So Peaceful in the Grove
I saw this on Facebook, it's a column called "The Night Beat" by Don Branning which was published in The Miami News in 1962. It sort of makes you want to go back. I was going to retype it, but I think it's nice seeing the actual clipping.
What caught my attention was the similarities of a conversation I had with one of my neighbors last week. He's in his 80s, the subject of the over-development in the Grove came up and he was telling me how nice it used to be.
He told me he came here in the 1940s and went to Ransom Everglades. He says the sidewalks rolled up at 9 pm back then. There is a mention of a police officer in the article here and I wonder if it's the one my neighbor told me about. He says that an off duty cop would patrol the streets after 9 pm.
My neighbor says the cop used to stand in store doorways and just observe the village, but you knew he was around because of the pipe he smoked, you could smell it a block away.
My neighbor says that he called The Barnacle "the house." Just "the house." Because the Monroe's still lived there and he was friend with them, so he would go over to the house to hang out with his friends.
It's interesting that the bank clock was mentioned in this article. I always remember that from the 1980s. I would be coming home from the beach often and as I would make the turn up McFarlane Road from South Bayshore at the big turn, I would look at the clock to see what time it was. Would I be home in time for dinner?
The clock was very big, I remember it was square and digital and you could see it from Grand Avenue all the way down to South Bayshore Drive.
What caught my attention was the similarities of a conversation I had with one of my neighbors last week. He's in his 80s, the subject of the over-development in the Grove came up and he was telling me how nice it used to be.
He told me he came here in the 1940s and went to Ransom Everglades. He says the sidewalks rolled up at 9 pm back then. There is a mention of a police officer in the article here and I wonder if it's the one my neighbor told me about. He says that an off duty cop would patrol the streets after 9 pm.
My neighbor says the cop used to stand in store doorways and just observe the village, but you knew he was around because of the pipe he smoked, you could smell it a block away.
My neighbor says that he called The Barnacle "the house." Just "the house." Because the Monroe's still lived there and he was friend with them, so he would go over to the house to hang out with his friends.
It's interesting that the bank clock was mentioned in this article. I always remember that from the 1980s. I would be coming home from the beach often and as I would make the turn up McFarlane Road from South Bayshore at the big turn, I would look at the clock to see what time it was. Would I be home in time for dinner?
The clock was very big, I remember it was square and digital and you could see it from Grand Avenue all the way down to South Bayshore Drive.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 AM
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2 Comments:
Wow. A wonderfully written portrait of village life.
I wonder how many of us are still around who remember The Candlelight Inn, Lyle's, Lum's, The 5 & dime store with the electric horse in front, Margaret Ann Grocery Store (Pronounced Mahgret Ayann in the radio ads).
Ah,Those were the days!
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