Coconut Grove

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 ...

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. ...

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. ...

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 ...

National Velvet ► Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be

During my long career as a professional writer, there have been times that I was on staff and on a publication’s masthead and other times that I freelanced. As a ...

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