wooden deck provided a getaway, if only for a few hours while sipping a drink or two. The view of a moonlit ocean and sound of soft breezes rustling through the palm trees was unmatched along the hotel strip. 

The beach vibe probably attracted Pennsylvania native Edward W. Seese who retired to Florida during the late 1950s after a career in marketing. He and brother Worthington F. Seese published an intent to do business as Mark 2100 Motor Hotel in January 1960.

Located at 2100 N. Atlantic Boulevard, east of A1A, at the northern end of Fort Lauderdale’s hotel strip, Mark 2100 offered 47 rooms and apartments casually sprawled along a block. Room televisions, a heated pool, coffee shop and direct beach access were the advertised amenities. Wells M. Squier of Squier and Maxwell designed its interior. This then-popular firm had also designed interiors of several Fort Lauderdale hotels including Stouffer’s Anacapri Inn, the Jules Verne Room at the Marlin Beach Hotel, the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel and later (1965) the Fountainhead Condominium north of the Galt Mile..

In 1961, Mark 2100 became a member of Quality Courts United, Inc., the largest association of its kind and first hotel chain (now Choice Hotels) in the U.S.; it was a marketing cooperative set up to refer business to other members offering the same standards in accommodations and service. Stouffer’s Anacapri Inn in Fort Lauderdale joined Quality Courts the same month.   

With its reputation established, and by word of mouth, Mark 2100 successfully operated for decades. Seese also developed—as well as managed—the Sea Garden in Pompano Beach. Management of the Mark 2100 was turned over to Ruth Werth while Seese worked the Pompano hotel.

Edward Seese died in March 1995. He left much more than his hotels as legacy. Seese served as director of Florida Hotel and Motel Association and headed several other local hotel-oriented organizations. But what many would remember him for was the $4.5 million gift he bequeathed to Broward Community College to help average or C students. He believed they could achieve more in their academic pursuits if they didn’t have to worry about a job to finance their education. This gift made headlines beyond the South Florida media market.

Seese’s brother, Worthington, died about three months later. His wife Ida predeceased Edward some time in the 1960s. They had no children. Of note, Seese had worked for Philadelphia Electric in marketing and later as producer and host of the first day time television show in the Philadelphia market.

Epilogue

The Mark 2100 was still operating in 1994. By 1995 it closed or was about to when plans to build the two-tower, 30-story Palms Condominium went up for approval by the city commission. Residents resisted the development. The plan was to close part of North Atlantic Boulevard to accommodate the project and they didn’t want to lose direct access to the beach. Residents’ efforts to stop the project proved fruitless. The Palms was completed about 2001.

The Mark 2100 was the first of several small hotels and motels in that area to fall to developers. The glitzy Palms, spectacular Auberge Beach Residences and beautiful Pelican Resort now sit on those serene sands.

They say you can’t go home again...but one can always take a trip down memory lane.

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 15, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 1, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, May 9, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, June 8, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 13, 1963

South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 18, 1994

South Florida Sun Sentinel, March 22, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, June 19, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, June 25, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sept. 20, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sept. 25, 2021

Choice Hotels

Tags: Mark 2100 Resort Hotel, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Edward W. Seese

Fort Lauderdale, Fazio's Fireside Steak Ranch and his House of Prime Ribs

By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale was booming in the 1950s and 60s. The boom included new restaurants opened to meet the demand of a fast-growing population. Many residents from “up North” filled the eateries, seeking the taste—and sophistication—of their home states.   

One of the new places, the Fireside Steak Ranch, was lauded for its beef and Maine lobsters. Former Milwaukee nightclub owner Jimmy Fazio advertised in 1959 that his restaurant operated at two locations – Fort Lauderdale at 901 Las Olas Blvd. and Deerfield Beach on US 1. Lunch went for 85 cents and complete dinners for $1.75-2.95.  For a time, children who were dining were gifted cowboy hats “compliments of host Jimmy Fazio.” He also promoted entertainment to attract the late-night crowd; his restaurant was open until 2 a.m. Customers frequented Fireside Steak Ranch for both its food and vibrant nightlife highlighted by quality jazz, other music and even comedy acts.

Fireside Steak Ranch

The curtain came down on Fireside Steak Ranch in 1963 when a large fire, reportedly caused by an electrical problem in the kitchen, shuttered the restaurant. The Deerfield location came under new ownership in February 1964 with a new name, Johnny’s Fireside Steak Ranch.

Undaunted—and with a legacy of good food and entertainment—Fazio opened House of Prime Ribs at 3485 N. Federal Highway in 1964. According to Fort Lauderdale News nightclub editor, Pat Brown, the new place was known as the “hottest new spot” by May 1964.

Interestingly, Pat Brown tapped Fazio to write a guest column while she was away in 1968. In it, Fazio wrote about his nightclub in Milwaukee and his hope to revive his supper club idea in Fort Lauderdale at the Fireside. But he determined the concept was no longer popular. In opening the House of Prime Ribs, he had to decide on a food or entertainment focus. Food was the choice and it proved to be a good one.

His new place was great and a spot to be seen or to see who was out for the night. My sisters and I accompanied entertainer Red Buttons and his agent there for a meal; they were impressed with the food and ambiance—and our choice.

Fazio’s House of Prime Ribs was shuttered during 1974 or 1975. Mr. Pip’s, a nightclub, opened in its place about 1976. A string of restaurants has opened in the same location since.

The beat, albeit a different one, goes on …

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 9, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 17, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, May 11, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, June 2, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, July 8, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 5, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, May 29, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, May 29, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 13, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, March 3, 1976

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale history, House of Prime Ribs, Fazio's Fireside Steak Ranch, Jimmy Fazio, Mr. Pip's, Fort Lauderdale restaurant history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s, Fort Lauderdale restaurant history, Restaurants

Fort Lauderdale and Jay Mar Cottages - from church suppers to hordes of spring breakers

515 Seabreeze Blvd. Closed

Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Jay-Mar  Cottages started out as a pleasant, low-profile, no-frills seaside motel along Fort Lauderdale beach. A different image emerged during the 1960s and 70s.

Sitting on the south side of D.C. Alexander Park and extending to Seabreeze Boulevard, Jay-Mar was probably built during the early 1950s, when it was first mentioned in the Fort Lauderdale News. 

In May 1954 a Baptist Church held a “covered supper” event for 34 attendees. In 1961 “Mrs. Georgia Smith, owner of Jay-Mar” was recognized for hosting her fifth-annual party for her college student guests. She fed and entertained 60-70 visitors “without incident." 

But three months later, the motel became a target of mischief. Jay-Mar was hit by a women’s bathing suit thief: five suits were swiped from clotheslines there and at the nearby Merriweather Motel (still operating as of this post) at 115 N. Atlantic Avenue.

Missing bathing suits was nothing compared to what the ensuing tidal wave of visitors brought to Fort Lauderdale beach.

The movie, Where the Boys Are, was released in 1960, placing Fort Lauderdale on the national radar of places for college students to enjoy their spring bacchanal. There wasn’t much good news for Jay-Mar Apartments (or cottages) in the decades that followed. It was besieged by college kids, as was the entire beach area. 

Student-hosted impromptu parties attracted crowds of underaged locals and college visitors looking to score alcohol— or more—and to meet up with like-minded friends.

Jay-Mar lost its luster as a cute motel by the beach and became a cheap place for the down and out to rent a room. By 1976 it was called an abandoned eyesore by the Fort Lauderdale Beach Advisory Board. The property then was worth about $1 million. Emmett McTigue, owner and spokesperson for the Las Olas Development Company (owners then of the property?) refused to comment on the call to demolish the building.

Jay-Mar remained standing until at least May 1976 when some complained it was a “gutted hulk.” There are no news stories about its demolishment; the name of the motel receded into memory. Instead, the beach-side parcel became the lure and lore of profitable land deals.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, May 24, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, April 4, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, July 9, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, May 25, 1976

Tags: Jay-Mar Cottages, Jay-Mar Motel, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s. Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale Spring Break  

Porky's, the man, the bar and ... that movie

Props used in film, Porky's, Miami 1982
State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan

Stories abound about the man, Donald K. Baines and his South Florida bar, Porky’s Hide Away. They can’t all be told here.

The man and his bar probably helped stoke the party image of Fort Lauderdale. The first mention found about Ohio native Baines, known as Porky to his friends, patrons, and law enforcement, was a legal notice posted in the Fort Lauderdale News, March 4,1955 to “engage in business under the name Jean and Porky’s Hide Away Restaurant.” It was no family restaurant, though Jean, or Wilma Jean, was his wife. The business was located at the 3900 block of North Federal Highway in Oakland Park, adjacent to Fort Lauderdale (now site of LA Fitness).

Three weeks later, Porky’s Hide Away (with or without the hyphen) was advertising Sunday jam sessions starting at 4 pm. A month later the ads included liquor offerings: beer at 45 cents, whiskey for 60 and cocktails at 75 cents. The 300-seat venue featured an open-air, screened-in dance floor. Endearing himself to the party crowd, Porky offered to buy the first barrel of beer for patrons arriving early. He was guided either by hope or really knew his patrons.   

By 1956 and 1957, Porky’s was frequently mentioned in Fort Lauderdale News entertainment columns. Baines lined up famous acts one after the other. The Hurricanes, an all-Black dance band from Las Vegas headlined for a few nights. Famous dance orchestra leader Johnny Long made it there as did Flip Wilson, Jackie Wilson, Freddy Bell and the Bell Boys, Don Ho and world-famous jazz drummer Gene Krupa.

It was the age of classic rock ‘n roll. From 4 pm to 4 am, Baines featured Twist contests (a popular dance then), limbo competitions and probably the area’s first bikini contests—prefiguring those at Fort Lauderdale’s beach bars like the Candy Store and others a decade or two later. In 1961 Porky opened Calypso Village behind or replaced Porky’s Hideaway.

Just as ubiquitous as advertisements for Porky’s enterprises were stories about his scrapes with the law. The first incident, though not a run in with the law, was about an after-hours robbery at the bar in 1957. Porky, with the assistance or guard of the Oakland Park Police, had moved a drawer with $1,500 cash and traveler’s checks to an upstairs apartment. He then went for coffee with friends and returned 15 minutes later to discover a break in and the $1,500 missing.  

The files on Donald Porky Baines offer much more, including:

1960 – Baines was accused in 1960 and acquitted in 1961 of forging a traveler’s check.

1965 – A patron sued Baines for having been beaten up by two others at Porky’s. The matter was settled out of court.

1965 – Baines was accused of alleged tax evasion

1966 – Porky allegedly involved in several incidents of assault

1967 – He was accused and acquitted of receiving stolen property, an adding machine and electric typewriter stolen from Fort Lauderdale City Hall.

1968 – Baines was sentenced to five years in prison for six charges of excise tax evasion. He was released on appeal and was told to sell his business by October 1 that year or lose his liquor license and to never again use the name, “Porky’s.”  He opened another club, the Palace.

1968 - While out on appeal for tax evasion charges, Baines, 42, was found behind Porky’s with an apparent self-inflicted gun shot to the head in June. He recovered.

1968 – Baines was also accused of allegedly showing pornographic movies and allegedly employing a convicted felon (liquor license provision).

Donald Baines, who kept a “pet” lion in a cage behind Porky’s and drove a pink car, closed Porky’s in 1967. He opened again under the name “The Palace” to the chagrin of Kings Park Condominium, next door, who registered multiple complaints about noise from Porky’s.  

Porky Baines had beaten all raps through legal technicalities and loopholes. But his luck ran out in 1972 when he was convicted of robbery conspiracy on a home in Coconut Isle on the Las Olas Isles.  

His appeal was denied and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Porky’s home at the 5700 block of 19^th Avenue (Fort Lauderdale?) was seized by the government for a tax bill. 

While working as handyman for his attorney, Arthur B. Parkhurst, Baines committed suicide in a truck after leaving a note reading: “I can’t make it anymore.”  He was about 47. Quite a fall from the big-name acts, pet lion and pink car. Some said it was a stormy life. It was one with a big impact on Fort Lauderdale’s party reputation.

About the movie, Porky’s

The 1982 film, Porky's, was written and directed by Bob Clark and loosely based on Porky or his bar. Clark’s inspiration was reportedly his high school antics at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Florida and at Fort Lauderdale High School. It was filmed in Miami at Miami Senior High and at Greynolds Park.

Porky’s, marketed as a “lowbrow coming of age story,” was the fifth highest grossing film that year. Perhaps the huge success of Animal House, similar in genre and released in 1978, set high expectations. Reviews were more positive after its release than they are today.  However, film critics Siskel and Ebert ranked it as one of the worst movies that year. Sequels Porky’s II and Revenge of Porky were not as successful.      

 Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, March 4, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, March 19, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, April 22, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 24, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 6, 1957

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 22, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 5, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 14, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, March 2, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, June 23, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 25, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, April 6, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 29, 1957

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 10, 1966

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 18, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, March 8, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, June 2, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, September 20, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 30, 2013

Wikipedia

IMDB.org

 

Tags: Porky's Hide Away, Porky's Hide-Away, Fort Lauderdale clubs in the 1960s, Oakland Park history, Oakland Park clubs, Donald K. Baines, Porky Baines, Porky's movie, Fort Lauderdale history

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

Surfside 6: TV show, houseboat, an inventor and a Fort Lauderdale link

Surfside 6 at Dania Beach
State Archives of Florida

 

 

By Jane Feehan

The 1960 TV show Surfside 6 started off with a bang. It seemed like a solid concept: three private eyes, two female characters and a glamorous setting aboard a houseboat in Miami Beach. It was docked at Indian Creek across from the high-profile and beautiful Fontainebleau Hotel.

In the hour-long weekly series, the trio used a plane and a jet-powered boat in their escapades. Detectives were played by Troy Donohue, a feature film heart throb at the time (Sandy Winfield II), Lee Patterson (Dave Thome) and Van Williams (Ken Madison). The cast also included Diane McBain (Daphne Dutton) and Margarita Sierra (Cha Cha O’Brien) as their crime-solving sidekicks.

Despite the glamour and prior assessment as an overnight success, the Warner Brothers production, sponsored by General Motors, ended April 1962. Critics cited poor writing among the reasons the showed bombed. The show, however, did spawn another success story, that of the builder of the Surfside 6 houseboat.

That story, the tale of Larry Vita—is far more interesting than the TV show. Vita was a Long Island builder who decided to take a vacation aboard the $80,000 houseboat he built in the late 1950s. Powered by three Mercedes engines, the houseboat he named Driftwood carried Vita down the Intracoastal to the dock across from the Fontainebleau late in 1959 or early in 1960. 

The 60 x 28 ft. boat was eye catching. It was also comfortable. It sported a 1,000-sq-ft sundeck, held three bedrooms, two baths, a full kitchen, rugs and a special sewage disposal. It also featured air-conditioning, heating, a brick fireplace, rotating TV antenna, telephone, and hi-fi throughout each room.  

Warner Brothers exec William T. Orr, vacationing at the hotel, spotted Vita’s impressive boat and asked about using it for the new show. A deal was made and a replica was constructed for in-studio shots. The show aired in October 1960.

Viewer queries about the houseboat were hard to ignore. Vita, 42, decided there could be a market for houseboats. He was right.

He partnered with Fort Lauderdale resident Ralph Weidler, 49 (Levittown, Long Island builder), to launch Surfside 6 Floating Homes, Inc. with $500,000. They built a factory at 2000 SW 20^th Street in Fort Lauderdale. Weeks after the show aired, they had 30 orders. 

Advertisements enticed customers with a “new way of life” on a floating home that came with or without an engine, low-maintenance fiberglass hulls, and complete furnishings. Most were not sold with engines because a tugboat could haul one “for about $10 an hour” to the many dock sites available. 

Financing was offered by Broward National Bank with 25 percent down and payments over five years. Houseboats sold from $9,500 up to $50k plus. Surfside 6 Floating Homes, Inc. was the biggest, most famous houseboat company in the world, Vita claimed. Boxing champ Floyd Patterson bought one.

The TV show Surfside 6 ended but Floating Homes, Inc. had a much longer life. The company sold 400-500 for the next few years in the U.S. and the Caribbean. The original Surfside 6 remained at the Miami Beach location and Vita continued to live on his famous floating home. It appeared in the movie Goldfinger before Hurricane Cleo paid it a visit in 1964, causing extensive damage.   

The damaged Surfside 6 was hauled to Marina Bay in southwest Fort Lauderdale. It was bought and sold several times, serving as a restaurant in Dania Beach and perhaps, for a time, in Key West. In 1997, Vita said he thought it was in Jacksonville, FL; he had lost track decades ago.

The Larry Vita story continued after he left Floating Homes, Inc. in 1973 when concerns about waterway environment, obstruction of views and lack of dockage space affected sales.

Vita had other plans. He built 20 floating stations for the U.S. Coast Guard and 200 floating rooms for Marina Bay Resort. He was the first to use shipping containers for jail construction (about 1989).  

Vita also provided contract construction for the U.S government in Kuwait and other geo-political hot zones in the early 90s. It was this that reportedly negatively affected his finances and may have ended his run. 

In 2004 he was 88, living alone with his dog on the New River in a boat. He was still at it, thinking about ways to innovate. Vita was prescient. He submitted a design for an energy-producing wind turbine to Florida Power and Light in the '90s or early 2000s. Amazing. Larry Vita died in 2008, survived by two children Larry and Lorrie and other family. Quite a life.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources: 

Miami Herald, July 3, 1960

Miami News, Aug. 10, 1960

Miami News, Sept. 11, 1960

Miami News, Oct. 27, 1960

Miami Herald, Dec. 18, 1960

Miami News, Sept. 1, 1964

Miami News, March 2, 1966

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Aug. 24, 1989

Chicago Tribune, Sept. 21, 1997

Miami Herald, Aug. 1, 2004

 

Tags: Miami Beach history, Surfside 6, Houseboats, Larry Vita, Floating Homes, Inc., 1960s TV shows, Fort Lauderdale history

Paddle Wheel Queen: a 30-year voyage with an unhappy ending

Paddle Wheel Queen
Public Domain/State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan

The Paddle Wheel Queen entertained a reported five million visitors in its 30-year history in Fort Lauderdale. The vessel many are familiar with is the Paddle Wheel Queen II. The original boat operated from West Palm Beach beginning in 1942 and was captained by Lucille Colyer.

Bruce Colyer, Lucille’s son, had the second Paddle Wheel Queen, also a Mississippi river replica, built in Dubuque, Iowa. He launched the 128-foot, three-deck Paddle Wheel Queen II in Fort Lauderdale in March 1965. It proved to be a popular 400-passenger entertainment venue that locals and area visitors equally enjoyed.

The boat sailed out of its dock south of the Oakland Park Boulevard bridge for two- or four-hour cruises and special events. A tour took passengers along the “modestly rich homes” along the Intracoastal in central Fort Lauderdale, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Bahia Mar, Port Everglades and to the once undeveloped area south of the port. 

With the only charcoal grill galley of its kind, the Paddle Wheel Queen served  steak dinners that garnered favorable newspaper restaurant reviews (and an A+ from me). Meal prices started early in its history at about $9 and topped out by the time paddles stopped turning at around $12. Early fares for the trips were less than $10.

Colyer retired about 1989 and stopped operating the same year. Lonnie Reeder and David Boyd bought the Paddle Wheel Queen II in 1992, remodeled and relaunched the business with blackjack bingo. The future looked promising. In December the same year, the boat was tapped the “Official Winterfest Boat” for the annual—and high-profile—Winterfest Boat Parade. Disney World dispatched Mickey and Minnie Mouse to take seats of honor on the riverboat.

Instead of a bright future, financial turmoil ensued. The business pulled up its gangplank May 31,1994 and sailed off to the Bayside Market Place in Miami for a brief “port” stop. It returned to Fort Lauderdale shortly after. The owners, according to news accounts, went $1.4 million into arrears and the Paddle Wheel Queen II was seized in March 1995 leaving ticket holders angered. The story ended in irony. Jerry Faber, president of Jungle Queen, a competing Fort Lauderdale tour boat that still operates today, reportedly mollified ticket holders with a free ride (until a possible settlement) on his riverboat.

 Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources

Fort Lauderdale News, July 2, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 11, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, May 21, 1974

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 24, 1978

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, July 8, 1991

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 30, 1992

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 16, 1992

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 1, 1994

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 28, 1995

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history,Fort Lauderdale tourist attractions, Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1990s

Fort Lauderdale and national news stories of 1966 not so different from today's

 

Sunrise Professional Building 1966
State of Florida Archives/Erickson, Roy

Local and national front-page and section news in 1966 was dominated by the Vietnam conflict. Other news of that year often defined what many of us remember of the decade. Stories from the Fort Lauderdale News include a few national topics that draw parallels to those of 2020-2023. If the headline didn’t offer sufficient details, context or additional information was inserted.

* Social Security taxes rise, but cuts in other areas save about a third

* Fashion watchers predict 1966 will be the year of the “Press Up Bosom” in women’s clothing, i.e., spillage (a few Fort Lauderdale Mai Kai staffers will remember using socks to acquire that look).

* Florida Attorney General Earl Faircloth, a Fort Lauderdale resident, to seek re-election

* High grocery costs blamed on the war (Vietnam). Labor shortages and labor costs also a problem. Beef and bacon prices particularly high.

* Denver-based food chain agrees to lower prices after members of Housewives for Lower Prices (HLFP) threaten boycott. Other stores ramp up grocery specials and discounts to avoid boycotts. (Where are they now?)

* Department of Defense defends not calling the Vietnam conflict a war. To declare it a war would add a new psychological element to the international situation since war in this century’s declarations of war have come to imply dedication to the total destruction of the many.

* 18,000 additional troops to be sent to Vietnam in July, bringing total to about 285,000 men.

* Severe cold temperatures to hit Fort Lauderdale; expect a dip into the 30s as “one of the worst winter onslaughts of the century” hits parts of the nation.

* Winn Dixie Kwik Chek reminds people in an advertisement about their “Man in the Red Coat” who is happy to advise on cooking problems (he’s in the meat section).

* Merger of Mackey Airlines and Eastern Airlines approved (Mackey was based at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport at the  time).

* Sing Out 66 comes to War Memorial with a cast of 130. Sponsored by Moral Rearmament (a spiritual group).

* Boy Scout Jamboree brings 1,500 scouts to Holiday Park for two-night sleep over.

* Fort Lauderdale building permits down from previous year

* Developer James S. Hunt, 67, taps Joe Taravella, 44, as new president of his company, Coral Ridge Properties, so Hunt can focus on additional land acquisitions. (Hunt died when he was 74)

* Pool closed at Swimming Hall of Fame “pier” because of permitting issues related to safety

* Traffic backed up from 17^th Street bridge to beach due to electrical problem (bridge switches out)

* Heavy rainstorm (April) causes deluge of traffic accidents; worse around Fiesta Way and E. Las Olas Boulevard where there was a drag race.

* Artificial heart may be ready for use in one month, says surgeon Dr. Michael E. DeBakey from Tulane University in New Orleans.

* Tour plan combining air and see routes to link Port Everglades, New York and Europe.

* Private schools praised; will stay viable if able to rekindle public’s interest

* Broward teacher shortage looms

* Five Florida State Attorney candidates don’t know what the job pays

* Nation’s city riots blamed on wretched life

* Upsurge in U.S. crime puzzles Europeans

* $2 bill to face end alone

* Space chief sees 1968 as year of a moon landing

* National debt reaches nearly $330 billion

* Mickey Rooney takes sixth wife (they lived in Fort Lauderdale for awhile)

* One of largest bookmaking operations ($6000 a day) in Broward shut down in Fort Lauderdale at SW 52 Street.

* Early (Oct 15^th) winter storm brings high winds and flooding to U.S. West and Midwest. Temps in Denver 2 degrees below record.

* Loopholes and the land boom: Florida in its second land boom of the century; evolved since the 1950s (first boom 1910-1926)

* Claude Kirk to campaign in Fort Lauderdale (October)

* Three newspapers endorse Robert High for governor, all critical of Kirk (who later served as governor for one term)

* Beautification group forms to improve run down look of Wilton Manors

* 1966 – 5 – 0 year of the Gator (U of F)  

* Porky’s Hideaway sues (Wilma Baines, wife of Porky, filed the suit)  to restore closing hours to 4 am. Porky’s paid Oakland Park $1000 since its 1957 opening to be able to serve until 4 am.

* Judge Richard M. Sauls replies to Porky’s: “Selling booze is not a right.”

* Old Fort Lauderdale High School property back on the market for $1.95 million

* Plan to build bridge over Middle River in Fort Lauderdale at 19^th and 21^st streets nixed

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, 1966:

Jan. 2, 1966

Jan.30, 1966

Feb. 6, 1966

March 3, 1966

April 10, 1966

April 17, 1966

May 1, 1966

June 12, 1966

July 10, 1966

Aug. 17, 1966

Sept. 11, 1966

Oct. 16, 1966

Nov. 16, 1966

Dec. 15, 1966

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale history

Fort Lauderdale's Ocean World: Popular aquarium until ...

 

Dolphin feeding circa 1965
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

Ocean World opened in July 1965 with significant publicity.

The only aquarium in Fort Lauderdale, the attraction was marketed to tourists, residents and conventioneers. It occupied six acres on the north side of the 17th Street Causeway (once next to Tony’s Fish Market).

The center piece of the entertainment venue was a three-story, 90-ft circular tank, “Davy Jones Locker.” Its 17 feet of water was home to porpoises, sea lions and sea turtles. Wall aquariums held an assortment of fish; sharks swam in a moat surrounding the tank. Daily shows featured porpoises and sea lions performing tricks for a gallery that could seat up to 800, many of whom were encouraged to feed dolphins and other fish at designated times and places around the tank.

The man behind the operation was Charles “Charlie” Beckwith, a New York transplant who moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1963. He claimed he was an “idea man” at one newspaper interview. Before moving to Florida, he owned several flower shops under the name Idlewild Airport Florist at Idlewild Airport—later named John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was successful in acquiring a tax-free status for those shops, a relatively new concept at the time for U.S. airports.

Beckwith was also successful with Ocean World Inc. where he served as president and chair of the board. His brainchild, the marine park, often captured headlines for answering calls to rescue injured sea turtles, dolphins and sharks on local beaches. Some divers brought injured sea animals found in local waters to the aquarium. Most animals that survived injuries remained at the aquarium; a few performed. Its pantheon of live sea characters included Pegleg Pete, an old sea turtle missing a fin, Ginny, a porpoise, and Dimples the Dolphin (a porpoise). According to the park, Dimples was the only dolphin in the world who could perform a triple forward somersault in mid-air. Ocean World expanded its collection of wildlife to appeal to schools for their educational programs. They brought in parrots and an assortment of other birds. The park’s population grew to about 200 animals, including otters, an alligator and a monkey named Gilligan.

Dolphin at Ocean World Circa 1965
Florida State Archives/ Florida Memory,
Postcard collection

In 1984, Beckwith sold Ocean World. Education Management Corporation, who also owned the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute, acquired Ocean World. They operated the marine park until it closed August 31, 1994. According to news accounts, EMC claimed declining attendance, revenue loss of $1.1 million in 1992 and insufficient space for expansion drove the decision. Not a destination attraction, Ocean World's demise did not affect the city of Fort Lauderdale.

Its run of 29 years was a good one but not without controversy.

Ocean World filed a suit in 1975 against nearby Everglades Marina, Inc. and its insurance company for a fire that produced smoke they claimed killed Dimples. In 1976, the Fort Lauderdale News reported four parrots were stolen

Animal activism gained advocates during the 1990s. In 1992, it was reported that the USDA closed the park for nearly two weeks in June, accusing Ocean World of animal abuse. A dolphin had died after being dropped accidently by staff, breaking its tail. The park paid a $20,000 fine. During that decade, two attendees sued,  claiming a dolphin had bitten them during feeding. One claimant was awarded $20,000.

Alligator wrestling, circa 1965
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory
Postcard collection

Beckwith and wife Lois moved to the US Virgin Islands after selling Ocean World. They returned stateside to live in Palm Coast, Florida. He died in 2016. And the animals? At closing, EMC offered many to other marine parks; an accounting of their subsequent residences and fate are unknown to this writer.

During the past few years, there had been talk (silence now) about launching a marine park or exhibit near or in the Galleria. The push to develop every square inch of land in this city for expensive housing and Galleria re-development plans may have thrown water on that idea. Can’t say another park of confined animals will excite as many as Ocean World once did. We’re in a new paradigm of animal welfare for which I, for one, am grateful.

  Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, May 29, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 12, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 15, 1966

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 6, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, March 19, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, May 14, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 29, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 10, 1994

Orlando Sentinel, July 5, 1994

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/news-journalonline/name/charles-beckwith-obituary?id=15053748

Tags: Fort Lauderdale attraction, Fort Lauderdale marine park, Fort Lauderdale aquarium, performing dolphins, Ocean World, Charlie Beckwith, Fort Lauderdale history, Broward County History

Bahia Mar: "more business, publicity to Fort Lauderdale than any other man-made attraction"

 

Bahia Mar circa 1960s,
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Bahia Mar
801 Seabreeze Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

By Jane Feehan

The following about Bahia Mar does not serve as an historical account of the business transactions that have shaped it over the years, though some will be mentioned. In 1949, the Miami News claimed Bahia Mar was the only land in Broward County that had not been privately owned; that may explain its complicated history.

Some would say its history began in the 1870s.

The United States government built a string of five Houses of Refuge in 1876 in Florida from Cape Florida to the Indian River to provide shelter for the shipwrecked. One refuge, New River House No. 4 was moved in 1891 from its first site near Hugh Birch State Park (Bonnet House) to the beach across from today’s Bahia Mar where the third Fort Lauderdale was built.

The United States Coast Guard operated from the site, a gathering place for social activities into the early 1900s. It served as Coast Guard Station No. 6 during World War I. From the inland waterway—today’s Bahia Mar—the base played an active role in World War II defense activities in South Florida. 

After the war in 1946, the federal government declared the site as surplus, placing it in the public domain.

Bahia Mar 1951
Florida State Archives/
Florida Memory

The city of Fort Lauderdale purchased the property for $600,000 but did not have enough funds for its development.

Private investors, led by Ohioan and developer William E. Schantz* raised funds to build a yacht basin that opened in December 1949. It offered 450 boat slips, shopping, a restaurant with cocktail lounge (Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Restaurant did not open there until 1959) and 650 parking spaces.

Newspapers lauded the $2.5 million project. Some claimed the marina, with “three miles of docks," brought more publicity, recognition and business "than any other man-made attraction” to Fort Lauderdale. It led to declaration by city boosters that Fort Lauderdale was the “yachting capital of the world.” One news account reported Bahia Mar was the first yacht basin in the nation to be listed on Coast Guard navigation charts.

Not long after opening, the developers declared bankruptcy and the site reverted to the city. The city leased it back to the private sector in 1959 (yes, it’s complicated). Since 1959, Bahia Mar has served as home to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show featuring some of the most spectacular luxury yachts seen anywhere. 

About 100,000 pay to see the display in late October, early November each year. Today the yacht basin holds 250 boat slips (some land now operated by the adjacent International Swimming Hall of Fame houses 40 slips), the Double Tree Hotel, yacht brokers, shopping and restaurants and other amenities.

Bahia Mar now faces a major transition. Value of the 38.65-acre Bahia Mar property is estimated (in 2022) at $256 million as Fort Lauderdale oceanfront land has fallen piece by piece to developers. The city signed an initial 50-year lease in 2022 with Jimmy and Kenny Tate of Rahn Bahia Mar Hotel. It could be extended another 50 years (status of this arrangement unclear).Their $1 billion plan for Bahia Mar includes, at this point, replacing the current 296-room hotel with a new one and building condos and commercial space. Developers plan to share revenue with the city derived from operations (hotel, marina, condos).

Plans were approved by the city  commission in 2023 for a hotel and three condo towers as controversy swirls around the project's scope.

Resident support is mixed. Some fear the project’s impact on beach traffic and its impact on the boat show; others welcome the needed revamp. Stay tuned …

  Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Bahia Mar 1968
Florida State Archives/ Florida Memory

Sources:

Weidling, Philip and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966. 

Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale: The Venice of America. Charleston: Acadia Publishing, 2004.

Fort Lauderdale News, March 7, 1949

Miami News, Sept 1, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 3, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, April 10, 1955

New York Daily News, Jan. 27, 1957

New York Daily News, June 15, 1958

Sun-Sentinel, March 30, 2022

Real Deal, April 6, 2022

https://www.marinalife.com/marina?slug=bahia-mar-resort-and-yachting-center

https://bahiamaryachtingcenter.com/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=yext

For more on William E. Schantz* use search box

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Tags: Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, yachting capital of the world. Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Fort Lauderdale history

Fort Lauderdale's Kona Kottage: Once "one of most beautiful homes in the world"

 

Kona Kottage 1967 Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan 

Not built as a tourist attraction, this famous house drew interest of Fort Lauderdale tourists and residents for more than 15 years. Described in this postcard (above) as “a fabulous Polynesian … type home known around the globe as one of the most beautiful homes in the world,” Kona Kottage was built by Loflin W. Smalley in 1961.

This son of a Georgia farmer came to Fort Lauderdale in 1925 with less than $10. He worked at the Broward Hotel as a busboy and eventually became hotel manager. Fort Lauderdale was booming in the 1940s so he looked for entrepreneurial opportunities. Smalley bought a Hertz car rental franchise and also a tree-removal business.

The palm trees he removed and often kept to save them from the dump, may have inspired his vision for the house he and wife Mildred built and moved into in 1962 and for their Hawaiian Village, a fantasy island for children, on a lot across the street. He did not visit Polynesia until a few years later.

Kona Kottage, designed by Robert E. Hansen, was built atop a concrete and steel hill on Navarro Isle (212 Gordon Rd.) off East Las Olas Boulevard. The four-story structure, which sat along 210 feet of water, included three fireplaces, a “dream kitchen” with built-in cutting boards, three waterfalls and a large bomb shelter (a popular feature of 1961 Florida houses). Surrounded by palm trees, a variety of other tropical flora and about 1,000 orchid plants, the Kona Kottage became a traffic stopper. The tour boat Queen of Venice (shown in postcard) advertised the house as one of its key sight-seeing stops.  

Smalley continued to expand his business interests. He opened Tea House of the Tokyo Moon in 1964, a soon-to-be-popular restaurant noted for its Japanese décor (423 Seabreeze). The restaurant had its own boat. Some news accounts describe restaurant patrons riding to the Kona Kottage on that boat to see the Christmas lighting display. The display created traffic snarls off Las Olas; the lights were eventually turned on only for people who came in tour boats to discourage sightseers in cars.

Smalley’s world ended in January 1967. 

After his wife reported him missing, Smalley's body was found a day later floating a mile away from his home. Cause of death was recorded as drowning but he had also been shot at close range. A gun, which once belonged to someone he knew but had died in 1955, was also recovered in a canal. Smalley's death, ruled a homicide, remains a mystery. It was once referred to as “Florida’s No. 1 Murder Mystery.” Robbery is thought to be the motive; he often carried business receipts in his car.

Smalley’s estate listed the house for sale in September 1969 for $79,500. In 1969, new owner Morton L. Browne spent $200,000 to rebuild the once-famous dwelling. Browne tired of waking up each day to people on his property taking photos, looking in windows (which he blackened) and picking orchids. First to go were the “insect bearing trees,” then the concrete and steel mound the house sat on, followed by the bomb shelter. The shelter was converted into a large recreation room. Tourists and residents stopped visiting the once-famous site; few remember it today.

Contrary to some tour boat stories and many resident rumors, Johnny Weissmuller did not live at Kona Kottage – though a fitting setting it would have been for Tarzan.

Copyright © 2020, 2021. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

 (Use search box for Weissmuller)

 Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, April 4, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 24, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 26, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 29, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, July 30, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 7, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, September 12, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 24, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, May 15, 1969

Tags: Kona Kottage, Fort Lauderdale Polynesian house, Las Olas Polynesian house, Fort Lauderdale history, History of Fort Lauderdale, LW Smalley, Fort Lauderdale during the 1960s

Fort Lauderdale's Spring Break Days: When they were asked to leave

 

Spring break crowd 1962 Fort Lauderdale
Dept. of Commerce
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

College students first came to Fort Lauderdale in 1935 as part of the Collegiate Aquatic Forum held at the Casino Pool during 10 days in December. The city extended an invitation to swimming coaches and students at 23 institutions the first year. By the 1950s, between four and five thousand students made their way to Fort Lauderdale during the annual swimming event and for Spring break; the city welcomed their business.

Things changed in 1961.

The movie, Where the Boys Are, released in December that year, linked Fort Lauderdale and Spring Break in the news and in the national consciousness. Crowds surged and a riot in March spurred Mayor Edward Johns and Police Chief Lester Holt to demand that the students “get out of town.” Miami News reporter Henry Jones wrote that the “students … have given Fort Lauderdale a national reputation as the site of a spring orgy rivaling the exuberance of the Romans.”

Students ignored the order to get out of town and continued to flock annually - at times hundreds of thousands of them - to Fort Lauderdale. In 1982, two Yale graduates, Bruce Jacobsen and Rollin Riggs had a lot to say about Fort Lauderdale in their book, Rites of Spring: Students’ Guide to Spring Break in Florida. (Priam Books, 1982):

Fort Lauderdale is as loose on its morals as it is tight on its laws.

The town deserves its meat-market reputation: people are constantly sizing you up, weighing you and determining how much you cost with all the authority and insensitivity of a butcher.

A popular daytime diversion is to sit in lounge chairs or on a fence and heckle passersby.

Fort Lauderdale has as much dignity as pro wrestling or roller derby but provokes the same illicit sense of pleasure. If you can keep up with the great pace for a few days at a time, you’re bound to return with some great stories.

Jacobsen and Riggs listed places to stay:

Bahama Hotel, Fort Lauderdale Motel, Holiday Inn (Las Olas), Jolly Roger, Lauderdale Biltmore, Wish you Were Here Inn and the Xanadu.  Bar recommendations included: the Button, Elbo Room, Bojangles, Candy Store, and Mr. Pips. For dining they pointed to the Mai-Kai, Yesterday’s, Durty Nellie’s and the Crab Pot.

Most of those places are gone now – and so are the rowdy students. Fort Lauderdale clamped down the annual event in the mid 1980s with open container laws and traffic re-routing. The annual swim meet, the granddaddy of it all, has moved from Fort Lauderdale. The International Swimming Hall of Fame (www.ishof.org), a museum, remains. The new Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex opened January 2023.

©2011, 2021

__________ 

Sources:

Miami News, Dec. 24, 1935

Miami News, March 28, 1961

Jacobsen, Bruce and Riggs, Rollin. Rites of Spring: Students Guide to Spring Break in Florida. Priam Books 1982

Fort Lauderdale history, Spring break history, Collegiate Aquatic Forum Fort Lauderdale, college students, Fort Lauderdale spring break