Gone But Not Forgotten In Miami (Miami Beach, Kendall: zoned, places to eat, pools)

[harrycrat]

I saw that this thread is the most popular in the Mia forum,with the most posts..
It is romantic & interesting,so I suggest to continue it...
As a newcomer I have no... memories of the past,however I would like to know if the original Hilton hotel in a James Bond movie with Sean Connery still exists without renovations/additions...

Or is it...gone...?

[elias9193]

Boy this thread really brings back great memories for me, I lived in Miami from 1975 to 1990 and it was the best time of my life. I went to SouthWest high school and I worked in Pantry Pride in Miami Beach off Collins avenue I use to watch Meyer Lansky walk his dogs everyday right by my store which was Food Fair at the time. I then got transferred to the Pantry pride on Bird road and 99 ave.

I remember going to Miracle mile to see Jaws, and to Coral way and 87th to see Star Wars. I wonder if anybody remembers a restaurant at the falls that was right in the middle of a man made lake built on stilts? Also what was the name of the Taco place on Bird road and 67 ave I had my first taste of Mexican food there after college. I never thought I would miss the "old Miami",
I recently went back to Miami and couldn't believe how its been destroyed by greed its a real shame.

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by elias9193

I wonder if anybody remembers a restaurant at the falls that was right in the middle of a man made lake built on stilts?

Something else was there before the mall was rebuilt after hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, but sometime in the 1990's (don't remember exactly when) TGI Friday's and Los Ranchos moved in there. The man-made pools and waterfalls are still at The Falls and both of those restaurants have portions of their dining rooms on small stilts above the man-made ponds. Honestly, the mall is as beautiful as ever; lots of great stores and a few good places to eat.

Here are some pictures (taken by others; I found them on Google) of how it looks today:
http://macsystems.com/Jun03-2008.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/miami/1/0/0/1/T...ng_Ce-4661.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/14...g?v=1147442726

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Something else was there before the mall was rebuilt after hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, but sometime in the 1990's (don't remember exactly when) TGI Friday's and Los Ranchos moved in there. The man-made pools and waterfalls are still at The Falls and both of those restaurants have portions of their dining rooms on small stilts above the man-made ponds. Honestly, the mall is as beautiful as ever; lots of great stores and a few good places to eat.

Here are some pictures (taken by others; I found them on Google) of how it looks today:
http://macsystems.com/Jun03-2008.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/miami/1/0/0/1/T...ng_Ce-4661.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/14...g?v=1147442726

Thanks for the pics it looks just as nice as I remember it.

[harrycrat]

Anybody visited the place in Miami Beach were mobster Lanski actually lived ...?
Does that house still exist ...?

[MaxfromMiami]

Feb-2010 Just found this thread, and what a blast from the past!!!...Thank you all !
My Brother and Sister talk about the good times we had and how lucky we were to grow up in Miami at that time....62'-79'. It's amazing the flood of memories this brought back that I never remembered until now.
Credit to all that posted: That dragon at Dadeland, The Galapagos turtles at the zoo ( and how could I steal one and take it home? ) The wax shark or dolphin from that machine. Dixie the elephant. Heading toward the beach knowing I was close when I saw the dome from the planetarium, then the rotating shark at the Rickenbacker Cswy. We used to go to the Bear Cut beach just on the other side, slather on the Sea&Ski only to have it wash off as soon as you jumped in ,coming home burnt to a crisp. Driving home, there was that one 10 story apt. complex at the base of the bridge then nothing taller until Miami Beach... My Dad worked at RSMAS so got to see the back of the Seaquarium where they filmed some scenes from Flipper....but yes you guys mentioned a lot of what I was remembering. Duck Duck Goose, White Baron, Creature Feature..Too funny!
The Burger King on Bird Rd. that was walk up only and had the red angled arches, Royal castle burgers 4/$1.00, The Tropicana drive in..( saw Kelly's Heros ) then the flea market on the weekends, watch the neon dog running on the dog track sign across the street.
We moved to Kendall 104th st-103rd terr. in 69' ,parents paid $32K!...built tree houses and caught snakes before the Don Shula express was there, then ran our mini bikes on the road when they were building it, and had security chase us. Rode through the "West 40's " 97th ave-104th st., Picked through the dump next to it.
Worked at Chicken Unlimited for 3 days at the Village Mall, Collected Wacky Packs from the Front Page magazine store there, had Bagel and Lox from the Deli in there, and Carvel Ice Cream....Mom worked at WT.Grants on Kendall drive,and 107th. There was an Italian restaurant in that mall that made the best subs.!...big chunky mozarella, and lots of spices. How many times did you go see Bad News Bears at that movie theater there?
I remember when we first moved to Kendall Dad and I would head West on Kendall dr. to hunt doves, and once you came to the "stone house" there was nothing but tomato fields until Krome av.
Concerts almost every other weekend at the Miami Sportatorium for $7 where we saw this back-up band that was pretty good called Van Halen for the first time. Saw one of the last shows of Lynyrd Skynyrd.... Jimmy Buffet at the Marine stadium, Pablo Cruise, Atlanta Rhythm section, Peter Frampton etc etc...WSHE, Zeta4....I won a full Steve Miller album collection at Peaches music.
Those garlic crabs at " The cracked crab" ? , Cozzolis Pizza. Go hiking, and shooting out on loop road. Stop in Monroe station for sodas, Dad would go have a beer, or two....at the Gator Hook on Loop Rd., talk about some funky characters......
I remember when they built Don Carters lanes ..Nothing but sugar cane fields at the time. Get our quart of miller High Life and drive around out there...hidden lake also.
We would get served a pitcher of beer at Monty's in the grove at 16! Haha...Listen to the steel drum band. I remember the Hippies at Peacock park, and the leather shoe shop down there!...Granny Feel goods, The Taurus?.
The mango ,and avocado sellers sitting on a crate selling the biggest ripest fruit ever!...while driving home on Ludlum.
......Trying to catch one of those plastic viewers they shot out of the cannon at the Parrot Jungle.
Went to Killian, and used to skip and go across the street to the vacant field behind the brick wall...That was during the busing era, and had skipped 30 days before I got caught. I didn't see any point going when we spent half the day taking attendance...would have graduated in 79'.
I haven't been back in 15 years and curious to see the changes...I didn't recognize it when I visited 15 years ago so can only imagine now.
....Just wished Dad would have bought that acre on a canal in the keys for $1000....Oh well. We were "poor" Dad would snorkel up a bag of lobster ,and we would catch a mess of snapper to put in the freezer. Good times........Thanks for the great memories !! ~ Max

[harrycrat]

Nice romantic post.Max...

Somehow real memories from real people are fascinating to us newcomers...

They Miamianise us ...

[valicky]

I remember the Rustic Crab House on Sunset & 87th (Shinju ayce buffet is there now). Newspaper on the tables, mallets and garlic crabs. You could also take out in the buckets. Before the newspapers it was a white tablecloth restaurant. My dh worked there when he was around 13. He also worked in a restaurant called Bachanalia in the Grove. Anyone remember it? And the leather shoe store was still there a couple of years ago. Got some Minnetonkas there. I also remember the restaurant over the water in the Falls. Don't think it was a chain restaurant.

[harrycrat]

If we have any forumers who remembers Mia in the 50s,all those prime waterfront lots,which today cost mils,were they zoned at those times ?
Were there houses built on them?
Even at those times,were they proportionately so expensive as they are today ?

By my calculation ,a waterfront lot is 10X the price ( 1m) of a lot in an average neighbourhood ( 100K) & 2X of that ( 500K) in a hi-class trendy neighbourhood...

Did those proportions ( 10X,2X) exist..forever in Mia ?

[giz2000]

Originally Posted by elias9193

Boy this thread really brings back great memories for me, I lived in Miami from 1975 to 1990 and it was the best time of my life. I went to SouthWest high school and I worked in Pantry Pride in Miami Beach off Collins avenue I use to watch Meyer Lansky walk his dogs everyday right by my store which was Food Fair at the time. I then got transferred to the Pantry pride on Bird road and 99 ave.

I remember going to Miracle mile to see Jaws, and to Coral way and 87th to see Star Wars.

I saw Star Wars and Grease there...


I wonder if anybody remembers a restaurant at the falls that was right in the middle of a man made lake built on stilts?

Also what was the name of the Taco place on Bird road and 67 ave I had my first taste of Mexican food there after college.

Was it Taco Viva?


I never thought I would miss the "old Miami",
I recently went back to Miami and couldn't believe how its been destroyed by greed its a real shame.

.