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Jack Travis
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:16 am |
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I recently came upon your website and forum on Allapattah and this brought back many fond memories. I was raised in the Allapattah area from 1946 to 1962. I attended Melrose Elementary and Miami-Jackson High School, graduating in 1962. Would like to add some information and places in the Allapattah area that came to my mind and hopefully answer some questions that were on your forum. Does anyone remember Rustic Roller Rink, which had an open air roller rink and a covered rink located at SE 12th St., Hialeah? Also, Miami Roller Rink on 36th Street and the Coliseum Roller Rink. Many of us would pile into the car and go to Horseshoe Lake near Milan Dairy Road. The lake was spring-fed and the water was absolutely crystal clear. We also would stop off at the old Milan Dairy Farm and get large ice cream cones at a very reasonable price, fresh from the dairy. Also, when I was very young, we would swim at the YMCA in Allapattah that was used by the Jackson High Swim Team for practice. Curtis Park was also another place that had an excellent pool and where I was introduced to frozen candy bars as a youth. Jackson High would play their Junior Varsity football games at the Curtis Park Football Field. Near where I lived, at 30th Ave. and NW 30th St., was a grocery store by the name of Margaret Ann's on 27th Ave. It is not there any longer but I remember going there with my parents to do our weekly grocery shopping. Across the street was the Deluxe Bar and Liquor Store. This had the same reputation as the Screwball Bar. All were located on 27th Ave. As a very young lad I remember my dad taking me to the pony rides across the street from the old location of the Orange Blossom Hobby Shop. That was the highlight of my week and an extra treat to be able to go on the pony ride. As I got older and entered high school and spent more time on my own in downtown Allapattah, I became familiar with Muggy's Restaurant, which I think also became Tyler's Restaurant. I also recall Gracie's Italian Restaurant on NW 54th St. and the Okeechobee Steakhouse and the Chesapeake Seafood House on North River Drive, the Miami Springs Villas and the 6 West Cocktail Lounge. In high school all of would go to Waxie's Drive-In on Lejune Road along with the Red Diamond Pizza and the Pizza Palace.
Once I was an owner of a car and going to high school I drove a 1950 Ford, black. I don't know if anyone remembers the OK Gas Station on NW 27th Ave. and 30th St. Also, Goodyear Tire on 36th St. and 15th Ave. I recall an incident when I was about 10 years old of a shootout and robbery at the Municipal Auto Sales at 30th Ave. and 36th St. I recall bullet holes in the walls and shattered glass with bullet holes, etc., and police all over the place. Does anyone else remember this?
Many of my friends and myself would play pool at the Sports Center Pool Hall on 36th St. Howard Johnson's was located at the corner of 27th Ave. and 36th St. and it is no longer there. When I was in high school I worked for Yarborough Animal Hospital on 36th St. after school and during the weekends. Dr. Yarborough would tell me stories about old Miami and Allapattah back in the 1920's when he would see alligators and snakes on the dirt roads on the way to his clinic on 36th St. and 27th Ave.
When I began to work for Dr. Yarborough, I opened up a bank account at the old Central Bank & Trust Co. on 36th St. and 13th Ave. Many of you may recall the Four Way Florist on 23rd Ave. and 36th St. Many of us would get our corsages there for the proms. In one of your forums, someone asked about the bakery in downtown Allapattah on 36th St. I believe that bakery was Pollert's Bakery, 17th Ave. and 36th St. Of course, everyone remembers Ross's Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant. It was the main hangout for Jackson High School students and Bill Ross was a great guy. We need more Ross's today.
Most of us know that the first Burger King was on 36th St. and 31st Ave. Not many people remember that they had a special machine that you could watch through the glass window where the hamburgers were flame grilled and would rotate and move through the machine and when finally cooked would slide down a stainless steel shoot of about 3 feet long in to a pan full of the special Burger King tomato-type sauce. These hamburgers with this sauce were the best thing to us in the neighborhood. I would love to know whatever happened to that special machine and the sauce.
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havdoug@ aol.com
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:17 am |
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jack travis my grandfather and father use to work at municapal auto sales in miami they passed away in havana, florida in 200- my grandfather and my father and brother painted cars around miami. we use to go to hialeah race track both tracks but mainly stock cars and fish out of crandon park (interesting place)
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Marvin Mobley
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:19 am |
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After rereading the whole section on Allapattah, the words JByron and Red Cross Drug store.......
If my memory is correct, Red Cross Drug store, faced on Flagler and extended all the way thru the block to 1st Street. Either in 1945 or 1946 the downtown store was destroyed by fire. Every thing in the store was shoveled into dump trucks that carried it to a landfill on 32nd Ave and around 55th Street, next to Gladeview grade school. So many people went there and digging in the piles of stuff to salvage items the police finally had to send patrol cars there to keep folks away, as they were creating traffic problems as well as problems for the land fill. I recall only one visit to the store when I was around 7 or 8 years old - (1941-42) and seeing a roulette wheel and other gaming items that could be purchased. One other observation, several posters have called the Regent Theater, (next to Live and Let Live Drugs) the Dade theater. The Dade theater was on the north side of 36th Street next to the drugstore on the corner of 17th Ave. and 36th Street. It was reported here in the forum that the theater and Live and Let Live Drug were demolished. My understanding was it was placed on the national preservation list and had been restored . Shore would like a conformation on this......
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Bill Long
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:20 am |
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I drove by there recently. The old Live & Let Live Drugstore we knew is gone, replaced by a modern drugstore of the same name! I believe the huge Allapattah Baptist Church that was nearby is gone - couldn't find it!
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Mike Medrano
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:21 am |
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Jack, I absolutely remember "Rustic Roller Rink"! We used to go there on weekend nights as it was an inexpensive and fun way to spend an evening. To this day, I will always associate the songs "Venus in Blue Jeans" and "The End of the World" with that place, as they used to play the current hits as one was skating. The place became known for the fact that the owners at one time had a rooster THAT ACTUALLY ROLLER SKATED! The animal died, and later a "shrine" was created inside the building that included the ORIGINAL roller skates worn by the rooster, as well as photographs and awards related to the cock. I don't really know when the place closed down, but I'm sure it's been quite a few years. The original husband and wife owners have already died, one of them not that long ago. This is one of those Miami childhood memories I will always cherish. We went skating at the Crandon Park outdoor skating rink a few years later, but it wasn't quite the same as the old "Rustic Roller Rink" in Hialeah.
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bessnfloyd
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Posted: Sat Dec 9th, 2006 07:24 am |
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You have an excellent memory. While your home address was actually in Melrose, most "Melroses" spent most of their time and money in Allapattah since Melrose was practically county then. When we moved into the area in 1960, there was a working farm, grandfathered in, I believe on 29th Ave just north of the railroad tracks, with pigs, cows, etc.
I don't remember the Rustic Roller Rink, but I do recall the Miami Roller Rink, a quonset-hut shaped building on the north side of 36th St. My kids swam and spent some of their summers at the YMCA when it was on the north side of 28th Street; some towers of apartments for the elderly is on part of that site now. Remember that the 7th Day Adventist Acadamy was just north of the YMCA, as well as their playing fields, so it was a huge amount of vacant land. Across 28th Street west of Exotic Gardens was a putting range, with Comstock sports fields and Exotic Gardens growing fields south of that, so really, it was mostly green land in that whole area. A park (called Dominican Park locally) now is on the Exotic Gardens/putting green site. At least they didn't concrete that over.
My kids also learned to swim at the Curtis Park pool, and ate those frozen candy bars.
Margaret Ann's became Kwik Chek, which closed just before the chain became Winn Dixie. A & B Hardware which was at 32nd Street and 27th Ave for years now has that building.
The Deluxe Bar & Liquor Store eventually became a nightclub for blacks, and I have no idea what it is now. They played some great music there, though. The Screwball lost its reputation somewhat after they mostly stopped having live bands and gals dancing on that huge horseshoe-shaped bar, including one who gave a whole new meaning to the term "broad", weighing probably 300 lbs.
The pony rides had just moved out when we moved in, much to my youngest daughter's disgust. Orange Blossom Hobby Shop is just a tad further west. Most of the restaurants you mention are no longer there, nor is the OK gas station where we often bought the cheapest gas in Allapattah. We also bought tires at Goodyear.
I myself played once at the the pool hall you mention, the Sports Center, but way back then women weren't exactly welcomed.
We also took our animals to Dr. Yarborogh. Eventually he just got past it; we knew it for sure when a neighbor with a whole bunch of Persian cats took one in for an injection. Dr. Yarborough pulled up a pinch of skin, stuck the needle through to the other side and "injected" the examining table. When she pointed this out he was not amused. He must have been past 80 then.
Last edited on Tue Jan 2nd, 2007 04:52 pm by bessnfloyd
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