SUN, SAND, SOUL

Ocean Drive Miami Beach

Deco Delights

Miami's Art Deco history centers on Miami Beach where a 1926 hurricane and the Great Depression paved the way for a 1930s building boom. Architects blended European modernism  with a playful regional style know as "Tropical Deco" which is characterized by nautical designs, pastel colors, floral reliefs and "eyebrows" (a shelf structure placed above a window to provide shade from sunlight, cooling the interior) creating the world's largest collection of historic Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings.  The architectural forces that shaped Miami Beach were Mediterranean Revival, Art Deco and Miami Modern (MiMo).  

The Avalon

700 Ocean Drive

Tableside setting along Ocean Drive

In 1926, a massive hurricane destroyed much of early Miami Beach, followed by the economic crash, halting grand plans.  In the 1930s, low construction costs triggered a building boom of low-rise hotels and apartments.  Within ten years, when building had come to a near total stop in much of the country due to the Depression, the streets of South Beach were lined with buildings designed by *Henry Hohauser in the increasingly fashionable art deco style.  The now iconic view of Ocean Drive is in large part due to Hohauser's designs.  

Ultimately, Miami Beach's embrace of Art Deco was a perfect storm of circumstances:  The city needed buildings to accommodate the people, it had the space to do so, and Art Deco was the style at the time. Dozens of architects like Albert Anis, Lawrence Murray Dixon and Henry Hohauser took their Art Deco talents to South Beach.  

Grace and Henry Hohauser

In 1933, Grace Hohauser, the wife of Henry Hohauser, suffered from ongoing sinus infections.  She needed Miami and so they moved from New York, permanently.  In retrospect, Grace's affliction helped bring about the remarkable transformation of Miami Beach and the creation of the world's greatest concentration of art deco architecture.

*Henry Hohauser was a businessman, but he believed he was designing for the ages.  Many now share that belief. Henry Hohauser helped build one of the more distinct districts in America with creativity, boldness and budget. In the 1930s and 1940s, Hohauser became one of the defining architects of Miami Beach's Art Deco skyline.  His work helped transform a sleepy barrier island into a glamorous resort destination, designing landmarks like the Crescent, the Essex House, the Park Central Hotel, the Century Hotel, the Breakwater, the Raleigh, the Edison, the Henrosa, the Victor, the Avalon, the Tides, the Leslie, the Belmont, the Commodore, the Marlin and the Cardozo Hotel along Ocean Drive.  Hohauser relied on inventive geometry, pastel facades, porthole windows and nautical motifs to create buildings that felt modern, playful and unmistakably Miami.  Today, his designs remain at the heart of the Miami Beach Art Deco District, one of the largest and most recognizable collections of Art Deco architecture in the world. 

Several of Esther Williams' extravagant swimming pool sequences were filmed at The Raleigh. The historic pool is famous for its unique clover-like or fleur-de-lis shape.  It was dubbed "the most beautiful pool in America" by Life magazine in 1947 and served as a a glamorous backdrop for Williams. The pool features a shallow permeter with an 8-inch deep warm water shelf running around the edge. 

The Raleigh

1775 Collins Avenue

South Miami Beach

The Raleigh is a legendary 1940s Art Deco landmark. The original architect was Lawrence Murray Dixon. In 2024-2017, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger bought the art Deco landmark with plans to convert it into a private club, but Hurricane Irma's severe 2017 damage forced a sale and the hotel was closed.  In 2019-2025, developer Michael Shvo and partners purchased the property for $243 million alongside adjacent parcels (The Richmond and The South Seas) to build a $1 billion ultra-luxury complex and glass residential tower.  Plaqued by construction delays, a high-profile broker shakeup and a looming $190 million mortgage it was later sold to NYC-based Nahla Capital in October 2025 ending Shvo's involvement.  

The Raleigh is known for its architectural flair and star-studded past.  Over its glamorous history since opening in 1941, the Raleigh has hosted numerous iconic celebrities, golden-era movie stars, fashion designers and musicans.  Among the musicians were Desi Arnaz who performed with his band on site before his hit show, I Love Lucy.  Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra were frequent quests enchanted by the property.  Clark Gable, Sammy Davis Jr. and Andy Warhol visited or lounged aroung the historic Art Deco pool.  Its private cabanas once hosted the likes of Audrey Hepburn. Esther Williams, the famous competitive swimmer and actress frequently swam in the hotel's pool. In 2008, Karl Otto Lagerfeld, a German fashion designer who joined Chanel in 1983, hosted a massive, iconic Chanel cruise fashion show at the pool featuring a synchronized swimming team.  

In 1995, the Moon Over Miami Ball was held at The Raleigh. Hosted annually from 1978 through the 1990s, the Moon Over Miami ball was a black-tie soiree held as a fundraiser for the Miami Design Preservation League.  The event celebrated the theme "Art Deco Latin America" featuring a lively evening with a 1930s nightclub atmosphere.  Over the years, the Balls brought in some of the greatest talent in the industry including Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, Lionel Hampton and the Swing Classics.  

In 1979, thanks to the work of community activist, Barbara Baer Capitman (1920-1990)  who led the Art Deco preservation movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s and co-founded the Miami Design Preservation League.  The Art Deco District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1979. It was the first 20th-century historic district in the United States to receive this recognition. 

The nonprofit MDPL remains dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting the architectural character and historical integrity of the Miami Beach Architectural Historic Districts, home to the largest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the world, with more than 800 preserved historic buildings. The district's 800 or so buildings were built to look like ocean liners.  The annual Art Deco Weekend festival draws approximately 400,000 locals and visitors. 

Barbara Baer Capitman, Champion of Art Deco

"My whole life had been Art Deco.  I was born at the beginning of the period and grew up during the height of it.  It's a thing of fate."

Capitman was president of the Art Deco Society of America and had organized chapters in cities around the country including Los Angeles to preserve the "decorative arts" style of architecture popular between the two world wars.  Although somewhat more whimsical in Miami, the style is exemplified by the Chrysler Building and Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the old Pan Pacific Auditorium and the Times building in Los Angeles. At the time of her passing, Mrs. Capitman was putting together the first World Congress on Art Deco and working on a book "Art Deco U.S.A." She had published a book about Miami Beach's 1930 hotels and other Art Deco buildings called "Deco Delights".

The Leslie

1244 Ocean Drive

The Crescent 

1420 Ocean Drive

Hotel Henrosa

1435 Collins Avenue

The Henrosa is a 3-star boutique historic Art Deco hotel.  Built in 1935, originally called the Biarritz Hotel with the last renovation of the lobby entrance added in 1951 by architect Harry O. Nelson.  It features 40 elegant rooms. It is located steps from the ocean and the Versace Mansion.  

The 1950s

Dorothy Sebastian was a silent screen actress who married Herman Shapiro and bought the Henrosa.  The 1950s brought a brand new career for Dorothy when she and her husband ran the hotel .  In the beginning she feared she might be bored, but soon she reveled in the busy atmosphere and the opportunity to mix with the public again as a hostess (she was recognizable to many as a former actress).  Dorothy was really taken with many of the Cuban visitors that stayed at the hotel and she worked hard to quickly learn Spanish to she could better converse with them.  In December of 1955 she traveled to Cuba to visit her new friends made at the Henrosa.  

The Commodore

Postmark November 22, 1943

The Belmont

301 Ocean Drive

The Belmont was an Art Deco hotel was documented in vintage 1930s and 1940s postcards featuring classic local architecture. It was on the ocean front with a private beach. The Belmont was designed by Henry Hohauser along with his temporary  Lawrence Murray Dixon. The building utilized clean horizontal lines, rounded corners reminiscent of ocean liners and smooth stucco surfaces.  The exterior featured bands of decorative geometric reliefs, a classic Hohauser signature, designed to play with the intense Florida sunlight. Like many hotels South of Fifth (SoFi) neighborhood, it was designed on a human scale, typically three stories, prioritizing boutique charm over the soaring heights seen in later eras.

In the 1930s and 1940s boom the Belmont operated as a popular, budget-friendly tourist hotel during the Great Depression and WWII eras, capitalizing on its direct proximity to the beach and the standard amentities of the decade. As tourism shifted further north toward mid-beach (where massive high-rises like the Fontainebleau were built in the 1950s), older South Beach properties like the Belmont began to decline in popularity. Sadly, the Art Deco Belmont with the round window above the front door was  demolished 

Most of the Art Deco hotels have survived to be enjoyed today.

Miami Beach, drenched in sunshine

Miami Beach, drenched in neon

"The Iconic green thrift store staple is now a cult collectable with a price tag to match."

Jadeite is an opaque, jade-green milk glass that was widely produced for kitchenware and dinnerware in the United States from the 1930s through the 1970s.  Named for its resemblance to the semi-precious stone of the same name, jadeite was manufactured by three principal American glass companies .. Anchor Hocking, McKee Glass and Jeannette Glass each of which used a distinct spelling and formulation.  

Jadeite was sold cheaply through grocery stores, hardware stores and five-and-dime shops.  It was frequently distributed as a promotional premium with the purchase of flour, oatmeal or gasoline.  Although production had largely ended by the 1970s, jadeite experienced a dramatic resurgence in collector interest beginning in the 1990s, driven in large part by Martha Stewart's public display of her own collection and the color remains in production today by both heritage American glassmakers and overseas manufacturers. 

If there's one person who's most responsible for the growing interest in the jadeite market over the last half century, it's probably Martha Stewart, who multiple collector cited to me as the reason they got started in collecting this iconic collectable. Influenced by her daughter, Alexis who began collecting jadeite on a cross-country road trp in the '90s, Stewart started her own stockpile of the glassware, which began making cameos on her TV show and in the pages of Martha Stewart Living.  

One cannot talk about Jadeite without mentioning Martha Stewart.  It was because of Martha's passion for this glassware that many collectors were reminded and reintroduced to its many beautiful qualities.  

Martha Stewart Signature Jadeite Chandelier

Original 1930s salt box with the orignal wooden lid still intact.  

The sought after Jadeite cake stand.

A Jadeite pitcher.

Having  this set is a goal for many collectors.  You can tell reproductions from real sets by the lettering and the condition of the screw-on lids.

The sought after electric mixer

"Say Good-bye to hand beating!"

Instructions for using MAGIC MAID and Tested Recipes

Model D

Cat. No. 805

Among these Jadeite gems is a juicer and a milkshake mixer

And among these Jadeite gems is a rolling pin with a cap to fill with ice water.  It was called an ice water chamber.  The hollow glass body allowed bakers to fill the interior with cold water or ice cubes to keep pastry dough chilled while rolling.

These canisters are some of the older Jadeite out there.  The square ones were made in the 30s and 40s.  Like most Jadeite, they all very ain color and mold imperfections.  Every piece is unique!  The large canisters are 48 oz. and came in coffee, sugar, flour, tea, salt and cereal.  And if you are wondering about the telephone .. No, Jadeite did not make a rotary phone though companies like Tecno released a phone named "Ice Jadeite".

Did you know?  Real vintage Jadeite glass contains uranium and will glow a bright vibrant green under a blacklight though not all vintage Jadeite kitchenware glows under a black light.  Whether it does depends entirely on the manufacturer and the presence of trace amounts of uraniium dioxide added to the glass formula.  Pieces by McKee Glass Company and Jeannette Glass Company before WWII will glow a bright radioactive green, while peices made by Anchor Hocking's Fire-King do not glow at all.  

Jadeite continues to be a popular collector's item due to historical utility, mid-century nostalgia and celebrity endorsement.  Collecting Jadeite is a passion for many.  People adore the soft green hue of this glass to no end and are devoted to collecting it for their homes.  There are collectors who will tell you they only collect one pattern of Jadeite and are dedicated to getting as much of it as they can.  Then there are those who don't mind having a mix of patterns and styles or even a mix of old and new.  

 

 

What Happened to the Station Wagon?

You are sitting in the back.  The third row.  The one that faced backwards.  you were seven years old and your knees were pressed against the tailgate and the road was urolling behind you and your parents were so far away in the front seat they might as well have been in another country.  That was the station wagon.

Station wagons went from three percent of all cars sold to seventeen percent. Nearly one in five.  The Ford Country Squire with the fake wood paneling was nineteen feet long and weighed five thousand pounds and got eight miles to the gallon.  Nobody cared because gasoline was thirty cents a gallon.  

1958 Country Squire 

You made faces at the truck drivers behind you and they pulled the air horn.  Your mother's arms was your seatbelt.  You fell asleep in the cargo area on sleeping bags and your father carried you inside at midnight.  The tailgate folded down at the drive-in, the Fourth of July and at Little League games.

The Dodge Caravan came out in 1984.  The boomers who grew up in their father's wagon bought minivans.   Then SUVs.  The Country Squire was discontinued in 1990 after forty years.  The last full-size American station wagons were gone by 1996.

The SUV is a station wagon that changed its name.  The station wagon was honest about what it was.  A family car with wood panels, nine seats and a tailgate.  It never pretended to be an adventure vehicle.  It just carried families and the family pet.

Station wagons hauled groceries, paint supplies, plants, wallpaper and lumber!

The lesson in this painting .. always tie a red flag to extended lumber!

 

Palace Theatre

810 Austin Avenue

Georgetown, Texas

Circa 1937

The Palace Theatre was built in 1925 by A. C. Moore of Bartlett, Texas.  The grand opening was held February 1926.  It opened with silent films and three years later it went on to talkies. The original buff brick building was remodeled in 1936 to its present day Art Deco style.  It is reported to be the only Art Deco styled building in Georgetown. 

The seating capacity in 1941 was listed as 500.  It operated as a movie theatre until 1989 at which time it was the oldest continuously operating movie theatre in Texas.  

In 1989, the owner Jack Hall was faced with declining revenues, competing with 20 new movie screens in the area and outdated equipment.  Mr. Hall put the property up for sale. Concerned citizens formed the Georgetown Palace Theatre, Inc.  The group raised enough money to make a down payment and closed on the heatre sale in 1991.  The group cleaned and refurbished the theatre in a little over 90 days and it was ready to reopen.

Today, the restored theatre operates as a non-profit Community Performing Arts facility.  They have a mix of Broadway shows live music performance and occasional movies.  Total seating for the refurbished theatre is 295.  

 

Looking Back at Lucy ... the 100th Birthday Celebration

Most county residents and visitors will remember the Lucy Festival that celebrated Lucille Ball's 100th birthday.  I do because I was there.  The year was 2011 and 915 people dressed as Lucy setting a world record for the most Lucy look-alikes and a parade that featured several drum and bugle corps. passing through the area enroute to a national competition.  A sincere thank you to the late Bill Stevenson who arranged for all the corps to be part of that memorable parade to honor our hometown girl. 

One of several visiting drum and bugle corps for the historic parade.

Thanks to the late Bill Stevenson, longtime Jamestown resident

The festival showcased comedians Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone.  In that year, Sirius XM Radio channel 82 hosted by Greg Bell launched Redhead Radio: 100 Years of Lucille Ball from The Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy.  It was a limited-run channel celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the comedy legend with non-stop broadcasts for two days of classic radio shows featuring the comedienne at key moments in her storied career, as well as interviews with her fans, devotees and fellow comedians.  Redhead Radio launched at 12:00 a.m. ET on August 6, 2011.

I have two memorable experiences to share during Lucy Fest 2011.  The first was being able to greet Lucie Arnaz as she entered the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum on the corner of Main and Third Street.  The second was meeting a young gal who had traveled to Jamestown from Australia.  As a festival volunteer that year, I took the time to welcome her to Jamestown.

We came together to honor Lucy's 100th birthday 15 years ago only to realize that she was the one bringing us together all along.  Lucy's story isn't measured just in years, but in memories shared.  So in 2026 as we celebrate Lucy's 115th birthday, 115 candles couldn't burn brighter than Lucy's smile.  Here's to Lucy and a spirit that keeps shining, long after the party ends.

As a family of Lucy fans we know that homes are built with walls, but they are remembered through the love, laughter and memories shared within them and Lucy has given us more than a century's worth as we sing the opening lyrics to the I Love Lucy theme song just in time for the 2026 Lucy Fest .. "I Love Lucy and she loves me".

The Lucy mask 915 Lucy look-alikes wore on August 2011.