Halloween pictures in the Grove

We'll be all over the Grove tonight taking Halloween pictures! Look for us and get your picture published tomorrow!

Happy Halloween

TRICK OR TREAT!

Good news

Some good news: It looks as if all the Grove gas stations are open and there is no wait to buy gas.

Milam's is open and serving hot food along with dairy and meats. Looks like their shelves will be stocked fully in a day or so, but you should be able to find what you are looking for now.

I just bought some fresh delicious strawberries, watermelon, a bunch of hot foods at the deli, milk and even champagne to celebrate!

Walgreens is open, too, and they are accepting prescriptions from any pharmacy. Just bring the empty bottle and they will fill the prescription for you.

Restaurants are making do. Le Bouchon has been open all this while, using barbecue grills. Greenstreets and other restaurants are open. Flannagan's (The Loggerhead) is trying to open today.

Comcast is incompetent

I have a friend who works for Comcast Cable. He has not been called in to work since Wilma arrived. I don't get it. He has been out and about daily in his Comcast truck, just screwing around. He actually took a couple of us on a tour of Brickell and South Beach in the Comcast truck, the day after Wilma struck. He was out Friday night, clowning around town in the Comcast truck.

He says he hasn't been called in to work because he works in the Keys and they don't want people in yet. But wouldn't it make sense to put him to work in Dade County doing something? How incompetent is Comcast? I would think they would have every single employee on the job working non-stop to get the Cable up and running.

I know that every single person that has the Dish and DirecTV has TV and can watch. I know that every single person with Bellsouth.net has DSL and internet service up and running. I know that the people who run Comcast are a bunch of losers who don't care if they provide service or not. I am thrilled that I have Bellsouth.net or my whole business would be gone. I know that if I had Comcast high speed internet access, I would be out of business by now since Comcast has no clue what they are doing.

They don't care and as soon as we are over this hump, I will be changing from Comcast service to a reliable service. I suggest everyone else do the same.

Halloween in the Grove

So far, the Halloween celebration is still on in Coconut Grove this Oct. 31st from noon to midnight. From 3 pm to 6 pm, merchants will be giving out candy to trick-or-treaters and parents will receive coupons to the various businesses. Metered parking is free.

At night, the adults can party. McFarlane Road will be closed to traffic and from Cocowalk to Peacock Park, the goblins will be out.

For more info: 305-444-7270

FPL sucks

This lack of electricity is really getting out of hand. FPL should be required by law to have underground wires if they want to gouge people for electricity on a daily basis in the state of Florida. Every time a heavy wind blows through, we are in the dark. This is crap. FPL should take some of their mega profits and put proper lines into old neighborhoods.

Out and about after Wilma

Traffic is a nightmare. Once you cross US1 and exit the Grove, it may take forever to get back. As of now, only 17th and 37th Avenues are open at US1. You cannot cross at 22nd or 32nd Avenues or places in between.

Publix on 27th Ave. has non-perishable items and oddly enough, fruit and veggies. The Publix near Brickell has more items, including meat.

A few gas stations are open on Coral Way and one on 17th and US1, but be prepared to wait in long lines. They seem orderly.

Traffic runners causing problems

This has got to be the worst corner for traffic runners. People refuse to use this intersection as a four-way-stop. It is Aviation and South Bayshore Drive.

Is Gardner's Market gouging ?

I don't want to cause problems, but is Gardner's Market gouging? $11.99 for a tin of cold spaghetti and $6.00 each for pre-made thin-ass sandwiches? I hate to see what I was charged for the coffee.

After Wilma

Lots of seagrass covered the streets

Traffic lights are down at Mercy Hosptial


The Grove is a bit of an obstacle course but things are getting better.

There is mostly tree damage and some fallen wires. Large trees are down all over blocking small streets, but the major streets seem to be clear. People are not treating intersections as four way stops and that is starting to get out of hand.

Restaurants like Le Bouchon are operating, but only selling cold food since the electricity is still out in many areas. But crowds are flocking to anything that is open.

Brickell is a mess. The Grove faired much better. Vizcaya and the Mercy Hospital area have many, many big trees down. But the streets are clear.

The Pub Crawl sucked

The Pub Crawl last night sucked. It was a farce.

No one knew but you actually had to hit every place on the list within two hours, from 7 to 9 pm. Is all that alcohol consumption even legal?

We got there about 8 pm and hit Hooters, where they begrudgingly gave us tepid beer, next we hit Fat Tuesday, where they were nicer. Here we are above, happy, before the liquor was cut off!

After that, we hit Jaguar for dinner. We spent $200.00 and ate and took our time and enjoyed ourselves. Then we hit the streets to attempt to get our drinks. We were turned away by everyone. It was too late. The pub crawl was over. No more free drinks. We bought the t-shirts in good faith and were turned away.

We will never participate in another scam like this again. Whomever was in charge of this even should be shot. They cheated us and all the others who were turned away at the doors to all the establishments the second 9 pm hit.

Pub Crawl tonight; eat, drink and go wild

We will be at the Pub Crawl tonight to raise money for Katrina and Rita victims, hope we don't need to divert any to Wilma victims, hope there are no Wilma victims. It starts at 7 pm.

You can still buy t-shirts at Jaguar, 3067 Grand Avenue. They are $20.00 per shirt you can crawl the bars, restaurants and whatnot in the Grove for drinks and some food. We'll be there taking pictures and we'll post them in the next couple of days.

FPL sucks

If my power goes off again I am going to sue FPL. The power surges are killing everything in my house. My computer can't take these sudden outages. Neither can my central a/c. Almost daily, the Grove goes without power. From a few minutes up to an hour or so, the power is out on almost a daily basis.

Last night most of the Grove was without electricity for almost half an hour. And right in the middle of Lost! Horrors.

FPL better get their asses in gear and fix these annoying problems. With the high rates they charge, they should deliver service. I shudder to think of what will happen if Wilma passes by.

Fuller Street

Fuller Street is one of the prettiest streets in Coconut Grove. It's always so quiet and inviting.

Mad Hatter's Art Festival

Starting a new Grove tradition, the 1st Annual Mad Hatter's Art Festival will be held November 12 and 13 at various locations throughout the grove, like the Barnacle, CocoWalk, Mayfair and other areas.

This is open to South Florida artists (Ryan, are you reading this?). There is a $25.00 fee to show your work in the festival. For more info: 305-445-9698. You will be asked to show your work via slides or photos.

Village of Center Grove meeting

The Village of Center Grove meets this Wednesday, the 19th, from 7 to 9 pm at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.

On the Agenda is the pesky Home Depot, the newly historical Playhouse and the Mercy Hospital over-development plans. (You can't say we don't state our opinions here).

For more info: 305-442-9235www.vocg.orgwww.thegrovefirst.com

Shake-A-Leg's 15th Anniversary

Shake-A-Leg is celebrating 15 years of "Launching Boats and Dreams" .

Tomorrow, Oct. 15, you are invited to eat, drink, dance and be entertained at their anniversary party. Donation is $50.00 per person.

There will be an auction and prizes. Laurie Jennings of Channel 10 is the Emcee and Lonnie Quinn, of Channel 6 is the auctioneer. (Both seen here) .

For more info: http://www.shakealegmiami.org/

Grove sunsets

It's that time of year when red sunsets
are over the Grove.

Pub Crawl shirts still available

We got our shirts for the Coconut Grove Pub Crawl yesterday. You can purchase the shirts at Jaguar, 3067 Grand Avenue. Here is Peter, the bartender, he'll give you a free drink when you buy the shirts from him! Then you can go back on the night of the Pub Crawl and get another drink. We also got a small hors d'ouvre while purchasing the shirts.

Selfish city workers

I still can't figure out why these idiots insist on blocking all the streets when they remove the trash. I was told by someone that had this job once that they are to line the trucks up in one lane, one behind the other, in order to allow traffic flow but these spiteful guys always block traffic and take their sweet time making everyone fume. Talk about a waste of gas, I must have waited a good 10 minutes for these idiots. I was in a situation where I was unable to turn around and take another route.

Don't order salmon at Mr. Moe's

The salmon at Mr. Moe's sucked yesterday. It was burned on the outside and raw inside. I didn't know this steak house turned into a sushi place. To tell you the truth, I don't know when it became a fish place, I should have stuck with meat.

Does anyone know of a great fish place in the Grove?

Columbus Day Regatta

This weekend is the 51st Anniversary of the Columbus Day Regatta, Florida’s largest sporting event.

Chairman, Liz Gabay, expects a record number of entries for the popular holiday sailing spectacular. “Our goal is to see over 200 sailboats, in both racing and cruising classes, at the starting line this year."

The course begins near the bridge to Key Biscayne and ends at the finish line near Elliot Key and the protected area known as The Featherbeds in Biscayne National Park. Call Larry Whipple at (305) 860-9156 for details. The deadline has passed to join the race, but all are welcome to come out and party.

In addition to the trophies for all the class winners, everyone attending the Awards Party at the Coral Reef Yacht Club at 7 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2005 will have the opportunity to participate in a raffle for a number of fabulous prizes donated by local businesses to show their support for the event. Among the other prize packages to be raffled off are two nights’ accommodations with breakfast for two at The Mayfair House Hotel in Coconut Grove; The Award’s Party and the Skipper’s Meeting on Friday at 6 pm are both at the Coral Reef Yacht Club

The Mutiny, in Coconut Grove, is the host hotel for the weekend.

Grove Pub Cawl

The Grove is holding a Pub Crawl to raise money for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims. It works this way: You purchase a t-shirt ahead of time which lists all the restaurants and bars in the Grove that are participating. You enter the establishments with the t-shirt on and you get a free drink or free food or whatever they are offering!

The goal is to hit every place listed on the t-shirts. The event is Saturday, October 22, 2005.

The shirts are $20.00 and can be purchased at Jaguar at 3067 Grand Avenue.

This is a win-win-win situation. You are giving to charity, you are getting a t-shirt and you are getting free food and drink. Can't beat that! It's a nice way to spend a Saturday night. We'll be there taking pictures, maybe if you're lucky (or unlucky), you'll see your drunk self in the Grapevine!

Coconut Grove Playhouse is historic!

The Coconut Grove Playhouse was designated an Historic Landmark yesterday by Miami's preservation board. It was a unanimous decision. This mean's the building's 1926 exterior will be preserved for posterity. This could still come off as the foolish Freedom Tower plan, where the building sits in front of high rise development. But for now, the beautiful building and history is preserved.

It's nice to see that the whole board felt this was an important buildng and maybe now the developers will be sent a common citizens' message: "Go away greedy bastards."

Dine for America

Today, restaurants across the country will band together in a "Dine for America" day, a national fundraising effort for the American Red Cross to help the survivors, victims, their families and other arising needs from the Hurricane Katrina and Rita disasters. For info, go to: http://www.dineforamerica.org/

In the Grove, it seems that only Mr. Moe's is being generous. 25% of proceeds from special a menu created for lunch and dinner will go to the cause.

Mr Moe's is at 3131 Commodore Plaza / (305) 442-1114

Keep in mind that many other restuaurants in the county are donating 100% to the cause, so you may want to check the website listed above and try those out, too. Too bad the other Grove restaurants didn't step up.

Fall colors

Commodore Plaza looks incredible these days with the fall light on the multi-colored canopies.

Village Council meeting

The candidates running in the November election for The Cocoanut Grove Village Council will be introduced at this Tuesday's monthly Council meeting. There are nine empty seats. The meeting is at 7 pm at City Hall (3500 Pan American Drive).

Grove breakfast

Berries now serves weekend breakfast until 3:00 pm. Their old cut off time of 11:00 am made it hard for late night party people to make it in time. Now there is no rush. Same delicious menu at your convenience. Berries and Deli Lane have to be the two best breakfast places in the area.