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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet > My Youth on Miami Beach by Richard Auspitz (commentary - no photos) - click on image to read
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1950's Richard Auspitz

My Youth on Miami Beach by Richard Auspitz (commentary - no photos) - click on image to read

Miami Beach, Florida


I received this great historical recollection in an e-mail that was forwarded to me. Fortunately Mr. Auspitz has written in with his comments below and doesn't object to his wit being displayed here. A late 1950's photo of Richard is at http://www.pbase.com/image/126752300 and a current photo is at http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/126752919

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MY YOUTH IN MIAMI BEACH BY RICHARD AUSPITZ

Knocking your shoes together upside down in case scorpions or some other creature had crawled in during the night…

Schools of fish 1/4 mile wide filling the entire top of the water; taking an hour to pass...

Constant Pods of Porpoises taking hours to pass at Indian Creek in front of the Fontainbleau.

Submarine Sams...

163rd Street (Sunny Isles Causeway) totally covered by land crabs in such abundance that you did not drive there for fear of a flat tire...

Walking to school in two or three feet of water following a typical rainstorm with pants rolled up (no drainage pipes at the time as they were not aware it was possible at sea level)...

Hurricane Parties (held at the home of whoever's parents were out of town?)...

The Orange Bowl Parade when it was a big event...

Working at the Miami News Selling Starts (new subscriptions)...

Working then being fired at Mary Jane Shoes on Lincoln Road and Washington.

Citations given out for loitering in front of Liggetts Drugs Lincoln and Washington...

James Dean in Rebel then Giant after he died...

A young / beautiful Elizabeth Taylor...

Mitzi Gaynor “hubba”...

Jerry Lewis when he was really funny...

Silver Dollar Jake passing in his fire engine red Caddy convertible, wolf whistle, ahooga horn, steer horns on the hood and a Mannequin dressed up like a sailor on the back deck. Jake throwing our handfuls of silver dollar shaped (foil) condoms as he rode along...

Piccolos on Ocean Drive...

Pickin Chicken's - dipping Southern Fried Chicken into Honey...

Miniature Golf Course on Collins Ave...

41st Street: Moderne Drugs, Mike's News, Rondo's (before it became Omar's Tent) - Rondo always running after a waitress swinging some kitchen utensil at her for Who Knows What?...

The 63rd Street overpass going North to South (always fun stopping and raising you car's hood to end traffic flow)....

Making out at Pecker's Point...

Riding A Motorcycle up the middle of the Pine trees on Pine Tree Drive...

Using the Greens and sand traps at Bayshore Country Club as a motorcycle Jump (sometime car jump)....

Fun Fair, Colonel Jim's, the Night Owl, the Grate (Candido)...

Lenny Bruce at El Patio on Dade Blvd...

The Jim Jam on 75th St...

Valentis Italian Restaurant with the Reindeer in Front on NW 7th Avenue and NW 20th Street...

Wolfies 21 Strawberry Cheese Cake (Size of a small city for 35c)...

Speeding was a $10.00 fine paid to the cop on the spot...

Everyone knew everyone (population 12,000 in MB including 3,000 that went to The Old Beach High, *Not the New one on Dade Blvd* now 50 yrs. old!)...

Austin Burke and his fabulous commercials wearing 20 articles of clothing...

State Road 9, where no “Beachite” had gone before!...

Hialeah was farm land...

Miami Beach High had the worst football squad in Dade County and the most beautiful / promiscuous girls...

All the perverse teachers at Beach High...

The busting of Miami Beach High School Principal Irving Katz for having an affair with his secretary and taking a few bucks out of the till...

The 48th Street Beach...

Riding a motorcycle from school directly to the beach and jumping in the lake like ocean wearing just jeans...

Local waters looking like the Bahamas...

Leaving School at lunch time and going to Gulfstream Park for the afternoon...

No Route I-95, no Palmetto Expressway. Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale 1.5 hours via US1...

Proving your manhood in the middle of the night by driving Miami to Naples via Tamiami Trail in one hour (the reward a Royal Castle Honey Bun the size of first base)….

The overpowering delicious odor of Honey Suckle and Jasmine. Sea grape trees everywhere in abundance. Spanish moss hanging...

The Surf, the Normandy, The Beach, The Lincoln, The Variety, The Roosevelt (great dirty films), The Flamingo Theaters. Movie Grand Openings Just like Hollywood, Ca...

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Don Rickles, Shelly Berman, Mort Sol, Johnny Mathis...

The Noshary at the Saxony Hotel on Collins...

Royal Castle's 29c breakfast (one pat of butter) 15c hamburgers, Lums Dogs 20c and 5c for a Pepsi. The Non Attorney Perlman Brother serving Lum Dogs on 41st St, Lums becoming a chain, Lums going Public, Lums buying Caesars Palace...

Port of Miami Description: 5th and Biscayne Cruise Ship Parallel Parked, you walked on and off it went to the Bahamas, Cuba, etc...

Miami International, 36th Street and LeJeune was about 2,000 square feet, pulled up in front, walked in walked out the back and up the steps and off you went...

Chalks on the Causeway, The Goodyear Blimp...

Fisher Island was a mosquito nest...

The Japanese Gardens on the Causeway...

Havana was an hour via TWA four prop Constellation...

79th Street was the end of Miami Beach then you fell off the flat earth...

Drift Boats were $2.00 and catching fish was guaranteed...

Every Kid that fished the Drift Boats became a short term mate...

Spear Fishing, Hunting in the glades, Motorcycling and being hit in the face with Icy hail on MacArthur Causeway...

MacArthur Causeway Draw Bridge was very low, made from wood, tar, metal and anything else they had at the time...

The Coast Guard Station...

The all you can eat for $1.00 shrimp place (The Shrimp Spot) near the train station 20th Street and NW 7th Ave...

The Night Beat (Sir John) / Flip Wilson / Cassius Clay...

The Famous Restaurant and Variety Meats on Washington Avenue, Henry Steig Clothing, driving holding a beer, crinolines...

Fishing on the jetties behind the Bombay Hotel at 69th and Collins, Willie Restrum, Bell Barth, Alan Burke on Radio, the glamour of the Morton Towers, The Hotel National de Cuba in Havana, Dirty Dicks, the Junkanoo, Nassau...

Endless Poker games, Madras Shirts, Flocks of egrets as far as the eye could see taking an hour to pass overhead. The building of the Motels in Sunny Isles, The Dunes, The Thunderbird, The Aztec, Suez...

Desolate isolated Ocean Houses at Collins and 58th...

Golden Beach Speed Trap. Chary's on Harbor Island...

Governor Leroy Collins...

Biscayne Point...

North Beach Elementary, Ida M. Fisher High School...

Nice girls and better yet slutty ones...

The Boom Boom Room, The Elbo Room, the Gristmill...

Ben Grenald serving breakfast at Moderne Drugs on 41st Street (also home cures for jock itch, hemorrhoids, underarm odor -- Ben was a Fountain of Knowledge and one of the really good ones!), Kasdin Drugs, Prarie Poultry, Polo Park, The 10th Street Dance, the reform school in Kendall, teenagers married in the keys, cars actually driving on Lincoln Road (before mall!)...

Women Wearing Mink Coats in ninety Degrees...

5th Street / Potamkin Chevrolet, The Good Year Tire Company, The Drive by Cleaner (Mark's) at Purdy Ave and Alton, getting to the airport after a rainstorm by zig zagging 20th Street or 79th Street to the dead end at LeJuene...

Renting a Sailboat from Captain Dick at Dinner Key, scrambling at the gunnery range, the illegal midnight drags on Prospect Road in Ft. Lauderdale, only hearing English spoken, Desi Arnaz a student at St. Patrick's High School off 41st Street...

The Great Political Battle to prevent Royal Castle from opening on 41st Street...

Sons and Daughters of various crime families that were our school chums...

Meyer Lansky, local elder, The Forge...

The changing of 41st St to Arthur Godfrey Road???...

The building of Julia Tuttle Causeway….

Night time High School Football games. Baton Twirling, pretty girls...

The Everly Brothers, Charlie Brown He's a Clown, Dance with me Henry, Still of the Night...

Johnny Mathis assuring success in the back of your Chevy...

Fan and Bills, Mitches Steak Ranch, )Curry's, Parhams (the all night joint 69th and Collins), Beach Bowl 79th Street, Having a bottle of booze delivered from Happy's Stork Lounge on 79th St because they never carded when delivering, Neils Deli Alton & and 17th, Alfie's News (Bookie Shop), Paul Bruin, The Castaways / The Wreck Bar...

Boundless fruit trees everywhere, mangos, papayas, key limes, coconuts, ponderosa lemons, grapefruits, oranges, etc...

And the most amazing part, I ended up married to the beautiful girl that lived across the street from me on Sheridan Avenue…..

Life is Sweet.....


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Guest 29-Jan-2021 21:17
My name is Howie Fisher ( went to school with you) Thanks for memory lane, you brought back many memories
Alice Moffat 16-Dec-2016 03:37
Does anyone remember a little jazz club on Lincoln Road. They may have played movies there too. It was long before Van Dykes. p.s. thanks, Everyone, for the wonderful memories!
Marvin Baida 25-Sep-2015 21:17
What great memories. My father Lou Baida supplied all the Promotional products that where used by Woflie's, Pumpernicks Big Wheel & 100 0f hotel/motels in Miami & Miami beach. We moved from south beach to SW Miami in late 40's and then toMorton Towers until my parents past in 1969. i live in Ca. With my son's & Grandchildren. MISS THOSE OLD DAYS in Florida.
Kit 30-Aug-2014 15:47
Meant to say Hettie (Heddie) Green's house (The Witch of Wall St & richest woman in world) . Also the dog track on 1st street on the beach. Flamingo Park, Wolfies, the Coast Guard Station where Dominican Dictator's (Trujillo) yacht was docked for years. McArthur Causeway had only 2 lanes. LaGorse Country Club, the Bath Club, the Surf Club, Damon Runyon's house on N Hibiscus, rod & Reel Club (gone now) on Hibiscus . Saturday lunches at drug store on Lincoln Rd & then movies. The Cameo theater for 50 cents on Washington St. South Beach was very "iffy". Manicured lawns & no overgrowth. The old Mt Sainai Hospital, Sears on Biscayne Blvd, Jordan Marsh, radio station where now is Miami Herald. Squatter's Island before Dodge Island & cruise ships
Kit 30-Aug-2014 14:45
So much fun to read your article. I grew up on Hibiscus Island in the fifties & sixties. I recall playing in the former house of Al Capone on Palm Island with all its secret passage ways. Saw silver Dollar Jake several times & thought he was a curious person. I remember Barbara Walters father Lou Walters, who owned the Latin Quarter on Palm, which eventually burnt down. Also a scavenger hunt for Betty Grables autograph on Palm. He'd die Greens house on Star Island now gone. I went to St Pats. Great revisit. Kit
Guest 20-Jul-2014 23:28
If you attended the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, back in the late 1960's and eary 1970's, my name is JUAN CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ BOWLES, used to be a MVP of the University of Miami Soccer Team. Used to be top scorer a couple of years. In case U met me and want to chat about at times, contact me at: Juan Carlos Fernández Bowles
E-Mails: juancarlosfernandezbowles@
gmail.com; yahoo.com; and hotmail.com
Telephones: Fixed: 005913-3517937
Mobile Cellular Telephones:
VIVA: 70280706
ENTEL: 73178781
TIGO: 77623022
FAX: 005913-3373000
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, BOLIVIA.
Myron Lubell 16-Mar-2014 11:31
Loved it. You might enjoy my book. The Sixth Borough
Mary Anne C 26-Feb-2011 07:05
Wow, just wow...my life in precis. Born at St Francis, grew up on the 79th St causeway. Hialeah High later, playing in the Symphony, Dade Co. Auditorium, University of Miami...and on to adulthood. Thanks, Richard, for the memories!!
Don Boyd27-Dec-2009 15:58
Richard, I tried to contact you regarding this but my e-mail bounced back from the address that I was given. I really appreciate your contribution and I'm sure many other readers do too. Thank you for allowing me to display it on my site.

Don
Robbin 23-Nov-2009 20:41
Richard Auspitz and Don Boyd, Great Collection Of Memories Of Miami Beach, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, ect. I Enjoyed it Immencely !!!! Thanks, For Posting This. I Remember A Lot Of The Places , and Things, But Not All Of It . I Would Say That About 90 % Of This Posting, was Familiar to Me. Best Regards , to Both Of You !!!!!! Robbin.