#933-19 Article in Neighbors Section of The Miami Herald, Saluting a Visionary 5/28/09
MIAMI BEACH
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SALUTING A VISIO
A PORTION OF 71ST STREET WILL BE
NAMED IN HONORa OF PIONEERING
DEVELOPER HENRI LEVY, THANKS IN PART
TO THE EFFORTS OF HIS DAUGHTER
BY CHRISTINA VEIGA
cveiga@MiamiHerald.com If y0U g0
He's said to have put the
north end of Miami Beach on ~ What: Miami Beach will
the map -literally. rename 71st Street from Col-
Now, Henri Levy is being lips Avenue to Bay Drive in
recognized for it, thanks in honor of pioneer developer
part to a daughter who con- Henri levy.
tinues to keep his memory ^ Where: The Normandy Isle
alive. fountain, 900 block of Nor-
On Sunday, the city of manly Drive and 71st Street.
Miami Beach and its Histori- ~ When: 9:30 a.m. Sunday
cal Association will rename
71st Street from Collins Ave-
nue to Bay Drive in honor of
the Frenchman who created Newbauer said.
the islands of Biscaya and By the time Newbauer was
Normandy, and who dreamed born in 1926, her father had
up and financed the 79th planned and developed Nor-
Street Causeway in the 1920s. manly Isle, complete with a
"Without Henri Levy, we nursery, roads, sidewalks and
wouldn't have that wonderful the famous fountain that still
place that was part of our stands today.
growing up called Normandy He created the island by
Isle," said Seth Bramson, a dredging the bottom of the
local historian who has writ- bay. He donated the infra-
ten 15books about the history structure he built on Nor-
of South Florida. manly Isle to Miami Beach in
In attendance will be
Levy's last surviving family 1926.
Levy had also developed
member: his daughter, June the Isle of Biscaya and a por-
Newbauer, 83, who lives in tion of land from 87th to 92nd
Miami Beach. As a board sreets, areas that are today
member of the Miami Beach part of Surfside, Newbauer
Historical Association, she said.
has lobbied since 2007 for this But Levy was not always in
recognition for her father. the real estate business.
"It's a tremendous excite- He began in the silent film
ment and honor," Newbauer business in 1915 in Cincinnati.
said. "My father was the.most ~ He borrowed $800 to
modest man. He would be begin his first movie house,
embarrassed about a street and charged five cents admis-
being named after him." Sion, Newbauer said.
Growing up, the man Levy was already a suc-
known asthe "Father of Nor- cessful businessman when he
manly" was just "Dad" to came to Miami in 1922, having
Newbauer, who grew up in leased his theaters, which had
Miami Beach while the city grown to include five
was just taking shape. branches. Drawn to Florida
She had a coconut stand by its warm weather and land
instead of the traditional lem- boom, he relocated his wife,
onade stand, where she'd sell Rose, and daughter, Clem-
the juice from the coconuts ence, to Miami,to try his hand
collected from her father's at real estate.
nursery. And instead of color- "He left that whole profes-
ing books, she drew in her sion and came here and saw
father's plat maps. whole, developed, properties
"I was really his shadow," in his mind's eye," Newbauer
said. "He wanted to ,make
Miami look like the resort cit-
ies of France."
His islands were already
complete when the major
hurricane of 1926 ripped
through Florida, wrecking the
area.
Levy turned to family and
friends, mortgaged his the-
aters and borrowed against
his life insurance policy to
rebuild what he had created.
Not only did he rebuild,
but he also went onto finance
a major part .of the 79th Street
Causeway, known today as
the John F. Kennedy Cause-
way, completed in 1929.
Levy's developments were
put on hold during the early
years of the Great Depres-
sion. But after a few years,
Levy began building again to
try to boost interest in the
area.
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said.
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THE LEVI FAMILY: Henri Levy -the developer who created the is
and Normandy -wife Rose, daughters Clemence and June.
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