Andrew Carnegie’s Florida Library Impact Is Still Being Honored

Posted on March 11, 2014 by floridatraveler

Andrew Carnegie's Florida Library Impact Is Still Being Honored

The Tampa-Hillsborough Library system is having their Centennial Celebration this year and every library has a life-sized poster of Andrew Carnegie greeting visitors. It is appropriate since two of Carnegie’s ten Florida city libraries are in Tampa.

In fact, this is near the 100th anniversary of the opening of the West Tampa Library (still in use), in the center of Tampa’s second cigar factory community. I have checked out books here and in the old Tampa Library on 7th Avenue and Tampa.

Still standing is the Jacksonville Old Free Public Library (1902), Bradenton Carnegie (1917), and Palmetto (1914) – the latter two I have visited as resources for research and museum materials. Carnegie would be pleased that even when newer and bigger libraries are built that his originals still have academic use.

Carnegie was very concerned about African-American education and on Tallahassee’s highest hill stands the Florida A&M Carnegie Library (1905), now the Southeastern Regional Black Archives and Research Center (see photo). Carnegie library buildings are still part of the campus life at Rollins College (1905) and Stetson University (Sampson Hall 1906).

When it came to libraries, Mr. Carnegie built 3,500 libraries across the land and in such exotic spots as Serbia, Fiji, and Mauritius.

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George Mira – Always A Native Conch

Posted on March 3, 2014 by floridatraveler

George Mira - Always A Native Conch

Food wagons and trucks are very big in Florida, but I was really shocked a few months ago when I saw one marked “George Mira Native Conch.”

As fast as I could say “The Matador” I discovered the conch fritters were really made by the former UM star quarterback George Mira and one of his sons. I was sports editor of the UM newspaper The Hurricane and had a good front row look at the star from Key West during his glory years.

The recent Super Bowl in NYC reminded me of watching Mira throw for 320 yards vs. Nebraska in the first Gotham Bowl, a stupid idea in Yankee Stadium before 900 freezing fans in a blizzard. I wonder how many yards Peyton would have had in a real snow blizzard.

George was the Johnny Manziel of his at era at barely 6 feet and 180 pounds. Yet he was the third QB in the 1964 NFL Draft and played for the 49ers, Eagles, Colts, and Dolphins; then he played for Montreal and Toronto in the CFL; then he played for Birmingham and Jacksonville of the World League.

The only thing George loved maybe more than football was his home town Key West. All those offensive linemen from Pennsylvania used to joke that they had Desi Arnez as their QB, but they would do anything to protect their leader.

So if you are visiting an event in South Florida and see the “Native Conch” food wagon and you love football or the U, drop by.

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The War For The Best Cuban Sandwich Gets Hotter

Posted on February 25, 2014 by floridatraveler

The War For The Best Cuban Sandwich Gets Hotter

March has been proclaimed Cuban Sandwich month by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and the Third Annual Cuban Sandwich Festival will be held in Ybor City’s Heritage Park on March 22 and 23. This is a SuperBowl event.

Living in Tampa for 45 years means I have seen a lot of Cuban sandwich contests sponsored by the local newspapers and radio stations. Tampa’s Cuban population came in 1885 with the cigar industry and they also brought most of the popular Cuban sandwich ingredients.

People take their Cuban sandwiches seriously and a victory by a small restaurant or bakery means a big boost in business. With the Cuban population spread out to West Tampa, Town and Country, and elsewhere, every area of town has its sandwich favorite places.

The Cuban has/has not changed as Cuban food spread across the land with the huge Cuban migration to Miami starting in the 1960’s. There are now categories of Cubans with the most serious being Traditional (mustard only) and Non-Traditional (Mayo). I love mayo but I WILL NOT put it in on a Cuban! Pressed Cubans are best – it is an art form.

For the last two years the Cuban restaurants and bakeries of Miami and South Florida have challenged Tampa so this contest is now one of regional pride. Down in South Florida there is a semi-finals in Hialeah on March 15 to send the best people to the Tampa festival.

This Cuban sandwich thing is getting serious. The big winners, I think, will be the thousands who come to the Festival to eat Florida’s creations.

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Pensacola Naval AIr Station – 100 Years of Service to America

Posted on February 16, 2014 by floridatraveler

Pensacola Naval AIr Station - 100 Years of Service to America

In October 1913, Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels organized a board to develop an aeronautical option for the U.S. Navy. To Captain Washington Irving Chambers, the biggest booster of naval aviation, Florida was the logical choice for air training – the first commercial air flights were just happening in Tampa, Florida.

Pensacola, with its huge Bay, was selected for the first naval aviation center. When the USA entered WWI in April of 1917, Pensacola was still the only training field. The station started with 38 naval aviators, 163 enlisted ground personnel, and 54 fixed wing aircraft.

Pensacola remained the major training field in WWII. The Navy even trained Doolittle’s Raiders to take off from carriers in the Bay. The jets came in 1954 and Pensacola trained the pilots who went to Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East.

There was concern of the fate of the base when Hurricane Ivan scored a direct hit on the facilities in 2004. But Pensacola continues to produce pilots who go on to great careers like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

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The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Olustee Will Be A Big Event

Posted on February 11, 2014 by floridatraveler

The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Olustee Will Be A Big Event

On Sunday, February 16th, the 150th Anniversary of Florida’s largest Civil War battle will be honored by the 38th Annual Reenactment at Olustee outside Lake City.

This will be a three day event starting on February 14 with parades, period music concerts, medical and armament presentations, and the creation of real looking military campsites. Civil War buffs from around the nation like to gather in “warm Florida” for this “hot military simulation.”

The full list of events and times can be seen at http://www.battleofolustee.org. Florida was so far South, it had its own Civil War, but Florida provided the Confederacy with two key products: cattle and salt.

In February of 1864, Brigadier General Truman Seymour left Jacksonville with 5,500 Union troops with the plan to cut off the key railroad depot at Olustee. Seymour was stopped here by 5,000 Florida and Georgia troops under Brigadier General Joseph Finnegan.

There is a lot to see at Olustee. There is a “People of Color” presentation honoring the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and 8th and 35th US Colored Troops who engaged in the conflict. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas will be represented.

Florida may not have the massive battlegrounds and Civil War cemeteries of Virginia and Tennessee, but the Sunshine State has its Civil War story – Tallahassee was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not captured by the Union.

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It’s Time For Antique Hunting and Lunch On Limoges

Posted on January 31, 2014 by floridatraveler

It's Time For Antique Hunting and Lunch On Limoges

It’s the winter-snowbird tourist season here in Florida and next to going to beaches and parks and visiting Mickey, going shopping is the most popular activity. And going antique hunting in Florida’s small towns is high on the list.

Mount Dora, Quincy, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Micanopy, Homestead, Stuart, Monticello. So many towns have made weekend shopping trips a popular pastime in Florida.

Living in Tampa, my wife and I like to visit Dade City in Pasco County. The antique area is packed downtown and we often stop to look at the lovely campus of St. Leo College along the route.

The high point of the visit is a stop for Lunch on Limoges, a landmark restaurant in the middle of the 1908 Williams Department Store. There under the tin roof and surrounded by racks of clothing and artifacts, you can have a sandwich or Pecan Grouper or maybe their Athens Grouper.

The place is NOT open Sundays and reservations (352-567-5685) may be desirable during the winter antique migration of snow birds.

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Bijoux Terner Boomed During the Florida Recession

Posted on January 27, 2014 by floridatraveler

Bijoux Terner Boomed During the Florida Recession

Miami’s Bijoux Terner is one Florida business that just grew and grew during the recent Great Recession. The company has a history of finding trends before the rest of the market.

Cuban refugee Salomon Terner started a handbag factory in Miami in the 1960’s and eventually branched into costume jewelry. Bijoux Terner sold mostly to small retailers but had a few kiosks in Miami International Airport and Florida cruise terminals.

When a recession hit the retail business in the 1970’s, the kiosks were losing money. In a last-ditch effort to clear inventory, everything in the shop was listed at $10.

Everything sold up immediately and soon even restocking the stores fast enough was a major task. It became the strategy of Bijoux Terner – sell trendy accessories, jewelry, and travel items at $10 an item and develop a top notch distribution system so the shops always look updated and filled.

Bijoux Terner found there were dozens of licensees and franchisees that knew of good locations to reach the travel market. There are now 650 locations in 60 countries and 250 stores were added in the last eight years despite the economy.

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Shades of Green: One Military Benefit Not Being Reduced

Posted on January 19, 2014 by floridatraveler

Shades of Green: One Military Benefit Not Being Reduced

In recent years there has been a lot of controversy as U.S. military benefits have been impacted by reductions and changes. There’s one benefit for active-duty and retired military that has improved each year – the 27 acre Shades of Green resort at Walt Disney World.

The resort, located on the site of the first housing for WDW staff and builders, was once the Disney Golf Resort, but was leased and then obtained by the Department of Defense. Today it is the only Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) in the Continental USA.

No public funds are used at the resort open only to active-duty and retired members of our Uniformed forces, current Reserve and National Guard members, 100% disabled vets, and civilian employees of the Defense department. With a sliding scale based upon rank and service, Corporals pay less than Colonels.

Shades of Green has its own bus service to the parks for it is not a Disney resort. But merchandise is exempt from local taxes and there are no hotel taxes.

The rooms and suites are larger than Disney resorts. The service staff is great. The new pool complexes are heated. The restaurants include buffets and fancy meals. Shades of Green is a wonderful experience for our troops past and present and an asset to WDW and Florida.

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Florida’s College Population: Booming and Surprising

Posted on January 16, 2014 by floridatraveler

Florida's College Population: Booming and Surprising

People who don’t follow higher education are often stunned when they discover that four of the ten largest universities in the United States are found in Florida: #2 University of Central Florida (60,048 students), #7 Florida International University (50,396), #8 University of Florida (49,913), and #10 University of South Florida (47,646).

Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale (29,000) is the state’s largest private university, larger than the University of Miami (15,657).

But the greatest change in the last ten years is that half of Florida’s community colleges have added bachelors and advanced degrees. Miami-Dade College now has 135,148 students, residing in just one Florida county. Florida State College at Jacksonville has 84,486 students; Valencia College in Orlando (62,524); and Broward College in Fort Lauderdale (60,462).

Even Florida educators can’t keep tract of the increase in Private Non-Profit Colleges (46 in 2012) and For-Profit Colleges (18 in number). You might even call Florida the Education state if you put the title on sheer numbers.

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Snow and Florida – It’s A Rare Treat

Posted on January 8, 2014 by floridatraveler

Snow and Florida - It's A Rare Treat

One of the delights of living in Florida this time of year is to hear all about the bad weather and snowy conditions from relatives up North. My brother called to tell me it was -11 at Purdue (West Lafayette, IN) and in a rare event the college closed down due to snow and freezing winds.

The coldest recorded temperature in Florida history is -1 degrees F in Tallahassee on February 13, 1899. Getting light snow, however, hits the Florida Panhandle interior every few years and Jacksonville gets snow flurries several times a decade.

The most snow officially recorded in Florida was four inches in Milton (on a hill) on March 6, 1954 and March 12, 1993. Floridians get so excited about snow that often frost is called snow by Sunshine Staters when they wait up on a cold morning. Sorry – frost can even form at 45 degrees if the elements are right.

We had real snow here in Tampa in January of 1977 (see photograph) and the furthest south snow flurries was ever filmed was on January 8, 2010 in Kendall (Miami-Dade County). Snow can cause some excitement here in Florida, but I want it to be an unusual occurrence. .

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