PUTTING THE NUT BACK

Last week we parked behind a painted truck on Commodore Plaza in Coconut Grove.

A woman stared

out the back window

and

a faded squirrel relaxed on its rear-view mirror.

As Garfield begged

on the front bumper we wondered,

"Why would a person do this?"

It all made sense when we saw the bumper sticker...

I'd say he was doing his part.

FLEE TO THE MARKET!

The Flagler Flea Market used to be one of my favorite hangouts. A ten-minute drive took me to what seemed like a third world country, one selling ceviche, sacrificial chickens and three mangos for a dollar.

It hurt to see it replaced by the garish Magic City Casino two years ago but just last week the flea market popped

up again.

Now its "Century Marketplace" located on the north side of Ocean Bank, just north of NW 7 Street and Lejuene Road. You enter "round back"on 43d Avenue. There were no parking or entry fees last weekend but that will probably change.

As you can see , most of the stuff is schlock, things you'd never dream of buying but who cares? Loosen up and enjoy the another world. Groove to the Cuban son being blasted by the CD sellers. Get your goldfish food wholesale and better yet buy food for yourself on Produce Row.

I bought lemons at 1968 prices (ten cents each), a calabasa that could feed twenty, and an avocado perfectly ripe for guacamole. You may not speak the same language as the sellers but Spanglish or hand signals work just fine.

The new market is open on weekends from nine to five. Tell them The Grove Guy sent you.

They'll have no idea what you're talking about.

PICTURES FROM OUR PAST

A hundred of us gathered at the Grove Bookstore last Thursday to celebrate a new book on our village's history, Images of America: Coconut Grove. After neighbor Bobby Ingram sang a few songs the authors, Arva Moore Parks and Bo Bennett, told us about their project.

"Coconut Grove is a very special place", said Arva, "Its residents have fought for over a hundred years to keep it keep it unique, from being overrun by special interests".

A gathering at the Barnacle in the 1880's (photo by Ralph Middleton Munroe).

Many of us were thanked for lending photos to the project. Over 250 archival photographs were used to illustrate our history. Here are a few of them....

Wait, before we get started, let me show you a photo that is not in the book. Historical? Maybe. Hysterical" For sure! Its my friends gathering after the King Mango Strut in the 1980's. (Photo by Michael Carlsbach). While this one didn't make the cut it shows how we've come in a hundred years. Back then men weren't allowed to show off their boxer shorts in public.

This is our neighbor, Bobby Ingram, singing with his partner David Crosby back in the 60's. "Bob & Dave" sang at The Flick, The Gaslight, and any where else they could make a buck.

Photo by Bobby's wonderful wife, Gay Ingram. Yes, its in the book. While Bobby continues to be a popular South Florida performer, David moved to California years ago and hasn't been heard from since.

On the right is "Glenn & Bill", they were a regular comedy act at the Grove's Yuk It Up! comedy club in the 1980's.

Okay, okay. I made this up. The photo is actually in the book because Bill Dobson and I started the King Mango Strut parade back in '82. Here we are posing at our pre-parade"Trashdance" in 1984. Held in the barn at Shell Lumber, you couldn't get in unless you handed over five bucks and dressed in garbage.

When Arva writes a book on the history of the Strut, this photo will surely be in it. It's Austin Burke having a great time as Grand Marshall in the 1988 parade.

"Little Burkie" was a well-known clothier who appeared on his own zany TV commercials when I was a kid. When he died a year after this parade, his wife said in his obituary, "Miami loved my husband. He really knew it when thousands cheered him in the King Mango Parade."

It is only fitting that I end this piece with something that really

does appear in Arva and Bo's book. I took this photo of a group

in the '83 Strut that epitomizes how wonderful the Grove's great

parade can be.

These are the members of Miami's NOW chapter marching as FLAW, Florida Ladies Against Women. With signs like, "I'd Rather Be Ironing!" and "Paying me half as much as a man is too much!", they got their point across while having a good time.

I think Phyllis Schlafly would have been proud.

Images of America: Coconut Grove is a part of a series that celebrates the history of cities and towns across the country. It is available at the Grove Bookstore, Books and Books, and Shell Hardware Store.

HIGH WIRE ACT

Neighbor Charles looked at us as if we were crafting buggy whips and said, "Don't you know people stopped using those in the 80's?". My wife and I didn't care, we continued installing our latest television antennae.





Charles added with his usual wry humor, "For 75 bucks a month you can avoid all that and have 80 channels not worth watching". As he described the demise of the History Channel the aluminum struts snapped smartly into place. What had fit inside a long skinny box now looked like a shiny space satellite.





We clamped it to the end of a long pole and raised it like a flag. I bet you could drive for miles and not see another one.




Our new $35 antennae now pulls fourteen TV channels for free. Sure, four of them are in a language I don't understand but when you're watching masked Mexican wrestlers, who cares?

We may have only 14 channels that aren't worth watching but at least we're not blowing a wad doing it.

ARQUITECTONICA GROWS ITS OWN

10-10-10

Its almost architecture you can eat. Arquitectonica is the putting finishing touches on its new world headquarters in downtown Coconut Grove. With architecture/design offices on four continents, that's quite an honor. The building, located at Rice and Oak, pays tribute to Mother Nature with its state-of-the-art "green" design that includes edible landscaping.











Last month my son Dylan was asked to install a 60-foot edible garden on the building's east side. In the months ahead you'll be able to stroll down Rice Street enjoying a profusion of herbs, vegetables, and fruit trees growing where once was concrete.

Pineapple, papaya, and banana.



Last week Ruy Arango and his brother, Dylan,
were busy putting plants in the ground





Maybe you'd like a garden of your own. Most of my son's business, Ready-to-Grow Gardens, is installing raised-bed gardens in schools and residences. South Florida is perfect for for these because of our thin, sandy soil. Get in touch with Dylan, (786-436-7703 or Dylan@Ready-to-Grow.com) if you'd like more information. You can also visit his website, http://www.ready-to-grow.com/.














Arquitectonica's new office should be completed this week. With trees shooting out of its atrium and pineapples growing outside, it's another good reason to visit Coconut Grove.

IT'S A LEMON

Varigated pink lemon slice at sunset.

It looks a lot like a sliced pie which reminds me

of something that happened the day before...

PIE ON THE PORCH

Today was different from the rest. I tried to eat 22 pies (or, at least part of them).

For some reason, Slow Food Miami asked me help judge a pie competition. The other six judges were professional foodies, chefs at top restaurants.

The charity event took place on the porch of Coral Gables' historic Merrick House. After the Pledge of Allegiance they locked the seven of us in the dining room where, for two hours, we studied, poked, and pecked at pies. They ranged from the "Coconut Cloud" to a dazzling "Key Lime Mango with Guava Creme".

One of the carambola pies was so liquid that Judge Hedy (Chef Hedy Goldsmith of Micheal's Genuine Food & Drink) said, "I'll need a straw for this". Later she corrected me when I noted that I could eat a bowl-full of extruded guava creme, "No, its not extruded, its piped!"

Whatever. Judge John (Executive Chef John Critchley of Area 31) was a helpful neighbor. We figured how to get rid of the pie we didn't like without being noticed ( mouth... napkin ...spittoon). Helpful young women fill our glasses with palate-cleansing bubbly and emptied our spittoons every twenty minutes.

I found the table talk new and interesting. Chef John took one looked at a kumquat creation and commented, "This is just a Bavarian with folded gelatin and heavy cream". It tasted great.

All of the pies tasted great, even the avocado (where sugar and lime prevailed). Choosing the best seemed impossible.

After adding the numbers and sharing thoughts the beautiful Blueberry came out on top. Someone complained, "What's with that? Slow food is about eating locally". Someone added, "The blueberries came from Gainesville, close enough".

That pie didn't even make my top five. My favorites were the locals... the guava, papaya, mango, key lime, and coconut pies. South Floridians can step outside most anytime and and pluck enough fruit to make their own pies.

Aren't we lucky.

On the right Judge Hedy keeps her eye on a pie