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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> DOWNTOWN Miami, Bayfront Park and Port of Miami Historical Photos Gallery - All Years - click on image to view > 1959 - Miami Herald relocation plans
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1959

1959 - Miami Herald relocation plans

Miami, Florida


In retrospect it is unbelievable that a building like this was allowed to be built so close to the bay.


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Guest 20-May-2014 20:09
Heh. The WQAM Radio Tower to the left of the 'New Herald Site" location.
James Clements 25-Nov-2012 17:42
The out door shots for Miami Vice was not the old Miami Herald building, but was instead a very deco shipping company building that has since been torn down on NE 2nd Ave and the Miami river, just north of the FPL downtown yard where my father worked for 38 years, so I am very familiar with the area.
kinseeker26-Apr-2010 03:44
There are several wonderful historical things about this picture. The old Herald Bldg. was on the Miami River and SW 1st ave. It was used in the 80s as the set for the TV show Miami Vice.
The oil tanks on the south side of MacArthur Causeway were Duke Belcher's Oil Company. Belcher provided the fuel for the ships docked at the Port of Miami.
The tall building at the NW corner of the New Herald Site was the Venetian Hotel. I remember in the early 50s, WTVJ had it's first remote broadcast there when a person threatened to jump from an upper story window. We watched that for hours.
The long building between Venetian Causeway and the Womans Club is the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. I remember Bishop Duncan was there in the 60s.
Finally the building labeled Tech High was the Lindsey Hopkins Hotel which later became the Dade County Board of Public Instruction headquarters as well as Miami Techinical High School, and housed WPBT channel 2. Two of the first classes offered by Tech High were automechanics which were taught in the garage of the old hotel, and Hospitality Services which were taught in the hotel and the hotel actually housed guests that the students took care of.
Jerry Lyles 28-Mar-2009 04:00
I went to Miami Central High in the 60's and was in Print Shop.
One day we went on a tour through the Miami Herald building.
As I remember, they showed us the new electronic media machines
that were to be the wave of the future.
Ray23-Oct-2007 04:49
Okay, here's another 'how it looks today' comparison from Google Earth.



Of course everything looks too flat, but you get the idea. Notice how you can still some some of the old downtown race track just north of the MacArthur. This is now Bicentennial Park, but not for much longer. I can see the AA Arena was built on fill. I think I heard some of the land behind the Arena is Miami Dade, not Miami. There's part of Fisher Island that's technically Miami Beach. Why? That's where the fill came from.

Ray
Don Boyd11-Oct-2007 03:56
Thanks for your comments, Ray. True, the Herald receives (or used to) paper by barge direct to their bayfront site. Good memories on the WQAM radio tower.

Jordan Marsh was there decades before the Omni Mall was built around it on the north side. Many people loved that store including me; I had an aunt who took me there at least several times a year in the late 50's/early 60's.

Don
Ray 11-Oct-2007 03:20
I believe the self-standing tower in the water, just to the left of the new Herald property, was the WQAM, 560 AM tower of the day. They have since moved to a guyed tower on Virgina Key. I think this tower may be a backup site for them. A few years ago, an FM station mounted an antenna on the same tower.

I think one of the reasons for this property was to allow ships to dock to deliver the huge rolls of paper.

I'm a bit surprised to see the Jordan Marsh there. Was it torn down to make the Omni mall? Or did become part of Omni? More history there than I had thought.
Thomas Alston Dutton 22-Jun-2007 20:52
I got a job with The Herald two weeks before the big move to the new site. I was moving on up in life, leaving my Miami Daily News copyboy position which paid $40 a week for the Herald job in ad service, paying a whopping $50. I was glad to have had those final days in the old building and also happy to have the "privilege" of moving boxes of stuff over to the spanking new building with its magnificent view. This was also the time of the coming transition from hot type (linotype machines) to cold type (cut and paste up) in newspaper production, and the Herald had a mixture. At the time my mother worked as a telephone operator at the Sear's building. I was saddened to revisit the area two years ago and see how the beautiful curve of Biscayne Blvd. from the Sear's site past the site of the famous Coppertone suntan sign has been ruined with concrete overpasses. At least the front facade (the tower) of Sear's has been saved to be incorporated with the new music hall. And in my travel back in time, the "new" Miami News building I had worked in on the Miami river? Gone. Leveled. I was elated to gaze upon the Herald building still in use and the old Miami Daily News tower still on Biscayne Blvd.
Don Boyd26-May-2007 02:55
Burl, where did you upload it to? While I would love to include your photo here, this is a private account and folks other than the owner can't upload photos. If you would like please send any photos to me at SunbirdPhoto@aol.com and I'll consider using them after I clean up any imperfections (dust spots, cracks, fold marks, mold, etc.) in Photoshop. Please give me the YEAR the photo was taken if possible, or "early 50s", "mid 60s", etc. Also give me the name you would like credited underneath the photo so I can give you credit for sharing it with us. Thanks Burl. Don
burl Grey 26-May-2007 02:21
I just uploaded a picture of my chris craft at the marina on the bayfront marina at 14th street. The causeway to Miami Beach. See my story below.
It's too complicated now for me to learn how to put it in the right place here.
If anyone wants to use it as an historic moment about 1950 before the Hearld building was there... be my guest.
Burl Grey 24-May-2007 01:10
OH... I just noticed the women's club building at the bottom of the picture.
I spent many, many night hours on the roof looking through their telescopes!!!
I remember arguing with some people about flying saucers at the time.
I did not and do not believe in them. The believers were almost totally ignorant of any kind of atmospheric phenemona.
burl Grey 24-May-2007 01:07
Before that Herald building was there there was a small marina where I had my 16 foot Chris Craft with a 12 cylinder Lincoln Zephyer engine I put in myself.
I have a picture of that. It never worked properly because I installed the engine too far toward the front. Sone big adventures I had there.
At that time there was a giant Pepsi-Cola billboard right on the water, facing the 14th street traffic coming from Miami Beach. I painted that sign many times. It has a lot of neon and other lights.
In the 1930's there was a wrestling show that I remember on that site.