Gone But Not Forgotten In Miami (camping, ice cream, venue)

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by valicky

No ac in school wasn't that long ago. I graduated in '80 and at the time Southwest Miami High still didn't have ac in 2 of the 4 main buildings. We had window units in the house I grew up in too.

By the time I went to southwest they had finished the air conditioning. However, in the schools I attended before that there was usually no air conditioning except for the office. My parent's home was built with central air in 1960, and that system is still working since I rebuilt it.

[Awsi Dooger]

Southwest well represented here. Nothing close to full AC when I was there. The school was designed with cross ventilation in mind, fully windowed outer walls and incomplete inner walls with windows above. Consequently you could often hear the teacher in the adjacent room or across the hall. I remember some of my teachers closing the door in an attempt to partially nullify a loud or enthusiastic neighboring teacher.

I was skilled at manipulating a trip to the library, and air conditioned relief.

There were other schools designed similarly. I can think of South Miami Junior High, which my sister attended.

We had three individual AC units in our house when I was a kid, one in the master bedroom, Florida room and den. But I have very early memories of chasing flies from window screen to window screen and catching them in pill bottles before releasing them. Either we didn't have AC at that point, or didn't always use it.

My dad told me that movie theaters were among the first businesses to feature AC, specifically Olympia on Flagler Street. He said Sears had AC early in Miami.

[Manolón]

It seems there are more pictures of Miami in the 20's through 50's than there are of the 60's through 70's. I only found one distant picture of the Gold Triangle, no good pictures of Don Carters, Serpentarium, Lums, Village Mall, and especially Colonial Golf Course. Have you ever seen or searched for any? I'd appreciate any ideas.
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TrueNative

I've got a payload of pics from Miami from the 40's and 50's, my parents used to visit the place a lot. But unfortunately there are only pics of Indians fighting alligators, parrots, The Lido, Flamingos at the Hialeah Race Track, some occasional picture of Burdines, Ten Cent and their Soda Fountain and not much more.

I do remember Lums in Miami Beach, and there was another near FIU. I remember that it was a genuine Miamian restaurant.

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by valicky

No ac in school wasn't that long ago. I graduated in '80 and at the time Southwest Miami High still didn't have ac in 2 of the 4 main buildings. We had window units in the house I grew up in too.

I went to SW High School as well, I graduated in '77 and I remember one day the school closing down because the heat was unbearable. At that time we had two shifts, the early shift was ok but boy the late shift was murder, so hot in the Florida afternoon time.

[christianthelion]

This site is fantastic!

Does anyone remember a food court type restaurant close to US1 on 67th? The stations had food representing countries from all over the world. It sounds like the Yumbrella someone mentioned earlier but I don't think it was on 57th but it could have been. I was very young. I'm dying to know the name. Yumbrella doesn't sound right but, again, it could be.

Also, there was a circus style kids hamburger joint on either Bird or Coral, probably 92nd or 97th. I'm dying to know the name of this place, too.

Thanks so much!

[christianthelion]

I bowled at bird in the early 70's, too. I broke my tumb and missed several weeks. My couch was not pleased. Everyone had gotten so good when I returned. Don't remember any names though.

[cixcell]

it kills me there arent more pictures of diving in the keys from the 1970s and before. underwater photography hadnt really taken off yet but that was before the reefs went into a serious decline in the late 70s/early 80s. when everything was still fields of fantastic spiky stony coral that fish would dive in and out of.

[perry335654]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pGqz7E7BGs

[cixcell]

yeah but this is what it USED to look like:










and then at the turn of the decade something went terribly wrong

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by christianthelion

This site is fantastic!

Does anyone remember a food court type restaurant close to US1 on 67th? The stations had food representing countries from all over the world. It sounds like the Yumbrella someone mentioned earlier but I don't think it was on 57th but it could have been. I was very young. I'm dying to know the name. Yumbrella doesn't sound right but, again, it could be.

Also, there was a circus style kids hamburger joint on either Bird or Coral, probably 92nd or 97th. I'm dying to know the name of this place, too.

Thanks so much!

I remember the food court very well, but alas not the name. It was near the current U-Haul dealer. I think that's 57th.

Glad to see a mention of the circus style hamburger joint. That was on the south side of Bird Road, just across from Bird Bowl. It featured a huge kids' slide to the rear and east of the hamburger joint. You could buy burgers and earn points toward rides down the slide, and I think rides could be purchased separately.

Not many people seem to remember that short-lived venture of the early '70s. Again, I can't recall the name. The building later became a flower shop. Not sure what is it now.