Old Motel Photos and Postcards - Sunny Isles

[rk]

Positively brilliant. Thank you for the memories!

[GandJ]

Wow! Great write-up and great memories.

Glenn

[Maria de los Angeles]

Hi Lois C! Welcome and thank you so much for sharing your memories!

I happened to be at Rascal House just before it closed. Epicure is the company that took over the property (same market as South Beach and also owners of Jerry's Deli).

Arnie and Richie's has gone to deli heaven as well ... it's gone. Now it's a Roasters and Toasters.

[Maria de los Angeles]

Here is a thread about Rascal House: Rascal House Is Closing! (Update)

[Maria de los Angeles]

More talk about delis Is WOLFIES restaurant sill open?

[JPW]

My family used to always go to the Hawaiian Isle for Spring Break in the 70's. Some fond memories include the Nathan's arcade, The Black Angus restaurant, waiting in line for what seemed to be hours at Wolfie's, playing Bingo at poolside while comedian Snuffy Miller called out the numbers in both French and English, Parrot Jungle, man'o'wars washed up on the beach, twin lifeguards Joey and Frankie(?), Miss Dot in the playroom/nursery. Sometime in the late 90's we were in Miami and I insisted that we drive down Collins Ave and re-visit the Hawaiian Isle. What a shock. It was converted in apartments and looked very questionable. I walked the grounds that had provided so many great memories but it didn't seem like we were welcome or very safe for that matter. What a shame,I would have loved to take my kids there just like my parents had taken me. If anyone else has any memories of the Hawaiian Isle please share them. I loved that place.

[JPW]

Just Googled it and it looks like the scary apartment complex was flattened and replaced by a luxury condo called the Pinnacle.

[Maria de los Angeles]

Hi JPW, the Pinnacle is actually in Sunny Isles, where a lot of these classic hotels were located. I think they said it was Miami Beach because that was a better brand to sell the destination, although Sunny Isles wasn't incorporated until 1997.

Is this the sight you found? Hawaiian Isle, Miami Beach | Critiki

There are six great images of Hawaiian Isle there.

[JPW]

Hi JPW, the Pinnacle is actually in Sunny Isles, where a lot of these classic hotels were located. I think they said it was Miami Beach because that was a better brand to sell the destination, although Sunny Isles wasn't incorporated until 1997.

Is this the sight you found? Hawaiian Isle, Miami Beach | Critiki

There are six great images of Hawaiian Isle there.

Yes, that's where I found it. Do you know what happened to the comedian/MC Snuffy Miller? I think he really liked my mom and always got excited when he saw my family each year. I was just a young kid but I remember him doing family style stuff during the day (bingo, pool games, egg hunts) but then would do a raunchy comedy act at night in the Tiki lounge. I must've visited before the Pinnacle was built because the Hawaiian Isle
complex was still there but it looked like it was converted into an apartment complex. There were definitely some scary characters there. Maybe it was more like the early 90's and not the late 90's. I had to convince my wife that it used to be a really cool place. I've been all around the country and I still don't think any place will ever match the "fun" I had there every year. Are there any of the classics still left and are any of them worth visiting?

[Maria de los Angeles]

Hi everyone! I recently came across this list of old photographs, some of which include old motels in the North Miami area: Index of /images

You have to click on each one, but the file names are pretty descriptive.

[rk]

Hi everyone! I recently came across this list of old photographs, some of which include old motels in the North Miami area: Index of /images

You have to click on each one, but the file names are pretty descriptive.

Very interesting link, thanks!

Edit: I have this link with old photos which I also like:

http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/

[marunger11]

I stayed at the Pan Am every July from 1954 (checked the photos) until 1960. I believe that my father had to fill out forms before we could stay there. Definitely restricted by religion and some how I think the guests had to meet employment standards. I remember the parents of friends were doctors, lawyers, insurance specialists, engineers, professors -- don't remember sales personnel, clerks, factory workers etc. On the other hand, I remember Chinese guests and at least one "little person" -- all were included in activities. I also know, having previously stayed at the Caribbe/Carib up the street, that the tone of the Pan Am was more subdued. It was a fun but elegant place. Definitely like family. During the winter holidays, many of the guests had reunions up north. In summer months, not July, they'd visit each other. I still am friendly with a "girl" I palled around with as a kid. Later in the 70s or 80s it became a Raddison. Then it was torn down and the very posh Aquafina Spa & Resort was built on the site. Now it's restricted by $$$$$. Yes, the 50s were another time. However, I could see a difference in the socioeconomic status of the clientele at the Pan Am.

[Maria de los Angeles]

Thank you for sharing your memories.

[Maria de los Angeles]

A bunch of new additions to my Vintage Miami Beach photo pool - most of the classic hotels in Sunny Isles: Flickr: Vintage Miami Beach

[jethro151515]

Hi,
I believe it may have been the Thunderbird, but which hotel did the Grossman (Frieder) family own? They are related to me and I'm currently working on some family history of the family. The original family members were from NYC and were Henry and Anna Frieder Grossman and William and Lena Frieder Grossman. Two sisters married two brothers. I'm not sure if both families owned it or just one couple. Hopefully someone can help me. Thanks!

Jeff

[joescanlon]

Actually, the Colonial Inn in Miami Beach opened either in very late June or early July, 1956. I know because my family spent two weeks there in July, and we were told upon arrival that the motel had just opened three or four days earlier. I was eight years old at the time. We had driven down from Mississippi for our vacation. I loved the place and my sister (age six) and I had only one complaint, i.e., that the main swimming pool was filled with salt water(!), although the wading pool had fresh water.

In those days they provided lifeguards for both the pool and the beach. I remember one day the lifeguards cleared everyone out of the water because a stingray had been spotted in the ocean just a few feet offshore. One of the lifeguards went after it with a spear gun, and got the stingray, too.

I also think I saw Jack Ruby in the lobby there one evening. My family had bought some kind of package deal that included dinner each night in the dining room. We could order anything we wanted off the menu, so I was soon dining each night on the most expensive item, filet mignon priced at $3.95. One evening my parents were waiting for my sister and me to come to the lobby so we could go to dinner. I came down ahead of my sister, only to find a stranger talking to my parents. Even though I was only eight, I could tell that he was trying to sell them something. What made him stand out in my memory was his appearance. While everyone else was wearing light-colored summer clothing, he was wearing a dark business suit and tie, and a fedora. He also had a paunch around his waist. I waited politely at a distance so as not to interrupt, but when my mother stepped away from the conversation (she had more sales resistance than my father had), I went up to her and asked who the stranger was. She replied that he just a man who was trying to convince them to take a trip to Havana to gamble (in those pre-Castro days).

Years later I read that in the late Forties, Jack Ruby was a part-owner along with principals Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello of the Colonial Inn in Hallandale, Florida, which was a gambling house and hangout for judges, senators, and respectable businessmen including Joseph Kennedy. It later became a base of operations for smuggling weapons and counterfeit money to Castro's rebels in Cuba, with whom America was friendly until sometime after Castro overthrew Bautista and made friends with the Soviets. I also read that by the mid-Fifties when gambling was no longer socially acceptable in Hallandale, Ruby would solicit tourists at that Colonial Inn to take gambling junkets to Havana. So I wonder ~ how likely is it that the mobsters who owned the Colonial Inn in Hallandale would allow someone to use the 'Colonial Inn' name to open such a prominent establishment right down the road in Miami Beach unless they were connected? And also, how likely is it that the man I saw in the Colonial Inn lobby in Miami Beach in 1956 was Jack Ruby? While I took no particular note of his face, the features I do remember and noted above are consistent with Ruby's appearance, which of course became so well-known after the Kennedy assassination.

[GandJ]

joescanlon -

What an interesting story! From your account, there's a good chance it was Jack Ruby.


Glenn

[Maria de los Angeles]

Joescanlon, thank you so much for sharing that amazing story! Sounds like you definitely had brush with history there, regardless. There's an exhibit at History Miami museum right now about aviation history. Some of the items there are about those gambling junkets to Cuba.

[Maria de los Angeles]

I found this site recently. It isn't just about the beach, but it is a repository of fantastic vintage photos from South Florida. Enjoy!

http://www.donboyd.net/