Post by virgindick on Nov 23, 2009 13:12:49 GMT -5
Robert Hamilton is our own beloved Kong
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Jimbo's hear ye hear ye read all about it
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:53:51 -0500
From: Robert Hamilton <trawlerschool@gmail.com>
To: Richard Paris <rmiami@ix.netcom.com>
VIRGINIA KEY
Old Miami landmark Jimbo's faces a crackdown
A freewheeling bait shack and watering hole on Virginia Key faces a
deadline to remove the junk that some say gives the place its
character.
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
The legendary Jimbo's Place on Virginia Key has managed to survive
despite many setbacks.
Miami Herald Staff
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
The legendary Jimbo's Place on Virginia Key has managed to survive
despite many setbacks.
Miami Herald Staff
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
Historic Virginia Key jaunt Jimbo's
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
« Previous
Page 2 of 2
The informal understanding, city officials say, was that Jimbo and his
bait house would be allowed to remain for the remainder of his life,
an agreement they say they still mean to abide by.
Since then, they note, Jimbo has not paid a nickel for his use of public land.
Over the decades, the charming old shrimper, his rustic bait house and
the tranquil lagoon , developed a numerous and intensely devoted
following, often drawing scores of weekend visitors -- many of them
tourists who read about Jimbo's in travel guides or his
model-decorated website, www.jimbosplace.com.
TV's Flipper and Gentle Ben were filmed at Jimbo's lagoon. The high
point came perhaps in the 1990s, when Jimbo's drew a string of big
Hollywood films like True Lies, TV hits like Miami Vice and catalogue
and fashion shoots. Yuppies rode in on Harleys to drink and mingle
with the odd mix of models and toothless rummies.
Since then, however, as the place fell into increasing disrepair, the
shoots have become rarer, the visitors less numerous. No one has gone
shrimping from Shrimper's Lagoon in years. Jimbo's boat sits rotting
on the water. And the bait house no longer sells live bait, though the
iced beer, soda and fish -- still smoked on the premises -- remains
good and plentiful.
With a few exceptions -- an effort to impose a $5 entry fee that was
rescinded by the City Commission after a public protest, and a
rezoning that was meant to but failed to draw development to the spot
-- the city had left Jimbo's alone.
THE CHANGES
That hands-off attitude changed for a couple of reasons, city
officials say. These days, Jimbo -- aging and with two artificial
knees -- shows up at his namesake place only on weekends.
The people he left in charge, including his son, have allowed
mountains of trash to accumulate and illegal squatting to proliferate.
The old film sets have moldered and are in danger of collapse.
Even some longtime fans acknowledge Jimbo's is not quite what it once
was. But it's still well worth savoring, saidCapt. Bob Hamilton, a
trawler charter operator who brings clients by regularly.
``It was getting dumpy,'' Hamilton said, but added: ``This place is
the Last of the Mohicans, something you can't find anywhere else in
Miami anymore. Everyone knows Jimbo is not going to be around forever.
What's left if they clean it up? It would break Jimbo's heart. They
shouldn't be pushing him in the grave.''
But the conditions, the city says, are intolerable when they are
trying to transform Virginia Key -- now recognized as a fragile
ecological treasure -- into a conservation and recreational park. The
city and county have sunk millions into environmental and beach
restoration projects next to Jimbo's.
And though workers, friends and volunteers carried out a massive
clean-up last week, removing some old painted VW bugs and carting out
three dumpsters of trash that Jimbo says cost him $2,700, city
officials say it did not go far enough.
Code enforcement officials plan to visit Jimbo's, possibly as soon as
next week, to tag what they want gone.
To control crowds, the city has also reimposed the $5 Virginia Key
Beach entry fee, which used to be waived if visitors said they were
going to Jimbo's. The fee will be reimbursed upon exit with a stamped
ticked from Jimbo's.
``We are moving forward to have a very nice environment out there,''
Loret de Mola said.
Jimbo Luznar says he won't object if the city removes the film-set
shacks or the abandoned cars and boats. Some of it, he says, is the
city's fault. People began dumping trash after the city removed
nighttime security.
But he will plead with city officials to allow his son and a couple of
employees to remain to safeguard the place.
``If the city goes ahead, let 'em. I haven't made a nickel on that
place since they did that $5 fee thing again,'' he said. ``But my son
has to live there. I have to have a watchman there, or they would
steal everything I have.''
But Luznar laments that with the shacks and the old painted cars will
go the last hope of bringing back Hollywood and the models to Jimbo's.
``The still photographers don't come anymore,'' he said. ``Because
there's nothing there anymore.''
--
Trawler School Charters
Captain Robert L. Hamilton
USCG Lic# 1105724
Vessel Miami Mermaid
398 East Dania Beach Blvd #281
Dania Beach FL 33004
954-649-9611
trawlerschool@gmail.com
www.trawlerschoolcharters.com
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Jimbo's hear ye hear ye read all about it
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:53:51 -0500
From: Robert Hamilton <trawlerschool@gmail.com>
To: Richard Paris <rmiami@ix.netcom.com>
VIRGINIA KEY
Old Miami landmark Jimbo's faces a crackdown
A freewheeling bait shack and watering hole on Virginia Key faces a
deadline to remove the junk that some say gives the place its
character.
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
The legendary Jimbo's Place on Virginia Key has managed to survive
despite many setbacks.
Miami Herald Staff
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
The legendary Jimbo's Place on Virginia Key has managed to survive
despite many setbacks.
Miami Herald Staff
Jimbo's survives despite setbacks
Historic Virginia Key jaunt Jimbo's
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
« Previous
Page 2 of 2
The informal understanding, city officials say, was that Jimbo and his
bait house would be allowed to remain for the remainder of his life,
an agreement they say they still mean to abide by.
Since then, they note, Jimbo has not paid a nickel for his use of public land.
Over the decades, the charming old shrimper, his rustic bait house and
the tranquil lagoon , developed a numerous and intensely devoted
following, often drawing scores of weekend visitors -- many of them
tourists who read about Jimbo's in travel guides or his
model-decorated website, www.jimbosplace.com.
TV's Flipper and Gentle Ben were filmed at Jimbo's lagoon. The high
point came perhaps in the 1990s, when Jimbo's drew a string of big
Hollywood films like True Lies, TV hits like Miami Vice and catalogue
and fashion shoots. Yuppies rode in on Harleys to drink and mingle
with the odd mix of models and toothless rummies.
Since then, however, as the place fell into increasing disrepair, the
shoots have become rarer, the visitors less numerous. No one has gone
shrimping from Shrimper's Lagoon in years. Jimbo's boat sits rotting
on the water. And the bait house no longer sells live bait, though the
iced beer, soda and fish -- still smoked on the premises -- remains
good and plentiful.
With a few exceptions -- an effort to impose a $5 entry fee that was
rescinded by the City Commission after a public protest, and a
rezoning that was meant to but failed to draw development to the spot
-- the city had left Jimbo's alone.
THE CHANGES
That hands-off attitude changed for a couple of reasons, city
officials say. These days, Jimbo -- aging and with two artificial
knees -- shows up at his namesake place only on weekends.
The people he left in charge, including his son, have allowed
mountains of trash to accumulate and illegal squatting to proliferate.
The old film sets have moldered and are in danger of collapse.
Even some longtime fans acknowledge Jimbo's is not quite what it once
was. But it's still well worth savoring, saidCapt. Bob Hamilton, a
trawler charter operator who brings clients by regularly.
``It was getting dumpy,'' Hamilton said, but added: ``This place is
the Last of the Mohicans, something you can't find anywhere else in
Miami anymore. Everyone knows Jimbo is not going to be around forever.
What's left if they clean it up? It would break Jimbo's heart. They
shouldn't be pushing him in the grave.''
But the conditions, the city says, are intolerable when they are
trying to transform Virginia Key -- now recognized as a fragile
ecological treasure -- into a conservation and recreational park. The
city and county have sunk millions into environmental and beach
restoration projects next to Jimbo's.
And though workers, friends and volunteers carried out a massive
clean-up last week, removing some old painted VW bugs and carting out
three dumpsters of trash that Jimbo says cost him $2,700, city
officials say it did not go far enough.
Code enforcement officials plan to visit Jimbo's, possibly as soon as
next week, to tag what they want gone.
To control crowds, the city has also reimposed the $5 Virginia Key
Beach entry fee, which used to be waived if visitors said they were
going to Jimbo's. The fee will be reimbursed upon exit with a stamped
ticked from Jimbo's.
``We are moving forward to have a very nice environment out there,''
Loret de Mola said.
Jimbo Luznar says he won't object if the city removes the film-set
shacks or the abandoned cars and boats. Some of it, he says, is the
city's fault. People began dumping trash after the city removed
nighttime security.
But he will plead with city officials to allow his son and a couple of
employees to remain to safeguard the place.
``If the city goes ahead, let 'em. I haven't made a nickel on that
place since they did that $5 fee thing again,'' he said. ``But my son
has to live there. I have to have a watchman there, or they would
steal everything I have.''
But Luznar laments that with the shacks and the old painted cars will
go the last hope of bringing back Hollywood and the models to Jimbo's.
``The still photographers don't come anymore,'' he said. ``Because
there's nothing there anymore.''
--
Trawler School Charters
Captain Robert L. Hamilton
USCG Lic# 1105724
Vessel Miami Mermaid
398 East Dania Beach Blvd #281
Dania Beach FL 33004
954-649-9611
trawlerschool@gmail.com
www.trawlerschoolcharters.com