Allapattah - A Mix to the Max

For almost 50 years we've lived in an odd old community close to downtown Miami called Allapattah, the Seminole word for alligator.   Miami (actually Dade County which includes the City of Miami and many other cities, all of which are referred to loosely as "Miami", often to the disgust of the other municipalities) has been tagged as the newest melting pot of America. Miami Times dubbed it the "Best Hidden Neighborhood".   Locally-- and federally-- Allapattah has been dubbed the melting pot of Miami.  That might be called mix to the max!

When we moved in, most residents were elderly with a scattering of younger refugees from Vietnam,  Korea, Laos and other war-torn countries.  There were a few Hispanics-  mostly from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Honduras.   The elderly were themselves primarily refugees.  Jews who had fled from Hitler. One of them taught me to make Latkes (Crispy Potato Pancakes).  Russians who had fled Stalin.  Lots of Italians from the 1920's and 30's- the Sons of Italy Hall was just over the border of Allapattah.  From one of my

Italian neighbors I learned to make Easy Meatballs.   Poles who had fled World War II, one of whom promised but never came through with a recipe for cabbage rolls (Karen Danielson fixed that lack with "Halupkies").  The Polish American Club is still just over the Miami River.   There were Estonians, Lithuanians, Chinese and many others.  While an alligator is considered Allapattah's "symbol", a miniature statue of liberty would be more appropriate.  

In the 40's, huge quantities of military were housed in the area, as Miami was a primary training center for World War II.   Trailer parks, cottages, lean-to efficiency  apartments and barracks-type housing flourished.  An enormous hotel on NW 27th Ave, abandoned before being finished during the crash of the 20's and subsequently rented out as a gigantic, multi-story chicken coop, was sanitized and refurbished to hold more troops and training facilities, and was renamed the Aviation Building. See picture at Don Boyd's Site; click to enlarge.
And another, complete with troops-->

Quonset huts sprouted on the surrounding grounds, still there in the 70's. 

Some children raised in the area had married and were starting their second generation families here in the early 60's.   But most had "moved on up" to the suburbs by then.

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