Back in the day with The Daily Planet

As I always say, you never know what you are going to find at the Mayfair Antiques and Collectibles Market. My friend Charlotte, who is a vendor there, came up with one of the original Daily Planet's, Coconut Grove's bi-weekly newspaper started in 1970. This issue is from December 29, 1970, it is Volume 1, Issue 28.

The above photo was taken the other day in front of Maya Hatcha, the store. Maya Hatcha was around the day this newspaper was first published, in the very same spot on Grand Avenue, in fact.

The front page story is about a "new" law at the time where the City Commission agreed to have persons charged with disorderly conduct if they loitered. The problem was that they were "loitering" in Peacock Park, which was called Coconut Grove Bayfront Park at the time.

The Daily Planet says that police started harassing people right away on McFarlane Road and in the park, and apparently this was the norm by the cops back then, so people took it in stride. After awhile the harassment stopped and the "busts" were dismissed. You can read a large part of the story by clicking on the image of the paper above. It will open up larger.

An interesting thing is that none of the ads inside the newspaper were from Grove businesses, like today, the advertisers from the Grove are quite scarce. You can see the ad below comes from all the way from the Marco Polo in North Miami Beach. Other ads include Coral Gables record stores and hair salons near Dadeland. Monty Trainer gave me a bunch of old documents and newspapers from the 1960s and '70s. I'll post some ads and things in the next week or so.



The Editor of The Daily Planet was Vic Fisher and staff writers included Jerry Powers, Chuck Pulin and Mel Diamond. We assume that Jerry Powers is from Ocean Drive magazine fame.

The Calendar of Events included "Summertree," a play being performed at Players Theatre; The Ring Theater was presenting "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, staring Mercedes McCambridge; "Butterflies Are Free," was playing at the Coconut Grove Playhouse staring Ann Southern and Beau Bridges. Prices were $2.95 to $4.95 for matinee and $4.95 to $6.95 for weekend performances