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| Sociology Prof. Abraham Lavender |
Talk of building a light-rail system
to connect Miami Beach with the rest of the county has generated
controversy in recent months, especially among Beach residents,
some of whom believe few would use it. Eighty-three years ago,
however, those dwelling on the island welcomed the original electric
streetcar, or trolley, with open arms.
“In the afternoon, each car was filled . . . the electric railway system
was a success in every detail,” writes Abraham Lavender, a professor of
Sociology and Anthropology, in Miami Beach in 1920: The Making of a Winter
Resort.
Published last year, the book chronicles the city’s transformation into
a glamorous playground for the rich while it also supported regular, everyday
life.
In addition to the opening of the
present-day MacArthur Causeway — which
replaced a wooden two-lane bridge and supported the water-bound section of the
afore-mentioned trolley system — Miami Beach witnessed numerous other “firsts” during
the pivotal 12-month period Lavender studied, among them the first public school,
the first post office and the first religious house of worship. The first large
luxury hotel and the original building that housed Joe’s Restaurant, later
renamed Joe’s Stone Crab, also opened their doors.
“Nineteen-twenty was a very
great year, all of which I didn’t know until
I got into [the research],” Lavender says. He undertook the work,
in part, because the 1920 census records became public in 1992. (Copies
of original documents,
including the forms completed by household heads, are made available 72
years after any given census is taken.) The census coincided with the city’s
year of incorporation and recorded a population of 644. Of those, only
a handful were Jewish and just one claimed to have a parent who spoke Spanish.
The city’s
black population, which included primarily African American and Bahamian
laborers, stood at about five percent, and its four Japanese residents
were landscapers
brought over by developer Carl Fisher to design ornamental gardens.
Most of those who lived in early
Miami Beach represented “new money” — wealthy
families who made their fortunes in the steel, rubber and auto industries — and
they, along with the winter tourists, “snowbirds” and mainland
residents, enjoyed such sophisticated entertainment as watching polo
matches and boating
regattas, playing golf and attending dances. Also highly popular were
the swimming clubs where folks could rent bathing suits and enjoy any
number of water competitions
and other fun.
Lavender’s history relies heavily on newspaper accounts and other archival
research. “I had a lot of footnotes, but [the publisher] made me take most
of them out,” he explains, “so it wouldn’t look too academic
and scare the average reader away.” What he offers is a slice-of-life snapshot
of history that resembles little the Miami Beach of today.
“I think Miami Beach attracts certain type of people,” says Lavender,
who describes as progressive the politics and cultural interests of latter-day
transplants. His love of the area, particularly South Beach, which he calls dynamic
and lauds for its prevailing atmosphere of civic involvement, combined with its
in-your-face diversity — the place is a veritable microcosm for his research
interests in Jewish themes, ethnicity, urban sociology and human sexuality issues — prompted
him to move to the Beach years ago. Since then Lavender has earned recognition
from the city for, among other things, helping to fight the encroachment of high-rise
buildings, which he believes would have a negative impact on the Beach’s
character.
Founder of the Miami Beach Historical
Association and an ardent advocate of preservation, Lavender
gives the recently proposed trolley line
a thumbs down.
“You’d have to destroy historic buildings [to accommodate it],” Lavender
explains. “[History] makes the beach unique.”
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