Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s - only 37,000 residents ... and today?

 

Fort Lauderdale 1955
 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan


In the 1950s*, gasoline was 24 cents a gallon, Thanksgiving dinner was $3 at Fort Lauderdale’s Governors Club Hotel and there were only three high schools in Broward County. 

Five commissioners governed the county and its first elected representative, Dwight Rogers Sr., went to Washington. Florida’s turnpike was built, and Broward expanded west with the founding of Pembroke Pines, Plantation and six other municipalities. In 1950, Broward had only 83,000 residents while Fort Lauderdale was home to 37,000. By the end of the decade, Florida’s population grew by nearly 79 percent.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the picture is quite different.

Broward County is now the second largest in the state with a population of nearly two million in 2020 (up from 1.7 million in 2011). It’s run by nine commissioners, with districts spanning 31 municipalities and 25 unincorporated areas. The county’s school district, the sixth largest in the U.S and the only fully accredited public school district in the nation, now includes 33 high schools. Fort Lauderdale, Broward’s largest city, has a population of about 183,000 -- up from 165,521 in 2011.

Fort Lauderdale Beach 1955
Florida State Archive

*For more on Florida population of the 1950s, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/07/floridas-population-explosion-in-1950s.html


Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
Sources:
The Fabulous ‘50s by Jane Feehan, Sun-Sentinel (www.sun-sentinel.com), Aug. 21, 2002.
www.broward.org
www.browardschools.com
www.wikipedia.com

Tags: Broward County history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s , Fort Lauderdale in the 50s, Fort Lauderdale history

A tradition begins: Fort Lauderdale's first party boat and its famous visitors

 

First Belonged to Charles Cory
 Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

It could be said that Fort Lauderdale’s first houseboat, the Wanderer, launched the city’s reputation as a party place, especially among boaters.

The vessel (above in 1917) a refurbished Mississippi River packet boat with 12 bedrooms, several recreation rooms and a piano, was brought to the Stranahan New River Camp and Trading Post in 1896 by wealthy ornithologist, Charles B. Cory* (1857-1921).  Four years later, he purchased land near SW 15^th Street, dredged a canal for the Wanderer and continued to host the Stranahans and their camp visitors. Among guests were former President Grover Cleveland and actor Joe Jefferson.

Partying went on for days at a time. The tradition continued when Cory transferred ownership after he lost his fortune in 1906. Title to the Wanderer was transferred to a succession of owners, including Jefferson, until it was destroyed by the hurricane of 1926.

*Cory wrote Birds of Haiti, Birds of the Bahamas, Birds of the West Indies – and many more. He was also a golfer, competing in the 1904 Olympics. After he lost his fortune, he took a salaried position as curator of zoology for the Field Museum in Chicago where he remained for the rest of his life.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

_______

Sources:

  1.Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale, Venice of America. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.

  2. Miami News, Jan. 3, 1925

 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._Cory
  4. McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988. 



Tags: New River history, Fort Lauderdale history, Charles. B. Cory, Joe Jefferson, New River, party boat, Frank Stranahan

Castaways Motel in Sunny Isles and its world famous Wreck Bar: Celebrities, Wreckettes,Teamsters and ...

Florida State Archives/Florida Memory/
Dept. Of Commerce

By Jane Feehan 

During the 1950s and 60s, tourists flocked to 30 or so kitschy places on Motel Row in Sunny Isles (north Miami-Dade County). Only one would claim world-wide attention: the Castaways Motel and its Wreck Bar. 

The history of the Castaways includes celebrity visitors and entertainers, Teamster Union connections, underworld characters … and lots of fun.  

Restaurateur and night club entrepreneur Joe Hart built the motel in 1951. The Castaways opened officially in February 1952 and turned people away its first week. 

The motel sat on the west side of Collins Avenue at 163^rd Street (some accounts say he opened the first building on the east side of Collins and expanded across the street). Designed by architect Tony Sherman, who also designed Fort Lauderdale’s Yankee Clipper and Jolly Roger, the early Castaways offered 72 rooms, a coffee shop, cocktail lounge and a cascading waterfall entrance. High-pitched, open-beamed ceilings reflected a South Pacific theme that prevailed through its 1958 renovation and remaining years.

Hart had big plans for his successful motel from its beginning. In 1958, the Castaways expanded to 132 rooms and included what became its signature draw, the Wreck Bar. 

The renovation, which some claimed was Japanese in theme, others Chinese, was designed by Fort Lauderdale architect Charles McKirahan and built by Robert L. Turchin Construction Company. It was reportedly financed by the International Teamsters Union.

Financing of the motel came to light during a U.S. Senate Rackets Committee hearing chaired by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. According to news accounts, union boss Jimmy Hoffa revealed during the hearing that his union loaned nearly $1.3 million to the Castaways in 1956. The property, he said, was worth about $6 million. The boss, according to news sources at the time, also told the committee that his union brass frequented the motel and docked a yacht there. According to newspapers, it was the first knowledge of Teamster Union investment along South Florida’s Gold Coast.

Joe Hart and company kept up the mortgage payments and the Wreck Bar became world famous.

The bar, with its shipwreck motif, captain’s chairs, solid oak floors and brass fixtures, gave budding entertainers Ike and Tina Turner, Conway Twitty and others a stage. And the “go go girls"--all 12--known as the Wreckettes, danced to not only the music but also to the crowd’s beat of their Wreck Ball shakers. 

The bar had a 5 a.m. liquor license, attracting late night crowds when clubs closed around Miami.  The Castaways could count among its celebrity customers Lenny Bruce, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles, who visited after their act on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

Things changed during the 1970s. Tourism declined; there were other places to visit around the country. The economy was in a downturn. Motel Row was beginning to look a little worn. 

Clientele changed. Local newspapers reported that its customers during those dark days included hookers, pimps and drug dealers (cocaine days) and allegedly underworld figures such as drug kingpin and head of the Dixie Mafia in Miami, Ricky Cravero.   

Joe Hart sold the motel and its famous bar in 1979 for a reported $14 million for 14 acres to a German group eying the possibility of gambling in Florida. Smart move. One by one the motels closed and developers moved in. 

The Castaways closed March 14, 1982; it was completely demolished in 1985. Ownership passed a few times and plans changed from building a new 1,000 room hotel to the present-day Oceania, a high end luxury condominium with an impressive entrance gate.  

 Copyright © 2020, 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Miami Herald, May 11, 1958
Miami Herald, Sept. 19, 1958
Miami News, May 19, 1952
Miami Herald, Nov. 25, 1951
Miami Herald, June 1, 1972
Miami Herald, March 28, 1982
Miami Herald, June 30, 1983
Miami Herald June 21, 1985
Miami Herald June 14, 1990
Miami Herald July 14, 1985

 

 Tags: Miami motels of the 1950s, Wreck Bar, Sunny Isles motels of the 1960s, Sunny Isles

 

 

Yankee Clipper Hotel still "sails" in Fort Lauderdale

 

Florida, State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

A number of hotels went up along Fort Lauderdale beach in the 1950s including the iconic Yankee Clipper that remains today. Gill Construction built the hotel, the third in its chain. The concept was the brainchild of prolific architect M. Tony Sherman of Miami.

Sherman designed the 130-room, six-floor Yankee Clipper to appear as an ocean liner. The $1.5 million hotel opened July 13, 1956 and drew locals and tourists with its 400 foot beach, pool with portals visible from the Wreck Bar, a Polynesian review, and stellar dining. Three kitchens were built to serve different food venues: the coffee shop, the Polynesian Room and the Clipper Room. 

During the same time this project was underway, Sherman designed the 300-room Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas and an addition to the Reef Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. He had designed the Castaways Motel in Sunny Isles (North Miami Beach), which officially opened in February 1952.  Also during the early 50s, the architect designed the Jolly Roger Hotel on the Fort Lauderdale strip as well as the building for nearby Causeway Realty.  Sherman also left his imprint on another Gill Construction project of the time, Lauderdale Isles. 

Sherman died in 1999. As of early December, 2014, the Yankee Clipper Hotel is now an InSite Group property. It operates in affiliation with B Hotels and Resorts as the B Ocean Resort. The Wreck Bar remains along with its Mermaid show.

Copyright © 2020, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources: 

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 15, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, July 13, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, July 14, 1956

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

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale architects, architects

Year of the Coconut - Florida in the 1960s

From a 1929 postcard
Courtesy of  State Archives of  Florida,
Florida Memory

Posted by Jane Feehan 

Coconuts played a part in promoting Florida tourism during the early 1960s. They were touted by the Miami News (Feb. 23, 1964) as “Miami’s Nuttiest Tourist Bait.”

It began in 1962 when 3,000 coconuts were distributed at the Seattle World’s Fair bearing labels urging “Follow me to Miami.” This public relations tactic made it to the front page of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

The initiative, claimed by Miami City Manager Melvin L. Reese to be “an inexpensive way to extend the compliments of the city … and enhance the tropical image of Miami,” continued at different venues.

Two thousand were given away at New York’s Yankee Stadium during the Gotham Bowl Game December, 1962. Another 2,250 were distributed at the Florida Showcase in New York. Six hundred SS Hanseatic passengers, many of them Danes arriving at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades, received coconuts as they disembarked. The Singing Mailmen of Miami gave them away on a trip up the Eastern Seaboard, resulting in one school dedicating a day of science class to the study of the palm tree and its fruit. A Rotary Club gave coconuts away to members winning club contests and more than 200 were presented to travel editors in 1962.

Miami tourism expanded in the 1960s; no doubt the coconut played a part in its growth. Perhaps 1962 may best be remembered by some South Floridians as the Year of the Coconut.

Tags: Florida tourism, Miami tourism, coconuts, tourism campaigns, history of Miami, history of South Florida, Miami in the 1960s, South Florida in the 1960s, coconuts in Florida

Coontie: Florida's money crop before tomatoes

Seminole making coontie,  1960 
Courtesy of  State Archives of  Florida, Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

One of the earliest industries in South Florida involved “Coontie,”  also known as Florida arrowroot.  Botanists know it as Zamia Floridana, a cycad, one of the oldest forms of plant life.

Seminoles named it coontie.  They gathered the fern-like plant, which grew wild in the area, and pounded its root into a starch to bake their version of bread or biscuits. White settlers to South Florida followed suit, collecting and milling the plant to use as food, or to exchange for provisions in Miami.  

Early Fort Lauderdale resident William Colee (or Cooley) was considered a prosperous coontie farmer near New River before his family was killed by Seminoles in 1836. The tradition of growing and milling Florida arrowroot continued with others - at least into the early 20th-century.

News accounts in 1913 report a land purchase of 2,500 acres by two Coloradans for the purpose of growing the edible starch. Other stories detail the demand, milling and marketing of coontie at the time. Competing crops of vegetables - particularly tomatoes - and fruits would soon dethrone Florida arrowroot.  World War I gave the industry its last shot when it was reported that soldiers who were gassed managed to drink a thin gruel of coontie. The business of milling this edible tropical starch is long gone but its place in South Florida history remains firm; coontie was an integral part of Seminole and settler life.

Courtesy of  State Archives of  Florida, Florida Memory

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Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

• Miami News, June 14, 1913, p. 10.
• Miami News, March 6, 1956, p. 15.
• Miami News, Dec. 6, 1953, p. 29.

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, early South Florida agriculture

The Royal Poinciana - the Palm Beach Hotel Flagler built for 2,000 guests

1904 concert at the Royal Poinciana 
State Archives of  Florida

By Jane Feehan   

All that remains of the Royal Poinciana, the grand hotel that Henry M. Flagler built, is a marker on Palm Beach’s Cocoanut Row. At one time it was deemed the largest wooden structure in the world. For several decades it hosted well-heeled, cold-weather exiles from the north.

The hotel opened February 11, 1894 to 17 guests, just a month ahead of the first train that Flagler brought south from St. Augustine. The Royal Poinciana, with its three miles of corridors, offered rooms for 2,000 guests and employed about 1,600.

It remained queen of the Palm Beach hotels until Flagler built the Palm Beach Inn in 1896 on the ocean near what people referred to as “the breakers,” or waves. (That hotel, renamed The Breakers, burned down in 1903. It was rebuilt in 1904, only to burn down again in 1925. The third iteration of the Breakers opened in 1926.) 

The Royal Poinciana probably lost some of its luster to The Breakers but competition wasn’t the only cause of its demise.

Royal Poinciana 1920 
Courtesy of  State Archives of  Florida,
Florida Memory

The Hurricane of 1928 took a swipe at the large wooden structure, shifting some of it off its foundation. The following year, the stock market crash took a bite. The ensuing Great Depression closed the Royal Poinciana’s doors at the end of the 1930 winter season. It was demolished by 1935.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources: 

Mustaine, Beverly. On Lake Worth.  Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 1999.

Palm Beach Daily News, March 6, 1962

Tags: Palm Beach hotels, Florida tourism, Henry M. Flagler’s hotels, Palm Beach history