Army not taking over Miami Beach ... for now - 1942

Miami Beach, barrier island

 By Jane Feehan

Miami Beach officials and residents held their breath after Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941; they thought the city was in for a tough time. But weeks later, tourists trekked to the winter playground, filling up hotel rooms.

And so did the military.

Military training operations were brought to Miami Beach early in 1942.  Headquarters and drill grounds for the Army Air Force Officers Training School were established at the municipal golf course – then known as the Bayshore Golf Course. The Army first appropriated the Boulevard Hotel as quarters for arriving soldiers in February, 1942. The Nautilus Hotel was soon used as a hospital.

  

March 1, 1942, the New York Times reported that the “Army was not taking over Miami Beach.” Lieut. Col. James S. Stowell, commander of the training school, announced  the army would appropriate five hotels and bring in 950 soldiers – “at least for now.”  Soldiers would stay for a three-month training course before receiving their commissions.

Soldiers came by the thousands. Tourists cheerfully moved to other accommodations. Beaches, including the one at Bal Harbour, were used as rifle ranges. By 1943, 188 hotels, 109 apartment houses and 18 private homes had been appropriated by the military. About 13,000 students were graduated from the officer training school in Miami Beach; the last class to go through was in June 1943.  Soldiers engaged their own rooms in hotels with military contracts. Food was not arranged for through a military mess until late in operations – adding to area business revenues.

Business boomed. Miami Beach continued to draw entertainers and property sales soared, setting the stage for the major expansion of the 1950s.

Sources:

New York Times, March 1, 1942

Kleinberg, Howard. Miami Beach: A History. Miami: Centennial Press (1996).

Ibiblio.org

Tags: Miami Beach history, Miami Beach during the 1940s, Miami Beach during World War II, WWII in Miami Beach, Florida film researcher, historical researcher 

Miami Beach glitzy night out for two for $20 - 1950s

Recent photo of Fountainebleau and
Eden Roc

By Jane Feehan 

Miami Beach reigned as one of the most glamorous winter playground resort cities in the U.S. during the 1950s and 60s. Big-name entertainers headlined shows at the Fountainebleau, Americana, Deauville hotels and many others on the tourist-packed barrier island.

In 1956, tourists paid up to $40 a day for a room – a lot of money then for many.  And there were entertainment expenses. The Miami News reported that such expenses were not out of reach; a night on the town for two that year could be enjoyed for $20. A “Jackson” or “double saw-buck” could cover any nightclub show, including taxes, tips and car valet – and a not-so-fancy-but-satisfactory-dinner.

The Latin Quarter on Palm Island, run by Lou Walters (Barbara Walters’ father), charged $6.50 per person, during weekdays - a dollar more on weekends -  for a drink and meal. That included a two-hour show. Taxes would run about $1.40; a tip would tally up to 20 percent. Set aside 75 cents or a dollar for the valet and violà – a night out on the town (dancing, too) for about $20. Other places were cheaper.

The Godfrey Lounge at the Vagabonds Club, where Woody Woodbury headlined before his Fort Lauderdale days, charged $5.75 for a drink and dinner for one. For those not interested in dinner, the Fountainebleau charged a $7.00 or two-drink minimum per person. The Sans Souci asked for a $2.50 or $3.50 drink minimum.  

And, there were many clubs and other venues that required no minimum to see a top-notch show. A long roster of entertainers included Milton Berle, Donald O’Connor, Myron Cohen, Joe E. Brown and Cyd Charisse. Those were the days ... that ended.

__________ 

Sources:

Miami News, Jan. 22, 1956

  

Tags: Miami Beach during the 1950s, Miami Beach history, Florida film researcher, historical research

Loggerhead turtle racing to eclipse all watersports ... 1921

Today’s animal activists would gasp at the loggerhead sea turtle race held on Miami Beach - then often referred to as Miami by the Sea -  at the Roman pools in 1921. It was promoted as “the biggest aquatic event which has ever been billed in Miami Beach.”

                     

Scouts combed the Florida Keys for weeks to find worthy loggerhead contestants, which average 300 pounds. The Miami Metropolis reported that “turtle racing in the Bahamas is what baseball is to the United States” and, up to that point, had never been held in the U.S.

Capt. Charles S. Thompson, a popular fishing guide in Miami who claimed President Warren G. Harding among his customers and friends, was tapped to be one of the turtle riders because he “knows more about the sport than any other man hereabouts.”

The Metropolis described the upcoming event:

The sea turtles will be harnessed and driven from a line on the pool across the pool and back by men astride the turtles. It requires skill and a knowledge of the ways of the big turtles to win a race.  The movie men will be there to see that the race is given the proper attention in the weekly news pictures in the great cities of the world.

Today the loggerhead sea turtle, the state saltwater reptile of Florida, is designated a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Sources:

Miami Metropolis, July 31,1921

Miami News, May 17, 1929

Tags: Miami Beach history, loggerhead sea turtles in Florida, Florida film researcher,  historical researcher

Miami Beach's first hotel - Brown's

Miami Beach 1926
(Nautilus Hotel in
background)
Florida State Archives/
Florida Memory

Scotsman-turned-New Yorker William J. Brown beat developer Carl Fisher into the hotel biz in Miami Beach at First Street and Ocean Drive. Opened for the 1915-16 winter season (Miami Beach was incorporated Mar. 26, 1915), Brown’s 36-room hotel, a two-story pine structure, offered basics of the time with kitchen facilities on the first floor.

By all accounts it was a busy, if plain, place. Carl Fisher’s wife, Jane, entertained there Christmas 1921 after her husband opened the more glamorous Flamingo Hotel in 1920.

Brown sold the property, opened as the Atlantic Beach Hotel, in 1922.  It went through a series of owners and names, including the Star Apartments during the 1990s. By then the original pine structure had been covered in stucco with some pieces blown off during Hurricane Andrew. But the building survived and is now the site of the popular, upscale restaurant Prime 112 Steakhouse at 112 Ocean Drive.

Sources:

Kleinberg, Howard. Miami Beach, a History.  Miami: Centennial Press (1994).

Miami News, Dec. 23, 1921 

www.oceandrivemiamibeach.com/prime-112-steakhouse-is-ocean-drives-late-night-gem

Tags: first hotel in Miami Beach, Carl Fisher, William J. Brown, Miami Beach history, history of  Miami Beach

Miami Beach: Farmer Collins, his avocados, and a bridge

Collins Bridge opens 1913
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory/(Dept. of Commerce)

Miami and its barrier island were connected by the Collins Bridge in June 1913.

New Jersey farmer John S. Collins (1837-1928) came to Miami in 1894 before Flagler’s railroad reached the city in 1896. He had invested in a coconut-growing business that failed but he saw potential in Miami’s barrier island, today's Miami Beach, for other crops. Collins cleared a few acres near the ocean around Indian Creek to plant avocados and mangoes. He also planted Australian Pines trees that remain today on the street named for them.

As his enterprise grew, so did his expenses. Collins turned to his children and son-in-law Thomas Pancoast in New Jersey for assistance and invited them to see his “ranch.” They were not as impressed with the ranch as they were with the island’s potential as a resort destination.  Collins and Pancoast formed the Miami Beach Improvement Company - probably the first time words Miami and beach were paired - in 1912.

The company borrowed money to construct a bridge to Miami. It was built of Florida pine, iron and cement and included a revolving drawbridge. The first section spanned to Bull’s Island, the only natural island in Biscayne Bay. Collins Bridge opened June 12, 1913. Pedestrians could cross for 5-cents, vehicles for 15-cents.

Miami Causeways 1925
Florida State Archives/ Florida Memory (postcard collection)

Collins Bridge closed in 1925 and was replaced by the Venetian Causeway.  The Miami Beach Improvement Company, along with developers Carl Fisher, J.N. Lummus and other visionaries, launched what soon became one of the most famous beach resorts in the world. Think avocados the next time you drive along Collins Avenue, now also known as A1A. 

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For more about Carl Fisher, visit index.

Sources: 

Kleinberg, Howard. Miami Beach. Miami: Centennial Press (1996).

Miami News, April 9, 1913

Miami News, Jan. 29. 1913

Wikipedia

Tags: Miami Beach history, avocados in Miami Beach, John S. Collins, Thomas Pancoast, how Miami Beach began