Any Hope for Hollywood Beach?

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Any Hope for Hollywood Beach?

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         " Hollywood Beach allows a person to drive — and park! — within 50 yards of the sand. It has the singular quality of being affordable: For $20, you and a friend can have a decent meal. And on the Hollywood Broadwalk, you won't run into the fashionable and tragically wealthy. Everyone's free to chill — and isn't that what beaches are for? One of the most important bulwarks against a needless transformation of Hollywood into another Sunny Isles has been the coastline's first line of defense: the small, inexpensive beach motels that have so far held back a wave of sprawling, upscale resorts and condo megatowers."

   Thursday my wife and I played hooky from work and  spent the day on the beach. We lived on Hollywood Beach for nearly a year in a house that was part of a wonderful small hotel, neighboring with an eclectic group of people from all over the world. There were snowbird Quebequois, mega-yacht crewmembers, and traveling construction workers like ourselves. In short we quickly became part of this loveable, entertaining, and slightly disfunctional family.
   Our evenings were spent on the common deck gathered around tables and lounging about, everyone sipping their drink of choice while discussing the pleasantly trivial topics of the day. Commotion occured infrequently and usually centered around whose turn it was for a beer run to Joe's Market or wether there should be ribs or shrimp on the grill tonight.
   We loved our tranquil, tropical nights there and the times were exactly what I had envisioned for my new life in South Florida. We moved further in to town when our temporary jobs turned into permanent ones and the kids moved from Texas to join us. Whenever possible we steal a day from our hectic lifestyle and visit our friends for a relaxing drink, strolling past the restaurants, shops, and bars that make up the Hollywood broadwalk.
   Having read Thomas Francis' article that morning I sadly realized as we walked that I was lucky in having my memories of that idyllic time. Soon enough all of this will be gone. The looming threat of large scale developers cast shadows of change over Hollywood Beach. The condos are coming.

 "Last year, the Sun & Surf was full from November through April. This year, during such peak periods as New Year's Eve, the motel's 18 rooms have been empty. Soon, the Sun & Surf will go out of business — and Woods wonders whether this was all part of Passalacqua's plan: "He's waiting to sweep in like a vulture and pick the bones clean as soon as we fall down."  "

Quotes from "Heartbreak Hotel"
By Thomas Francis 
Article Published Feb 8, 2007 in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times

Please read the article @ http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/Issues/2007-02-08/news/feature.html