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 …

 

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

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2014/03/houses-of-refuge-fort-lauderdale-and.html

For more on Houses of Refuge, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2014/03/houses-of-refuge-fort-lauderdale-and.html

For more on William E. Schantz* see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/06/bahia-mar-yacht-basin-cabbage-palm-logs.html

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

Sunset Theatre: Fort Lauderdale's early theater, a link to its WWII hero, Sandy Nininger and ...

 

Sunset Theatre (vertical sign) next to the
 taller Sweet Building
1939 - Looking north on Andrews
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory/Romer

 

Postcard depiction of Sunset Theatre next to
Sweet Building
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

 

Sunset Theatre
313 South Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale

By Jane Feehan

Entertainment in the United States shifted from live performances to a hybrid that included film in the 1920s. Early Fort Lauderdale was no exception to the shift.

The Sunset Theatre, by some accounts, opened in 1922—just 11 years after the city was established. Located at 313 South Andrews Avenue (and later adjacent to the Sweet Building that went up next door), the theater housed more than 750 seats. It served as a popular place for live concerts, vaudeville acts, musical benefits, meetings and events for the Lion’s Club, Woman’s Club and other civic groups.

The building the theater occupied was once owned by early Fort Lauderdale developer M. A. Hortt. Rental office space there was offered through classified advertisements of the time. No doubt it was a popular place from which to operate a business. The theater was a high-profile operation and everyone knew where it was; why not open a real estate or medical office at the same address?

When The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille’s blockbuster with a cast and extras of 5,000 was presented at the theater in 1925 (about two years before the first “talkies”), Fort Lauderdale over-capacity crowds were turned away for both the afternoon and evening showings. The turnout was a testament to both the popularity of the Sunset and wild interest in film. 

Early movies were accompanied by live orchestras. The Fort Lauderdale theater provided its own Sunset Theatre Orchestra, but The Ten Commandments came with its traveling “orchestra of 20 men.” Ticket prices for other live performances and movies went for 50 cents to two dollars. I could not find ticket prices for a movie, but chances are the 10-25-cent movies came decades later when musicians’ pay was not a factor.

There is an interesting side note for those who know of the first awardee of the Medal of Honor of World War II, local hero Alexander (“Sandy”) R. Nininger, Jr. (see https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/07/first-wwii-congressional-medal-of-honor.html). 

His father, A.R. Nininger, was tapped as manager of the Sunset Theatre in 1928 and oversaw its transition to talking film. Recruited from Ocala where he managed the Publix-Saenger-Sparks Theaters (for Publix film connection, see https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/01/about-that-name-publix-and-its-link-to.html).

Nininger senior was quite the promoter of the Sunset enterprise; he frequently invited a variety of guests to attend shows for free, such as the Boy Scouts and other civic organizations for which he was mentioned frequently in the Fort Lauderdale News. He also promoted amateur acts from the theater to broadcast on radio. (Nininger senior accepted his son’s Medal of Honor in Tampa in February 1942.)

Some sources indicate Sunset Theatre ceased operations in 1953, though ads for movie schedules were published into early 1954. Business details remain murky, but the theater emerged in 1954 as the Sunrise Art Theatre offering plays, foreign films and a temporary venue for the Little Theater. The building closed in the 1970s.

 

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 15, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 24, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, May 21, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 10, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Jun 24, 1933

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 20, 1954

Tampa Tribune, Feb. 11, 1942

Gainesville Times, Oct. 1, 2021

CinemaTreasures.org

Tags: About Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale movie theaters, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale theater, Fort Lauderdale history

Fort Lauderdale tourist accommodations in the 1920s

Dresden Hotel on the New River circa 1920
Florida State Archives/ Florida Memory

Fort Lauderdale has come a long way in the hospitality industry since the 1920s. This photo made front page of the Fort Lauderdale Herald, March 3, 1922.

Fort Lauderdale was beginning to appreciate its tourists, especially after the Las Olas bridge and causeway to the beach opened in 1917. Hotels and apartments are listed from top left to right, second row left to right, etc.

Hotel Broward, the first tourist hotel in Broward County, lies center, number 5. Most of the buildings listed in the photo were not on the beach. 

1. Gilbert Hotel
2. Smith Apartments
3. Dresden Apartments
4. Wallace Apartments
5. Hotel Broward
6. Palms Hotel
7. Shippey House
8. New River Hotel
9. Las Olas Inn (beach side)






 

Wallace Apartments 1917 Las Olas
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Hotel Broward  circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Smith Guest House circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Las Olas Inn at the beach, circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s

Boats not required for the best in South Florida fishing

By Jane Feehan

I’ve visited all its fishing piers while growing up in South Florida. I've been as intrigued by the activities of anglers on the boards as by the surrounding blue waters. Recently, as a Florida historian, I saw an opportunity to quench my interest in angling while learning a bit more about this area’s topography by reading Steve Kantner’s Ultimate Guide to Fishing South Florida on Foot (published by Stackploe/Headwater and available on Amazon). This book provides all that—and more.

A disclaimer: I am not an angler nor will ever be. But Kantner’s knowledge of these subtropical environs—the Everglades, canals, lakes, spillways, beaches, jetties, docks, and their ecosystems—impresses anglers, tag-alongs and spectators like me.

Kantner's book is not only about the remote, secluded honey holes where he has guided both novice and expert fishing hopefuls but also about urban settings such as city of Oakland Park through which the natural Cherry Creek tributary runs. He considers this the “most pristine in-town waterway in all of South Florida.” Who knew. This is a must-read for anglers who call South Florida home.

The book also serves as a primer for anglers living near water in other parts of the state or country. He writes “the current is what triggers the action” and it’s the “wave action that serves as catalyst for shoreline fishing." That's useful information for land or sea anglers nearly anywhere. Kantner, who has a biology degree, reveals where the places are, how to get there, where to park, what to bring, the species that inhabit each, what time to catch them and how. His book is also a trove of information about flies, lures, and rigging, some of which he's invented or developed and bear his name.

There’s something for everyone who loves South Florida in this guide. It’s well written, informative, chock full of beautiful photos and more than anything, fascinating. Kantner cooks up a lot of what he catches. If only he could include his recipes in this tome ...


Tags: Fishing in South Florida, Steve Kantner, Landcaptain, Steve Landcaptain Kantner

Fort Lauderdale's Natchez Plantation House - beach landmark, old memory

 

Natchez Plantation House 1961
Florida State Archives

Natchez Plantation House

735 N. Atlantic Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Not sure when the Natchez Plantation House was built, but for many growing up in Fort Lauderdale it was part of A1A’s scenery during the 1960s and 70s. It was the first tourist building that met the eye on the strip after the Bonnet House.

Advertised as a 12-unit building with furnished units for short-term or yearly leases, this anachronistic structure was demolished at least a decade ago. The city turned down a proposal for a 22-story condo at the site in 2003 (days when development was restrained under Mayor Jim Naugle).

In 2016, the Natchez property was valued at $25.9 million. A land swap for parking was proposed by the city that year, but it was controversial because it sat next to the historic Bonnet House. The swap was proposed to entice beach goers to use Sunrise Boulevard rather than Las Olas for beach access. In 2022, signs on construction fencing around the site read, "Temporary Fire Station 13 and parking." Asphalting is underway. The swap was made for the city's use.

July 2022, asphalting underway

A few news pieces about the Natchez Plantation House appeared in the 1960s. One clip, an advertisement for a secretary/receptionist was funny, if not informative, about that decade. The pay offered was $70 a week to assist with a variety of duties including welcoming visitors and operating an editorial office for publisher Charles C. Thomas of Illinois. The add also promised “health and accidents.” Surely a reference to insurance.

Vacant property - in 2022

In July 1961, a piece in the Fort Lauderdale News reported that the Natchez Plantation House, plus acreage, was traded for Palm Patio Apartments at 2922 Banyan Street. The trade was handled by Averill and Co., a local real estate firm. About a year later the same newspaper reported that Charles C. Thomas, publisher, purchased the Natchez from Frances and Jack Wallace.

Today, traffic is often backed up at Sunrise and A1A on weekends—on and off season. With the state of today’s traffic congestion, drivers will take any navigable route without encouragement from the city. The project  replacing the Natchez Plantation House will be the first on the strip after the Bonnet House, an overture to the city’s famous beach south of Sunrise Boulevard. Let’s hope it plays well.

 

 __________

Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, July 15, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, July 21, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 12, 1962

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 19, 2016

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

Fort Lauderdale: from plow and trowel to beach towel

Fort Lauderdale Beach

 

By Jane Feehan

Settlers first came to Fort Lauderdale with farming in mind. It was the Everglades they set their hopes on; its rich dark muck was a farmer’s dream—if the Everglades could be drained.

To promote interest in developing farmlands in 1911-1912, city pioneers and Board of Trade delegates traveled to nearby cities by train with a large banner advertising Fort Lauderdale as Gateway to the Everglades. The message: “Our little town is the gateway that leads not only to the Everglades but to success.”

A variety of promotions were used to entice settlers into farm life. In 1911, The Everglades Land Sales Company advertised a "celebration" or exhibition to show off a swamp plow, the Buckeye Traction Pulverizer. A successful tool in Louisiana, it was sure to be in Florida. It could plow 10 acres a day at $3 per acre unlike the “old way” at $6 per acre. Prospective land–and plow—buyers were directed to Fort Lauderdale where they could take a boat to the South Canal and to the company’s experimental farm. It was expected to “attract a large number of people.” (No follow up on this claim.)

In 1922, even though hopes waned about draining the Everglades, the Carmichael Development Company touted Fort Lauderdale as the “Key City to the East Coast of Tomorrow.” The community it was promoting, Placidena, did not sit in the Everglades but in town (today a city subdivision).

Everglades postcard 1935
Florida State Archives

Advertisements shifted away from Everglades by the mid-1920s. Draining exploits failed; Mother Nature prevailed. Messaging was different.

Seaboard Holding Company ads elevated new reasons for moving to Fort Lauderdale while lowering prominence of the Everglades:

• It is on the ocean
• It is on Dixie Highway
• It is below the frostline
• It is at the Everglades
• It is 26 miles north of Miami
• It is 41 miles south of Palm Beach
• The FEC (Florida East Coast Railway)
• The Seaboard Air Line Railway is coming through (airline here refers to shortest rail route)
• The New River is 90 feet deep, right in the city
• It has churches, schools, banks, hotels, golf courses, fishing, bathing, boating and a wonderful climate all year round.

Today, most are moving here for many of the reasons above but even more important, to get away from other states. Many will be unhappy residents during summers when weather is not wonderful but might feel at home with the congested roads and burgeoning high rises.

Fort Lauderdale 2021

For more on draining the Everglades see: 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/01/napoleon-bonaparte-broward-and.html

-----

Sources:

Miami Daily Metropolis, Jan. 23, 1911

Miami Daily Metropolis, July 19, 1911

Miami Herald, Dec. 30, 1922

Miami Herald, April 7, 1926

Tags: Gateway to the Everglades, Fort Lauderdale development, Everglades farming, Fort Lauderdale land sales, Fort Lauderdale history

Determined to move to Fort Lauderdale 100 years ago ... on foot

One man's way of traveling to Fort Lauderdale 100 years ago could become more popular this century with fuel expenses continuing to rise. Probably not. But, like many today, Jake Emich was determined to come to Florida--Fort Lauderdale--specifically.

A story from 1920 reveals how early Fort Lauderdale captured the imagination of Northerners (spelling and punctuation as in the story).

Jake Emich, eighty-five years of age, but rugged and strong, finished a walk from Cleveland, Ohio, when he arrived in Fort Lauderdale the latter part of last week. Mr. Emich left Cleveland the first of July, stopping for several days in Kentucky.

This is not the first long walk that the aged man has made. Several times he has walked across the continent, which probably accounts for his ability to make such a long voyage at his advanced age. It is probably his last one, however, for he likes Fort Lauderdale and declares that he will rent or buy a farm in this section and engage in farming.

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale history

 

Source:

Fort Lauderdale Herald, October 15, 1920

Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium: tribute to the fallen transformed

 

War Memorial Auditorium 1967
Florida State Archives

War Memorial Auditorium
800 NE 8th Street
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304
https://www.fortlauderdale.gov

Owned and operated by Fort Lauderdale, the War Memorial Auditorium opened January 14, 1950. The building seated 2,100 and served as a venue for wrestling matches, exhibits, shows, graduations, dances and more.

Miami News columnist William McHale, Jr. wrote about the memorial building, constructed for $450,000, shortly after it opened:

In the summer of 1946 civic groups began talking about a suitable commemoration for men
and women of Fort Lauderdale who had served in the recent war.

Ideas on what that memorial should be were plentiful, but Fort Lauderdale was in the swirl of a rapid growing period, and the need for a big gathering spot was pretty apparent. So the plan to
build an auditorium was approved by the civic organizations and work began in a hurry -
Miami News, Feb. 23, 1950

The War Memorial Auditorium is located at the 86-acre Holiday Park, which opened in 1947.

In 1948, some residents thought the auditorium would be too big for a small city the size of Fort Lauderdale. When it opened, others said it was not only a tribute to those who died in war but also a symbol of what the living could accomplish.

Today, the War Memorial Auditorium is seen as too small for this growing city. It is undergoing a major transformation.

The city of Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Panthers hockey team entered into agreement in June 2019 to renovate the facility. The Panthers are providing $45 million to build a public skating rink and a team training rink. The city will contribute $800,000 and lease its seven acres for $1 per year for 50 years to the Florida Panthers. The project should be completed summer of 2022.

Under renovation 2020

It is expected the facility will serve as a new family destination. Skaters can cool off in the rink. It will also seat 4,000 for a variety of performances or shows. A 5,000 sq ft restaurant will overlook the park, which will be newly landscaped with additional trees. Lots of excitement to come--and frustration with traffic.

Let us not forget the reason the War Memorial Auditorium was built.

For what's to come see:  https://ftlwarmemorial.com

____

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 24, 1948

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 14, 1950

Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 26, 2018

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 18, 2019

Sun-Sentinel, March 3, 2022

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, War Memorial Auditorium, Florida Panthers, 

Fort Lauderdale history

Broward County Defenses in WWII: of rationing and volunteering

By Jane Feehan

The focus of  Broward County war relief efforts for England shifted to defense activities after Pearl Harbor. Three weeks after that attack the Broward County Defense Council, comprised of councils in Dania, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale, Hollywood and Oakland Park, reported its efforts.

An air raid warden system neared completion with issuing more than 350 warden identification cards to volunteers.

Broward County residents were advised not to be alarmed by sudden power shut downs. Warnings of practice blackouts would be announced by newspapers and radio.

Avenger aircraft WWII
State of Florida Archives

Students in their last semester would be eligible for diplomas if they entered the armed services and their work deemed meeting set standards.

A resolution to pay expenses for architect Clinton Gamble to attend a course on building protection at the University of Florida was passed by the county.  Gamble would then return to Broward and supervise air precaution work on school buildings.

Taxi and truck owners in the county were urged to register their vehicles with the council. Also, all private car owners were asked to register their vehicles if they volunteered to support the war effort with their cars.

Ex-service men and former police officers formed an auxiliary unit under direction of Sheriff Walter Clark. His office was  "crowded to capacity with patriots offering their time and resources to observe and track down illegal activities when paid officers were occupied with other duties."

The Broward Defense Council was also involved in rationing of products and supplies during WWII. A national ban on the sale of tires went into effect December 11, 1941. Soon after safety boards were established in Broward County and throughout the country to handle rationing of tires. Rubber for tires was imported from areas in the Pacific occupied by or in conflict with Japan and its allies. Rubber was needed to manufacture truck tires for military vehicles.

Other rationed items included gasoline, canned goods, sugar, meat, dairy products--and a list expanded so frequently that some asked "when are they going to ration the rationing?" Rationing was necessary to feed and support US troops and to help produce military goods. 

Tags: Broward County in WWII, Fort Lauderdale in WWII, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale history, Broward County history

___________

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale Daily News Dec. 19, 1941

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Dec. 28, 1941

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan 8, 1943

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 21, 1943

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Feb. 17, 1943

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, WWII in Broward County, Fort Lauderdale during World War II, film research. Rationing, Fort Lauderdale history, Broward County history, Fort Lauderdale in WWII

Fort Lauderdale and the Intracoastal Waterway through the years

Fort Lauderdale 1946
Florida State Archives

 Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale 1947
Florida State Archives

 Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale 1967
Florida State Archives/Barron

 Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale (LBTS) 1980
Florida State Archives

Intracoastal in Broward/Fort Lauderdale 1970s-80s
Florida State Archives

 Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives/ Gaines 1993

Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale (at Sunrise Blvd) 2022
Feehan

 Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale(Sunrise Blvd,) 2022
Feehan

Tags: Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history

For more about the Intracoastal Waterway, see:

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

Osceola Hotel, Fort Lauderdale's early frontier hotel

Osceola Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, circa 1910
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Some say the Osceola Hotel was Fort Lauderdale’s first, but Frank Stranahan’s trading post hosted visitors before 1900.

Visitors to Fort Lauderdale at this time were mostly in town for work or business, such as land sales or trade rather than sight seeing. There wasn't much to see, beaches were not easily accessed until 1917. Hopes were high for developing the Everglades into farms before attention turned east.

Early visitors stayed at the Osceola Hotel, also referred to as the Osceola Inn.

The large wooden structure started out in 1904 as a packing house for the Osceola Fruit and Vegetable Company at Wall Street and Brickell Avenue (later site of Brown’s Restaurant, a popular hangout of local politicians for decades).

The packing company failed and M.A. and William Marshall, Fort Lauderdale's first mayor, purchased the property in 1906. It’s not clear who converted it into a hotel but several claimed they did, including builder-developer Henry R. Brown of North Carolina or Tennessee (his home reference depends on news accounts). Don Farnsworth, a local resident and businessman, also claimed he did. The Fort Lauderdale Land and Development Company probably was in the ownership mix after the packing company closed.

What is certain is the Osceola was a place local families, including that of early Fort Lauderdale artist J. Melvin Ziegler, entertained themselves by watching visitors come and go. Also confirmed, the Osceola Hotel escaped Fort Lauderdale’s first major fire June 1, 1912. Most of the businesses burned to the ground in the city’s only downtown district before help could arrive. It was reported the hotel was saved by dynamiting intervening buildings. 

The Osceola Hotel was not so lucky a year later. It was destroyed in fire “all by itself,” July 17, 1913.

For more on the 1912 fire, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/12/fort-lauderdale-burns-fire-that-brought.html

Another early hotel:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2019/01/las-olas-inn-long-gone-and-mostly.html

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, July 22, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 19, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, April 22, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov 27, 1951

Fort Lauderdale News, July 17, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 2, 1955

Weidling, Philip J., Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966)

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, History of Fort Lauderdale

Developers Haft-Gaines in 1970s Fort Lauderdale: Bay Colony, Imperial Point, Inverrary and ...

 

By Jane Feehan

New condominium and rental projects overtaking the Fort Lauderdale landscape like a bad dream calls for a look back to the 1970s. That decade witnessed a tremendous growth surge.

Haft-Gaines, led by University of North Carolina classmates Burt Haft and Jack Gaines were at the helm of several high-profile developments in Fort Lauderdale and later in Palm Beach County. According to news accounts they ventured to Fort Lauderdale after reading a Kiplinger Letter about Florida’s opportunities.

Gaines said in a 1970 interview that they started building houses in Pompano and Boca Raton. They soon turned their attention to Fort Lauderdale where they developed Imperial Pointe, The Landings and Bay Colony. 

If you think things are crazy now, note they charged an admission fee just to see models of Bay Colony, touted then as the most expensive sub-division in the U.S. with prices of $200,000 to $600,000. (News accounts indicated deposed President of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, was interested in a property at 100 Bay Colony Lane).

Gaines had California on his mind. Not for developments but for inspiration. He wanted to bring California to Florida. He brought Richard Leitch and Associates of Newport, California to work magic on 1,000 acres off West Oakland Park Boulevard. Waterfalls, lakes, small, sculpted hills served as the backdrop of this new community of apartments, condos and houses. 

This showstopper was Inverrary, a $500 million development opened in 1970. It was also the site of 21 tennis courts, three golf courses and a 14-room townhouse for Jackie Gleason overlooking a lake. ( https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/07/of-russians-splitnick-inverrary-jackie.html). They reached $1 million in sales within days of launching the development. Haft-Gaines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fuqua Industries by 1970, moved their office from Imperial Point to Inverrary. That's where the action and headlines reigned.

The community generated headlines for years about real estate, golf tournaments and more.

One of those headlines was a White House ceremony in 1973 where First Lady Pat Nixon gave the Haft-Gaines company the “first-place-in-nation” award among private firms for beautification efforts along a highway; that was for Inverarry, where waterfalls mark its entrance and lakes dot its landscape. Company Comptroller Chuck Tilbrook accepted the award on behalf of Haft-Gaines.

The company later developed Frenchmen’s Creek, an exclusive community in Palm Beach Gardens. Jack Gaines died in 2004 at Juno Beach; Burt Haft died in 2020 in Aventura. They set the standards for Florida developments and understood the dynamic of real estate where “creating an emotionality” played a key role in buying a house.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 10, 1970
Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 31, 1970
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 10, 1970
Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 20, 1971
Fort Lauderdale News, May 5, 1973
www.greensboro.com
Legacy.com

Tags: Fort Lauderdale developers, Inverrary, The Landings, Haft-Gaines, Bay Colony, Fort Lauderdale history

Broward General Hospital: the prequel

 

Broward General 1949, 505 SE 17^th Street
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan


Since the 1920s hospitals in Broward County have been built, leased, sold and operated by different entities. The history of Broward General Hospital, now Broward Health Medical Center, exemplifies the balance of community needs and business dynamics we associate with more recent decades.

Its predecessor, located on “five beautiful acres,” was the Fort Lauderdale Memorial Hospital (telephone number 330). It was opened by Dr. Scott Edwards reportedly in 1924, though some accounts indicate a later date. The location of the 37-bed hospital was probably near downtown. It was not in Hollywood, the current city of the Hollywood Memorial Hospital; Hollywood Hospital was operating in 1937. (Addresses during the city’s early days were not as important to publish as they are today).

Memorial was leased by the Broward County Commission. That arrangement terminated in 1937 when it was sold to Medical Services, Inc. a private company. To start anew in another facility, physicians banded together that year to form the Broward Hospital Association. Headed by J.D. Camp and Ernst Bratzel, the association also included, among others, Robert Lochrie, Carl A. Hiaasen and George English (many names we’re familiar with today).  An initiative to establish a new hospital was approved by the county and moved forward with community and local government support.

The building chosen for a hospital was the Granada Apartments at 505 SE 17th Street. Designed by architect Robert G. Jahelka and owned by Nobel Jarrell of Goldsboro, MD, the three-story building (rendering above) with its wide and hospital-appropriate hallways sold for about $25,000. A loan for $15,000 was secured and a fund of $11,000 was raised for purchase and conversion of the building. That left $1,000 to complete the purchase. Another $25,000 was required to install an elevator and buy medical equipment.

The Fort Lauderdale News reported in 1937 that city pioneer John Lochrie, from a Pennsylvania hospital where he died, guaranteed funding required to complete the project “in order that recent hospital difficulties might be corrected.” It’s not clear the difficulties he referred to were at the end or beginning of the fund raising nor how much his contribution was.

Broward Hospital opened in early 1938 (telephone number 666) with 60 beds including those for newborn. Several wings were added in 1942 and 1948 raising the capacity to 142 beds. The North Broward Hospital District was formed in 1950 and disbanded the same year when an expansion request was denied (it was re-established). By 1961, the bed count was 468. Today, part of Broward Health, Broward Medical Center (1600 S. Andrews Ave.) provides about 700 beds and is part of a network of medical facilities throughout the county.

Copyright 2022. Jane Feehan

  

 Sources:

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, April 2, 1929

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 13, 1929

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 12, 1932

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 2, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 7, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 8, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Sept 21, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Nov. 24, 1937

South Broward Tatler, June 4, 1937

Broward Health

Wikipedia

 

Tags: Broward Hospital, Broward General, Broward Medical Center, Broward General Hospital history, Broward Health, Fort Lauderdale history

Sea Ranch Lakes: A reluctant buyer, a hotel and an exclusive community

By Jane Feehan

Robert Hayes Gore purchased The Fort Lauderdale News in 1929, one of many purchases that helped define today’s Fort Lauderdale. By 1930, he reportedly owned a portfolio of 32 properties; most were downtown. It was said he wanted to make Fort Lauderdale one of the most beautiful cities along Florida’s east coast.

During the Great Depression plenty of land became available to serve as foundation for some of Gore’s dreams.

Realtor Lovick Miller wanted to sell oceanfront property north of Lauderdale-by-the Sea, known as the Ausherman tract. C.C. Ausherman was the first president of Fort Lauderdale’s Realty Board (1929); he bought that land during the boom days before 1926. Some say he turned down an offer of $1 million for the tract during the good times. Good choice, bad timing. In 1928 or 29 he sold it to another Fort Lauderdale pioneer, John Lochrie. Lochrie wanted to sell, perhaps for tax reasons, and Miller had just the right prospect for the purchase:  R.H. Gore.

Except Gore did not want it, even at the low price of $25,000. The tract was too far north of his downtown home, businesses and other properties. Miller told Gore he could make at least $100,000 on the land. Enticed, Gore bought the property. Great choice, perfect timing. The 45 acres (reported but doesn’t ring correct)  with 1,800 feet of ocean front, became the site of the Sea Ranch Hotel and Cabana Club, and later part of the Sea Ranch Lakes community (where more acreage was purchased).

Gore and family opened the Sea Ranch Cabana Club in 1939. Initially a membership organization, the club offered 20 cabanas, each with dressing rooms and other amenities, and a dining room with bar overlooking the ocean. The seaside club opened to the public soon after. Reciprocal comforts were available to guests of the Governors’ Club downtown Fort Lauderdale, which Gore also owned. The Sea Ranch Hotel was added in 1940, remodeled in 1949 and provided more than 60 rooms. Also added were the Hayloft Bar and additional dining facilities. A stable with horses for riding was also part of the remodeling project. The hotel’s guest list included the rich and famous, including Rita Hayworth and her new husband, Aly Khan (m. 1949-1953).

And then came the community of Sea Ranch Lakes, part of the original Gore purchase, where he eventually lived.

Named for the oceanside hotel and two fresh-water lakes on the property, the walled community underwent development in 1956. Its 210 lots bordered the Intracoastal Waterway and circled the lakes. Lots in those days were sold for $10,500 to $36,000. Advertisements lauded the community as “exclusive, secure and private.” It remains so today with its gatehouse and homes priced in the millions. Officially organized as a village today, Sea Ranch Lakes population is estimated at 600.

The hotel’s history, which included a popular dinner theater operated by Brian C. Smith (b. 1940- d. 2010) ended in the early 1980s when the property was sold to make way for the Sea Ranch Lakes Condominiums selling at $660K-$900,000 at this writing.  And so it goes, condo madness.

For more on R.H. Gore, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/05/fort-lauderdales-publisher-r-h-gore.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/09/governors-club-opens-in-1937-setting.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/10/wftl-and-rh-gore-afloat-in-venice-of.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/09/look-in-sky-its-flashing-its-news-fort.html

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, March 8, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 23, 1939

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 3, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 28, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 12, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 15, 1956

Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, R.H. Gore, Sea Ranch Lakes history, Fort Lauderdale history

Dr. James F. Sistrunk: Among Fort Lauderdale's first Black doctors

Steamboat Everglades on the New River circa 1922

Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

James Franklin Sistrunk (1891-1966), a Fort Lauderdale pioneer and doctor is credited with delivering  5,000 babies. But his practice extended far beyond obstetrics. 

As the only Black physician in the city from about 1922 until the late 1930s and with strictly segregated medical care, Blacks came to him or were brought to him from as far away as Pompano or Boca Raton. He tended to a range of typical illnesses, as well as injuries sustained in car and industrial accidents and fights. He conducted house visits and often, to assist the poor, did not collect fees.

Dr. Sistrunk was born Midway, Florida, about 10 miles from Tallahassee. In 1919 he earned his medical degree at Meharry College in Nashville, TN.  In 1922, he came to a growing Fort Lauderdale. He filled a large medical void and served his community in many ways.

The doctor delivered services with scarce supplies and equipment. A hospital was needed. Sistrunk, in partnership with Dr. Von Mizell and Leona Collins, opened Provident Hospital in 1938, the “only hospital in Broward County exclusively” serving the Black community. Dedicated Sunday, May 1^st that year, the hospital (some called it a sanitorium) offered 12 beds and 24-hour nursing care at 14^th Avenue and 6^th Street. Supplies and equipment were provided through donations raised at teas, casino nights and an assortment of benefits regularly written up in the Fort Lauderdale News months before and years after Provident Hospital opened its doors.

The hospital filled a community service and often drew newspaper interest.  In 1938, Dr. Sistrunk and five other Black doctors completed a three-week intensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. A month later, Black doctors from other parts of the state volunteered their services so Provident could provide free tonsil removal for Black children for one week.

Dr. Sistrunk was also busy in the community. During World War II, he, Dr. Mizell, Dr. J.L. Bass and Dr. E.G. Thomas ran a campaign to raise funds for a “soldier club” for service men returning home to Fort Lauderdale on furlough. Additionally, Dr. Sistrunk was active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Veteran’s Association and Sigma Fraternity.

In 1956 he and wife Daisy, parents of two daughters, held an open house at their new home at 724 N.W. 27 Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. It was the only house with a pool in the neighborhood located near the New River and was reported to have been built for about $65,000. 

Provident Hospital was torn down in 1964 after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when hospitals were integrated. Medicare could not serve segregated facilities.

Dr. Sistrunk died March 20, 1966, at 75. For his contributions to the community, the city rededicated the 6^th Street Bridge as the J. F. Sistrunk Bridge in 1968 and renamed parts of 6^th Street, Sistrunk Boulevard in 1971. 

The Sistrunk Festival with its parade is held each February to honor the doctor. The corridor was once core of the city’s African American community and today is a revived cultural area of Fort Lauderdale.

For other pioneer Fort Lauderdale doctors, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2014/02/trailblazer-dr-mizell-served-african.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/01/rough-start-for-fort-lauderdales-first.html

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 16, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 16, 1935

Fort Lauderdale News, May 3, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 23, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, July 21, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News Oct. 28, 1942

Fort Lauderdale News Aug. 7, 1950

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 21, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, March 21, 1966

Roots Web

Tags: African American history in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale pioneer doctors, Provident Hospital, 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.

 (See: https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/09/fort-lauderdale-and-johnny-weissmuller.html).

 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