Unpacking

Gaslighting Another Black Community For Fun & Profit

Scratch beneath any story in Coconut Grove and you’ll discover the issue of race lurking. We’ll get to that eventually, but this true fable — with a twist on the race issue — starts with the approval of a Wawa gas station in the City of Coral Gables. So what? Cities approve gas stations all the time. However, this approval didn’t have any public consultation with the community, nor public hearings, both of which would normally have taken place. And, that’s ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Three ► Who Controls What On Charles Avenue

East side of the E.W.F. Stirrup House, still undergoing Demolition by Neglect with the Garden Grove Condominiums in the background. Some good news came in over the transom this past week. Miami’s ...

The Detroit Riots ► Unpacking My Detroit ► Part Five

12th Street, Detroit. Michigan, one week before the 1967 Riot. That’s Pops’ store way down the block on the left: Astor Furniture. When people hear I am from Detroit, inevitably they ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 2.3 ► The Charles Avenue Rabbit Hole Leads To Canada

The historical marker with the E.W.F. Stirrup House. The more I learn about Charles Avenue, the more bizarre it all gets and the farther away from Coconut Grove it takes me. ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 2.2 ► The Neighbourhood Around The E.W.F. Stirrup House

The open gate with the condo complex in the distance. On a visit to Charles Avenue yesterday the gate was open on the E.W.F. Stirrup property, so I walked right in. ...

How Jamaica Conquered The World ► The Day I Met Bob Marley

The latest episode of the excellent podcast-documentary How Jamaica Conquered The World is now online. Episode Eleven is the second part of the story of Bob Marley: Recollections and Legacy. ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part 2.1 ► Today in The Grove

I love Google alerts. While not everything below belongs to Miami’s Coconut Grove, most of it does. And, what’s there has all the appearance of bling in the Florida sun: ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Two ► E.W.F. Stirrup House

Standing proud. The beautiful E.W.F. Stirrup House. The E.W.F. Stirrup House (left) at 3242 Charles Avenue, Miami, FL, 33133, is reportedly one of the last wood frame homes in Miami-Dade County. ...

Colour Me Shocked!!! A Revolution In Condo World

In my world this is earthshaking news. It’s hard to describe in mere words just how shocking this is (which is why I also have pictures), but I’ll try because ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove, Florida ► Part 1.1

Years of neglect. The front porch of the long-empty E.W.F. Stirrup House. In researching Part Two of this series, I came across something that demonstrates in stark relief the disparity between ...

Unpacking Coconut Grove, Florida ► Part One

The marker that started my quest. Click to enlarge. After a short hiatus, here’s a fair warning for those who got tired of hearing me spout off about Charles Avenue and ...

Unpacking My Toronto ► Iconic Buildings I Have Worked In

While I blather on and on here about Detroit, I do so more as an anthropological study than as a tribute to a once great ‘Merkin city. However, the place ...

Happy Birthday Roger Ruskin Spear ► Bonzo Dog Band

It wasn’t all that long ago that I celebrated the birth of Dennis Cowan, a founding member of The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Today let’s all press our trousers for ...

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