Events

Prince - Rock Star Murry Sill

Prince’s Purple Rain concert at the Orange Bowl, 1985

Fans Crown Prince King Of OB Rock By LAURA MISCH Herald Staff Writer April 8, 1985 Dig if you will the picture — of Prince and Miami engaged in a kiss. A long, slow, wet kiss, Prince’s favorite kind, fueled by the purple passions of 55,000 rock fans gone crazy. In the Orange Bowl Sunday […]

Read more and view photos »

Brigade 2506 at the Orange Bowl

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 […]

Read more and view photos »
9527138 Doug Kennedy

Latin Quarter nightclub fire

The Palm Island Club opened in 1922 at 159 Fountain Street on Palm Island in Miami Beach. Prohibition? Not here. Booze flowed. But 159 Fountain Street’s most famous identity came in 1939 when New York producer Lou Walters (father of Barbara Walters) reopened the venue as The Latin Quarter. A ritzy nightclub, the venue drew […]

Read more and view photos »
Kennedy Space Center (file 2)

First space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center

Columbia’s first departure on April 12, 1981, was hailed around the world as a major step in space exploration because it returned to Earth for reuse instead of being discarded as previous space vehicles were.  Astronaut John Young was the commander of the first shuttle mission out of Kennedy Space Center.  Named after an 18th-century […]

Read more and view photos »
Space Shuttle - Challenger (1985) National Aeronautics and Space A

Space shuttle Challenger

Space shuttle Challenger detonated 73 seconds after liftoff at 11:38 a.m. Jan. 28, 1986, killing all seven astronauts aboard. Among the dead: teacher Christa McAuliffe, NASA’s first — and last — “citizen in space.” The last known words from the flight deck were recorded at the moment Challenger exploded. “Uh-oh,” pilot Michael Smith said. From […]

Read more and view photos »
0560952607 CITY OF MIAMI NEWS BUREAU

Orange Bowl Parade

The first Orange Bowl parade was held on January 1, 1936. It was part of a festival intended to attract tourists and support the University of Miami football team. It featured 26 floats and eight bands. The parade, which bumped along from Biscayne Boulevard to Southwest 12th Avenue, was held every year except three during […]

Read more and view photos »

Beauty Pageants

In 1960 Harold Glasser brought the Miss USA pageant to Miami Beach from Long Beach, Calif., where it was born. Miss Universe, a spin-off of the original pageant, came along. In 1971 the Miss USA and Miss Universe shows left Miami Beach after 11 straight years. While pageants have come and gone since then, for […]

Read more and view photos »

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

In Miami, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached and organized during the 1960s, residents remember his legacy every year on the third Monday in January with memorial services and celebrations of his life. Parks, streets and schools are named for the activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his work combating racial […]

Read more and view photos »

Hanukkah

Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, a band of Jewish freedom fighters in the year 165 B.C., and a miracle: One day’s supply of consecrated oil lasted for eight days, hence the menorah’s eight lights. Take a look at how South Florida has celebrated the Jewish Festival of Lights throughout the years.

Read more and view photos »

Book Fair

The first Miami Book Fair International took place in 1984, founded by Miami Dade College and other local partners. During the 31 years of its existence, the fair has grown from a local gathering called Books by the Bay to the largest literary festival in the country, taking over blocks of  Miami’s downtown. Along the […]

Read more and view photos »