Poverty Stricken Ghetto right next to Coconut Grove (Miami, Coral Gables: apartments, rental)

[questioner2]

I was attempting to find the main area of fancy exclusive Coconut Grove last week and took a side road off Highway 1 that I thought might get me there. It took me through an incredibly poverty stricken neighborhood with some real rough looking characters hanging out. In a few blocks I was in the middle of the Coconut Grove shopping district. What a shock. I had never seen a neighborhood change so fast.

I saw none of the type of people who were hanging out in the nearby ghetto in Coconut Grove. Why not, it is just blocks away? Does the bad element ever drift into Coconut Grove and cause trouble? Maybe, because I thought the area had lost some of its energy even on a warm Satuday night.

[MiamiRob]

questioner2 that is the black Grove off of SW 27 Avenue. It was where the Bahamian laborers lived when they helped build Miami. Remember Cocunut Grove was a seperate city from Miami at the time and by the way those "shacks" you see are very expensive now.

[tallrick]

People have been robbed and shot on Grand Avenue. Lately it has not been in the news, but for a while there the Miami police have been watching people who drive through to avoid trouble. There were also periods of increased drug activity. Most problems were in the apartment projects, and when I was a kid I remembered the run-down shacks and apartments on US-1. When my parents went to Zayre (Home depot now) we would always express concern about the poverty of the area. It is true that the Bahamians were the first to build homes in that area, and some still exist. Of course it's an expensive area, but it sure looks the part of ghetto. There really is not that much crime in the sigle family home areas, but at the rental apartments, duplexes and related, the welfare crowd is still a bad element.

Remember that before it gentrified, the Grove was either black or hippie town. The poor people who lived there were what made it a fun place. Now it's pretty much an overpriced dump.

[heydade]

it is pretty amazing isn't it?? Thats why when someone in a post asked if coconut grove is a recommended place to live, I said no. Way too close to the ghetto. If the crack heads are low on money, they simply have to ride their bicycle a couple of blocks down the road and invade your home, rape your wife and make off with some loot. Not worth it to me. Despite this, tons of wealthy people swear by the Grove and make it there home.

[eufo]

I never cared much for "The Grove". Mainly due to the bad element being so close by.

I'm not sure if there's any "spillover", but I can imagine it happens.

[TriDad]

Originally Posted by questioner2

I was attempting to find the main area of fancy exclusive Coconut Grove last week and took a side road off Highway 1 that I thought might get me there. It took me through an incredibly poverty stricken neighborhood with some real rough looking characters hanging out. In a few blocks I was in the middle of the Coconut Grove shopping district. What a shock. I had never seen a neighborhood change so fast.

I saw none of the type of people who were hanging out in the nearby ghetto in Coconut Grove. Why not, it is just blocks away? Does the bad element ever drift into Coconut Grove and cause trouble? Maybe, because I thought the area had lost some of its energy even on a warm Satuday night.

welcome to the real Coconut Grove

[Theory555]

You have just hit a key on something my friends and I have discussed for years. Why in the world is that neighborhood there?! WHY??!! It is a horrible place! As of the moment I know of the people that have been victimized in that area. A former friend that was held at gunpoint on her way to her home in the "good part of the Grove" (with her family and who cares if there's a baby in the car? Who cares about a baby when there's crack to buy...right?!). The other? How about my mother? She was also robbed near the Elementary school where she had been naive enough to go and help those poor children (and in poor I mean socioeconomic and emotionally because some of those children are in dire need of love). In return she got mugged and nearly kidnapped (she was lucky enough that a cop happened to drive down the street at that very moment).
Needless to say... I stay as far away from that area of the city. As for anyone who reads this...go to the Grove by entering through Coral Gables NOT Grand Avenue!!! I hope someday the area is "gentrified." It worked for Chicago...so how about Miami?

[DMSoul]

I agree that it is filled with expensive shacks. However, there is a history there and a vintage look. Maybe it does not look like the new houses out west with fancy landscape, but it is just like the rest of the county...shabby and expensive. As for crimes...hopefully the PD will make an effort to keep that section historical.

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by tallrick

People have been robbed and shot on Grand Avenue. Lately it has not been in the news, but for a while there the Miami police have been watching people who drive through to avoid trouble. There were also periods of increased drug activity. Most problems were in the apartment projects, and when I was a kid I remembered the run-down shacks and apartments on US-1. When my parents went to Zayre (Home depot now) we would always express concern about the poverty of the area. It is true that the Bahamians were the first to build homes in that area, and some still exist. Of course it's an expensive area, but it sure looks the part of ghetto. There really is not that much crime in the sigle family home areas, but at the rental apartments, duplexes and related, the welfare crowd is still a bad element.

Remember that before it gentrified, the Grove was either black or hippie town. The poor people who lived there were what made it a fun place. Now it's pretty much an overpriced dump.

The grove in the 70s & 80s were a hangout place to roller skate and buy weed. There was one major store, The Oak Feed (vitamins, health food place) Coco walk was a parking lot. Even then, you were either VERY rich or VERY poor. Nothing's changed there.

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by jbravo

The grove in the 70s & 80s were a hangout place to roller skate and buy weed. There was one major store, The Oak Feed (vitamins, health food place) Coco walk was a parking lot. Even then, you were either VERY rich or VERY poor. Nothing's changed there.

YES! Everything east of the ingrahm highway was for the rich, and the smaller homes toward US-1 were for the poor. Funny, I just remembered Oak-Feed, I think I still have a t-shirt as a souvenir from that place! My parents were/are health food nuts and had gone there several times. A friend lived on the other side of US-1 and I remember sneaking into the Uncle Charlies parking lot to stuff potatoes in exhaust pipes. There was a joke in that, somewhere!