Key Biscayne Shopping Center, c.1953

September 28th, 2012

The Key Biscayne Shopping Center is still around today. In this photo you can see a variety of stores, starting with Vernon’s Sundries on the right. It then follows from right to left: Beauty Shop, Appliances, Cleaners, Hardware, and finally Simpson’s Groceries on the far left. Later the shopping center would expand and Vernon’s Drugs would go on to occupy the left corner and become a staple of the island for many years.

The building has been expanded and remodeled, but the shopping center still stands today.

Construction of Mackles on W. Wood & Ridgewood, 1950

September 27th, 2012

Looking west on W. Wood Dr, at the intersection with Ridgewood Rd, November 23rd, 1950.

Here is that same intersection today:

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Key Biscayne Yacht Club in 1962

September 26th, 2012

From the KBYC website comes this anecdote about how the club came to be:

Stories about the beginning of the Key Biscayne Yacht Club are as varied as the fond memories of the original members. They all recall a spirit of friendship and agree that a hoist to be used by avid fishermen started the series of events that became today’s multi-million dollar yacht club.

Charles B. “Buddy” Austin, our first Commodore, who built the first hoist, recalls, “As home construction increased on the island, there came to be only one bare coastal area where we could launch our boats, and that was in the Harbor Drive Matheson Lane area. The location of the Yacht Club was choice and the sunsets unbeatable. An article in the local paper urged an effort to establish a club, and boy-oh-boy, did the five dollar bills start rolling in!”

Before the first little bar-and-lounge structure was built, now the site of the Commodore’s Room, there were legendary waterfront chowder parties, and on January 16, 1955 the Club was officially established.

The Crandon Curve in 1948

August 16th, 2012

Looking south on Crandon, at the entrance to the island.