1675-5 Flamingo Hotel - ; Pink Hotel Resists Wreckers
Fabled Flamingo
• r f yrit ,,,i,
Sit yingHigh
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. , a as 61 0 Leaves, BH GIME T R
` ., ;`.:.-, Herald Staffrte '` _.
a . �
• r akes Th fabled Flamin the . ....
_ �. �•- R pin hote at rm o ized the .' t t,
Beach grand eur of Miami Beach in y
ry Hotel the age before neon signs, i t '
ri won't fall down. ,,
:e-
ARTHURL. HIDIBERT Steel cables yank and tug �,Herald Starr wr;terandpullinvain.Theoldtowery » '` zi --- Army stepped out .of the f.creaks and leans, but it won't t '"
Flamingo hotel at Miami Beach , topple.
Friday an e . avy made its first All this leaves the wrecking
incursion into Miami's sister city's crew muttering imp o 1 i t e I0 1....:
hostelry' by taking over the struc- words. .:
ture.
NavFor two weeks now the pow-
uld officials said the hotel Is
erful air hammers of the Cu- r` 1
would be used to house wives and yalloga Wrecking Co, have
families of officers who come here - 5 t
chiseled away at the other el `
from combat duty for fort pe-
riods
agent showpiece hotel on Bay ;Y
ti
of additional trRpgg before Rdtwo blocks south of Lin ''
Arms- -- 14:W•-"="- --. returning to action. I /. coin Rd.
First of the tenant e ex acted ''
P j Much of .the inside is gut-move in next wek, after the • ted. And rubble heaps already
'av Public wo '� t; A
Y department r " ,
P e tion of the lie at the bottom of Biscayne
(.......)� �—
!completes an i c� � '�'� ; 4,41.,,:;-,. .�r
premises and m Bay. • + s
a few minor S
repairs, the N ,said. A total of f But the three-story tower, ; F
225 families cae accommodated, t- - _; atop the first eight floors, is
_ 7.--o•--w and Navy officia s believe this will c `"� 4,, r
s. - y out of punching distance for #
to a certain extent relieve the L the wreckers' dandiest tool — -;.
acute housing shortage in the t a 6,000-pound steel ball on a 4 x
Miami area. c< 70-foot boom. ' ` j
TAKE N OVER IN JUNE '42 tc Saturday the wreckers ;4y , i s
—1 Rentals will be paid in cash by B ' strait-jacketed p a r t of the _Herald Staff Photo by Bill Kuenzd
the officers for their families, with in tower with four big cables and
rates depending on the size of the brought in immense wrench The Beach's Pisa
families and the type of accommo- Pc amucks , ,won't fall
�` dations. vii
l� The Flamingo, 1500 Bay rd., was 14° They Pulled furiously, and
ff -' 1 opened in 1919 and taken over by Ina tower leaned Pisa-like. dynamite. Just a little bit.
/// the Army in June, 1942, for men ch. Then the cables snapped like
of the basic training center. The shoestrings. The tower didn't With lots of insurance.
x hotel property, includin it
g guest Ge fall But the Beach city fathers
cottages, occupies 12 acres. un say no — emphatically. No-
1
office buildinre isl Beach pioneer Carl G. Fish- P y
! than a score of hotelsa in Miami M` body is goingto annoythe
er built the hotel in 1921 with moneyed clientele in season.
proper have been occupied by the l poured concrete and steel
Navy ar, but
after the start of 1.-; rods. He didn't want any hur- Nobody.
the war, but the Flamingo is the O ricanes blowing it away. Eventually, one way or an-
thatrst building to be taken over by co
that department at Miami Beach. cc Sunday George L. Sogg, other, Sogg is bound to win.
president of the wrecking out- And from the site will rise a
F fit, said he figures the air 612-unit 14-story apartment
0 0 0 (:—.5- t hammer men will have to building.
pound away the top three It'll look prettier and no
floors piece by piece. This is one will want to knock it down
/) for a long time.
expensive business.
Besides, said a watchman on µ'
the 13-acre site, three men
-
__ _ already have quit the job, dis- '#
enchanted with the idea of
' nudging hundreds of tons of
concrete 100 feet up.
The way the job should be
done, said Sogg darkly, is with