A Floridian For 31 Years

[mavrik]

A few years after NAM (73) I came from CT to F L A. Drove to Jax then across to Dunedin for a swim. There was nothing there on that part of the beach, just beach. Real nice. Stayed for a time then on to Miami. Never to go back to CT except to see family. On a side note, CT was a different culture back then as far as I can remember re guns, partly because I lived out in country part of my youth, even trapped muskrats for their fur, eeew. I love Florida despite its short comings and if interested in its early years a book-“A Land Remembered” by Patrick Smith is excellent. Held a lot of different jobs , moved up to Lauderdale then Pompano where I met The Lord and my wife of now 42 years. She’s still the best and loves to shoot, even has her own AR15. TalkIng about how things change,,when I first came to FL, I had a Celica. Had a great deal of trouble finding a garage to make a repair as the mechanic would say “I don’t touch those Jap cars”. no offense to anyone here just quoting.

[SteyrAUG]

Prior to Miami Vice days South Beach was known as God's waiting room. Area was full of elderly northerners who came to the warm weather to wait out their days.

We moved to North Miami in '69 when I was 12 from San Juan PR (thats another story in itself, I'm not Puerto Rican).
Rug is absolutely correct, back then South Beach, the current play ground of the rich & famous, was referred to as "Gods waiting room" by the locals.
My grandparents moved down from Brooklyn N.Y. in '71 to South Beach (generally called Miami Beach by the retirees).
Lots of the old art deco hotels were dilapidated retirement homes back then, the front verandas were filled with old folks sitting in rocking chairs.
I can remember when I got my first car at age 17 and would drive east on NE 125th St. over the Broad Causeway to the beach and go south on Harding (that road map description was for you Rug, LOL) to visit my grandparents, driving by one after another hotel with the old folks all sitting in the rockers was about as depressing a sight as you can imagine.
I also remember me and my cousin at age 14 (1971) or so walking around Lincoln Road mall and there being only several shops occupied, the rest were shell spaces waiting to be built out. Lincoln Road Mall had the feel of a ghost town.

Things sure do change.

Yeah, there was all that.

But there were also amazing Cuban restaurants with incredible food.
There were things you simply never saw in Broward, like grocery stores with dirt floors (I swear I'm remembering that right) and a chicken running loose up and down the aisles.
Late 70s I was collecting beer cans and my Dad was a pretty good sport helping me raid low traffic convenience stores so I could dig in the bottom of the coolers for old Ballantine cans that were no longer in production.
I also remember a "laid back" Miami that was just a cool place to visit on weekends. Sure it wasn't crime free, but it was a long way from the Murder Capital of the World.
Best thing about Miami Vice is they restored some of those old Deco locations and that led directly to a revitalization of many landmark areas.

In the 70s Miami was as run down as any place in Key West, by the mid 80s it was a brand new city, but with brand new problems that were 100% driven by the cocaine market. Seems like 1982 was the year it went from "a few people killed today" to "dozens and dozens of people killed today" and things began to even creep north into Broward.

Miami used to be something of a local secret, it was not longer the attempted second Vegas of the 60s but was in the running for neatest little city nobody knows much about. That all ended with Mariel of course.

[Orlando Paulitician]

On this day in 1989 I became a Florida property owner. I've been in this house for the past 31 years.
WhooHoo, I guess?

I got you beat by 7 months. I was born in-state of the same year.

[pharmer]

January will be 41 years for me. At the bar back then you had to stand if "Dixie" came on the jukebox. Joe

[jimmac]

The way I heard it was "All the old people live in Sarasota, and their parents live in St. Pete"

[Flashooter22]

Mom brought me and my two younger brothers here 30 years ago on a greyhound bus. I was 11. Lived in various spots in Palm Beach County since!