History

The Time of the Trolley, Part III

By Seth H. Bramson For the past two issues, this column has given brief histories of the Miami and Coral Gables streetcar systems. This week, the focus turns to Miami Beach, where from December 8, 1920 until October 17, 1939 trolleys operated to and from Miami and on several lines in that city. Edward Ridolph’s […]

/ April 26, 2023


The Time of the Trolley, Part II

By Seth H. Bramson Although almost all of what I pen for The New Tropic deals with a special moment in Greater Miami’s history, it is possible that the era of the street and electric railways in Greater Miami — the time of the trolley — may indeed have been the most special time of […]

/ April 24, 2023


The Time Of The Trolley, Part I

By Seth H. Bramson To paraphrase a wonderful New York Globe editorial from the very early years of the 20th century, “Yes, totteleh, there were trolley cars in Miami! And Coral Gables! And Miami Beach!” Indeed, for some 35 glorious years, streetcars or trolley cars — today returning to cities throughout America under the updated […]

/ April 18, 2023


Debunking the Orange Blossom Myth

By Seth H. Bramson It is high time that the orange blossom myth is debunked once and for all, for the truth and fact is that Julia Tuttle did not send Mr. Flagler orange blossoms, a bouquet of flowers or anything else except, as did Mary and William Brickell, letters to get him to extend […]

/ March 22, 2023


The walls that divided Miami

Last February, in honor of Black History Month, I watched two different documentaries about Miami’s Black history (and present): “Swing State Florida” and “When Liberty Burns.” Both films made mention of something I had never heard of: a physical wall that separated — and segregated — the Liberty Square housing project in Liberty City from […]

/ January 12, 2023


Lost Restaurants of Miami: Part V

WHEN IT CAME TO GREAT RESTAURANTS, WE WERE NEVER A BACKWATER TOWN! By Seth H. Bramson As we conclude our series on Greater Miami’s great restaurants of the past, we want to make certain that, for now well more than 100 years, our town has had great places to eat, dine, enjoy a meal or a […]

/ December 7, 2022


Lost Restaurants of Miami: Part IV

THE GREAT STEAK HOUSES By Seth H. Bramson The memories of not only the great years of grand and glorious dining — as well as of the wonderful places with all the happy memories connected to and with them — just keep roaring back, and with our discussions of the earlier years and some of […]

/ November 2, 2022


Greater Miami’s Native American history

Outside of their reservations, today the legacy of Greater Miami’s indigenous peoples primarily lives on in our place names. “Miami” itself comes from the word mayaimi (primarily credited to the Calusa) meaning “big water.” (Dade, by the way, is the surname of Major Francis L. Dade, who fought and was killed in the “second” of the Seminole […]

/ October 7, 2022


Lost Restaurants of Miami: Part III

By Seth H. Bramson As noted previously, the food and beverage business’ history in this area actually goes back to pre-1900, and in our first two installments (Read Part I and Part II) we brought the story up to the late 1920’s. Although the Great Depression occurred in 1929, and “the five terrible events” which […]

/ October 5, 2022


A Miami Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson

  📷 Photo credit: Amazon.com Interview lightly edited for brevity and clarity What are your first impressions of the Magic City? “All I can think of when I see the streets and the buildings and the shoreline is Miami Vice. I’m looking at the waterways that come through the city here and I’m fascinated.” On […]

/ October 4, 2022