It seems that, here in Greater Miami we have a guy who I have properly named “Miami’s Walking Fountain of MISinformation” (no names, please—we’re British) walking around giving tours and while I can’t vouch for the veracity of lack thereof of most of what he tells the groups, I can absolute, utterly, totally assure you, dear readers, that what you are about to read is completely factual.
You see, it seems that on every tour he has ever given, whether in Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Homestead, Florida City, Bal Harbor, Bay Harbor Islands, Indian Creek Villages, Surfside, North Bay Village, North Miami Beach, Sweetwater, North Miami, Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach or anywhere else in Miami-Dade County, one completely and totally without as much as a grain of factuality is certain to be spouted.
At some point on each tour, he will stop in front of a fairly large building, usually an apartment house or a hotel and at that point he will motion the group to come in closer and when they are within acceptable very short distance from him he will point at the building and whisper conspiratorially, “that was Al Capone’s hideaway!”
What utter and total nonsense because, most importantly, Mr. Brown, as he was often known, didn’t have any “hideaways.” He had a house on Palm Island on Miami Beach, same recently torn down and when people ask me, when I explain the facts and the truth, “but what about the 13th floor at the Biltmore, Seth?
And now, you get the truth and the facts: Did he go to the Biltmore on occasion? Yes, he did, but the reason was to take his son, Sonny, for his swimming lessons at the Biltmore pool. Period. And to close that part of the discussion, and simply put: Folks, there is NO 13th floor at the Biltmore. End of story.
“Wow,” you say, “that is amazing, Seth,” and, yes, it is amazing because like the factuality of the stories below, the above, like the Orange Blossom Myth, is completely and totally without said factuality.
And so we move on.
“What’s next, Seth? You say. “This is really fascinating,” and, indeed it is as we move on to, when I am telling the histories of various areas of Greater Miami, a person in the audience (this occurs most frequently when I am giving the presentation–one of seven of my 15 talks and presentations which is an “adult show and tell” talk to which I bring the related memorabilia–which is titled “The History of Discrimination is South Florida,” and I am the only person in the state who gives that talk and makes that presentation, which is half Jim Crow and segregation and half “restricted clientele”) will tell me, particularly during that talk that “my grandfather told me about the signs which read “NO JEWS/NO DOGS/NO BLACKS” and to which I have no choice but to factually (there’s that nasty word again!) reply: there were no signs that read “NO JEWS/NO DOGS/NO BLACKS”
“But” is the first part of the usual response, “my grandfather wouldn’t lie,” and the response to that is “he wasn’t lying; he was exaggerating, so let me tell you what the truth is and what the facts regarding that myth are.”
“There were,” I explain, about seven hotels or apartment houses which did have signs reading “NO JEWS,” but, no, none of the other words,” and if there was a sign which read “NO DOGS” it was maybe twenty or thirty feet away and as for the “NO BLACKS” nonsense? Completely and totally false.”
“Think about it. Like the rest of the South Florida was a Jim Crow state and segregation was the law, so, first, signs were not needed: remember the separate rest rooms for people of color and the separate water fountain? And, of course, in the era of segregation—the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40’s, ‘50s and early 1960’s, did we refer to people of color as “black?” No, of course not. They were Negroes or “colored.” Period.
And then there is always the “yes, but….” And that is “what about the sign that read “Always a view/Never a Jew?”
The ONLY place that sign ever existed was in the attic storeroom of the Jewish Museum of Florida on Washington Avenue on Miami Beach, and how do I know? Because my friend, Ira Newman, who was, for some years, Curator at that institution, brought me upstairs and showed me the sign, explaining that it was never actually in use but was made for the museum so that it could be used to illustrate when the discrimination was all about
So, and again going back to facts: We hold, here at The Bramson Archive, the largest collection of black Miami memorabilia (now notice the disclaimer words) in white hands in the country AND the largest collection of restricted clientele memorabilia in public or private hands in the country and while, yes, there were a very few instances (one of them at a summer resort on Lake Erie) where the words “No Jews” appeared in print, we have never seen or found, in or from any resort in Florida, a brochure, booklet or postcard with those words on it. However, there was almost no end to the “couched phraseology.”
That term refers to the use of phraseology that means the same but doesn’t use the words “No Jews” and some of the items here at The Bramson Archive have terms or phrases such as “Restricted Clientele;” “Gentile Clientele;” “A Clientele That’s Your Sort” and a good few others.
So that leads us to the, “oh I remember the restricted clubs that didn’t allow Jews” and, generally, I need to explain that, here in what is now Miami-Dade County, we have only five of them: Surf, Bath, LaGorce, Bal Harbour and Riviera in Coral Gables. “But Seth, what about Miami Shores and Indian Creek” and I explain that not only did Indian Creek Village’s founders include two Jewish people, but the Club’s charter, which I had privy to when I was writing the history of the Club, does not state that those of Semitic origin were prohibited from joining. Rather, the statement is that “In order to be a member of this Club, one must be Caucasian and of good moral character.” Period. Nothing about religion at all.
So what about Miami Shores? Plenty of bigot and anti-semites there now, as there always have been, BUT: the club was built by the WPA during the Great Depression and owned by the municipality from “Day One,” and, as such, Jewish people were never, in the history of the Club, excluded.
As for deed restrictions, yes, many throughout most of South Florida, but that has to be another story for another time
Well, dear readers, that about covers it for this time but stay tuned for our next submission because with that one you will learn who, in World War II, the Vopos and the Sonderkommandos were and who today, the NEOsonderkommandos are, that, of course, referring to Jews who have to issue, problem with or hesitation about stabbing other Jews in the back, so stay with us, have a wonderful and happy Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Jewish Year), be well and stay safe, and, as we say in South Florida, “Thank you for not shooting—and have a MIAMI NICE DAY!”
