Tuesday was the last day for Fat Tuesday

That's Louis Del Borello, Grove Ambassador. And that is the end of Fat Tuesday in Coconut Grove. A sort of institution.

Years ago, I took a job as one of those secret shoppers. Yes, they exist. And my first job was to go to the Fat Tuesday in the Grove and do a spot check. I had a list of things to look for and I remember one was to see if the bartender offered to refill my drink when it was empty. So my drink was empty and the guy ignored me and I kept standing against the bar, tilting the cup so that he could see it was empty and I kept trying to get him to ask me to order another drink. He didn't.

I had gotten into that because for a short time I had tended bar at a place in Coral Gables and a secret shopper came in and they did a report on me and it was about 20 pages long, it fascinated me, they were so detailed - did I put a napkin under the drink? did I up-sell? was I polite? Did I garnish the drinks?

Needless to say, I didn't like being a secret shopper, which felt like spying, so that job didn't last long.

A few years back The Design Box on Fuller Street had the old Biscayne Cafeteria sign for sale. That brought a nice price, wonder how much the Fat Tuesday sign will bring?

And this sign reminds me of something else. In 1989, The Miami News went out of business and the big blue letters that shared space on the Miami Herald building were taken down. One day, my friend Ron Miller, who was publisher of Community Newspapers, took me into his backyard in Pinecrest and there lining the yard were the huge blue letters - THE MIAMI NEWS, all sprawled around the yard, leaning on the hedges around the pool.

The letters were huge, maybe 12 feet high. I don't remember how they got there, but Ron like myself loved newspapers. I don't know where they ended up after they left Ron's house, hopefully to a good home.

I visited the old New York Daily News building last week and did a little video you can see on my Tomversation blog here. It's only 57 seconds. Worth a look at the iconic building. And maybe you can subscribe while you're there. I write about art, culture, travel, those type things.

I started out in the newspaper business at Community Newspapers years ago.