Ft Lauderdale (MM 1065)…

February 28, 2023

I remember Ft Lauderdale being very crowded when I was growing up and we would visit relatives in Pompano Beach.  It is even more crowded and the buildings continue to increase.  The homes and boats are hard to describe due to their sizes.  We stayed at 2 different marina since we arrived earlier than planned to the area.  There is a water taxi around Ft Lauderdale with 10 stops and the company also has a water taxi that will allow you to connect over to a route going to Hollywood which is south.We chose to do the one of Ft Lauderdale to get the lay of the land.  Well worth it as we got some history, stories about boats and houses and since our first water taxi guide was the only one sharing  stories which he credited to being a true local.  Our first marina stop was at the Hilton 17th St Basin which is where all the BIG yacht companies are located.  Truly AMAZING!  While eating dinner at 15th St Fisheries at the bar, a guy told us the town holds the largest boat show in the world every February.  It is held for 5 days and brings in 1 Billion dollars to the area over the 5 days.  This too is amazing!
The owner of Jimmy John's  has his 55' yacht- Rock It,  for sale for 23 million dollars

We got to witness the hungry tarpons waiting to be fed at 15th St fisheries where we ate dinner.   On the tour, we saw one of the houses known as the Ft Lauderdale "White House in addition to Dave Thomas' home, now owned by his daughter, Wendy and the home of CEO of Weathertec.

Leaving our first marina, the guy next to us told us that power pedestal caught of fire with the prior guests.  He had to put out the fire with his extinguisher.  Danny wondered why it was so black inside when I opened the pedestal and the door fell off probably from the heat of the fire.  Of course no one with the hotel/marina mentioned it... We rode bikes through a city park with wooded areas, beach, and original home that was a museum.  After the park, we rode half a block to a home called the Bonnet House which belonged to an American artist, Frederic Clay Bartlett and his wife.  The park which her father owned the land for both locations are the only natural coast in Fort Lauderdale.  While on both properties, it you didn't look up to see the skyscraper condos, you would never know you were in a big city.  The house is believed to be named after either the yellow bonnets on the water lilies on the pond OR the water lilies being on top of the alligator's heads when they raised up out of the water forming a bonnet (YIKES)!  The Bartlett family stayed there during the winter to avoid Chicago's winter weather.  The employees lived there year round and when the Bartlett's were in town, everyone regardless of skin color, ate together.  The best story was his 2nd wife (who had been married previously to Eli Lilly's grandson) found it difficult to pay taxes on the property after her husband died.  She struck a deal with the city when she was 73 years old that she would leave the house and grounds to the city if she could remain at the house tax free until she died.  Sounds reasonable except, she died a couple months shy of her 111th birthday! You go girl!  LOL

Beautiful colors and most areas were open air. The area around the yellow door is done with sand and shells, all these areas were designed by the artist. 

The next home we toured was also unique, called the Stranahan House.  The house was originally the Trading Post for this part of Florida.  In 1895, a road was being built from Lantana to London City(now known as Miami).  Frank Stranahan who ran the Trading Post lived in a tent behind the store.  He was trusted by the settlers in the area as well as the Seminole Indians.  In addition to running the trading post, he would take rich people from up north fishing.  As this area grew, the decision was made to hire a teacher for the 8 children living near here. That woman, Ivy, became the future Mrs Frank Stranahan.  I found her life fascinating and purchased a book about her.

• She only agreed to marry Frank on the 3rd request if the following were met- selling no alcohol in the trading post, Frank to shave his beard, and he could not sell pelts from animals or feathers(many were egrets) for women's hats that he got from the Indians.

• Believed in education for ALL

• Gave the land to build both a white hospital and black hospital when the town would not build the black hospital

• Following Frank's death, she rented out rooms at the old trading post that became their home.  When she had a renter for her room, she would move to the attic of the house.  The downstairs became the Pioneer restaurant where no alcohol was served.

• She was able to keep her property without a mortgage by selling 10.6 acres of the 11 acres she owned, which is why it is stuffed in between many tall buildings
• Unfortunately, the depression hit Florida earlier than the rest of the US due to falling land prices.  It was believed Frank felt guilty in having encouraged many friends to purchase land in the area leading to their loss of money, he commited suicide.  You can see a parakeet in the tree outside the house and beautiful Dade Pine walls which those trees no longer exist and are extinct.

When we switched marinas, we were across the street from the beach which was great except, it was Spring Break for colleges.  All I will say is there was a lot of thumping, bumping, humping, dancing, and vomiting to be seen as well as interesting attire!  It was not like that when I came down here in the 70's.
The Dive bar and the Elbo Room, were VERY busy and we chose to pass.  We walked a long way to Los Olas Blvd and saw beautiful houses, shops, and restaurants.  We came here years ago when we had a long layover at the airport.  There is an old hotel called Hotel Riverside still operating which is beautiful.  One of its claim to fame was Ronald Regan was the actor that cut the ribbon to open the hotel.

I will also very lucky to be near the Swimming Hall of Fame where they were having a USA Pro Swim competition.  I went one morning to see the preliminaries for Women and Men's 200 Free and 50 Breaststroke.  I got to see both Katie Ledecky swim and win her heat as well as Summer McIntosh in 200 free.  Later in the evening, McIntosh won the event.  She is from Sarasota by way of Canada.

The city of Ft Lauderdale was founded in 1838.  There was a fort built inland during the Seminole War called Fort Lauderdale named after the major in charge of forces during this war.  The Seminole War started after the Cooley family was murdered and the white settlers on the New River were killed.   Ft Lauderdale was originally part of Melbourne County.  The powers that be in Ft Lauderdale decided they no longer wanted to be a "dry" town and became a new county which some called it "Ft Liquordale."

Lastly, we saw home belonging to Joe Namath in his younger years.  It is very modern as you can see.  The guide told us the floors were clear lucite.  He would often have parties at the house and would hire women to dress as mermaids and swim under the house during his parties.  I have no doubt they were highly attended.

Danny's beer finds include:

• Gulfstream Brewing

• Havana Lager out of Miami

• VeraCruz Brewing- Spanglish

We certainly enjoyed ourselves here learning the history, meeting the people, and eating good food(Casablanca Cafe, Padino's, Caffe' Europa, The Boatyard, and 15th St Fisheries).

Catch The Other Woman at the 17th Street Basin at the Hilton Hotel.  The person with the orange shirt hanging over the side is said to be the Captain of the boat😉...

TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED  1473 miles
TOTAL DAYS  111