Great Watering Holes We Have Known
Bars don’t define our city, but they are an important part of our story. In 1939, Club Brownie’s paid a large advance to a New York promoter to get the…
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John Dolen
107 posts
John Dolen writes for several Fort Lauderdale area publications. Previously, he was an editor and supervisor for 27 years at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
On With the Show
Built on the fortunes of a Hungarian-born inventor, the Parker Playhouse is still going strong after more than half a century. The city was filled with excitement and hyperbole. “The…
Let Us Go Then, You and I
Visiting our historic buildings on foot. In 1912, our fair city suffered a devastating fire that burned the business district to the ground. Fourteen years later, it was hit by…
The Reshaped City
Here, water and land have long had a fluid relationship. Quietly flowed the New and Middle rivers, like something out of a Russian novel, until the Army engineers arrived. They…
Early Resident Special
The choices may have been limited in the old days, but people took quickly to dining out. Ah, the selections: turkey or roast beef with sides of boiled spinach, buttered…
Heartbreak Hotels
Most of the buildings that housed the city’s first lodgings no longer exist. Construction of our first hotel begun in 1905 by Edwin T. King for Philemon Bryan, a railroad…
Young Love
There were plenty of places for early residents to meet and fall for one another. The singles scene in Fort Lauderdale in the early decades of the 20th century had…
In Service to Others
Among the city’s earliest civic associations, three groups stood out. In the worldwide pro-democracy movement, a difficulty frequently cited is the lack of indigenous civic organizations. Fort Lauderdale had no…
Breckinridge’s Retreat
Devoid of white settlers during the Civil War, South Florida played virtually no part in the nation’s great struggle. But its rugged coasts and hidden‑away rivers did provide for some…