Hispanics in Miami (Tampa, Kendall, Miami Lakes: live, store, nightclub)

[crisp444]

Since when have there been areas in Palm Beach County where large amounts of people don't speak English? I hear Lake Worth / Greenacres a lot, but it must have changed DRAMATICALLY in the last 7-8 years (haven't spent time there since then) in order for that to be true. Has there really been serious "white flight" since the year 2000? In most places around Miami-Dade the population of Anglos has been decreasing very SLOWLY for years and can't really be classified as "white/Anglo flight," but is old-school "white flight" happening in Palm Beach County?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Since when have there been areas in Palm Beach County where large amounts of people don't speak English? I hear Lake Worth / Greenacres a lot, but it must have changed DRAMATICALLY in the last 7-8 years (haven't spent time there since then) in order for that to be true. Has there really been serious "white flight" since the year 2000? In most places around Miami-Dade the population of Anglos has been decreasing very SLOWLY for years and can't really be classified as "white/Anglo flight," but is old-school "white flight" happening in Palm Beach County?

It has changed dramatically in that short of time. There are parts of West Palm Beach that are like that too. Broadview Park/Chula Vista, parts of Oakland Park and downtown Davie in Broward also have a lot of people who don't speak ANY English but they are very small areas. The thing I see in common with all of these areas is that they used to be mostly "good ol boys" who worked cheap labor jobs and had a reputation for being racist...whites in Lake Worth and the other areas (there are more) started going to North County (upper income whites), Martin County, and Tennessee.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Since when have there been areas in Palm Beach County where large amounts of people don't speak English? I hear Lake Worth / Greenacres a lot, but it must have changed DRAMATICALLY in the last 7-8 years (haven't spent time there since then) in order for that to be true. Has there really been serious "white flight" since the year 2000? In most places around Miami-Dade the population of Anglos has been decreasing very SLOWLY for years and can't really be classified as "white/Anglo flight," but is old-school "white flight" happening in Palm Beach County?

In the high class areas (read: the ones most people visit) it's not happening but in many other cities it is. In Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Greenacres, Boynton Beach, Palm Springs and Lantana the white population has shrunk dramatically (and now are the minorities).

I read an article in the paper that said the city of West Palm Beach is around 30% white now, but those are census estimates because illegal immigrants make it a challenge to find true data.

[lionking]

Well it has been a year since I left Miami,a city I grew up in and my new area around Tampa is more what Miami use to be,a decent mix of people.You can't call Miami a melting pot of people whan 85% of the area is hispanic with a few token poor blacks,a few token rich white and Jewish,and a few token retired who just don't see a point in moving at their age.

I knew alot of hispanics,great people on a individual level but business wise a get rich at any cost attitude prevails in Miami.When someone talks to you in spanish and you say no habla espanol and they look at you in shock well that kinda typifies the fact about Miami now.


If you like rap,salsa or the trendy beach scene then nightlife is fine.But if you are a guitar player like me that plays Ozzy,Van Halen,classic rock,new rock,Foo Fighters and stuff there are few musicians and a couple hole in the wall places to play because immigrants and gangsters don't do that music.So of course I felt out of place.Miami use to be more of a mix than it is now.

Andrew changed alot also.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by lionking

there are few musicians and a couple hole in the wall places to play because immigrants and gangsters don't do that music.

The prevalance of rock music in Latin America is nearly as high as it is in other parts of the West, so that's just ignorance. There is a huge, extensive rock scene in Latin America that has just as much variety as our own, so naturally some immigrants from Latin America are going to bring an interest for rock music in with them. If you don't believe me just go to the Sam Ash store in Doral or Miami Lakes.

[crisp444]

Compelled, Downtown DAVIE has lots of non-English speaking people? That's a new one for me. Are they Mexican? I think your comment is interesting that dark-skinned Mexican/Central American immigrants tend to move to areas of South Florida that have had a reputation to be racist, good-old-boy areas (Homestead, Davie, parts of Palm Beach County, etc.) I wonder why this immigrant population is so LOW in Miami-Dade; you would think that they would feel more comfortable in established "Hispanic" areas. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they faced just as much racism in middle class Cuban areas as they might face up in Greenacres or Lake Worth.

Since this topic is about Hispanics in South Florida, I have always found it interesting that Cubans and South Americans (minus some Brazilians and a handful of Cubans and some Hispanic-South Americans in Boca Raton) really don't have large populations in Palm Beach County. It's just an extension of South Florida but demographically, Palm Beach County is very interesting to me. Like you say, it's kind of like Orange County, CA.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Compelled, Downtown DAVIE has lots of non-English speaking people? That's a new one for me. Are they Mexican? I think your comment is interesting that dark-sinned Mexican/Central American immigrants tend to move to areas of South Florida that have had a reputation to be racist, good-old-boy areas (Homestead, Davie, parts of Palm Beach County, etc.) I wonder why this immigrant population is so LOW in Miami-Dade; you would think that they would feel more comfortable in established "Hispanic" areas. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they faced just as much racism in middle class Cuban areas as they might face up in Greenacres or Lake Worth.

Since this topic is about Hispanics in South Florida, I have always found it interesting that Cubans and South Americans (minus some Brazilians and a handful of Cubans and some Hispanic-South Americans in Boca Raton) really don't have large populations in Palm Beach County. It's just an extension of South Florida but demographically, Palm Beach County is very interesting to me. Like you say, it's kind of like Orange County, CA.

The reason why the Mexicans/Guatemalans move to Palm Beach County is because it's cheaper than in Miami-Dade or even Broward. Lake Worth is very affordable. The areas I mentioned (except for Boynton Beach) used to be redneck cracker areas just a few years ago. Now when you go through Lake Worth you'll see nothing but Spanish signs, billboards, restaurant's, shops, etc.

There are more than just these types of Hispanic areas, though. West of the airport in West Palm Beach has Puerto Rican communities, Dominicans are scattered throughout the county, and Palm Springs, although majority Guatemalan/Mexican, is also home to a wide variety of Hispanics from all different countries.

West Palm Beach actually does have a Cuban community on S. Dixie Highway, though. It is zip code 33405. Is also has a Colombian community there as well.

[compelled to reply]

That's right, I said it, DAVIE, in a little 8 block radius between the turnpike and Davie Rd north of Griffin, and mostly Mexican laborers. The only Hispanics in Broward that you will encounter who flat out don't speak English are usually older or laborers in those three areas that I named, although you still hear abundant Spanish.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

That's right, I said it, DAVIE, in a little 8 block radius between the turnpike and Davie Rd north of Griffin.

The thing is, they don't have large communities like here in Palm Beach County.

There are many parts of West Palm Beach that look like foreign countries; I can't think of any areas in Broward that look like Tijuana like they do here.

[crisp444]

The website Schooldigger.com is pretty good for checking demographic changes in an area; it's better than the census to check demographic shifts in particular neighborhoods because the census is only every 5-10 years and Schooldigger has demographic info for every year. I just checked some of the schools in Lake Worth / Palm Springs / Greenacres and they some of them saw a 50% drop in enrollment of non-Hispanic white students in a period of THREE YEARS! Compare this to Miami-Dade, where many of the schools there had non-Hispanic white enrollment drop by half over about 15-20 years.