So a friend depressed the hell out of me
"They turned it into Brickell!"
That's the response a friend gave me when we started discussing the "new Grove."
My friend Jorge lived in the Grove for many years and has not been back to the Grove for about 10. Yesterday, he asked me to meet him at CocoWalk. I had to tell him the state of today's CocoWalk - "It's being rebuilt, it's not really a place to meet for the moment."
I sent him the photo that was part of CocoWalk story yesterday. "OMG, he said. "It looks overbuilt for the area, that doesn't fit in!" He asked if the movie theater was still there. I told him yes, he asked about Starbucks, I told him it was across the street. He asked about the The Cheesecake Factory and Chili's. Gone and gone.
He asked about Johnny Rockets. We sometimes would sit there, eat, and survey the whole Grove from that perch. I told him it was gone and the whole building was empty.
He got depressed. I got depressed.
"What about Kennedy Park, is that still there?" he asked. "Please tell me that the park is still there! What about Peacock Park?" I told him the parks were still there and that we had a new park - Regatta, that the Expo Center was gone. I told him the glass house is a restaurant now. He was at the NET office often, which used to be in the glass house along with the Chamber, he had garage sales and would go there for permits. I told him about the new Mr. C. Hotel on McFarlane Road and I told him about all the high rise condos at the bank lot and the office building where the Oak Street Garage used to be. That's when he yelled out, "They turned it into Brickell!" The sentiments of so many.
He was depressed to learn that Scotty's Landing is gone - one of our hangouts. He had lived near Coconut Avenue and took a drive down there recently and was shocked at the wall-to-wall townhouses that overtook that small neighborhood.
I guess I wrote about all of this over the years as it was happening, but to have it all come out at once was a bit jarring. And depressing.
I didn't mention the Playhouse to him or all the empty storefronts. And one of his favorite things may not happen this year rumor has it - the King Mango Strut.
We're going on a little tour of the Grove later this week. I'll let you know how it goes.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 AM
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8 Comments:
Don't be depressed. The only thing that is constant is change. You and your peers were at one time responsible for the change that chagrined the-then old timers in the Grove. Your "old Grove" was thousands of other people's "new Grove." Just because those old, old Grovies are no longer here to complain about it, does not mean that your generation's changes did not rankle their feathers. The same will have to our generation years from now. We too will sit on our front stoop yelling "get off of my lawn." Life goes on.
Whats the story on the king Mango Strut?
Coconut Grove resides in the heart soul & brain as does Rome, Moscow, China, Washington Japan or Alaska. Likewise, if you live about Brickell, Hialeah, or Immigrant, Montana. Home is where the heart is. Jobie Steppe
We didn’t bulldoze their houses, cover neighborhoods with white concrete,,destroy the canopy, clog the backroads with rumbling SUVs, take over with overpriced restaurants, useless high end shops, valet parking,,rude wait staff, We didn’t feel entitled to shut down main roads with hired cops so our precious darlings wouldn’t have to walk or take a bus to school, We sat on their front porches and laughed and talked and played music and enjoyed what we found the way it was. There will be no lawns to tell them to get off of,,no front porches,,no safe place to ride a bike. Spin it anyway you like but it really sucks.
"Pave paradise, put up a parking lot"
I almost wrote the same thing yesterday after reading the grapevine. Coconut Grove is no longer a tourist destination, it is a business and restaurant area, just like Brickell. It just doesn't have the massive numbers of high rises like Brickell.
We lived in Pinecrest for 14 years and only came to the
Grove to eat. The shops aren't anything special for the most part and when we did come to eat, parking was a hassle. It was easier to stay in our area or go north to the design district Wynwood.
We lived on Brickell for 6 weeks one winter and it was great. We were able to walk to all kinds of restaurants and we enjoyed walking out to Brickell Key.
The Grove doesn't have the walkability of Brickell and it is too bad that the parking situation is getting worse rather than better.
We left the area for the gulf coast.
Wait, so now the Grove is being ruined because they got rid of Johnny Rockets, Chili’s and The Cheesecake Factory? These past-due places are the reasons why things are being revamped!
What makes the Grove is the combination of a) the vegetation, b) the Bay (which is in deep trouble, as the tides bring litter two times a day and the fish kills are unconscionable), c) the quiet atmosphere now wrecked by obnoxious and lethal yard machines etc., and d) a great group of people. The effort to turn us into bland conformists with little independent thought has been supremely successful. Hurrah for enterprise zones, now the sights are set on the African American community. Bye bye...
MB Whitcomb
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