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Many of the above posts may sound exaggerated and extreme but true.
The post about getting to walmart to us 1 in 30 minutes is true, and will take longer than that during rush hour in the morning.
What has happened to some of the neat places West Kendall had for entertainment.
1) Don carters lane (which was earlier mentioned by Tallrick) It was a place
one could go to late at night to bowl, play pool, play video games, or just
have a drink. It is sad to drive by there now and not see it anymore.
2) Kendall Town and Country shopping center on 117ave and kendall drive.
This place is a ghost town. It is really sad especially when in the early
90's you can go there and shop at numerous retail stores. How about
the nightclubs that use to be there; remember STUDEBAKERS, CHARCOALS
CAFE IGUANAS, and before Cafe Iguanas it use to be a neat sports bar
but never really made it.
3) Honky Tonks on 137 ave and Kendall.
4) HOULIHANS on 117th and sunset. It was a pretty good place to go to
on the weekends as well as watch Monday night football on Mondays.
5) RIVERBOAT PLAYHOUSE on 137ave and Kendall
I just don't understand how these establishments are no longer there, yet at the same time the population has grown substantially in the area.
RIVERBOAT PLAYHOUSE WAS THE ****!!
It became Uncle Funny's in 1993..didn't last too long..
KFC came around 1990...where Miami Subs is now was the package liquor store and bar (Honky Tonk's or Big Daddy's..forgot which one)
I remember lots about Kendall in the 80's..sorry my mind's bursting at the seam with memories.
West Kendall had a completely different feel up until 87-88 when they started with the widening...almost anything west of 137 ave was a two or four-way stop....nothing past Kendall and 147 ave existed and the drive to Knaus Berry was like over the river and through the woods....nowadays it seems all the Kendall newbies know that area..which I find disheartening.
When you came out of Winston Park you were greeted by the open-aired acreage of Kendall not block after block of narrowly packed townhome and walled-in developments.
Anson's Fish/ What used to be the Kendale Lakes mall with an open-aired walk throuh feel with elevator music (Sentry Drugs, Popeyes, Waldenbooks, Mr Deli-Tizer, Luria's, a sheet music store, Stride Rite, the Juice Tree (I believe Colombian owned, moved to Miller Square...truthfully the mall was a lot like Miller Square except much cleaner)/ Andy's Sir Dolphin, Wag's (in the strip mall on 117 ave rd., where Ale House is), Anthony's Pizza (moved to Downtown Miami...near family court building), Pantry Pride and Lum's at the Winston park shopping plaza (when I was coming up in Kendale Lakes that was the closest Mobil, with a station attendant) Many younger attorneys used to live over there....and my folks were friendly with almost all the neighbors. Grew up near the elementary school, there's a loop-around road on the north side where people get lost (because it's U-shaped and dumps you back on 142 ave...) Still is very nice.....some petty thefts here and there but overall a clean feel..and the block behind there (sw 146 ct) is exclusively tree lined (albeit with olive trees whose runoff will sure enough cake onto your car)
It was built by Caravel homes, the same people that built Saga Bay...
was the barn at the Kendale Lakes country club constructed by the developers or did it actually exist before Kendale Lakes came to be? (They turned it into a soccer park..which I hate)
The lake where the biker's will meet for their club events was a public swimming hole, with beautiful trees.
There were two pools at the country club, one a kiddy pool and the other for adults..I almost threw up when I saw the volleyball court there.
the wometco movie theatres at Kendale Lakes...Miller Square and 127 and Kendall, where Latino's is (formerly Sizzler, before that Grandma's Receipts)
Kelly's Seafood on 107 and Kendall
And Mike's pizza used to be the Kendale Lakes pizzeria....sw 137 ave took on a rural feel south of killian dr....becoming a two-lane narrow road that ended after the coast guard station..double backing onto 134 ave which took you to Eureka...used to be nothing but pine trees and nature on that small stretch. The lake where they built 3 lakes was visible from 137 ave....and almost as much of an eyesore as the two-story Lexus dealership they've built now. tha stretch of 137 ave which I used to refer to as the boonies has become a bonified extension of Kendall. Thankfully, the Lindgren estate is still there.
sw 120 st was paved recently..used to be a rock road which I'd take my bike down to watch planes take off....
Hammocks shopping plaza was put up around 1986-87....you could see out for miles and miles from 104 st....
Oh, yes...the Taco Viva (earlier on), Peaches, and Haagen Dazs in that mini-strip mall across from Kendale Lakes Plaza where the Dunkin Donuts still is, where Blockbuster Video is now was a Lindsley Lumber (predecessor to Home Depot), a nice Winn-Dixie where Dandy Bear is now.
I can remember when the petting zoo would come to town in the parking lot at Kendale Lakes mall and when Town & Country was a U-picking field....there was another fruit stand on Sunset and around 100 ave but it's now it's a landscaping business.
The latin bodega store on the corner of miller and 137 ave (forgot the name of it...but it's one of the few cuban places in west kendall you'll find...as most of the town is decidedly Colombian and Peruvian) was still around back then...as was the 7-11..but all the jews from west kendall would eat at Silver Palace..and the neighborhood behind Sunset High (Miller Dreams, Seagull's Nest, Lago Linda) was mixed but was a lot nicer back then
"I just don't understand how these establishments are no longer there, yet at the same time the population has grown substantially in the area"
Because it's more immigrant families with their kids moving into that area...usualy what happens (with South American families) is they lose all their money and have to work their way up to the top again...which lots of them can't handle and many refuse to leave their rich snotty attitudes at the door, failing to realize when you come here you have to start from scratch and craft your own dreams....
Long story short they are conspicuous consumers and know nothing of hangout joints outside of Mcdonald's and the two-story Barnes & Noble....well actually there was MARSBAR and they got in trouble for serving liquor without a license...Iguana's must have lost most of their customer base when all the younger Americanized cubans starting moving up to Pembroke Pines/Miramar. Almost every joint you see in Kendall has a South American flair to it...hell even on Bird Rd they opened up a Churrasceria.
All-American places sort of fly in the face of reason 'round these parts.
Oh, has anyone ever been to Village Diner (formerly Starlite Diner) and here the waitstaff cuss out the cooks?
Even though I don't frequent the restaurants and bars much it would be nice to have the options that we had in West Kendall years ago. The demographics in Kendall/West Kendall has changed tremendously; especially in West Kendall.
If anyone who lived in West Kendall say, 15 years ago would come back now for a visit, they would be shocked at all the changes. I also remember the Miller square shopping center in the late 80's where many people would go to the movie theater that was once there. That shopping center just doesn't feel the same anymore. It was always nice, clean, with civilized decent people walking and shopping there. That has changed drastically as well. The little fair they use to have in the middle of the big parking lot every year is being built up now. Not sure what it is going to be. One thing for sure though, less parking for more people.
The part of Kendall I live in is pretty safe..my neighbor across the street reports the last time she was robbed was in 1987...and we had a problem family living down the street. The kids tend to be punks, who walk with the whole "get out the way" routine but back down very easily...they recently did condo conversions so the poorer central american/cuban families became replaced with venezuelans and colombians. By all means use your best judgement and be suspiciou when going to a 7-11 and whatnot but for the most part the only place where I find my life endangered is crossing an intersection; people run lights and stopsigns like crazy down here
I'd rather live in an area with a bit more crime and a beat and pulse then here..saving up the money for an apt in Hollywood...with the help of a family member...really really like that area
And a historical series of photos (1965..Kendall and 107 ave...NW corner)..need PDF
http://pzimage.miamidade.gov/images/PZHEAR04111501/026-ZHRG-BB-ACS-20041026005/Z1965000619/PS.pdf (broken link)
The "24-acre" shopping plaza in conjunction with the village of Kendale is the current Publix/New York New York Deli and Bally's gym..used to have a great bagel joint there.
My parents still have the living room set they bought from WT Grants in that shopping center. When it closed it became Jackson's Byrons. Then it became Border's book store. As a kid I even remember the canal in the center of 107 Ave. They filled it in around the 70's, which created one of the waviest roads in Dade County! It was filled in and repaved in the 80's when they built the snapper creek bridge. I remember when 107Ave ended at 64 street and Sunset, there was a dirt road from there to Snapper Creek where I would ride my bicycle.The memories show me how great Miami was! It's a shame that it has deterriorated into the dumping ground it is today.
Miller and Coral Way also had canals in the middle....from what i have heard and researched on the planning and zoning site....
The road was situated on one side..with minimal or no guardrails..the other side had a right-of-way..similar to w 4 ave/ red rd in hialeah. Is this right?
Love to see the race team maneuver their Hondas gracefully with only a few inches to spare....
107 ave had this same effect the whole way through? Doesn't the Snapper Creek canal run diagonally, crossing 107 ave near sunset and continuing northwest....I know there is another SNAPPER CREEK DR near 117 ave. Was the one you were referring to an offshoot canal?
Looking through other pictures I came across a roofless silo on the sw corner of miller and 107 ave....looked like someone's farm where hay was mowed and shot in those wagons
The kids in kendall should respect America a bit more....it's that same soil that keeps the ground from shattering beneath their feet. When you see how different things were it makes you angry...even though you never really witnessed the times firsthand.
I would have loved to drive down that stretch of Kendall and taken up residence in a clapboard house 'round some slough..sure there were panthers, snakes, brush fires, and no air conditioning. But something about that old pioneering spirit just keeps me from busting at the seams.
Nothing but the soundtrack of "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW" and a bottle of mad dog
BTW I'm Jewish...parents are Brooklynites.....spent my teenage and early adulthood years at Miami Sunset and South Campus, which to me would be short of being dipped from head to toe in a non-breakable coating of dulce de leche :-)....I think I almost threw up upon seeing the new rendition of the Kendale Lakes Mall....that old EATERY luncheonette in the back of K-mart was really a gem.
I do remember a bar/club at Town & Country called Johnny's. (hehe..we used to call it Juanny's b/c of all the latinos there) Remember they had a boxing ring...we used to go there in the late 80's when I lived on campus at FIU.
Hello, what a nice place it was in the 80's. I went to school at kendall lakes elementary school (pioneer class of '81)and then to mc millian jr high. I still remenber my summer camps at the kendall lakes roller skating center. You had new arcade games coming out like space invaders, defernder, etc. you had to had the kangaroos skates,which were the best. Skating to queen, another one bites the dust with the music so loud it just felt amazing. I remember there was a place called boys town were there were BMX races. I road my bike to school and had the best time. On the way the streets with trees in the midle, you could jump their roots and hills with the bike. Riverboat came later on, wwith new arcades games like donky kong or Qbert. You could reserve the donky kong machine by placing tokens on the upper right corner of the machine, and have 6 tokes thie, which ment you were going to play 6 times, special rules. What good memories of my child hood. If we could turn back time!!!!
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Kendall lakes ruled...
