Friday, April 13, 2012

You know you grew up in Old Miami if you remember...


When the Dade County Courthouse was the tallest building in Miami

SW 36th Ave. and 8th Street before the Versailles Restaurant was there (anyone remember what was?)

Window signs in stores on Flagler Street in downtown Miami that read: "Se habla EspaƱol aqui"

Making out at Sewer Beach

Miami Stadium, Orange Bowl, Frankie's Pizza and Arbetter's

When US1 was only two lanes

Pier 5 where you could buy fresh fish right off the boat

When the people on South Beach were older than the buildings

WCIX channel 6, or WAXY radio and Rick Shaw, or Zeta 4 Big Wilson

Ralph Renick

Howard Johnson's fried clams and ice cream

The Jackie Gleason show with the June Taylor dancers

Riddle Airlines

Medley Speedway

A & P grocery stores

Planes spraying for fruit flies

Bayfront Bandshell

The Miami News

When there was a grocery store in Dadeland Mall

Grand Union, Kwik Check, Ann Margeret grocery stores

When the Rusty Pelican burned down

The Tropicaire Drive-In and swap meet



The Ferris wheel atop Burdines downtown

Jordan Marsh

Riviera Theater and the Miracle Mile Theater

National Airlines, Air Florida and Eastern Airlines

Pan Am's airport at Dinner Key

When the Rickenbacker was a drawbridge (only 25 cents)

Getting stuck for hours at a time on the Rickenbacker!

The Skipper Chuck Show and the Sunday Funnies

M.T. Graves hosting the Saturday horror flick on Channel 7

Lindsley Lumber

Zayres

JByrons

Hot Shoppes Paley's Big Wheel

Crandon Park Zoo

Johnny and Mack by the railroad track

Sheehan Buick on 8th Street ... when it was called 8th Street

Gretner's Restaurant, The Flame, Sherrard's Dixie Belle Inn, The Depot



Black Angus Restaurant at 104th Street

Holsum Bakery's wonderful smell of bread baking on US1

When Dadeland was an open-air mall

When there was only a Gulf station on US 1 cross from Shorty's

When Tamiami airport was on the Tamiami Trail

A&W Drive in restaurants

Lums and their frozen schooners and wieners in beer

The Village Inn

The Playboy Clubs

Big Daddy's Lounges

Auto Inspection Stations

Robert's Western Wear and OK Feed Store

The English Pub and Jamaican Inn on Key Biscayne

Claude Pepper's picnics at Tropical Park

Tropical Park when it was a racetrack

South Miami Hospital when it was only one building.

When they built Baptist hospital

When everyone thought the turnpike extension was built too far out

When Coconut Grove was a hippie hangout

Sam and Carl's Deli in S Miami

Rock concerts at Miami Jai Alai stadium

Sunniland Pony Rides

Land Crabs on Old Cutler

The diving board and dock at Matheson Hammock pond

Barefoot Mailman at Dadeland

Bill Haast and the Serpentarium



Concerts at the Miami Marine Stadium

Sunday country dancing at Alabama Jack's

Tyler's Restaurant

Live & Let Live drug store

Engel's Drug Store in Grove

When South Beach meant Miami Beach below 5th Street

Food Fair

Pantry Pride

Piggly Wiggly

Florida license tags with letters indicating size of car



The Miami Springs Villas

Miami Seahawks pro football team

Red Cross Drugs in downtown Miami

King Arthur's Court in Miami Springs

Men's Grill at Burdines

Richard's Bargain Basement

The Round Table restaurant on US1 near UM

Royal Castle hamburgers @ 15 cents, root beer 5 cents

Jimmy's Hurricane drive-in on Bird

Black Caesar's Forge in South Dade

"Yes, We Have No Bananas"

Bus riding all over the county with paper transfers getting punched

The black beach on Virginia Key

Greynolds Park hill...the highest point in Dade County

Only two highways north: US 1 and 27

Cuban missile crisis; missile silos in ground all over South Dade



All rental cars had E license tags

Tags had number for county size: Dade 1, Liberty 67

Chalk Airlines and Goodyear Blimp base on Watson Island

Seasonal arrival of buzzard colonies atop Courthouse

Burdine's installing the state's first escalator

The caves at Venetian Pool

Absolutely nothing west of the airport until Doral

Orange Bowl: High School football Thursday nights, UM Friday nights

The par-54 night-lighted golf course on South Dixie Highway

The shoeshine boys downtown near Richard's Dept Store

The huge Christmas display at the Holsum Bakery on US1


The television set in the park across the street from Robert's Drug store on 8th Ave. and Flagler street



HistoryMiami.com: Vivid memories of Miami in the early 60s


22 comments:

  1. Regarding what was there before Versailles Restaurant it was an old large Flower Shop. I grew up two blocks from there and as there was a large Cemetery there were a few Flower Shops in the area.

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  2. Hot Shoppes (US1 and Bird Road) was a separate restaurant from Paley's Big Wheel (SW 32 Avenue just south of Coral Way). Also very much different in that the Big Wheel was GOOD! Also the theater on Miracle Mile (now a playhouse) was called the Miracle Theater, or just "The Miracle" to those of us that went there for movies, but not called "The Miracle Mile Theater."

    Here's a few more: Standing on the observation decks that were on the roofs of the concourses at the airport and watching planes come and go.

    Signs on the Palmetto Expressway "NO TRUCKS"

    Parallel parking on North Kendall drive west of Galloway Road.

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  3. Lunch at Jimmy's Hurricane and Gables-Miami High football games!

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  4. I remember Miami in '69...my parents never had to take the keys out of our car.

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  5. How about Alex Gibson, Holsum Bakery

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  6. Outdoor roller skating in Hialeah. Huge Santa downtown Burdines WQAM vs WFUN. Trout fishing in front of Viscaya

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  7. It wasn't JByrons until just before the chain disappeared. The original name was Jackson Byrons

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  8. Anyone remember these?

    "Pic'n'Chiken" (sp?) at the bifurcation of Biscayne Blvd and NE 6th Ave? Building the 163rd St shopping center? Dirty Dick's grocery store around No. Miami Ave and NE 167th St? The "Uncle Dan Show," broadcast on one of the very first UHF stations in the 50s? (I was on it with my Cub Scout Pack.) North Miami Jr. High, built ca. 1955? Arthur Godfrey broadcasting from the Kenilworth Hotel? Maule lake? The seafood restaurant at the end of pier on the north side of Haulover Cut? The Boulevard Drive In Theater and the Caracol coils? Crabs crossing US1 at NE 163rd? (Never mind Old Cutler. LOL) When I-95 was built? The North Miami Beach Hotel? Interama? The red and white busses in North Miami Beach? Burdines' overhead covered walkway that crossed Flagler St? NE 125th St. being THE commercial center of north Dade? J. D. Ball Ford on NW 7th Ave? Cecial Holland Ford at the corner of NE 163rd and Dixie Highway? Marcella's Pizza on Dixie in North Miami? Miami Airport terminal on N.W. 36th St? I could go on... Sadly, all of these things are gone except in our memories. (Except I-95, of course; THAT will last as long as there are rush hour traffic jams. LOL!!)

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  9. OOPS! Here are a few more that popped up in my foggy brain: Satchel Paige pitching for the Miami Marlins at Miami Stadium. The MacArthur Dairy plant (NE 2nd Ave, I think) where you could get fresh milk shakes and ice cream floats. Fun Fair on NW 27th Ave. The Dupont Plaza. Graded gravel roads in Everglades Natl. Park. An all-day trip to Floyd L. Wray's Flamingo Gardens... I suppose I could go on for hours (as old people usually do), but I guess it's time to quit and just ponder over the memories of what used to be.

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  10. Dressel's Dairy on Milam Dairy Road. The drive-in about where the Marriott is near the airport and Kelly's Drive-in hamburgers.

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  11. Remember when ENGLISH was spoken every place,and you didn,t have to press 1 for ENGLISH.

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  12. Also, remember Benny Babcock pool?

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    Replies
    1. My favorite memories:
      1. George's subs on 8th st. and 47th ave.
      2. Uncle Tom's on 8th street when it was still the real Uncle Toms (not what it is now).

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  13. What about Billie's Drive-In just at the bridge on 79th street, or Pecker's Point, the make-out place, or Zorita and her snakes....or the Thursday night dances at the Bayfront Park Auditorium, or the Mau-Mau Lounge in Miami Springs, or the 71st Beach dances on Sunday afternoon.....or the Peppermint Lounge on the 79th Street Causeway, or the original 5th Street Gym where all the boxer's of the era used to rain, or Drag Racing at the Gunnery Range....or Miami's version of American Bandstand at a Tv station who's building - still there - was across the Street from Norman Braman's lot on Biscayne Blvd...before that they used to have the show out by the old TV antenna's on off of 441....

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  14. Dade &Regent theaters,live & let live drug store, Moores cafeteria Royal Castle(n.w. 17 ave. & 36 st.) TV in the window at Firestone store, Bill Ross's ,Tylers restaurant, dances at the Armory on 7th ave. dances at Bayfront park, drags at Ameila Earhart, M.T. Graves, when it was safe to go downtown, little river, north miami, NMB & other places at night. What a great place we grew up in & so sad its gone.

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  15. Does Any one remember when Hot Shoppes opened at US 1 and Bird Rd

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  16. Big Dave doing his all night movie show with food stains on his t- shirt from eating free pizza.
    Driving to the keys with my grandfather for grunt fĆ­shing on the bridges at night.
    Swimming at Haulover beach.
    Going to Madie Ives Elementary School in 1961.
    7-elevens with open fronts and no air conditioning.
    Orange Bowl Parades on Biscayne Boulevard.
    The first Burger King on 36 Street and people would drive from miles around just to go there.

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  17. arnie warren was bowling for dollars

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  18. When Dade County Jr. College was Opa Locka Air Force Base and during the Cuban missile crisis while now DC Jr College, airplanes landing every 15 minutes, Troops camping out. Hialeah speedway, Joe Guthrie's Auto Repair at 40th and 2nd ave. Miami jai Lai! Rusty Calley was an Engineer at the FEC railroad, Public pools everywhere. Morningside Park, Moore Park, Paradise Farms at 40th and 7th AVE and Miami News station next door. Ali living at 46th and 16th ave.

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