A little piece of history for sale at The Design Box

One of my favorite things these days is a Facebook page that features photos and stories and things from Miami in the 1960s through 1980s, it brings back such great childhood memories, the page is here. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see the old Biscayne Cafeteria sign right here in the Grove at The Design Box at 3094 Fuller Street. The Biscayne Cafeteria was a fixture on Miracle Mile for so many years. The Dirty Deli of its time. (Coral Bagels holds that honor now).


Store owner, Herbie Parets, left, found the sign and it's now for sale. That's Eugene Ramirez, helping Herbie hang the sign in the store. The Design Box has items from all over the world, but the Biscayne sign from right here in Coral Gables, is my favorite thing, I wish I had use for it.


It reminds me of my friend Ron Miller, who owned Community Newspapers (his sons Grant and Michael still own it). Ron bought the Miami News sign after the News closed in 1989. He saw it in a salvage yard and just couldn't let it be turned into scrap, so it ended up in Ron's backyard. It was the actual big blue letters that hung on the Miami Herald building, which shared space with The Miami News.

He had the huge 15 foot high letters all around the pool area. You would walk out onto the patio and there surrounding the whole yard were the huge blue letters spelling out THE MAMI NEWS. All in capital letters like that. I wish I had taken some pictures back then. It must have been 1990 or 1991.

But anyway, the Biscayne sign is for sale for anyone interested. Call Herbie at the store for more info: 305-644-9400 or you can visit the website here: http://www.designboxinteriors.com.