Sunny Isles, a tropical wonderland develops into a wall of condos north of Miami Beach

 

Sunny Isles 1945,
Florida StateArchives

By Jane Feehan

Advertisements for lot sales in Sunny Isles first hyped it as “the America Riviera.”  In 1930, the project was touted as the “Venice of America.” Perhaps Harvey B. Graves, buyer of 2,300 acres north of Miami Beach didn’t know it was the moniker Fort Lauderdale adopted when the finger islands off Las Olas Boulevard were dredged in 1923.

But no one would have blamed Graves for using the Venice description. His vision was influenced by the same person as were the Fort Lauderdale developers: Carl Fisher. The Indiana native worked magic carving a resort city out of Miami mangroves.

Graves, a semi-retired, highly successful furniture company owner with stores north of New York City, first came to Miami Beach for winter visits in 1918.  While there, he took leisurely boat excursions up the inland waterway (then known as the Florida Intracoastal) to the northern part of Biscayne Bay. He traveled to Snake Creek, which emptied into the Florida East Coast Canal, Oleta River (where a state park sits today), and to Dumfoundling Bay near today’s Aventura. He believed the little islands –mostly mangroves—could be connected by a series of coral rock bridges to provide an idyllic setting for winter visitors seeking a sunny alternative to the northern cold. 

Graves purchased about 1,500 acres from the Model Land Company in 1921 and formed the Sunny Isles Improvement Company, with construction to begin the following year. He expanded his holdings to 2,300 acres from the northern end of Biscayne Bay. It was bordered by Fulford Road in the village of Fulford, east of Dixie Highway and north of Ojus. His project also included ocean front acreage at “the terminus of the beach road.” (State Road 270, later Florida State Road A1A, went through Sunny Isles in the 1940s.)

Prospective buyers were encouraged to view the development where every home “would have a water view.”  Tropical landscapes made it “camera land.” Names given some of the 70 isles included the Atlantic, Summerhouse, Palm, and Garden islands. Utilities, such as a water and electricity were installed and the project took off ... slowly, but a few high-profile buyers were interested.

Coconut Grove winter resident William Jennings Bryan, a three-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state purchased a lot for development in Sunny Isles in 1923 for $9,750. He died in 1925, not long after arguing for the prosecution in the famed Scopes Monkey Trial. The lot was probably sold shortly after because the Jennings home remained in the Grove. Another lot—100 ft by 210 ft— was advertised for $5,750 or 27 cents per square foot in 1923.

Per the purchase agreement with the Tatum family, the original property owners, Graves built a beach casino (what bath houses were called then) in 1923 for $65,000; It was later part of the site of a pier (Newport Fishing Pier today) and hotel. Development of Sunny Isles may have been hindered by difficulties accessing the area. It was essentially an island until the Haulover inlet was carved out and the first of several iterations of a bridge were built in 1925. The Great Hurricane of 1926 also slowed sales. The tract became part of North Miami Beach in 1931.

Harvey Graves died in Rochester, NY at 80 years of age Jan. 14, 1936. His Florida dream community was sold to Wisconsin industrialist Kurtis R. Froedtert for a reported $1 million in the summer of 1936. Froedtert advertised in 1937 he was building 30 homes there. News about Sunny Isles in the  1940s centered on fishing stories at the pier.

"Venice of America"

During the 1950s and 60s, Sunny Isles Beach was developed for the burgeoning Florida hospitality industry. Sunny Isles touted its Motel Row, where 30 motels such as the Castaways, Dunes, Thunderbird and Sun City drew tourist families from all over the nation looking for cheaper hotel rooms than those in Miami Beach (search this blog for “Luxury, Kitsch and Convenience”).

Sunny Isles was incorporated as Sunny Isles Beach in 1997. Harvey B. Graves would never have envisioned his tract as a millionaire’s row of glamorous high-rise hotels and condos crowding its white sands. More than 22,000 residents live in this one-mile-square beachside town. Cost of living there is reportedly 118 percent higher than the average of other U.S. cities. It may still be a “camera land” but not of its once-lush, semi-wild tropical landscape.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Miami Herald, Aug. 24, 1921

Miami News, Oct. 01, 1921

Miami Herald, Oct. 5, 1921

Miami Herald, Nov. 22, 1921

Miami Herald, March 16, 1922

Miami Herald, April 8, 1922

Miami News, June 19, 1922

Miami News, Jan. 22, 1923

Miami News, March 14, 1923

Miami News, April 6, 1923

Miami Herald, May 2, 1926

Miami Herald, May 12, 1929

Miami Herald, March 3, 1930

Miami News, July 3, 1942

Miami Herald, Nov. 1, 1936

Miami News, Jan. 10, 1937

Wikipedia

Tags: Sunny Isles, Harvey B. Graves, Motel Row, 

Beach life – more than meets the eye. A lifeguard’s dedication to profession and community

Lt. Serrano, Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, photo courtesy of G. Serrano

 
By Jane Feehan 

Gio Serrano’s stop in Fort Lauderdale on his way to Texas in 1996 would change his life.

Traveling from Puerto Rico to begin school at the Art Institute in Dallas, he was blown away on that fateful stop at the South Florida beach.

“Wow! You can get paid to work on the beach in Fort Lauderdale,” Gio exclaimed then as an 18-year-old. 

The beach had drawn him into its waters as a kid growing up in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It’s where he learned to swim when his mother coaxed him into the water to encourage him to learn. 

“There was a lot of school skipping to go to the beach,” he confessed. There were no lifeguards there; that’s part of what intrigued him about Florida and lifeguarding. He decided to stay.

Serrano transferred his enrollment to the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale to study computer animation. Determined to succeed, he worked while in school part time as a lifeguard for the YMCA in Fort Lauderdale and the YMCA in Hollywood, completed his studies and progressed into a full-time career with Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue (FLOR), which included his developing their first website.

Ocean Rescue, recognized nationally for excellence, is comprised of one chief, eight lieutenants, 36 full-time and 90 part-time lifeguards.

Today, as a first responder Lieutenant Gio Serrano blends his skills as a paramedic, an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a CPR expert to serve beachgoers in trouble. He was recognized as Lifeguard of the Year in 2007. Today he can be seen in a red rescue vehicle patrolling areas that include five lifeguard towers between Fort Lauderdale’s south and central beach to ensure staff have what they need to perform rescue or life-saving medical duties. Serrano also trains lifeguards on the beach three days a week as well as the marine unit of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

A major part of a lifeguard’s work is responding to medical emergencies, which can spill into sidewalks and adjacent roads—or other into other municipalities such as Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, via mutual aid agreements.

But water rescues also rank high. “More than 50 percent of people can’t swim,” said Serrano. “Or they overestimate their abilities. Treading water in a pool is much different than dealing with changing ocean currents and conditions.”

He also said troubles may be seen before an ocean swimmer calls for help. The work of lifeguards includes interpreting behaviors in the water that indicate lack of confidence or recklessness. Some may hear a warning shouted over a solar powered PA system from a lifeguard tower. Other swimmers often don’t pay attention to where the towers are and express surprise about where a lifeguard comes from when one arrives to assist. “Towers sit 10 to 15 ft above eyelevel, yet they don’t notice them,” said Serrano who also pointed out there are far more rescues performed than life-saving activities.

Lt. Serrano teaching
kids CPR, photo courtesy
of G. Serrano

Many who don’t go to the beach may see Lt. Serrano beyond the city’s white sands; community outreach lies close to his heart. He trains kids in CPR and in swimming safety at Broward County schools.

There’s more that Lt. Serrano does for the community.

“One of my favorite things to do is visit pediatric hospitals with the 501^st Division (think Star Wars and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker). Dressed in uniforms replicating those in the movie, Serrano and friends raise spirits and help realize hopes through Make a Wish Foundation.

Lt. Serrano (white shirt)
recognized for service,
photo courtesy G. Serrano

We never know or appreciate what a lifeguard may be asked to do. During this interview, Lt. Serrano was asked by a homeless visitor to assist with a cell phone call; another asked about a contact to help find her shelter. They came to the right person; he assisted with both.

One thing Lt. Serrano does not do is go to Fort Lauderdale’s beach on his day off. However, he visits Florida’s Keys and occasionally the Ocala National Forest for a complete change of scenery.

With 25 years in Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, he brings not only expertise but also singular dedication to our community and compassion to those in trouble. It’s all in his day’s work. It’s the real beach life.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Tags: Giovanni Serrano, Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, Lt. Gio Serrano, lifeguards, Fort Lauderdale beach

Marlin Beach Hotel ... once leader in Fort Lauderdale beach entertainment

 

Fort Lauderdale 

Marlin Beach Hotel
17 S. Atlantic Blvd.Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Three West Point graduates (Class of 1946) from Pittsburgh agreed that Fort Lauderdale held solid prospects for a new hotel. They bought a beach site in 1951.

The Pittsburgh group—Roland Catarinella, Harold Gray and W.C. Powers—moved forward with their hotel idea, formed the Penndale Corporation and filed a fictitious name to do business as the Marlin Beach Hotel in 1952. The hotel was to include an underpass or tunnel to the beach, the first in Fort Lauderdale. The reason: heavy traffic (even then) along Atlantic Boulevard making it difficult to cross to the beach. They also announced plans for 51-rooms, an unusual lower-level lobby with ultra-violet lighting illuminating aquatic scenes and a cocktail lounge with glass walls providing an underwater view of the pool.

The Marlin Beach Hotel opened to an enthusiastic crowd Jan. 20,1953 with cocktails and a buffet. The lounge, unnamed at opening, was the biggest draw with its underwater pool view. The name for the nightspot was determined by a contest announced by manager L. Bert Stephens. The winner tapped a month later, was picked from nearly 5,800 entries. Fort Lauderdale resident Edward Elmer struck success with “Two Fathoms Down.” He received a $500 credit for drinks and food … a big sum those days when dinners often ran for less than $2 or $3. Deemed “bar sensation of the year” in 1953, the lounge provided music, comedy and underwater acts. In 1961, the popular nightspot was renamed the Jules Verne Room and continued to offer quality nightclub acts and dancing.

As with most Fort Lauderdale beach hotels, owners changed several times over the  decades.  Under new owners in the 1970s the then-named Marlin Beach Resort with over 90 rooms, was marketed to gay visitors. By the early ‘80s it became a “mecca for gay vacationers” drawing clientele from around the world.

According to news accounts, the hotel slipped into a downward spiral when a new owner set out to attract the college crowd in 1986 and failed; those efforts coincided with Fort Lauderdale’s plan to shed its spring break image. Marlin Beach Hotel fell into disrepair—and bankruptcy. Doors closed in April 1992 but not before 2000-3,500 gathered over two or three nights that month to party and reminisce about 20 years of popular tea dances, weddings and other gay community gatherings at the "grand old lady."

In 1995, a group purchased the closed Marlin Hotel and its 3.2 acres for $3.1 million (a low price tag in the 2020s) and developed Beach Place, the site of a Marriott Hotel and several casual restaurants, relegating the beach area’s singular nightlife of lounge acts to Fort Lauderdale’s past.

 
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

  Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 20, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 29, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 26, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 17, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 21, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 9, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, June 27, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 30, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 13, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, June 7, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 11, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, March 19, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 10, 1961

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 19, 1992

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 13, 1995

Tags: Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale history, underwater acts, Jules Verne Room, Two Fathoms Down

Sailboat Bend, Fort Lauderdale's only neighborhood deemed a historic district

 

 By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s Sailboat Bend, once known as the “West Side,” was designated a historic district in 1992. It is the first neighborhood in the city so deemed.

The historic area sits within an area bounded by the F.E.C. Railway tracks on its east, Broward Boulevard on its north, and by the New River on the south and west. It’s accessible just a block or two beyond the Broward Center for the Performing Arts at 201 SW Fifth Avenue or via Sunrise Boulevard near the historic 11th Avenue Bridge. A sign indicates its boundary.

Sailboats give rise to thoughts about travel and adventure or simplicity and leisurely living. Those notions were probably held in varying degrees by sailing enthusiasts (“many young married couples”) who found their way to Fort Lauderdale during the early 1940s and moored their boats along the most extreme bend in the New River. It was during those years that the area was first referred to as Sailboat Bend. The city Commission confirmed it as a subdivision in 1945.

Sailboat Bend’s history reaches back centuries before its subdivision days.

It is thought Tequesta Indians lived there centuries ago—long before the Seminoles arrived in South Florida during the late 1700s. Artifacts of Indian inhabitants reportedly have been found there.

Some say the area was the site of the first fort built during the Second Seminole War (1835-42) by Major William Lauderdale, for whom the city is named. It is also written that the neighborhood is where the Cooley (or Colee) family was massacred in 1835—not at the now-named Colee Hammock Park at 1500 Brickell Drive (south fork of the New River). Their massacre may have been cause for Lauderdale's deployment to the New River area.

During the 20th century, the project to drain the Everglades, promoted by Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (1905-1909), began in Sailboat Bend with the staging of dredging equipment for construction of two canals. Fort Lauderdale is often referred to as “Gateway to the Everglades,” thus a reasonable point of entry for the drainage project.

Not all the area known as Sailboat Bend falls within the historic district.

Society pages in the newspapers during the 1940s referred to parties on some of the boats and the comings and goings of notables who docked at the bend during the winter. This non-historic area currently lies in the center of the toniest part of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Proximity to downtown and the beauty of the river was not lost on those who sought profits selling lots along the bend in 1945. A group of owner-realtors, including resident Wen Mulligan, advertised "28 lots along the bend at Southwest 5th Avenue and Southwest 5th Street for $42,000 for sale ... easy terms." Given the crazy high prices of the 1920s in Fort Lauderdale, that price rings cheap if it was for all the lots.

In 1963 a prescient if not lucky developer wanted 600 feet to be vacated at the bend to make way for six high-rise buildings with 1,500 apartments. The proposal was nixed then, but today the same area, just outside the historic neighborhood, is the site of several spectacular buildings with hundreds of rental and condo units.

The historic Sailboat Bend is worth a drive through and a stop at its waterfront park. It presents a mix of old bungalows with a few (very few) grand homes along the river. Manicured lawns are not a feature of this neighborhood. Some of the streets may remind one of older sections of New Orleans with overgrown shrubs, vines and indigenous trees. A house of French Provincial design was described when purchased about 35 years ago, so impressions of similarity to New Orleans stand reasonable.

Sailboat Bend residents have objected, to no avail, to the number of social agencies built on the nearby Broward Boulevard perimeter of their neighborhood: a Salvation Army homeless shelter, an alcohol rehab facility, the Broward School Board and other agencies. A drive through Sailboat Bend streets seems worlds away.

About 2,200-2,800 residents reside in historic Sailboat Bend. The ordinance designating its historic status is reviewed every 10 years.

It’s not only worth a look, Sailboat Bend also deserves preservation of the city's largest collection of historic homes. 

Below: Aerial view- New River 1929

Florida State Archives/Hoit

*********

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

City of Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Sept. 30, 1942

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Oct. 19, 1942

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Aug. 19, 1943

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 14, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Oct. 17, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Nov. 1, 1945

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 4, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 25, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 16, 1987

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 8, 1988

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 29, 1989

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 25, 1990

Tags: Historic Neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods

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

By Jane Feehan

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

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

Fireside Steak Ranch

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

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

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

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

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

The beat, albeit a different one, goes on …

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 9, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 17, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, May 11, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, June 2, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, July 8, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 5, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, May 29, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, May 29, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1964

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 13, 1968

Fort Lauderdale News, March 3, 1976

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

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

515 Seabreeze Blvd. Closed

Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, May 24, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, April 4, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, July 9, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, May 25, 1976

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

Bahama Hotel, Fort Lauderdale beach hotel with an entertainment legacy

 

Bahama Hotel circa 1959
State Archives of Florida

Bahama Hotel
401 N. Atlantic Blvd. (now Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd)
Fort Lauderdale


By Jane Feehan

Among the hotels opened in Fort Lauderdale during the 1950s was the Bahama Hotel built in 1956. Guests were welcomed June 1 that year; it was one of several along the beach that proved to be popular among locals and tourists for entertainment and dining.

Kenneth G. Bacheller built and owned the three-story $800,000 project. The hotel’s motif was influenced by the Bahamas and featured 52 guest rooms all facing south. John B. O’Neill was the hotel architect. Its Chart Room sported a nautical theme with captain’s chairs, ship lanterns and charts of the seven seas. The pool, a scalloped design, sat in an outdoor area offering an informal breakfast and lunch bar.

Bacheller, a developer, builder, and banker, also built the nearby West Indies Hotel and Apartments. He may have had other projects in mind when he sold the Bahama Hotel in November 1957, less than two years after it opened. Realtors L.C. Judd and Lloyd E. Dutcher facilitated the sale (for a reported estimate of $1 million) to the newly formed Bahama Hotel, Inc., a group from Cleveland headed by two friends who were West Point graduates.

Ownership changed hands over the years, but its entertainment, including comedian Woody Woodbury, continued to draw for decades. Woodbury—100 years young as of this post and living in the area—first appeared at the Chart Room September 28, 1956. It proved to be a long, years long, engagement. 

His career includes subequent stints at sesveral Fort Lauderdale hotels and in Las Vegas. Woodbury also appeared on television and in several movies. His comedy albums remain available at Woodbury.com. He helped elevate the profile of the Bahama Hotel and that of Fort Lauderdale as a tourist destination with sophisticated shows during the late 1950s and throughout the 60s.  

The Bahama Hotel remained top of the list of places to stay on Fort Lauderdale’s beach for decades. But the city changed in the late 1980s; it shed its image as a spring break mecca for college students. 

By the 1990s and early 2000s, beach front property became a magnet for condo developers and hotel chains. As with today’s market, properties were grabbed up by investors and resold at higher prices over many months. Nevertheless, the Bahama Hotel continued to operate through uncertainty—even opening (perhaps leasing) the popular Deck Restaurant with its acclaimed jazz music in 2002—while potential developers submitted plans and applied for permits … and waited for city decisions.

Good times ended for the Bahama Hotel in 2004. The W Hotel, a Marriott brand, now sits astride the old sites of several properties, including the Bahama, from Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard (A1A) toward Birch Road off Riomar Street.

W Hotel from Riomar Street

The Bahama Hotel left fond memories of Woody Woodbury, the Chart Room, Deck Restaurant and something else: a time when Fort Lauderdale beach hotels served as entertainment destinations for local residents. A night on the town usually included a stop at one of the beach hotels for dinner, music or Woody Woodbury comedy.

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 11, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, June 17, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 23, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1957

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 5, 2001

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 24, 2002

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 30, 2005

Tags: Bahama Hotel, Woody Woodbury, Deck Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale Hotels, Fort Lauderdale Hotel History