Miami Poppycock

by Ralph Bodek

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096469140X
• ISBN13: 9780964691407
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Hallmark Publishers, Incorporated
• Weight: 4.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

a charming tale of the true history of miami

A charming tale of the true (and notorious) history of Miami (real pronounciation"Maama") in Q & A format and B & W photos. Meet the robber baron-millionaires, who came to enjoy the warm winter climate a century ago and settled down to entice their fellow-millionaires to come down for the winter, building railroads, luxury hotels (Biltmore in Coral Gables), and developping new cities. Some died broke when a 1926 hurricane destroyed everything, but all are memorialized giving their names to prominent local geographical places, such as (railroad-builder William) Flagler Ave, (mother-of-Miami)Lisa Tuttle Causeway, (land-developpers) Fisher Island, Brickell Rd, and Merrick Park. Prohibition and Depression gangsters (Al Capone and his friends) followed, moving in with liquor smuggling (The phrase "the real McCoy" refers to the excellent quality of Mr. McCoy's smuggled liquor). The 1920s were not so different from the 1980s with its influx of Cocaine drug money that led to 20% of all cars being paid for in cash. In the 1930s came the movie stars, and by the 1940s, '50s, and '60s the TV and pop music stars started coming: Johnnie Weismuller(Tarzan), Esther Williams, Clark Gable, Arthur Godfrey (another causeway), Jackie Gleason (a Miami Beach theater). The Beatles first landed in Miami to appear on a locally televised Ed Sullivan show and stayed at the Miami Beach Fontainebleau hotel just before Beatlemania officially started. Madonna, Cab Calloway (who just died a couple of years ago), Gloria Estefan, and Sean "P. Diddy" Coombs are all mentionned as residents. Miami has always been a vibrant multi-ethinic and multi-lingual hub with a diverse population of Blacks, Jews and 'Cubanos' who have been in Miami, respectively, since before the Civil War, after World War II and the Cuban Castro years. Let's not forget all the politicians! Every president since Harding (another road name), has come to visit. Some settled in Miami, including William Bryant Jennings who ran for US President before shilling for a Florida developper. The home-grown boys like Claude Pepper championned Seniors' rights. It's all there and so much more: the air lines, the military, the horse racing and gambling, the artifical islands, the barrier reefs, the awesome fishing. Imagine going deep sea fishing off the coast and catching a 30,000 lbs. shark whale! What an amazing place. It just really makes you want to move to Miami and know it like a native.