Let's compare Miami in 2007 to 1957. Which is better? (Miami Beach: sales, mover)

[paleo99]

This particular topic is interesting..I was chatting with a tourist with a southern accent who lives in Atlanta but apparently considers Miami his hometown. I asked him what it used to be like and it was essentially what most people here were discussing..chiefly more white, english speaking people. Essentially, the working class areas were white/black neighborhoods with a tint of Hispanic influence. The census backs this claim up. He said things didn't get too intolerable for the pre Cuban population until Jimmy Carter started accepting just about everybody from Cuba in 1980 or so. He said he had nothing against the initial people who came to flee Castro, and felt they helped the area. It seems the demographic shift in Miami since 1960 is reflective of many southern US cities ranging from El Paso to Los Angeles due to their proximity to Latin American countries.

Interestingly enough, he told me he still considered portions of the area decent to retire in and might even move back.

[carolinadreamin]

I wasn't born in the 50s but Miami in the 60s is so special for me because it was the decade of my childhood and a paradise to grow up in between 1960 and 1970.

Of course being a kid my world was all about beaches, bike riding, walking to school (which I would never let me kids do now), exploring the cool tourist spots during Florida road trips, Charlie Chips delivering chips and cookies, the milkman, a one-screen movie theatre a block away, sleepover parties, portable record players, and the many fantastic Miami restaurants. I remember everyone watching the moon landing in their cabanas at a Miami Beach hotel, one of several that numerous families joined for weekend fun in the sun because very few homes in our neighborhoods had swimming pools.

My grandmother didn't drive but she took me down to Washington Avenue by bus to see vaudeville shows and shop for fresh produce at Lundy's. (There was more than a bit of her world left over in the 60s, remnants of the 40s when she first moved here from New Jersey. The older folks have enough stories to write book after book about how fabulous Miami was during their heyday.)

We went to Shop-Rite to buy toiletries and Barbie dolls. My mom took me to lunch at an ice cream parlor inside Jordan Marsh which seemed very far away across the bridge in Miami. There was also a lunch place and/or tea room in downtown Burdines where she took me for what felt like very grown-up meals. We lived on Miami Beach but when homes there cost $35k to buy. (The house I grew up off Arthur Godfrey Road last sold for well over $1 million.)

Some of the restaurants I remember:
Asti's
Windy's
Embers
Moy Lee's
The Luau
Red Coach Grill
And not to mention the great corner drugstore soda fountains with spin stools that I feel lucky to have experienced before fast food closed them all down. We had Lincoln Road mall, a pedestrian mall that still exists. Back then there were shops like Woolworth's, Three Sisters, Baker's Shoes, Stride Rite, etc.

What made it a great place to grow up was everything that Miami was not back then: sophisticated, hip, world class, built up, overcrowded, overpriced (to the extent that my childhood, if it was now, would not have occurred there because my family would be considered too poor.)

It was the last few years of calm before the explosion, and I'm grateful I was there.

As for racism, my sister and I were kids and pretty sheltered from any knowledge of that. In fact, as it's typical of kids, we never even noticed that the handful of African American students in our classes were different from us.

So for me, the drastic changes that Miami has experienced coincide with my own childhood. Just as I was becoming a 20-something going through my own changes, the Mariel boatlift occurred and that's always been the turning point in my mind after which Miami was never the same.

For those of us who "lived the dream," what the area has become is a shame but can never erase the cherished memories.

[gypsy girl 1]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Ok Miami natives, or those with an eye towards history, I am curious about your views. We mostly agree that Miami is a place that gets more unpleasant as time goes on, but most who were here agree that the 1950's were Dade county's best times. Could anyone bring out something that was worse back then than now? Any ideas why Miami has become such a mess, so fast?

I was born there in 1954. So I don't remember much of the 50's. In 1969, I was 15 and joined the hippie movement. I can't think of a better time to grow up in Miami than my teen years. I still consider myself a hippie. I'm still the same person I was then. So in answer I think I liked Miami the best in the late 60's, early 70's. I left in 1989. Couldn't stand it one more minute.

[gypsy girl 1]

Originally Posted by CiXeL

i cant for the life of me picture hippies in south florida. the extreme selfishness i see here is totally the opposite of hippies. how come south florida's hippies all left but they still exist along the west coast and especially the pacific northwest in such plentiful numbers?

I believe to be a real hippie you had to have been around for the late 60's early 70's. If you raised your kids to be hippies also then they are true hippies too. I was around for the hippie movement in Miami. I hung out at Peacock park in the Grove, also at Greynolds park. Alot of the hippies in the Grove, were from wealthy families, who were just playing the part. They are the ones responsible for going straight. They had a name for them, Yuppies. People who were no longer satified being poor hippies. They grew up and wanted things. Hippies were mellow and just needed peace and love. The Yuppies changed the Grove. But make no mistake, the hippie movement, the REAL hippie movement, was awsome. And I was there.

[planetsurf]

Originally Posted by tallrick

What a disappointment Miami is for today's kids.

What the heck does that mean? My kids LOVE Miami, we go to Matheson Hammock at least 2x per week, the Children's museum, Venetian pool, fishing in the canals...

I feel very blessed to be raising my kids in such a vibrant and diverse place.

[gbugmiami]

1959 - My grandfather moves here after vowing to never shovel snow in another winter in Chicago. He played in bands up in down the whole east coast, and got to Miami, and told my grandmother "Get the babies, Were moving to paradise, Miami".

He Worked afternoons ushering guests at the dog track, played piano in the piano bar there afterwards for tips. Picked up jobs in show bands on the beach for the weekends (that later my dad would play in, in the 70s).

On that income, he had a nice house, 4/2 1/2 acre lot, paid off in the 70s. 2 cars, etc. My grandmother never worked and raised the 2 kids. I'd have to say they had it pretty good back then.

[tallrick]

That's a common thing it seems. Up till the 80's it was not unusual to see a single income, even lower-wage person able to afford a decent home for the whole family. Then came the northeasterners, drug dealers, and boatloads of refugees and the whole thing changed. The late 70's and 80's saw the destruction of many landmark businesses and unique attractions. What is left today is an overpopulated, restrictive hotbed of corruption. No median wage earner starting out can ever hope to provide a decent living for their family anymore. My only hope is that this is not a permanent condition and the failing economy will reverse the trend of today's low quality lifestyle for working-class Miami residents. I doubt that we will ever recover the style and feel of the 50's though.

[kevinkagy]

2007 is much better. Miami is better now than it was then.

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by tallrick

That's a common thing it seems. Up till the 80's it was not unusual to see a single income, even lower-wage person able to afford a decent home for the whole family. Then came the northeasterners, drug dealers, and boatloads of refugees and the whole thing changed. The late 70's and 80's saw the destruction of many landmark businesses and unique attractions. What is left today is an overpopulated, restrictive hotbed of corruption. No median wage earner starting out can ever hope to provide a decent living for their family anymore. My only hope is that this is not a permanent condition and the failing economy will reverse the trend of today's low quality lifestyle for working-class Miami residents. I doubt that we will ever recover the style and feel of the 50's though.

I think you are missing the forest for the trees.
The world changed from the 50s / 60s /70s and not for the better.
I've spoken to people from all over the world and they complain about the same things you do.
Destruction of the middle class?
Refugees?
Natural habitat depletion?
Overcrowding?
Do you think that these are problems unique to Miami / South Fl or even the U.S.?
Would it surprise to learn that I've heard these same complains from Brazilians, Uruguayans, from Belize, Spaniards, from Great Britain....
I lived in Miami during the 70s, and no, there's no comparison to Today's Miami.
"Paradise lost?"
Yes, lost but not just your paradise, many other paradises were lost.
You may ask, what does that have to do with my neck of the woods here in the Keys?
Sorry, it just doesn't work out that way.
By the by, thanks for your thread "gone but not forgotten."

[danzbassman]

I grew up on Key Biscayne and then in the grove starting when we moved to the Key from N.C. around 1965. For me it was a paradise. My brothers and I explored all the un-developed areas (swamp) of Key Biscayne while we lived there. We learned to skin dive, fish, catch snakes, and generally had a hellava time.

We moved to Coconut Grove when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Around 1969 or so. The grove was great. It was beautiful, full of hippies, artists and musicians. I spent my years there at Peacock park going to "love-ins", concerts, watching the Krishnas, playing ping pong and shuffle board, sailing when I could scam a ride with someone.

For me it was a great place to grow up. I loved living in the Grove. Eventually I moved away from Miami and now find myself in Austin, TX. Austin has a lot of the same groove that the Grove had, only much more diverse. I love Austin. But still, I miss the magic that I experienced in Miami. It was a beautiful city and could be a wonderful place to grow up and explore.