Historic Ft Lauderdale

I shot the video in this documentary around Fort Lauderdale, FL in 1990, and edited it laboriously on VHS tape. My how times have changed. I could see the city going through massive changes at that time and tried to capture the way it was as I grew up in it as a small town. The music is from original 1954 Fort Lauderdale High School Band recordings that our parents bought (Nancy and I were both in that band - that's where we met). My parents bought 78 rpm records and that's the music on the sound track.

[@russelllash8044]

Thank you. I miss my old fort lauderdale and breaks my heart to not even recognize the city its turned into anymore.

[@luisesmith156]

I went to Ft. Lauderdale last year and was taken back by what I saw from downtown to Las Olas Blvd. compared to when I lived and was raised there from 59 to 70. It so reminded me of downtown L.A., Ca. Sad to see that the beautiful city of Ft. Lauderdale is now gone forever.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Yep. It's sad. Next time you're in town, Go to the Fort Lauderdale History Center. historyfortlauderdale.org/museum/ I volunteer for them in the winter.

[@SamtheFinishingMan]

It's not that you can't go home again, it's that home isn't there.

[@thomasjohnson381]

My family moved to Lauderdale in 1953. What a paradise for a boy growing up! I attended Northside school, not far from my home, Sunrise Junior High and Ft. Lauderdale High School. We were the first class to begin and graduate from the "new" Ft. Lauderdale H.S or should I say Second Ft. Lauderdale H.S. now that it's over 50 years old. It seemed like the summers went on forever. The beach, Bahia Mar, Royal Castle (AKA the R.C. Steak House), all day movies at the Florida or Warner theaters on Las Olas. It all seems so much like a dream now. I was back a couple of years ago. So much has changed. It's like it was never there. A time remembered. Thanks for a wonderful look back John. Flying L's forever!

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you Thomas. It was a paradise for kids. My wife grew up around the corner from Northside in the 1100 block of NE 3rd AV.

[@read7641]

We need more videos like this.

[@TheBaileywicke]

I agree. Thank you!

[@t.e.duffdyer533]

Very nicely done. (FLHS '64)

[@wendycarlisle5019]

Moved to Ft Lauderdale in '44 age 3. Remember riding my horse across New River Bridge in the 1950's. I was aghast when I went back for my 60th HS Reunion last summer. The town had become a city and lost a lot of its charm. Great video.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you. We moved to Ft Lauderdale in '46 age 9. It was a great place to grow up.

[@Mr91495osh]

My grt grandparents, Dr Richard and Lucy Howard moved to Ft Lauderdale in 1913 raising 5 kids. They lived and practiced medicine on Las Olas Blvd.

[@DayTradesforAliving]

This was a great look back, thanks My grandparents owned 1 of the Bryan homes, now part of RW where I lived from 1965-about to 1974 or 1975. The city declared imminent domain on the property for historic value and they were forced to move out. I have photos of the old place the way my grandparents ran it as the Ship Apartments with 6 units. It was the best days of growing up in Fort Lauderdale.

[@TheStonedPriestess]

I also want to thank you for this video. Although I'm from a very different generation, it made me think about my own childhood growing up in FTL/Sunrise and really appreciate the experience before it became was it is now and to see how lucky I was to have the comforts I had and the experience living in a very diverse place. The band music and everything chokes me up a little bit. I was in Plantation High band so it brought up of course my own memories, good and bad. Thank again you so much for this. When we moved there in 1996 I immediately want to leave. I was 8 years old and now I've finally left and reside in Washington now and love it so much more but FTL/Sunrise is always in my heart!

[@annafraley5388]

Great old video recording here, will always miss those days. 👏

[@TheBaileywicke]

Me too.

[@gojocko1]

Breathtaking music and cinematography. I’ve just completed my 12th review of this historic masterpiece. Tomorrow I plan to watch it several more times with more revisits on Friday. For religious reasons I can’t watch it over the weekend but will be at it again on Monday with renewed interest and vigor. I’m thinking about making my own movie about my fascination with this movie with hip hop music and a Wild West back story about a cowboy who meets a cow girl. He leaves her though and rides his horse all the way to Ft. Lauderdale. She then follows and finds him (where the boys are) on the beach sunning himself under a palm tree listening to an early RCA Victrola. The movie then fast forwards to 1960 and this same couple is now quite elderly but the recent purchasers of a quiet rooming house down the street from the Elbow Room. Suddenly it’s early March and the area is just about to be overwhelmed by Spring Breakers. They are in the middle of this but hardly prepared to deal with the onslaught of young college kids. Here, I simply patch in bits and pieces of the 1960 Movie, Where the Boys Are which then provides the ultimate time bridge to then plug in this vid as the climatic ending as the kids go to a theater to watch this historic movie because they are too sun burned to spend another day outside. I’m really excited about this cinema project. There should be a huge interest in a movie like this particularly with teens and young folks in their twenties (my target audience) (adventure, romance, boy meets girl, intrigue with old buildings and the 1954 high school band members playing the same orchestrated songs, but this time the rap lyrics added).

[@gayleg808]

Thoroughly enjoyed this! Wish we could go back in time!

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you!

[@josephharger354]

Great video. Thanks for posting. I've only lived in Ft Lauderdale for 20 years and it's hard to watch so much change in that short amount of time.

[@videomaniac108]

My family and I moved to Ft. Lauderdale in 1965 and I went to Rogers Jr High and then to Dania-Stirling Sr. High at the Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood Naval Air station in 1966(later renamed Hollywood Hills High) and finally to Stranahan Sr. High from 1967 to 1969. My first job was as an usher at the Lowes theater in the newly opened Lauderhill Mall north of Sunrise Blvd. I used to go skin diving off the beach in the Bahia Mar area just north of the Yankee Clipper hotel. I remember riding my motorcycle along the beach near the Elbo Room when there were mass protests on the beach that were dispersed by the Ft Lauderdale police with gas canisters fired into the crowds. I later graduated from Broward Community College in Davie, a western suburb of Ft Lauderdale and later graduated from Florida Atlantic University up in Boca Raton. My dad worked as a waiter at night and would often go to Brownie's bar after work.

[@turk_xl]

Brownies was converted into what is now "Tap 42"

[@patbroekhuizen7076]

Thanks for this video, John....we moved down here in 1967....I've seen too much progress since then, but your video put a whole different perspective on the history....again, thanks! Pat

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you. Glad you liked it.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you!

[@4u2c59]

Just past the 3rd Ave bridge was a ChrisCraft dealership which became Hatteras of Lauderdale. Worked there till 2002.

[@FrankB_1737]

🙋‍♂️Great job John! I definitely learned some new things about Ft.Lauderdale. Best regards Frank and Shari Brameister

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you!

[@drosas85]

The city has matured so much since the spring break days. Everythiong was kinda run down back then. The Southside School is beautifully restored and Sistrunk is redeveloping. Airport is huge with flights everywhere. New convention center. New train station. Keep up the good work!

[@hhhunt777]

hi, John. Fun to watch. I went to North Side for elementary school, Sunrise Jr. High, Ft Lauderdale hs, graduated 1971. Thank you for the work you did on this!

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you

[@chiarac3833]

I've been here since the early 90s and it's changed so much, not necessarily for the better.

[@DJRICKYG]

I attended East Side elementary school in 3rd grade about 1965 and lived near Holiday Pk.

[@stephengraham7889]

Yoo my first school love that now im 51 next month but I heard that the school set on a old grave site I never looked at the front of rhe school until much later

[@HeidiStLouis-xu2ox]

Wow! Just Wow! I really appreciate seeing this historical video. Unfortunately, the wrecking ball is winning in Fort Lauderdale...

[@thatonescrambler]

Theyre practically trying to avoid turning Ft. Lauderdale into Detroit/Cleveland while ironically doing so

[@gregoryderosa8045]

@@thatonescrambler great comment

[@gregoryderosa8045]

What is knocked down that is in this video?!

[@thatonescrambler]

@@gregoryderosa8045 almost everything

[@MultiSUNFLOWER18]

I used to live about a block from New River over 10 years ago and loved the area. I lived in a historic building that was built in 1928. Thankfully it can't be torn down and the owner has taken great care of the building. The area has changed a lot but it also has kept some charm of older buildings. At least the buildings shown in the video that were in bad shape now have new condos, stores, and restaurants.

[@docdurdin]

Broward General in 1950, was my birthplace as it was my father's in 1927, then called the Edwards-Maxwell Hospital. My grandfather was in the Militia until called to serve in the Spanish-American war. He returned to Lauderdale to tend to his business as a surveyor and road builder, mapping out and building some of the most foundational roads from New River North and the development of Victoria Park, down Los Olas to the beaches. His neighbor and best friend owned the dredge company that formed the Isles of Venice. He worked tirelessly to rebuild the 1926 hurricane-damaged streets and properties to salvage great losses and save the city from total ruin. For that, I will forever be proud of him. By the 1070's I had lost the quaint feeling of my childhood home. Just getting around was growing miserable, so I moved North to Jacksonville, but Lauderdale will always be a part of me.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Was your dad S.P. Snyder of S. P. Snyder and Son?

[@TheStonedPriestess]

My grandfather migrated from the Bahamas and lived in Davie (went to Dillard and joined the navy) before settling in New England. I moved to Sunrise with him and my mother in 1996. My neighborhood was a construction site and our house was one of the first. I watched my neighborhood grow and the wildlife disappears. It really upsets me to know the everglades that once surrounded the sawgrass mall area (I was an insufferable mall rat) and around our neighborhood almost all gone! It's replaced with high rises! I barely recognize the place I grew up. It's so unbelievably saddening to see it turn into such a big place now. I liked it when it was much smaller. As a once mall rat, I used to know sawgrass mall backwards and forwards and the last time I went, not only was it too packed for comfort but I didn't recognize ANYTHING and nearly literally had a panic attack! I'm serious. I felt completely overwhelmed and got confused that maybe I was at Dolphin mall because the store clerks spoke Spanish!!! This was hardly the case back in the day. I can't go back to Sunrise without wanting to cry about the wildlife being traded for the population. I feel that they fucked it up. Big time. So I refuse to go back. It's so sad...It really is very sad.

[@Streetbillboards]

Sunrise raised me too nob hill elementary

[@TheStonedPriestess]

@@Streetbillboards I went to Sawgrass but I think that school was pretty new when I went there.

[@stephengraham7889]

Please don't look at it that way its beautiful here i love Lauderdale been here all my life i went to BA and finished up at Dillard but still its nice and a lots of money can be made

[@rememberingmiami]

Excellent work! A lot better than my Ft Lauderdale video.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you.

[@edhess7890]

Great video!

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you!

[@joedavis5150]

Thanks for the video!

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you! Happy you enjoyed it.

[@deliasotodesigns]

I live in downtown fort Lauderdale, a few historic buildings still exist. New River Inn is still there, along with the Cromartie house, Stranahan building, McCrory's is now a restaurant and bar, The Township, the corner is a Rooftop bar & lounge, around the corner is The Wharf, New River Condos, and a few other bars & nightclubs.

[@KalonReeves]

Great job

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you.

[@patriciazeiler2224]

Wonderful video, John. We could use your help at Historical Society!!

[@sailawaybob]

Awesome history lesson

[@TheBaileywicke]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Copainization]

The loss of pre war architecture to the brutalist hacks is a crime.

[@pcterm2]

thank you mr bailey btw the video brought back a lot memories some good some not so good

[@TheBaileywicke]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@brianfisher4940]

Moved to Fort Lauderdale from VA. few years back. The oldest things I saw were homes built in the 1940s and 50s. Now I knew FTL had to have some type of history but where. Then I discovered the Stranahan House, The Bonnet House and other points of interest. But sadly many other structures have vanished. It is important to support what real history the city has before more places such as the afore mentioned disappeared. Granted these places are not nearly as old as some but they are just as important.

[@TheBaileywicke]

Well said. Thank you! Have you visited Historic Fort Lauderdale, 231 SW2nd ave at the river.

[@brianfisher4940]

@TheBaileywicke Yes indeed. Interesting part of town. Also to the Riverwalk monthly jazz festive, the Flamingo Gardens, and many local points of interest from the Keys to Palm Beach. Now a shameless plug for the Casablanca on A1A just up from Las Olas.

[@leversforever9748]

Where you see the Jungle Queen Paddle wheel boat the camera is on the spot where the New River tunnel (US 1) runs underneath

[@brianb8060]

I found this video looking for video of the old Discovery Center (now New River Inn Museum of History). Born in Ft. Lauderdale, April 1979. In 1987 we moved to Jupiter Farms FL.

[@debrahelmlinger6256]

I remember when downtown only had one highrise building, the Landmark

[@TheBaileywicke]

I remember when it only had the Sweet Building.😊

[@vulcan2882]

What this doesn't say is how expensive it is to live in Fort Lauderdale today, homes there are starting at around $400k and aptments right now today are close to $1,800 for a 1/1. It's not cheap to live there, I know I lived there for years.

[@highland-scott902]

Johnny Wisemuller (Tarzan) threw me in the pool when I was a toddler and told my mom "if I sink I sink, I swim I swim"..LOL

[@pcterm2]

mr bailey,,do you have any snap shots of what i call down town fort lauderdale,,ie andrew ave and wall street? i lived there from 1966-1979 ,,my mom worked at mcorys and the 5 and dime store ben franklin accross the street as i remember.ate at royal castle many a day,the was a small music shop ,,clarks new and a bar zanszibar as i remember.

[@TheBaileywicke]

No. I don't. But there are Many post cards that have the downtown featured. You should be able to find them on the face book page You grew up in Fort Lauderdale if. I remember all of the stores you mentioned. My wife's aunt owned a hat shop on Wall Street behind the Royal Castle.

[@osceolaassassin3188]

Flying L Band is number one and don't you forget it!

[@wendynoto1923]

❤️🔥💥💯

[@katlindner3981]

Does anybody recall the small cottages right on the beach closer to the Yankee clipper in the late 60s early 70s, they were small with jalousie windows

[@TheBaileywicke]

I believe they were originally Coast Guard housing. If they're the houses you're referencing.

[@pcterm2]

just remembered do you remember the old broward county courthouse with the small fountain on the corner just before the bridge,,i think 3rd ave

[@gregoryderosa8045]

What has been knocked down that is shown in this video?!

[@thatmovieguy1319]

You forgot to mention the slaves and that they did the building

[@gregoryderosa8045]

Not true!!!!

[@marcofarias8726]

Hi! Where's Brownie's bar? I can't find It.😢

[@TheBaileywicke]

The owner retired and closed the bar. A quote from my book, A New River Runs Through It, A History of Fort Lauderdale, ISBN: 9798393784010: Brownie’s continued on as the town’s oldest bar until 2019 when it closed for good. Lawyer John Phillips the final owner stated that the recession, life changes, and a good offer all led him to sell the bar he owned since 1999. Phillips said, "We weren’t fancy. It was dark and old and that’s why people liked it." I think the building has been demolished now.

[@debrahelmlinger6256]

Ahhh yes, a whole group of us got kicked out of Brownie's back in the 70's after drinking there for hours. The underage ones that were with us kept knocking over the pitchers 🤣

[@highland-scott902]

We use to eat at The Governors Club, until they demolished that to.. I hate what Ft. Lauderdale has become!

[@diego123martinezperez6]

Whats the names of the musics

[@TheBaileywicke]

Dia Grande March and Second Suite for Band. (It's in the credits.)

[@DiegoMartinez-Legolu1vs]

@@TheBaileywicke thanks and how are you doing

[@michaelprice7005]

9:03 Someone needs to go back to school.

[@mikeb4256]

Lot of talk about heartache below..... Things change in life, get over yourself.