It started on April 17, 1961. The soldiers of Brigade 2506 were Cuban exiles fighting to rid their land of Communist domination. They had the political and military support, they thought, of the U.S. government. Fidel Castro’s days were numbered. The invasion ended in blood and confusion and the deepest despair a fighting force could […]
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Miami City Ballet’s inaugural opening was at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in October 1986. The sold-out audience delighted in two works of George Balanchine, ”Allegro Brillante” and the ”Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux”, as well as two world premieres, ”El Amor Brujo” and “Transtango”. Philanthropist Toby Ansin and NYC ballet superstar Edward Villella […]
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Building your own bomb shelter was a Cold War-era survival tactic for thousands of families nationwide and in South Florida. Welcome to the late ’50s and early ’60s, when nuclear nervousness gave urgency to a trend that made headlines in 1961. Everyone was building a shelter — or should have been, according to the experts […]
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Tropical Park, at Bird Road and Palmetto Expressway, was Tropical Park race track from 1931 to 1972. The 245-acre track opened Dec. 26, 1931, and closed after the 1972 racing season. For 40 years, it was a winter haven for northern and local gamblers, jockeys and horse owners. By 1971, the track was in financial […]
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The Miami Herald reported in 1952 on the burgeoning number of local drive-in restaurants staffed by scantily clad young women. “There seems to be a race going on among Miami drive-in restaurant owners to see who can clothe curvaceous curb cuties in the tightest sweaters and the briefest shorts,” a Herald story by reporter Pat […]
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Biscayne Bay became known as a party place in the early 1940s after Commodore Edward Turner built the Quarterdeck Club on a barge a mile south of Cape Florida, near an area eventually known as Stiltsville. The club, which had a bar, a dining room, a game room and charter members with vice-commodore titles, was featured […]
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The Museum of Science and Natural History spread its welcome mat on September 25, 1960. Miamians stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed at exhibits like the 14-foot Kodiak bear; a giant globe in the lobby (originally built for Pan American Airlines); Seminole and Tequesta Indians scenes; and a planetarium. The museum, originally conceived in 1949 by The […]
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In 1965, the American Football League awarded an expansion franchise to Joe Robbie and television star Danny Thomas for $7.5 million. The naming of the franchise was left to the public. “Dolphins” was submitted by 622 entrants in a contest that attracted 19,843 entries.”The dolphin is one of the fastest and smartest creatures in the […]
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The Miami Beach Symphony — originally called Miami Civic Orchestra, an outgrowth of the Miami Beach Symphonette — was founded in 1955. The symphony gave full seasons of concerts, including summer “pops” series, in the Miami Beach Convention Hall, better known as the Jackie Gleason Theater, until 1983 when it was renamed the Greater Miami Symphony.
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Nazi U-boats brought World War II home to South Florida, sinking ships just off the coastline and landing saboteurs. But the real invasion came as waves of servicemen and women arrived to learn how to fight. The Miami Beach training center for soldiers opened in February 1942 and it was one of the largest centers and […]
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