Weekend Poolside party at Ritz-Carlton

Saturday and Sunday, the Grove Ritz-Carlton is having a pre-4th of July party. The poolside party will have a D.J. and menu that includes chicken wings, burgers and hot dogs; the fun is from 11 am - 4 pm. The Ritz-Carlton is at 3300 SW 27th Ave. Food is available costing $8 - $18.

For info: 305-644-4680.
Or click here.

Spend the fourth at the Barnacle

Every year, the Grove throws an old fashioned picnic at The Barnacle. You can enjoy traditional lawn games, kite-making lessons and knot-tying demonstrations plus tours of the historic house and performances by local guitarist Lenny Batista. Food and drinks are available for purchase, but most bring their own picnic lunch along with lawn chairs and blankets.

Picture Mayberry for a day. It's really a great Grove experience. If you haven't been, you should try it. (The above photo is circa 1891)

The day runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on July 4th. The Barnacle Historic State Park is at 3485 Main Hwy.$5 admission, $2 kids ages 6-12, free for kids 5 and under. 305-442-6866.

The Barnacle is the oldest home in Miami-Dade County; it still stands on its original site on Main Highway. It is operated as a State Historic site by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Golden Passes for Miami-Dade Transit riders

Miami-Dade Transit will distribute senior citizen ''Golden Passes'' from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday in Coconut Grove at 3150 Mundy St., in Stirrup Plaza.

The passes, which allow free riding on Miami-Dade public transportation for those over 65 or receiving social security, also will be available from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Frankie S. Rolle Neighborhood Center, 3750 S. Dixie Hwy.

Call 305-375-1747 for information.

An Evening with author John Dufresne

Tonight at 7:30 pm at the Women's Club of Coconut Grove (2985 S Bayshore Drive).

Complimentary wine and cheese at 7:00 PM

From Culture in the City: "Spend an evening with award winning author John Dufresne, one of South Florida's most prominent writers. Dufresne has been compared to John Irving, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor and Max Shulman. John's most recent work is Johnny Too Bad: Stories, a collection of short stories. His novel Louisiana Power & Light was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, as was his second novel, Love Warps the Mind a Little. John teaches in the Creative Writing Program at FIU.

Admission is $10.00. Info: 305-648-0899

Say NO to Carlos Rua

They are trying to slip another big project into the Grove. This time near the Metrorail station at 27th Ave. and US1, where the Latin American Restaurant used to be.

On July 26th, the executive council of the Miami-Dade Rapid Transit Development Impact Committee (say that three times fast), will give its opinion on the project. The City Commissioners will have the final say though.

Developer and land raper Carlos Rua wants to destroy the area by putting huge monoliths on the spot. He doesn't care. He doesn't live in the Grove.

The Grove Village Council has a committee set up who is meeting with Rua. Most were shocked at his selfish plans for the area.

The county seems to think that people will use Metrorail more if you destroy the area by overdeveloping the sites. So far, this has not worked and all it has done is lined the pockets of those involved. Quality of life slips away again.

Grove Art

These statues can be see at the Vizcaya Metrorail station.

Winton's replacement chosen

City Commissioners chose Miami Deputy City Manager/Chief Financial Officer Linda Haskins to fill the seat vacated by suspended City Commissioner Johnny Winton. More here.

Grove faces

Here are Terri and Yolanda at The Loggerhead (2721 Bird Ave.). If you go over, check out their new plasma tv's. They added a couple to the line up. And I don't have to tell you that they have the best wings in town. Try 'em.

Winton suspended as planned

It's official. He has been suspended. First the Home Depot was told to go back to the drawing board, now this? Wow!

Chili

While the service is questionable at Scotty's Landing, the chili is very good. Try it!

Commish Johnny Winton charged

City Commissioner Johnny Winton was charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor today in connection with the airport nonsense last month. He is expected to be removed from office. More here.

It's a shame that so much of the overdevelopment, thanks to him, can't be undone.

Ghost tours of the Grove

The Original Ghost Tour of Coconut Grove offers nightly walking tours through tropical streets, past ancient hardwood hammocks, and along the beautiful Florida bay. Learn about the Grove of the past. For info and reservations, go here: http://www.ghostgrove.com/

Happy Father's Day!

Celebrity Domino Night

The Grove is all about different cultures tonight. There is Caribbean JuneFest at Vizcaya and also there is the "Celebrity Domino Night" to raise money for Amigos for Kids at the Coconut Grove Convention Center (2700 S. Bayshore Drive).

The event starts at 8 pm and features Jerry Rivera, Puerto Rican Salsa singer; Jimena and Carlos Oliva Y Los Sobrinos Del Juez.

Along with the music, food and fun will be dominos tables set up for those wanting to play.

The cost is $150.00, which will help underprivileged children and neglected children, which is what Amigos for Kids is all about.

For more info, you may call 305-279-1155 or visit: www.amigosforkids.org .

JuneFest on Saturday night

Head on over to Vizcaya (3251 S. Miami Ave.) Saturday night for Caribbean-American month and "Juneteenth." JuneFest will feature everything from native foods to dances and music. Nestor Torres will be performing along with La Orquesta Chaonda and Silvia Brasil and Hot Jam Entertainment will be dancing.

Tickets start at $75.00. This is a benefit for AIDS Within the Caribbean and Eyes for Haiti, a program that helps children. More info may be obtained by calling 866-428-9885 or you may visit their website here: www.junefest.net .

Boycott Home Depot

I found this image on another website in another town.

Milam's deli

I put down Milam's so much because, well, they are easy to joke about. But I must say for the best pot roast, go there. They don't have it every day, but when they do, you should try it. They do have a great hot food deli area. This photo doesn't do it justice.

And their little chicken wings and drummettes are so meaty and delicious, too. Try them as well.

City Zoning takes The Grove First's side

The City of Miami's Zoning Board actually grew a pair of balls.

At Monday's Home Depot meeting, they agreed by an 8 to 1 vote to honor The Grove First's appeal.One big concern is traffic. Home Depot must come up with a solution then come back to the board. The board was not convinced that there would not be a traffic mess after visiting the SW 8th Street store.

The lone dissenter was Carlos Martell.

The fight goes on. It pays to stand up for what you think.

Kampong pictures

The Herald had an interesting story the other day on Marc Frank, who is cataloging the flora, with his digital camera, at the Kampong here in the Grove. Story here.

I got the above photo from the Kampong website, not from Marc's collection.

SAY NO TO HOME DEPOT

The Home Depot meeting is at City Hall (3500 Pan American Drive) tonight at 7 pm. Please one and all come and show your support for the Grove.

Home Depot will not take NO for an answer and they are bargaining wtih threats. They actually feel that 15 tractor trailers delivering supplies DAILY, will not be a problem. No one knows how they are going to enter the area whe they are coming from the north and on the other side of the US 1 median.

I guess they'll just plow through any open streets. 32nd Avenue will become a mess.

They also are studying traffic patterns at odd hours and on summer days when there is no school traffic and not the usual yearly traffic, since there aren't many tourists either and work patterns are slower in summer months. Home Depot is good at scamming people.

JUST SAY NO to Home Despot Depot.

And as for the Milam's family claiming that now they will get the store they always wanted. GROW UP. There are no free lunches. With Home Depot controlling the lease, your days are numbered.

Perfect meal

We had a perfect meal yesterday at Berries. We started with a huge plate of mussels and then had a nice large, fresh garden salad. Next we had salmon, broccoli and brown rice. It was all so perfectly prepared, I actually asked our waitress, Mercedes, if they had a new chef. I complimented him and told them it was one of the best meals I have had there. It was their usual chef. Apparently someone is listening.

What is wrong with Grove restaurants Part 2

I was called "high maintenance" by one of the staff at one of the restaurants I complained about in this post. I went back to one of those restaurants yesterday. I was not rude, in fact, I was in a deep business discussion with my lunch partner, so we were not uppity or rude. We ordered politely and fast, and did not keep the waiter busy at all.

The salmon was raw, I asked for it well done, I used the word "burnt." And the veggies were horrible. Just in case you don't know who I am guys, I am the one who left all the food basically uneaten and yet left a nice tip and didn't complain because I just said screw it. You'll never learn because you don't want to learn. Don't blame this one on me now.

Coconut Grove Gallery

I noticed the big sign on the side of the building and walked over. And it's a good sign. Have you visited Coconut Grove Gallery and Interiors at 2790 Bird Avenue? It's a really nice place. They are sort of across from the Loggerhead, actually across from the Bird Bath laundromat.

You can get more info here: http://www.coconutgrovegallery.com/

Sailing Club Summer Camp

Don't miss out on one of the best summer camps in town. The Coconut Grove Sailing Club is for kids ages 8-16. Call 305-444-4571 ext.11. Registration is open to the public and all members. More summer camp information and registration forms are available here.

Why not Kohl's?

I read in The Herald that Kohl's has plans on moving into Florida in the next couple of years. How about the old K-mart site? Before K-mart it was a Mervyn's, Ames, Zayres and who knows what else. It would fit right in and be much better than a Home Depot.

Home Depot meeting tonight

The Village Council meets tonight at City Hall (3500 Pan American Drive). The Home Depot issue is up for discussion along with various other issues.

Milam's is pushing the Home Depot, claiming that it is the only way they can survive in the Grove.

Say NO to Home Depot. It will hurt the neithborhood. It will hurt the Grove. It's so apt that today is 6-6-6, the day the devil (Home Depot) comes to City Hall.

Natoma Manors and Bay Heights are sell-outs

I read in the Herald, in Glenn Terry's Neighbor's column that the Natoma Manors and Bay Heights neighborhood associations sold out to Jorge Perez's Related Group on the Mercy Hospital deal. Talk about sell-outs. They should be ashamed of themselves. If you click on the link, it is below the "Wall of Shame," a Johnny Winton story. (Another joke).

I just had a neighbor call asking how we can stop the rape of the Grove and it turns out that other neighbors are selling out behind our backs.

Does anyone NOT care about the almighty buck and maybe just care about quality of life? According to Glenn Terry, developers are also trying to destroy the west end of Grand Avenue with high rises.

I was called a "nimby", on some pro-development site. They picked up a story from this blog and posted it and laughed at me for being against over-development.

I can't remember the name of the site, but it is run by a bunch of idiots who swoon at the sound of new development. They post to message boards about the latest building and development and when certain buildings are breaking ground, etc. Vultures.

If anyone wants to give their opinions to these overzealous developers, you can email The Related Group here: info@relatedgroup.com

Scenes from the Goombay Festival

The Goombay Festival is running all weekend on Grand Avenue from Fuller Street to Douglas Road. Just head to downtown Grove, you can't miss it. Click on the images to see them much larger and more detailed.

Colors of the Grove

Jaguar (3067 Grand Ave.) Keep walking down Grand Ave. and you'll hit the Goombay festival this weekend.

Royal Poinciana Fiesta

The 69th annual Royal Poinciana Fiesta starts tonight with a cocktail party and runs through the weekend.

Sunday is the Lunch-Art Show where the Royal Poinciana Fiesta Queen is crowned. There are trolley tours and you can see the oldest Royal Poinciana tree in the county, planted in 1917 by Marian Fairchild.

For the schedule of events, visit: http://tfts.org/ and click on the Fiesta link. The feista starts at the Kampong and the trolley will take you around. Ticket info is on the website.

Goombay Festival

This weekend is the 30th annual Goombay Festival.

There's a lot going on, starting tonight with a Happy Hour at Club Flavour from 5pm to 9pm.

Tomorrow, June 2nd, there is "Glory to the Grove" a VIP Cocktail Reception at Margaret Pace Park from 7pm to 9pm.

Also tomorrow, enjoy the Class of 69-70 "Rushin Party" at Elizabeth Virrick Park from 9pm to 2 am.

On Saturday, June 3rd, there is an Historical Brunch at Christ Episcopal Church from 11 am to 1pm and the Street Festival and Parade beings at noon and runs until 8 pm. It runs along Grand Avenue and Matilda to Main Highway.

Sunday the festival runs from noon to 7 pm.

For more info and to download the invites to the above mentioned events, go to http://www.goombayfestivalcoconutgrove.com/index.html

Sailing Club News

The Coconut Grove Sailing Club's annual meeting is Friday, June 2 at 7:00 pm.

The Agenda consists of: Election of Officers, Approval of Annual Budget, Approval of Updated Five Year Plan, Vote on By-law Changes and Discussion of Miami Waterfront Plan.

For more information, contact the CGSC Office at (305) 444-4571

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Saturday, June 10, 2006 is the Annual Installation Banquet. ($25 per person).
Cocktails & Hors d'oeures - 7:00 pm
Installation of Officers - 7:45 pm
Dinner - 8:30 pm
Music & Dancing following to Midnight

Call to make reservations: (305) 444-4571

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For the June-July racing schedule. Click here.