Las Olas Inn, long gone and mostly forgotten Fort Lauderdale

Las Olas Inn - postcard
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

    

By Jane Feehan

During the late 1800s, pioneer Frank Stranahan’s activities centered on his trading post along the New River in what became Fort Lauderdale. But others came who discovered the beach and were to have an equally important place in the city’s history and development.

In 1893 Chicagoan and counsel to Standard Oil Hugh T. Birch decided to pass on an invitation from Henry Flagler to visit Palm Beach and decided to head south; he set sail on a boat lent to him by Flagler. With only a vague notion of where he was headed, Birch sought refuge from a storm in what was referred to at the time as New River Sound, today the site of Bahia Mar. He liked what he saw and soon bought up beachside property for a reported 75 cents an acre.

Birch introduced fellow Chicagoan J. McGregor Adams to the beach area by 1896. Adams, a brass manufacturer, also became a heavy beach investor. One news story reports a beach cottage was built at Las Olas and the ocean by Adams; other reports say both Birch and Adams had the two-room structure built but they later split, dividing holdings. The house was constructed by pioneer Ed King who mounted the building upon molded concrete blocks he made in the sand. Whatever the genesis of ownership, the structure launched another legacy.

Las Olas Inn
State Archives of  Florida

Adams played host there, it was reported, to an interesting lineup of guests that included author Theodore Dreiser and Senator Robert Follette. In 1904, less than 10 years later, Adams died. His estate sold the beach house and property in 1906 or 1911 (depending on account) to Thomas E. Watson, one-time Georgia senator and interestingly, author of a noted history of France.

1955 demolition, Courtesy of 
State Archives of  Florida,
Florida Memory

What ensued was a chain of owners of the picturesque inn and property; its story spanned several decades

Watson sold the property and rambling structure a few years later to D.C. Alexander (a park in his name lies a block south of Las Olas). He then sold it to G.E. Henry for a reported $30,000—after the Las Olas bridge was built in 1917. Henry, who built the Broward Hotel, was annoyed by the sound of surf. He rented the building, known by then as the Las Olas Inn, to Captain and Mrs. J.B. Vreeland who converted the structure to hotel use. 

Henry reclaimed the inn in 1920 for Broward Hotel staff housing, but sold the package to George Simon around 1923. Simon didn’t hang on to the property and hotel for long. In new hands, the Las Olas Inn went into foreclosure in 1926 after the historic hurricane. Ownership reverted that year to Simon. It proved to be a fortuitous stroke of luck; Simon’s son, George Jr., ran a successful hotel there for 22 years.

In 1925, a tent colony, popular vacation housing in South Florida at the time, was set up at the Las Olas Inn. Tents—25 of them—were advertised as “ventilated and luxurious” offering showers, bathtubs and with the same service that was available in the main wooden structure. In 1939 the inn, with several cottages by then, advertised rooms in the main building having an ocean view facing east and a view of the “New River Sound on the West.” Dining was available on the veranda.  

The Las Olas Inn and its three acres went through several owners and iterations until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for the Las Olas Plaza. Many will remember the popular Forum restaurant in the plaza. In 1967, a 243-room Holiday Inn was built on the site, later home to the Button Lounge.

The property is now the city's Las Olas Oceanside Park, or LOOP, a site for beachgoers and community events.

Note: In March 2018, the Sun-Sentinel reported land owners Lior Avidor and Aiton “AJ” Yaari, could be looking into selling nearby property for a huge redevelopment project. They’ve amassed a string of properties on the beach-facing block just north of Las Olas Boulevard that includes the historic Elbo Room.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-beach-tower-lasolas-20180316-story.html

Las Olas Inn, first beach hotel in Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 15, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 30, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1930,

Fort Lauderdale News, May 20, 1931

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 29, 1939

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov 16, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 26, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 31, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, March 4, 1967

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 7, 1982

Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 8, 1991

Sun-Sentinel, March 8, 2018

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1800s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale Beach history, Jane Feehan, history of Fort Lauderdale

Lincoln Road Mall - where time caught up with architect Morris Lapidus

Original Lapidus geometric feature as seen today

By Jane Feehan

During the 1920s, early Miami Beach developer—and promoter—Carl Fisher (1874-1939) envisioned east-west thoroughfare Lincoln Road as a shopping area to rival New York City’s Fifth Avenue. 

A few decades later, Lincoln Road had devolved into an area overrun by automobile traffic and dimmed by urban blight.

Seeds of another idea, a pedestrian mall, first surfaced in the mid-1940s. By the 1950s, controversial Russian-born Miami architect Morris Lapidus (1902-2001) and firm Harle and Liebman were commissioned to design a pedestrian mall to replace the ageing Lincoln Road shopping area. “I designed Lincoln Road Mall for people, a car never bought anything,” said Lapidus, also the architect for the Ponce de Leon Shopping Center in St. Augustine, FL.

Original Lapidus design 

The proposed $600,000, mile-long mall featured fountains, shaded walkways, lush landscaping, piped-in music and electric trams. The city and merchants approved the design, but funding would come from mall merchants. Stakeholders went to the polls Nov. 3, 1959 to vote in a special bond election. Merchants would repay a $600,000 bond or face a lien on their business. A few objected to the new plans citing limited accessibility with a ban on autos but there wasn’t much of a dramatic showdown on election day. Unofficial vote tallies the next morning revealed the proposal’s popularity: 2,993 for; 899 against.

In anticipation of increased business, merchants such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Andrew Geller Shoe Salon began extensive improvements, renovating interior and exterior displays and signage; prospects for the new mall also prompted lease extensions and attracted new merchants.

An official groundbreaking event for Lincoln Road Mall was held August 1, 1960. On hand for festivities was elephant Rosie, Jr., who stood patiently by with a shovel in her mouth. (The first Rosie was the elephant used by Carl Fisher to help clear Miami Beach mangroves and appeared at several Fisher hotel openings.)  Among others at the festivities were Pat Fisher, Miss Lincoln Road Mall, Mona Fillmore, Miss Lincoln Road Mall Hospitality, and Marcie Lieberman, vice mayor of Miami Beach. Work on the project,however, began July 11, 1960. The city of Miami Beach provided most of the construction; the arrangement eliminated the need for a general contractor.

Lincoln Road before and after
Florida State Archives

Lincoln Road Mall opened a few months later, Nov. 28, 1960, with adjacent parking for 3,500 cars. Visitors described it as “glamorous and beautiful.” Others touted it as one of the most picturesque streets in the world. Interestingly, the new shopping area was not the first pedestrian mall in America. That honor went to one in Kalamazoo, MI and was followed by one in Toledo, OH. Both sites were unsuccessful—and temporary.

Like several areas of Miami Beach, the Lincoln Road Mall went through years of decline after the 1960s. In 1997, a $16-million restoration project brought it back to life. Landscape architect Martha Schwartz helped revive the landmark with replanting of sabal palms and other flora. In 2010 one block was added to the original eight-block thoroughfare by designer Raymond Jungles.

A resurgence of South Beach has also affected the popularity of Lincoln Road Mall—as has environmental interest in pedestrian-friendly shopping areas and central business districts. Today, the mall, extending from the west side of Washington Avenue to the east side of Alton Road, is home to a long list of stores, restaurants and other businesses (see www.lincolnroadmall.info for a directory). 

Time has finally caught up with Lincoln Road Mall and its forward-thinking architect, Morris Lapidus.

Sources:

Miami News, June 6, 1959

Miami News, Sept. 16, 1959

Miami News, Nov. 1, 1959

Miami News, Nov. 2, 1959

Miami News, Nov. 4, 1959

Miami News, June 19, 1960

Miami News, July 25, 1960

Miami News, Aug. 1, 1960

Miami News, Nov. 27, 1960

Miami News, Nov. 28, 1960

Miami News, Nov. 29, 1960

Miami News, Dec. 24, 1961

Sun-Sentinel, April 18, 1999

www.lincolnroad.org

The Cultural Landscape Foundation at: https://tclf.org

https://lincolnroadmall.com/on-the-go-3-popular-ways-to-get-around-in-south-beach

Tags: Miami Beach History, Morris Lapidus, tourist attractions in Miami Beach, South Beach, Mi Mo architecture, Miami Beach in the 1950s, Miami Beach in the 1960s, Miami Beach in the 1990s, Carl Fisher, Miami Beach tourism, Jane Feehan

Heilman's in Fort Lauderdale ... and the stuntman

By Jane Feehan

Those who were lucky to live in Fort Lauderdale when restaurants were top notch, exceptional establishments—the 1960s and 70s—with celebrities among their patrons will remember Heilman’s.

Opened by Hubert (Hubie) Heilman in 1958 after relocating to Florida from Lorain, OH, Heilman’s at 1701 U.S. 1, was lauded for its food, drinks and occasional entertainment. Signage for the restaurant, reflecting the owner’s celebrated sense of humor, claimed the eatery “is recommended by Hubert Heilman.” The beverage menu boasted the “world’s second best martini.” Customers—and Heilman—raved about its Back to the Farm fried chicken. Wife Dorothy helped manage the 285-seat restaurant where entertainer Milton Berle once stirred up some laughs waiting on tables and greeting a shocked customer by name.

In 1975, at age 60, Heilman sold the restaurant (but remained president of the Broward County Restaurant Association) to George and Nick Telemachos, owners of a steak restaurant in Melbourne, FL. Heilman’s was renamed at Hubert’s request and became Helman’s. A poetry enthusiast, Heilman went on to attend writer’s workshops in the U.S. and England; he earned a second bachelor’s degree (the first from Cornell University)  at Florida Atlantic University. Dorothy, who he met at Cornell, died in 1990. Hubert Heilman died in Fort Pierce in 2005 when he was 90.

The Heilman’s Fort Lauderdale story includes the colorful—and short life—of Hubie’s son, Ross. After graduating from Fort Lauderdale High School, Ross joined the marines. Following his service, Ross visited South America where it was reported he became a “big game hunter.” He then opened a crocodile farm—home to more than 1,200 of the reptiles—in Jamaica on the north coast between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, where it became a noted tourist attraction. 

The farm was also the site for scenes from the movies Papillon and the James Bond flick, Live and Let Die, both released in 1973. Ross was tapped as a double for Roger Moore in Live and Let Die and scenes included running atop the backs of hundreds of crocs in water. He sustained an injury requiring nearly 200 stitches according to one news account. Heilman or Kananga, his desired professional name, was paid $60,000 for that gig.

Wanderlust seemingly behind him, Ross returned to Florida where he wrestled alligators at Flamingo Gardens. He bought some land in the Everglades for another enterprise and drained it by himself. In January 1978, while spearfishing in the Everglades in a canoe, Ross and a friend fell into the water. His friend swam to shore but Ross was not found until the following day. It was reported he died from cardiac arrest due to the very cold water; Ross William Heilman was 32.  In addition to his parents he was survived by siblings Robert, Lynne and Becky.

The Heilman restaurant tradition, which began in 1907 in Ohio, continues. Robert, Hubie’s brother, opened Heilman’s Beachcomber in 1948 in Clearwater. Today, son, Robert Heilman, Jr., operates Bob Heilman’s Beachcomber Restaurant (heilmansbeachcomber.com) in there.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 17, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, May 28, 1969

Fort Lauderdale News, May 14, 1970

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 14, 1970

Fort Lauderdale News, June 14, 1972

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 7, 1975

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29, 1978

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 1, 1978

Sun-Sentinel, March 7, 1990

Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 1, 2005

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale restaurants in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale restaurants in the 1970s, Fort Lauderdale history, Jane Feehan, film researcher

Muriel’s Exotic Jade House, that cigar and Jade Beach

By Jane Feehan

Muriel’s Exotic Jade House was quite the nightspot in its day. Sitting off A-1-A in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the Jade House featured tunes of the Gay 90s—that’s 1890s—and a one-item menu of prime rib. But people  frequented the club to see Muriel Window Turnley in her feathered hats playing piano and singing under a large umbrella adorned in Christmas bells and lights.

Quite the character, Muriel hailed from Burlingame, Kansas, where she had her start in vaudeville with a stage appearance at three months. In 1910, she officially joined vaudeville theater in signing with the American Music Hall in New York. Three years later, she became a Ziegfeld girl, featured by Flo Ziegfeld in a single act in his Follies review as the Peacock Girl. Muriel also performed in the Orpheum and Keith circuits in those days. She performed with Will Rogers, Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker, Jimmy Dorsey and other high-profile entertainers of the era. Muriel also flirted with opera singing, she  told friends, as a protégé of opera great Maria (she probably meant Luisa) Tetrazzini.

Muriel played in London—Drury Lane and the Victoria Palace—where she claimed to have introduced the song “Till we meet again.” She later told friends she became an ambulance driver in London, one of the first women to do so in World War I, transporting wounded soldiers returning from France in a “touring car borrowed from Herbert Hoover.” This can’t be confirmed, nor can her claim the Muriel Cigar was named for her.

What can be certain is Muriel opened her Exotic Jade House in 1953 where she was seen with her giant Macaw, Sophie. Known for her generosity and as a soft touch for those in trouble, she invited fans
over 60 to be her guest for dinner at her 65^th birthday in 1956. In 1958, she joined a highly-publicized neighborhood fight to quell the noisy underage drinking parties on Jade Beach, across the street from her club. Jade Beach partying was later depicted in the 1961 movie, "Where the Boys Are."

She made one album and after years of wishing for a national network television spot, appeared on the Michael Douglas Show a few months before her death. The popular entertainer died Aug. 29, 1965 in Fort Lauderdale’s Holy Cross Hospital after an appendectomy, or ruptured appendix, depending on the account. Muriel Inetta Turnley, married three times (Robert Emmet Keene, Arthur Hanford and Howard Turnley) is entombed at the Lauderdale Memorial Gardens Mausoleum, where her mother Catherine I. Window* lies.

And the Jade House? After closing and reopening a number of times, it finally shuttered as Mitchie’s Steak House in 1970 to make way for a townhouse development. Muriel's was a tough act to follow. Copyright Jane Feehan 2018.

 ------

*Catherine I. Window joined daughter Muriel in Pompano in 1954 or 55, where she died in 1961 at age 90.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 13, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan.6, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 5, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, April 11, 1958

Fort Lauderdale News, March 2, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug 30, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 31, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 23, 1966

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 25, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept 5, 1970



Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale clubs, Fort Lauderdale restaurants of the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale entertainers, history of Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale: Once hustling little village with

Fort Lauderdale  New River circa 1910
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Not much more than an overnight stop for the mail coach that traveled between Lemon City* and West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale in the 1890s was home to businessman Frank Stranahan and a few Seminoles. Many of us in Fort Lauderdale who have been here awhile know something about our early history, but below are a few numbers to add to the tale.

Stranahan’s trading post or mail stop (now a museum), sat on the banks of the New River, estimated at the time to average 26 feet in depth; ferry service was provided for its crossing. Eight rooms, eight by six feet were available for visitors at the post. Houses in the area at that time, according to news accounts, were constructed with thick red paper nailed to framing. Primitive times, however, would yield to land buying and farming, development and deal making--especially after Henry M. Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway carried its first passengers into Fort Lauderdale Feb. 22, 1896.

Farmers were soon drawn to the area by the rich, dark soil of the nearby Everglades. By 1905, it was reported they were growing profitable tomato crops in the east Everglades. 

“The territory around Fort Lauderdale has the world beaten when it comes to growing fine tomatoes,” wrote one reporter for the Miami Metropolis. Farmers also grew potatoes, cabbage and beans. An acre could yield up to $300 in vegetables. About 100,000 crates of vegetables were shipped out of Fort Lauderdale in 1909.

By 1910, a year of land speculation here, the “hustling little village” (as it was described) of Fort Lauderdale had grown with:

• About 1,500 residents (some accounts say 750). By 1911, 5,000 called the village home, thanks to a soon-to-go-bust speculative land boom;
• Two bridges spanning the New River;
• Two concrete buildings at the trading post with about 30 rooms—the New River Hotel and the Keystone. In all, three hotels in the village;
• Two boatyards;
• 50 buildings, mostly residences under construction, estimated by a reporter to range in cost from $300 to $10,000 (an unrealistically high estimate?);
• A public school nearing completion;
• Methodist church about complete for $4,000; a Baptist church constructed for $3,500;
• A three-story Masonic temple for $8,000;
• Fort Lauderdale State Bank built for $2,500 (without fixtures);
• Three general stores.

More than 20,000 farmers, a reporter wrote, settled in the area; about 200,000 acres were sold with shaky (and shady) speculative plans to sell in 10-acre allotments. Fort Lauderdale Fruit Lands Company purchased 2,000 acres a mile north of New River and two of three canals constructed to drain the Everglades emptied into that river. The drainage project to extend farming and prevent crop flooding eventually failed. Farm prospects diminished—along with the land boom—but Fort Lauderdale was incorporated as a town (not enough qualified voters for a city) March 27, 1911.  The town limit was set at one and one-half miles square.

Today, this “hustling little village” sits on more than 36 square miles, is home to about 177,000 and is among the top ten largest cities in the state.

Fort Lauderdale, 2018

_____

*Lemon City never incorporated and held loose borders extending from NW 54 Street to approximately NW 79 Street in Miami, today’s “Little Haiti.”

Sources:

Miami Metropolis, June 1, 1905

Miami Metropolis, Sept. 3, 1910

Miami Daily Metropolis, March 28, 1911

City of Fort Lauderdale

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

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale farming, Everglades farming, Florida East Coast Railroad history

The first hotel on Fort Lauderdale's Galt Mile?

Galt area 1950s
State Archives of  Florida/
Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The mile-long strip of land known as the Galt Mile was sold in 1953 by Arthur T. Galt for $19 million to James S. Hunt and Stephen A. Calder, heralding the first development phase of that area. The first hotel to go up on this golden mile was the Beach Club Hotel.

The Beach Club, first an exclusive private club along the beach at Oakland Park Boulevard, was purchased in July 1956 by Eugene Ballard and L. Bert Stephens, owners/managers of the Lago Mar Hotel. 

Ben Chavez Construction connected the old Beach Club building to a new, 150-room (some accounts say 200-room) wing. The Chanticleer cocktail lounge in the old building and the new, outdoor Carousel Bar, shuffleboard courts and saltwater pool were included in hotel offerings when it opened Dec. 22, 1956.

Its “tropical architecture” motif served as backdrop to an array of civic club meetings, a busy calendar of winter season parties and year-round memberships to its pool and roster of family activities. In May 1957, five months after opening, the Beach Club Hotel hosted the Mrs. America contest for 10 days.

And there was the Woody Woodbury connection. 

The popular Fort Lauderdale entertainer is often remembered for his appearances at other hotels along Fort Lauderdale beach, including the Bahama Hotel, but he appeared (and ran things) at the Lulubelle Room at the Beach Club Hotel for 10 years, his longest run anywhere. 

Woodbury’s last show at the Lulubelle was July 21, 1984 where he bid farewell to about 200 fans—the B.I.T.O.A. club or “Booze is the Only Answer” club. Many thought he would soon move to California, but he remained in the Fort Lauderdale area (Plantation).

Woody re-appeared months later at the Rum Room at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel and elsewhere in Fort Lauderdale and other cities before he actually called it quits.

The opening of the Beach Club was soon followed by the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel in 1957. But, by the mid-1980s, both were shuttered to make way for new projects—for what I call the second development phase for the Galt, the condominium era. A 500-room Hilton Hotel was proposed for the Beach Club Hotel site but made some on the city’s zoning board nervous about potential traffic problems (they should see Fort Lauderdale now, where traffic problems no longer matter to city officials). After several years of lying vacant, the old Beach Club site was developed into two 27-story towers of L’Hermitage Condominium.

Today's beach access next to the
site of old
Beach Club Hotel 
Oakland Park and A1A

For more on Galt Mile hotels, see 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/05/galt-mile-jewels-in-1950s-ocean-manor.html

Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 27, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 20, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, May 2, 1957

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 19, 1975

Fort Lauderdale News, July 24, 1984

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1985



Tags: Beach Club Hotel, Galt Ocean Mile, Woody Woodbury, B.I.T.O.A. club, Fort Lauderdale history

Fort Lauderdale boom brings first bank heist, second in Broward County

By Jane Feehan

John Ashley, far right,
entering prison 

Fort Lauderdale’s boom era of the 1950s brought development, population growth, tourism—and the city’s first bank robbery.

Police records of the day report a robbery of the People’s Industrial Bank at 7 East Broward Boulevard, Oct. 10, 1952. Two robbers tied up several bank employees and made away with $9,028. A third participant drove the stolen getaway car, which was later found abandoned in the “Gateway section.”    

The trio continued their crime spree, which included a murder and other bank heists, one in Alabama for more than $30,000. Eventually, they were picked up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But Lurton Lewis Heflin, Jr., Albert Sidney Denton and Samuel Jay Hornbeck were not brought to trial for the Fort Lauderdale robbery. Instead, they served lengthy sentences for a murder committed before the South Florida caper, their first bank robbery, and another murder after.

The first bank robbery in Broward County occurred decades earlier, a crime committed by the notorious Ashley gang in 1923 or 1924. Leaving their base camp in the Everglades near Fort Lauderdale, they summoned a cab for the job. They robbed the Bank of Pompano of a reported $23,000. The driver of the cab was then tied to a tree and given a bullet and message for Sheriff R.B. Baker to find them. Some accounts say the sheriff found them in the Everglades, shot and killed four. With activities of the gang cloaked in myth and hyperbole, accounts differ.

What is certain: John Ashley escaped the sheriff that day. But he and several gang members were killed in a shootout Nov. 1, 1924 at the Sebastian Bridge, about 25 miles north of Fort Pierce. Law enforcement had had enough of their South Florida antics.

Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. Everglades: River of Grass. Miami: Banyan Books (1978)

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 11, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 27, 1978

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 22, 1984



Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale crime, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s,