Latest / Inside West Palm Beach / It Happened On Clematis: A Walk Through City History
Transcript
- 13:05:38Welcome to Inside West Palm
- 13:05:40Beach. I'm Gerry Marcelo.
- 13:05:42Clematis Street has been the center of our
- 13:05:44social and economic life
- 13:05:46for over a hundred years.
- 13:05:48Today, we're going to dive back to view
- 13:05:49actual snapshots of life on Clematis
- 13:05:52from its earliest days
- 13:05:54to periods of boom and
- 13:05:55bust throughout the decades.
- 13:05:57That's next on Inside West Palm Beach.
- 13:06:09Joining us today is Kalani Rasouli,
- 13:06:11Archivist for the Historical
- 13:06:12Society of Palm Beach County.
- 13:06:15Kalani, welcome.
- 13:06:16Thank you for having me, Jerry.
- 13:06:17You know, we've already done a couple of
- 13:06:19stories where we've talked about the
- 13:06:21history of both West
- 13:06:22Palm Beach and County.
- 13:06:24And stuff is fascinating. People don't
- 13:06:26realize how rich our past actually is.
- 13:06:29Tell us a little bit about the Historical
- 13:06:31Society, where it is, and how people can
- 13:06:34take advantage of what you guys provide.
- 13:06:36So the Historical Society of Palm Beach
- 13:06:39County, we are housed
- 13:06:40in the 1916 courthouse.
- 13:06:42So when you go to the courthouse on
- 13:06:44Dixie, we're right across
- 13:06:45the street. We're the old one.
- 13:06:47Not the ginormous, large thing. It's the
- 13:06:49smaller but
- 13:06:50incredibly beautiful building.
- 13:06:51Yeah, we're that neoclassical building
- 13:06:54right across the way. You can head in.
- 13:06:57We have the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm
- 13:07:00Beach County History Museum.
- 13:07:01Currently, we have an
- 13:07:03exhibit called Sunshine Cinema.
- 13:07:05It covers the history of the film
- 13:07:07industry in Florida.
- 13:07:09So it starts with silent films of the 20s
- 13:07:13and ends with more modern
- 13:07:15productions from the 90s.
- 13:07:18So if you're
- 13:07:19interested, check it out, Jerry.
- 13:07:20So it's sort of like it is sort of an
- 13:07:23exhibit of the museum of sorts with
- 13:07:26specific theme things
- 13:07:27that shows that go through.
- 13:07:29Yes, we cover the
- 13:07:30history of Palm Beach County.
- 13:07:32And then also we collect and preserve the
- 13:07:36history of Palm Beach County.
- 13:07:38We've been doing this since 1937. So we
- 13:07:41have a very vast collection
- 13:07:43of artifacts, photographs,
- 13:07:46newspaper clippings,
- 13:07:47documents, you name it. We have it.
- 13:07:50So how did you come about this
- 13:07:51collection? Do people like save stuff up
- 13:07:53and then give it to you?
- 13:07:54Yeah, people. We are a donation-based
- 13:07:57collecting institution.
- 13:07:59So what we do is people come in. I talk
- 13:08:03to them, write down
- 13:08:05some names, and then we...
- 13:08:08Yeah, it happens that
- 13:08:09way. It's donation-based.
- 13:08:11How many photographs are we talking
- 13:08:12about? I mean, it's going to be...
- 13:08:14It's in the millions.
- 13:08:15It's, I'd say 10 million.
- 13:08:17That's a lot of photographs. People's
- 13:08:19lives are being captured.
- 13:08:21This is what's really cool.
- 13:08:22People bring you photographs. Okay, sure.
- 13:08:24It's West Palm Beach.
- 13:08:25But it's their lives in West Palm Beach.
- 13:08:28What they were wearing,
- 13:08:29the people around them,
- 13:08:31the events that happened here. So what
- 13:08:33was important. Yeah.
- 13:08:34It was really cool. It's
- 13:08:35really cool to see that.
- 13:08:37Anything like film or stuff like that
- 13:08:38being saved as well? Or
- 13:08:39is it just photographs?
- 13:08:41We do have some films. We do have some
- 13:08:44actual rolls of film. But
- 13:08:47majority of our collection,
- 13:08:49I'd say, is photographs.
- 13:08:51Photographs. Very cool. And we're going
- 13:08:53to be looking at some
- 13:08:53amazing photographs.
- 13:08:55And part of the magic of historical
- 13:08:57photographs is, at first
- 13:08:59you'll glance at them and go,
- 13:09:00"Oh, wow, cool. Look at these old style
- 13:09:02clothes. Look at the cars."
- 13:09:04And then you start actually
- 13:09:05studying some of the details. And it's
- 13:09:08like peeling back the layers of the onion
- 13:09:10and you start seeing
- 13:09:12stories upon stories, people in these
- 13:09:14photographs. And you brought us a handful
- 13:09:16of photographs today,
- 13:09:17specifically about Phlamatus Street here
- 13:09:21in West Palm Beach.
- 13:09:23Okay, so let's go ahead and
- 13:09:24jump right in. First of all, I'll let you
- 13:09:28jump in here, but I want
- 13:09:30to go ahead. Just for the
- 13:09:31folks who are listening and not viewing
- 13:09:34the podcast, I want to
- 13:09:36give them a quick sketch,
- 13:09:37a verbal sketch of what we're looking at.
- 13:09:40And the first photograph
- 13:09:41here, I'm not kidding you,
- 13:09:42it looks like it's right out of an old
- 13:09:44timey Western movie kind of
- 13:09:46thing. What I'm looking at
- 13:09:47here is a tent and a small wooden
- 13:09:51structure. Behind them we can see pine
- 13:09:55trees, no palm trees
- 13:09:56anywhere, just pine trees, which is sort
- 13:09:58of interesting. And then
- 13:09:59a group of people standing
- 13:10:01in front of this wooden building. We have
- 13:10:04folks who are obviously
- 13:10:05dressed in garb appropriate for,
- 13:10:08I would assume, the later letter part of
- 13:10:10the 1800s. A gentleman
- 13:10:13who looks to be carrying a
- 13:10:15shotgun and is wearing a very interesting
- 13:10:19garb. I'm sure you could get
- 13:10:20into that in just a moment.
- 13:10:21I see a mother and child and I see other
- 13:10:24folks who are just
- 13:10:25gathered around in front of this
- 13:10:26building. What is it? Is it a restaurant?
- 13:10:29What is it? So the building
- 13:10:31is actually one of the earliest
- 13:10:34structures on Phlamatus Street. That was
- 13:10:37Mr. Weybrecht, who's in the middle there,
- 13:10:40to the right of the woman with the baby.
- 13:10:43Otto Weybrecht opened his
- 13:10:45store, that was it right there,
- 13:10:49on Phlamatus Street. And that's one of
- 13:10:50the earliest structures on
- 13:10:52Phlamatus Street, actually.
- 13:10:54Weybrecht was a plumber by trade. And so
- 13:10:56when he came down to
- 13:10:57Phlamatus from up north, he opened
- 13:11:01the shop where he offered his services,
- 13:11:04like steam and gas
- 13:11:06fitting. He shaped tin and copper
- 13:11:11and did iron work. All of these things
- 13:11:14are essential for a
- 13:11:16community that's starting
- 13:11:19from the beginning, from the very start.
- 13:11:21These are essential things that you need.
- 13:11:23It's important for people to really
- 13:11:25realize that what we're
- 13:11:28seeing here is truly a pioneer
- 13:11:31town. At this point in time, even though
- 13:11:34streets are laid out and
- 13:11:35across the way is the beginnings
- 13:11:37of Palm Beach and the Palm Beach Society
- 13:11:40thing, this is a very isolated area.
- 13:11:45You had to be a little wild to want to
- 13:11:47move here, I'd say. Seriously, bare
- 13:11:52bones, you see the trees
- 13:11:53in the background, the dirt paved road.
- 13:11:56It was freshly laid in the
- 13:11:58year prior. This photo was
- 13:12:00taken in 1894. A year prior, Henry
- 13:12:08Flagler had come down. He and George
- 13:12:10Potter laid basically the
- 13:12:14framework of what we know as downtown
- 13:12:16West Palm Beach.
- 13:12:19You'll see on his plat map,
- 13:12:22Clamata Street, Banyan Street,
- 13:12:26Poinsettia, all of those
- 13:12:27cross streets. I see a pattern.
- 13:12:30Yeah, all of the street names were very
- 13:12:34precisely names with floral
- 13:12:36florals. It was very, very
- 13:12:40thoughtful how he started West Palm
- 13:12:42Beach. It sounds like he
- 13:12:43was actually trying to make
- 13:12:44the street name sound very attractive to
- 13:12:46bring people down here.
- 13:12:48Absolutely, yeah. But again,
- 13:12:50it's important for people to realize at
- 13:12:53this point in time, West
- 13:12:55Palm Beach, moving to West
- 13:12:56Palm Beach was like moving to a desert
- 13:12:59island somewhere in the
- 13:13:00Pacific. It was a really long
- 13:13:04way away from anything. The people who
- 13:13:07are opening up shops
- 13:13:07here weren't just opening up
- 13:13:10T-shirt shops. No. They were opening
- 13:13:15things that people needed to survive.
- 13:13:17And so, do you have anything, looking at
- 13:13:20the photograph again,
- 13:13:22there is this very exotic
- 13:13:23looking gentleman standing in the
- 13:13:24foreground with a rifle and it seems to
- 13:13:27be a headdress or some
- 13:13:29sort of special thing on his head. Could
- 13:13:30you tell us, do you know
- 13:13:31about him? Yeah, I'm glad you
- 13:13:33pointed him out. That is Billy Bowlegs
- 13:13:35III. Billy Bowlegs was a
- 13:13:38Seminole man who would come to
- 13:13:41Klimatas and the Seminoles lived amongst
- 13:13:45the pioneers. They taught
- 13:13:49the pioneers how to live
- 13:13:50on the land, how to farm, how to fish.
- 13:13:55The relationship was
- 13:13:56symbiotic in that way.
- 13:13:58So they were actually very helpful and
- 13:14:00this was the myth that
- 13:14:02immediately contact with
- 13:14:06Native Americans was an adversarial or
- 13:14:09they were pretty welcoming. That's
- 13:14:13fascinating to see. So
- 13:14:15what we're looking at here is a very
- 13:14:17early look at the beginnings
- 13:14:20of Klimatas street. And even at
- 13:14:23the very beginning, we can see that
- 13:14:24commercial entities were
- 13:14:26appearing on the street. So it's
- 13:14:29really cool. And so again, just to make
- 13:14:30the point, these are the earliest
- 13:14:32pioneers that were coming
- 13:14:34down and deciding that they wanted to
- 13:14:36make, trying to hack out a
- 13:14:39life here in an undisturbed,
- 13:14:42undeveloped area. And you were a long way
- 13:14:45away from any kind of
- 13:14:46help. Oh yeah. Okay, so let's
- 13:14:49put this picture aside. Let's move on to
- 13:14:51another image that was
- 13:14:53obviously just a few years into
- 13:14:55the future, but it looks like a lot of
- 13:14:57things have changed. Again,
- 13:14:59for our folks that are not
- 13:15:01hopefully you are listening, but for the
- 13:15:04folks who are not able to
- 13:15:05see what we're looking at,
- 13:15:07we're looking down a stretch of roadway.
- 13:15:10It's a fairly wide roadway
- 13:15:12and parked along either side.
- 13:15:15There are many, many, many cars that look
- 13:15:18like they come from the
- 13:15:19early twenties, you know,
- 13:15:21Model A's and all kinds of cars all
- 13:15:24parked along there.
- 13:15:25They're all black and you know,
- 13:15:28because I think that was a primary color.
- 13:15:30And alongside of each
- 13:15:32side of the road, there is,
- 13:15:33looks like three commercial buildings of
- 13:15:35many different types.
- 13:15:37And at the very far end,
- 13:15:39at the very end of the road, we see a
- 13:15:41collection of what now I
- 13:15:42think I'm seeing palm trees at the
- 13:15:44end of that road there. Tell us what
- 13:15:46we're looking at here.
- 13:15:47Yeah. So we are looking at
- 13:15:49Klamata Street in 1925. Wow. So 1925, the
- 13:15:54Orange Blossom Special
- 13:15:56connects to from New York to
- 13:16:00West Palm Beach. That's the real way.
- 13:16:01Yes, that's the real way,
- 13:16:03Orange Blossom. And so you have an
- 13:16:06influx of people who are picking up on
- 13:16:10the appeal of Palm Beach County. They're
- 13:16:13buying up real estate.
- 13:16:15And where would you go to stay during
- 13:16:17this period? You would
- 13:16:18go to Klamata Street.
- 13:16:21So you'll see it kind of littered all
- 13:16:23over the street. I counted
- 13:16:25three hotels on this photo.
- 13:16:28As I said, I think I said earlier, when
- 13:16:31we got started here, you get
- 13:16:33the initial shock of looking
- 13:16:34at these, wow, look at this really old
- 13:16:37picture and these really old
- 13:16:38cars. And then when you start
- 13:16:39diving into the photograph and really
- 13:16:41looking at the individual
- 13:16:42things there, I mean, again,
- 13:16:45for our folks at home that are not able
- 13:16:47to actually see these
- 13:16:48pictures, we see Hotel
- 13:16:50Alamanda, we see Palm Beach Land and
- 13:16:52Investment Company, we see a sign that
- 13:16:55says Seaboard Airline
- 13:16:56Railway, Central Market and Western
- 13:16:59Meats. We see all sorts of different
- 13:17:02varying types of businesses
- 13:17:04all thrown along here. And this is
- 13:17:07Klamata Street in the mid 1920s. Yes.
- 13:17:10Yes. At the really the
- 13:17:11height of the boom right before it pops,
- 13:17:14I'd say you can see Anthony's
- 13:17:18shop. That is the place where
- 13:17:21if you needed a new pair of shoes or a
- 13:17:24new sports coat, you would go to
- 13:17:26Anthony's, get fitted. It
- 13:17:28was a one-stop shop. But what we don't
- 13:17:32see here, maybe I'm looking at
- 13:17:34the wrong part of the street,
- 13:17:35but I don't see the Como Building yet.
- 13:17:39No. So this picture was
- 13:17:42taken right at Poinsettia,
- 13:17:44which is now Dixie. So the Como Building
- 13:17:49would be the other way.
- 13:17:51It's facing the other way.
- 13:17:52Okay, I see. We're facing east on Klamata
- 13:17:55Street. We're facing, you're looking
- 13:17:56towards the ocean. Yes.
- 13:17:58But I'll tell you, but what does come
- 13:18:00across in this photograph
- 13:18:02and people who are at home
- 13:18:03looking at it will probably agree, there
- 13:18:05seems to be a hustle and
- 13:18:07bustle going on. There are cars,
- 13:18:08there are people running about, there are
- 13:18:10folks going in and out of
- 13:18:11shops. So there is real growth
- 13:18:14in West Palm Beach. We have gone a long
- 13:18:16way from the lone wooden shack with
- 13:18:19Native American help
- 13:18:23and moms and babies and pioneer, pioneer,
- 13:18:26pioneer. We're now seeing
- 13:18:27ourselves become a small
- 13:18:30metropolis here. Yeah, exactly. So even
- 13:18:35by this point too, I
- 13:18:37want to point out that this
- 13:18:39photo was taken about March. Early on
- 13:18:42after Flagler's first hotels opened up,
- 13:18:46season was really only from December to
- 13:18:49February. By now, season had expanded
- 13:18:54into March. So you'll
- 13:18:56see at the very end where City Park is,
- 13:18:59all those trees, you'll see
- 13:19:01a sign that says Seminole Sun
- 13:19:04Dance. Oh, what's that? Seminole Sun
- 13:19:07Dance was a festival that
- 13:19:09took place for three days,
- 13:19:11all across Klamata Street. Seminole Sun
- 13:19:16Dance, it was like a
- 13:19:17parade. You would have floats of
- 13:19:20that businesses would put together full
- 13:19:23of flowers. You would see
- 13:19:25high school students putting
- 13:19:27together floats. You would have your high
- 13:19:30school bands, baton
- 13:19:31twirlers, all of this movement,
- 13:19:34all across Klamata Street. And then the
- 13:19:38streets, we have photos of it, are
- 13:19:40littered with people.
- 13:19:41In the windows, the balconies,
- 13:19:45everywhere, people would stop
- 13:19:47and stare. That's fantastic.
- 13:19:49Yeah. Okay, now I have a question for
- 13:19:51you. We're seeing a view
- 13:19:52of West Palm Beach here,
- 13:19:54specifically Klamata Street, that's very,
- 13:19:56very busy, looks like
- 13:19:58it's really bustling.
- 13:20:01It's sort of outside the realm of what we
- 13:20:04discussed when we're talking
- 13:20:05about the city of West Palm
- 13:20:05Beach. But further north, there sounds
- 13:20:09like Lake Park and other
- 13:20:10things. So is there wilderness
- 13:20:13between West Palm Beach and Lake Park at
- 13:20:16that point? Or is it
- 13:20:17sort of like a metropolis?
- 13:20:20I wouldn't say it's a metropolis further
- 13:20:23north of this area. I
- 13:20:27would say there were actually
- 13:20:30tents, tents in the Lake Park area. You
- 13:20:34would come to West Palm
- 13:20:37Beach and you would go to Klamata
- 13:20:40Street to look at properties, talk to a
- 13:20:44realtor, and then another
- 13:20:45option besides hotels, you would
- 13:20:47go to tents in Lake Park. So go camping.
- 13:20:52Pretty much, yeah. Well, you were here
- 13:20:53maybe to save money.
- 13:20:55Yeah, yeah. So those are communities
- 13:20:58there that would eventually
- 13:21:00become what we know today as
- 13:21:01Lake Park and some of the other smaller
- 13:21:03communities that surround
- 13:21:04this central area in West Palm.
- 13:21:07And so it was almost like people were
- 13:21:09still very primitive there.
- 13:21:11They were living in tents and
- 13:21:13like what it was probably 20 years, 25
- 13:21:15years beforehand here in
- 13:21:17West Palm Beach. It was still
- 13:21:18that way up north. But we can see that we
- 13:21:20have a city here that is
- 13:21:22growing, that there is commerce,
- 13:21:24there is people, there are people who are
- 13:21:27not just involved with
- 13:21:28helping the folks over on
- 13:21:30Palm Beach, but actually creating a
- 13:21:32community of their own and
- 13:21:33having their own commerce here.
- 13:21:35So that's really very fascinating. Now,
- 13:21:37this is mid-20s, right?
- 13:21:41Are we heading into a period?
- 13:21:42Are we in a boom period here? Yes, we are
- 13:21:46at the peak of boom in this photo. It is,
- 13:21:50the bubble is so close to popping at this
- 13:21:53point. We'll be talking
- 13:21:55about that in a minute.
- 13:21:57No, I didn't want to stop you. So, but
- 13:21:59there's a lot going on. There is
- 13:22:00commerce, there's growth.
- 13:22:03And there's a boom. There's a boom and
- 13:22:05it's going to bust a year
- 13:22:07later because people were,
- 13:22:12not even coming to Palm Beach County,
- 13:22:15they were buying property
- 13:22:16on speculation. So they would
- 13:22:19buy up lots in hopes to sell them for
- 13:22:23more than what they got it
- 13:22:25for. They were hoping to make
- 13:22:26a quick buck. And so we see a lot of
- 13:22:30neighborhoods being developed at this
- 13:22:32point, neighborhoods like
- 13:22:33El Cid, Flamingo Park, all of those
- 13:22:36lovely neighborhoods
- 13:22:37outside of this downtown district.
- 13:22:40You see those being developed, but also
- 13:22:43what's happening is people
- 13:22:44are buying real estate on
- 13:22:46speculation, like you said. So people are
- 13:22:50just buying a property
- 13:22:52and then they're not able to
- 13:22:53sell it. So the prosperity that we see
- 13:22:55here in West Palm Beach,
- 13:22:56was it just West Palm Beach or
- 13:22:58were there other communities that were
- 13:23:00seeing a similar boom and
- 13:23:01people coming in and speculating?
- 13:23:04All of really a lot of South Florida in
- 13:23:07the 1920s was experiencing
- 13:23:09a boom. Miami had a lot of
- 13:23:13development in this period
- 13:23:14as well. Miami, Hollywood.
- 13:23:20And I can add to that. I mean, once
- 13:23:23again, outside the Rumble West
- 13:23:25Palm, it's still fascinating.
- 13:23:27Up in Hobestown in Martin County, when
- 13:23:30they were first developing that area,
- 13:23:33it had another name. It was known as
- 13:23:35Olympia. And
- 13:23:37interestingly enough, Picture City.
- 13:23:40Picture City was supposed to be another
- 13:23:42film community that was
- 13:23:44to rival the burgeoning,
- 13:23:48brand new industry of movie making that
- 13:23:51was starting to form in
- 13:23:52Southern California and
- 13:23:53Hollywood. So for a short period of time
- 13:23:56there, there was
- 13:23:57going to be a possibility
- 13:23:58that Hobestown would be in the same
- 13:24:00ballpark as Hollywood,
- 13:24:03California. That all went away.
- 13:24:06It does go away. In the 20s, the film
- 13:24:11industry of Florida was unique. It was
- 13:24:15booming as well. There
- 13:24:16was lots of silent films being filmed
- 13:24:18here because of the
- 13:24:20uniqueness of the environment.
- 13:24:22It was attractive to film on a beach
- 13:24:26under a palm tree. You would get more
- 13:24:29tropical scenes here.
- 13:24:31If I may jump in, I know one of the
- 13:24:34technical reasons is
- 13:24:36that back in that day,
- 13:24:37film needed a lot of light. You had to
- 13:24:40have a lot of sunlight. It'd be very
- 13:24:42bright. How could you beat
- 13:24:43Florida for beautiful sunlight? No, you
- 13:24:48really can't. Even the
- 13:24:511916 courthouse where the
- 13:24:53historical society lives now, there was a
- 13:24:56silent film that was
- 13:24:57filmed inside the building.
- 13:25:01Yeah, it's been lost to time,
- 13:25:03unfortunately. I would have pulled it up.
- 13:25:07Okay, so we know that there was a lot of
- 13:25:10dreams being dreamt back in
- 13:25:12the mid-1920s for this area.
- 13:25:15A lot of prosperity, a lot of speculation
- 13:25:17hoping that things would go continue on.
- 13:25:20But unfortunately, as you point out,
- 13:25:22there was a bust. What caused the bust?
- 13:25:24There was too many cooks. Too many people
- 13:25:27were coming down. There
- 13:25:30was no business. There was no
- 13:25:33business after a certain point. People
- 13:25:36started actually pulling out
- 13:25:37their money from banks after
- 13:25:40the 26th hurricane in Miami. People
- 13:25:43weren't used to weather like
- 13:25:45we have in Florida. So it was
- 13:25:48new. Once the 26th hurricane in Miami
- 13:25:53hit, people got nervous and
- 13:25:56they started pulling out their
- 13:25:57money out of banks in West Palm Beach. So
- 13:26:01people started to panic
- 13:26:02because they know that one
- 13:26:04really bad storm effectively could wipe
- 13:26:07them out and wipe out a business.
- 13:26:09Exactly. And unfortunately,
- 13:26:11that came to play in 1928.
- 13:26:16Yes, in 1928 with the 28th storm. It just
- 13:26:20completely decimated
- 13:26:22so many properties in
- 13:26:24West Palm Beach, so many
- 13:26:26people working in Belglades.
- 13:26:28Yes, there was a tremendous loss of life
- 13:26:30out there with the flooding
- 13:26:33that took place out there.
- 13:26:34Thousands of people lost their lives. But
- 13:26:38beyond just the incredible
- 13:26:41tragedy of that loss, which
- 13:26:43I think was actually like a
- 13:26:45record-breaking, horrible tragedy for
- 13:26:48many, many, many decades,
- 13:26:51there was just that speculation, that
- 13:26:54fear that, "Hey, why should we invest in
- 13:26:57this particular area
- 13:26:59if we could get all wiped
- 13:27:00out with just a big blow here?"
- 13:27:02Exactly. It was a shot in the dark. You
- 13:27:04couldn't predict these kinds
- 13:27:06of storms. There was no way.
- 13:27:08So people got nervous, moved back home.
- 13:27:11Before we get too far ahead on the
- 13:27:13timeline, I want to move on
- 13:27:15to our next photograph here.
- 13:27:17It looks similar, but not really,
- 13:27:20compared to the picture from the early
- 13:27:221920s. Tell us a little
- 13:27:23bit about what we're looking at here.
- 13:27:25That is Clamata Street facing...
- 13:27:29Is it facing East? Just
- 13:27:31like the other one, right?
- 13:27:32Yeah.
- 13:27:33Let me go ahead and just give a quick
- 13:27:35verbal description here.
- 13:27:37We're looking down another
- 13:27:38section of a wide boulevard kind of thing
- 13:27:41with commercial
- 13:27:43buildings on either side. We see
- 13:27:46cars maybe a little bit further along in
- 13:27:48development. It's not the early 20s,
- 13:27:50maybe a little bit later, but still we
- 13:27:53got fenders and we got tires
- 13:27:57attached to the back seats and
- 13:27:59stuff like that. We see people walking
- 13:28:01along a very wide curb, a very wide
- 13:28:04sidewalk, I should say.
- 13:28:06Looking at the signs, we see many
- 13:28:08different types of businesses.
- 13:28:11It looks like it's still a fairly
- 13:28:14prosperous time here, Folly.
- 13:28:16Yeah, absolutely. You'll see all of the
- 13:28:19commercial spaces. The National Bank is
- 13:28:22on the left, of course.
- 13:28:25Any guesses?
- 13:28:26I'd say this is after the bus. I'd
- 13:28:28estimate this to be 27.
- 13:28:3127, sure.
- 13:28:33Yeah, so the shine has come off the boom.
- 13:28:37Some of the money that used to be flowing
- 13:28:40freely into Wispon Beach
- 13:28:42was starting to dry up here.
- 13:28:47Interesting, looking again, looking at
- 13:28:49what we have here, we see
- 13:28:50some banks. I see a jewelry
- 13:28:52store on one side. I see menswear. It
- 13:28:56almost seems like we're
- 13:28:57seeing less of the hotels and
- 13:29:00investment companies that we might have
- 13:29:02seen in the early photograph,
- 13:29:04and we're seeing stuff that
- 13:29:05people just needed to live.
- 13:29:07Exactly. It was more retail spaces just
- 13:29:12for your necessities, like what you said,
- 13:29:15jewelry, clothing, shoes.
- 13:29:18You have your bank, of course.
- 13:29:22Commerce for people who lived here.
- 13:29:25Okay, and that's an interesting turn,
- 13:29:27because before you had a
- 13:29:29sense of, "Hey, welcome. You
- 13:29:31are out of town. Here's a hotel. Here's a
- 13:29:33place for you to spend
- 13:29:34your money. Here's a place for
- 13:29:35you to buy land. Now it's more, "Hi,
- 13:29:39welcome. Here's where you can buy food
- 13:29:41and clothing and tools."
- 13:29:43That is an interesting change, and it's
- 13:29:46very apparent from these two photographs
- 13:29:48that should have been only taken maybe
- 13:29:50about six or seven years apart, maybe.
- 13:29:52Yeah, a lot can change, but you do see
- 13:29:56people still enjoying the
- 13:29:58street. People are browsing
- 13:30:00the stores. People are walking side by
- 13:30:03side. I imagine friends
- 13:30:06just hanging out, enjoying the
- 13:30:09weather. Well, it was the center of the
- 13:30:10community, and it continued to be that
- 13:30:12for a long, long time.
- 13:30:14Exactly. If you lived in West Palm, you
- 13:30:17headed down to that park. You headed down
- 13:30:20Klamata Street. That's where all the
- 13:30:22stores were. That's where people hung
- 13:30:23out. The vibe of it being
- 13:30:27the epicenter of the community was really
- 13:30:30intact at that point, still
- 13:30:31happening here. That's pretty
- 13:30:33cool. We have gone through a period here.
- 13:30:38It's interesting because
- 13:30:39what we've gone here from
- 13:30:41the very first photograph we showed,
- 13:30:42which was probably mid
- 13:30:431890s, to this photograph,
- 13:30:45which would probably be late 1920s, we've
- 13:30:48only covered about 30
- 13:30:50years, 35 years maybe.
- 13:30:52Yeah. The city of West Palm Beach was in
- 13:30:55its 30s. Things are,
- 13:30:57like you said, slowing down
- 13:31:00after the real estate crisis. People are
- 13:31:04still living here. It
- 13:31:06wasn't as busy. The population
- 13:31:10falls out, but they come back to their
- 13:31:15feet. They keep coming back.
- 13:31:17Essentially, this was a period of time
- 13:31:19where from the mid
- 13:31:201920s, when the boom happened
- 13:31:22through the Depression, and obviously the
- 13:31:25war was on the horizon of World War II.
- 13:31:28There was a period of malaise for the
- 13:31:31city where it was really,
- 13:31:32really quiet and that whole lot
- 13:31:34was going on. It's beyond what these
- 13:31:38photographs are doing,
- 13:31:39but just to ask a question,
- 13:31:42did West Palm Beach have something to do,
- 13:31:44have a role during World War II?
- 13:31:47Yes. West Palm Beach County played a big
- 13:31:50role in World War II. We have several,
- 13:31:54like for example, what we now know as
- 13:31:57PBI, Palm Beach
- 13:31:59International Airport. It originally was
- 13:32:02Morrison Field, which was where men would
- 13:32:06come to train for the Air
- 13:32:08Force. You would use Morrison
- 13:32:11Field. The breakers was converted to a
- 13:32:14hospital during the war. All
- 13:32:18of these places in this area
- 13:32:20were doing their part and really
- 13:32:23supporting our greater country and the
- 13:32:28men fighting in the Army,
- 13:32:30in the Navy. One thing that's interesting
- 13:32:34to know, we often think of
- 13:32:36World War II as being a war
- 13:32:37that happened very far away from us, that
- 13:32:39happened in Europe or happened in the
- 13:32:42Pacific. That wasn't
- 13:32:44the case. There was stuff that was going
- 13:32:46on just off our shores. Is that the case?
- 13:32:48Yeah, exactly. There were German
- 13:32:53submarines found in Boca Raton and Palm
- 13:32:57Beach all along the coast.
- 13:33:01There were some attacks, some U-boat
- 13:33:03attacks off our shore.
- 13:33:04There were, yeah, which you wouldn't
- 13:33:08imagine. You would never
- 13:33:09hear about, but there were
- 13:33:10even stories of Germans coming out of the
- 13:33:17boats, out of the submarines,
- 13:33:19entering the area and just hanging out.
- 13:33:25Wow. Okay, so we were clearly engaged in
- 13:33:29quite a conflict. But the point of what
- 13:33:32we're talking about
- 13:33:33here, and this is why it was
- 13:33:34important to Palm Beach County and West
- 13:33:36Palm Beach, was that
- 13:33:37hundreds of thousands, well,
- 13:33:40I'm guessing that, but I would assume
- 13:33:41probably hundreds of thousands of
- 13:33:44able-bodied servicemen
- 13:33:45and women passed through this area on
- 13:33:48their way to whatever
- 13:33:49theater they were going to,
- 13:33:51most likely the European theater. They
- 13:33:53got a glimpse of what was
- 13:33:55going on here in West Palm
- 13:33:56Beach and they ended up liking it.
- 13:33:59Exactly. So many men and
- 13:34:01women trained down here and they
- 13:34:04liked it. They liked it. They took well
- 13:34:06to the climate and just
- 13:34:10Florida. And so after the war,
- 13:34:13in the 50s, we see a second boom. We see
- 13:34:17a second boom in Palm Beach
- 13:34:19County. Just people, you know,
- 13:34:21have a little money in their pocket and
- 13:34:25they picked up their families and came.
- 13:34:27So they come back to West Palm, they
- 13:34:29visited, they kind of
- 13:34:30liked it. They probably found
- 13:34:32opportunities to build like little homes,
- 13:34:34you know, small starter
- 13:34:35homes to start families. And
- 13:34:36suddenly there's an explosion of
- 13:34:39population in West Palm
- 13:34:41Beach, which I think is a perfect
- 13:34:43springboard into one of our photographs
- 13:34:45here that we were going to
- 13:34:46talk about. Again, a quick
- 13:34:48thumbnail for our folks listening at
- 13:34:50home. This is a view of an
- 13:34:53intersection of Clamata Street.
- 13:34:55I kind of recognize that building. It's
- 13:34:57so funny how these
- 13:34:59buildings, you go, "Yeah,
- 13:35:00yeah, that's that building, blah, blah,
- 13:35:02blah." You know, you're looking at a
- 13:35:03picture that's 70 years
- 13:35:04old. This is a picture that looks like it
- 13:35:07may be from the early 50s
- 13:35:09judging by the cars. I'm looking
- 13:35:10at an intersection. Kalani, you can fill
- 13:35:12this in a second, but let me
- 13:35:13paint the picture. But we're
- 13:35:15seeing large department stores. We see
- 13:35:17Belks. We see down the way
- 13:35:20a large building that says
- 13:35:22"Burdines" on it. And now the road is, it
- 13:35:26looks like, honestly, it
- 13:35:27looks like it's a one-way street
- 13:35:29now at this point. And we have three full
- 13:35:32lanes of traffic moving down
- 13:35:34towards one end. So there's
- 13:35:37a lot of activity and there are people
- 13:35:39everywhere in this intersection. So
- 13:35:41there's a lot going on.
- 13:35:43Tell me about this point in time for West
- 13:35:45Palm Beach. Yeah. So
- 13:35:47this is about 1950s, I'd say
- 13:35:50early 1950s. I agree with that. So after
- 13:35:54the war, nationally, you
- 13:35:57know, confidence is boosted.
- 13:35:59People have recreational money now. And
- 13:36:01so you see, you see it
- 13:36:04reflected here in Clamata Street,
- 13:36:06all of these retail stores. Just in one
- 13:36:09photo, you have Belks.
- 13:36:12This is on the corner of
- 13:36:14Clamata Street in Olive. It's at that
- 13:36:16intersection. You have Belks
- 13:36:19right there where, you know,
- 13:36:21it's a department store. Fashion store as
- 13:36:23well. Yeah. You could buy
- 13:36:25jewelry, perfume, shoes,
- 13:36:27whatever you need. And same with
- 13:36:29Birdines. same with Birdines. You know,
- 13:36:34you have floors just of
- 13:36:36merchandise, all these different things
- 13:36:39you can get. And people flocked to
- 13:36:42Clamata Street to do
- 13:36:43that, to shop and maybe get a smoothie at
- 13:36:47the deli counter. Maybe
- 13:36:50get a milkshake. Yeah,
- 13:36:52actually, it sounds really good. But it's
- 13:36:54interesting again to
- 13:36:55note how the storefronts
- 13:36:58tell the story. We were talking about how
- 13:37:00the photograph from the
- 13:37:02very late 1920s seemed to
- 13:37:04show a sort of a motion back towards
- 13:37:06fulfilling family needs. You
- 13:37:09know, you had small stores,
- 13:37:11mom and pops, selling things that people
- 13:37:13just needed to get by.
- 13:37:14Now, all of a sudden you have
- 13:37:16department stores, which will have the
- 13:37:18very latest in women's
- 13:37:20fashion. Oh, yeah. And the shoes and
- 13:37:22the purses and all that. And people are
- 13:37:25coming to buy this stuff. So
- 13:37:27there is, I guess we could even
- 13:37:29say that as we're moving into this period
- 13:37:31of time, Whispon Beach is
- 13:37:33seeing a rebirth in economic
- 13:37:35viability. Yes. Okay. Just so many people
- 13:37:38moving here and businesses
- 13:37:40moving here and industries.
- 13:37:43And so as the economic profile of the
- 13:37:47city change, we see it right here on
- 13:37:51these views of Clamata
- 13:37:53Street. This is something else. Yeah,
- 13:37:55exactly. It was the retail hub of the
- 13:37:59area. After the war,
- 13:38:03we mentioned Morrison Field, right? The
- 13:38:06training base for the Army
- 13:38:11Air Corps. Thank you. Sure.
- 13:38:14So we mentioned Morrison Field, which was
- 13:38:17the training base for
- 13:38:18the airmen of World War II.
- 13:38:20And then it becomes Palm Beach
- 13:38:23International Airport in 1952. So
- 13:38:26suddenly it's just that much
- 13:38:28more convenient to get here. And so you
- 13:38:32see a flight of people
- 13:38:33coming here, just flocks. You see
- 13:38:36a boom of new builds being built south of
- 13:38:41West Palm Beach,
- 13:38:42north of West Palm Beach,
- 13:38:43north Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens.
- 13:38:46That whole area just sees
- 13:38:49a boom in population. It's
- 13:38:52their pioneer times, you could say. So
- 13:38:54now when we were talking
- 13:38:56about the tents in Lake Park,
- 13:38:58I guess the tents have gone away and the
- 13:39:00small homes and the single
- 13:39:01family homes and the small
- 13:39:02mom and pops and all that started to
- 13:39:05appear at that time. So as
- 13:39:06we look at the prosperity here
- 13:39:08at ground zero of like Klamadah Street,
- 13:39:11it's all happening on the
- 13:39:12periphery and all through
- 13:39:13all of South Florida. Yeah, absolutely.
- 13:39:16Hopefully I'm not
- 13:39:17catching you off guard here, but
- 13:39:20where about did we see the development of
- 13:39:23like the big roadways
- 13:39:24down here? When did the term
- 13:39:26pike take place? When did I-95, I know
- 13:39:28the I-95 was only
- 13:39:29completed back in the 1980s. Yeah.
- 13:39:33In here. So yeah, for a long time, 95
- 13:39:37exits were a little
- 13:39:38scattered in our county. I think
- 13:39:41I wrote a quote like, if you wanted to go
- 13:39:44to Del Rey, beat it. You
- 13:39:46couldn't get there without
- 13:39:49a proper exit. It was so tough, but
- 13:39:52you're right. In the 60s, we see the term
- 13:39:55pike being built that
- 13:39:57connects you to the western part of our
- 13:39:59county. It's just that much more
- 13:40:02convenient. You get to
- 13:40:03hop on a highway. Right? Because I
- 13:40:06remember hearing stories
- 13:40:07from my dad and my dad would
- 13:40:10be driving down with our family in the
- 13:40:13late 50s, early 60s from
- 13:40:16the New York, New Jersey area.
- 13:40:18Yeah. Okay. Like everyone else at the
- 13:40:21time was doing. And what
- 13:40:24would happen is you would get down
- 13:40:25to Georgia or whatever. There were no
- 13:40:28giant interstates. I-95
- 13:40:29really didn't exist back then.
- 13:40:31You were taking what we would consider
- 13:40:32now to be back roads through
- 13:40:34here. And so a trip to Florida
- 13:40:37from that part of the world was of like a
- 13:40:39five day event because you
- 13:40:40were driving a very short period
- 13:40:42of distance. It's all you could do. So
- 13:40:44that probably limited a lot
- 13:40:46of people getting down here.
- 13:40:47But as those roads went in, as it became
- 13:40:51better developed, it
- 13:40:53became a straight shot to get to
- 13:40:56South Florida, to go to Miami, go to West
- 13:40:59Palm Beach. People weren't
- 13:41:00going to Orlando back then
- 13:41:01because there was nothing really there in
- 13:41:03Orlando until the 1970s. So we were a
- 13:41:07destination and that
- 13:41:08probably was a lot of what helped propel
- 13:41:10the growth in West Palm
- 13:41:12Beach. Exactly. You've hit on it.
- 13:41:15Although what we do have in Palm Beach
- 13:41:19County is US-1. US-1, the scenic highway,
- 13:41:22which is very unique
- 13:41:24to this area. You have to drive all the
- 13:41:29way down from
- 13:41:29Jacksonville up to West Palm Beach,
- 13:41:32but you got to do it on a very beautiful
- 13:41:34highway and you can stop
- 13:41:36all along the way. There's
- 13:41:38strategically motels being placed all
- 13:41:41along the way on your road
- 13:41:42trip. So you would hop off and
- 13:41:46Juno and head over to a motel there. So
- 13:41:51for the time being, that
- 13:41:53worked, but eventually in the
- 13:41:5560s we do get more 95 exits. We get the
- 13:41:59turnpike. We just get more larger
- 13:42:03highways, more development.
- 13:42:06So we've covered from the very, very
- 13:42:09beginnings of Clamata
- 13:42:11Street. By saying Clamata Street,
- 13:42:13we're also talking about the city of West
- 13:42:15Palm Beach in general
- 13:42:16through the 20s, through a boom
- 13:42:18period that was short-lived and failed.
- 13:42:23And then there was a Malays
- 13:42:25period where things were kind
- 13:42:27of quiet. The war as tragic as war can be
- 13:42:30did basically expose us
- 13:42:33to a brand new audience of
- 13:42:34people who decided they would like to
- 13:42:36live here. Now we've moved
- 13:42:37through the 50s. The 60s was
- 13:42:43similar period. Was it still steady
- 13:42:46growth throughout that
- 13:42:47time, do you think? Yeah,
- 13:42:49there was in the 60s you see tourism
- 13:42:54booming again in Palm Beach County.
- 13:42:59In the 60s we see South Palm Beach being
- 13:43:04developed. That's where if
- 13:43:07you take the Lake Worth bridge
- 13:43:09over, you'll see all of the apartment
- 13:43:12buildings over there. So those start
- 13:43:14coming up and people
- 13:43:16really buy up those apartment buildings.
- 13:43:19They come here and they
- 13:43:22stay here during the winter
- 13:43:24period. They're snowbirds as you'd call
- 13:43:27it. And so you see a lot
- 13:43:30of that in the 60s. So yes,
- 13:43:32another boom. Another boom period. And
- 13:43:34again, all you need to do
- 13:43:37now is to take a few minutes
- 13:43:39and drive down Klamadu Street and see
- 13:43:41that we're in another
- 13:43:43period of amazing change.
- 13:43:47It's been said that only 15 years ago you
- 13:43:51could roll a bowling ball
- 13:43:52down Klamadu Street and not
- 13:43:54hit anybody because it was such a quiet,
- 13:43:56derelict period of time. I do want to
- 13:43:59mention we're looking
- 13:44:00at department stores here in this last
- 13:44:02photograph. This is before
- 13:44:04the advent of malls. We thought
- 13:44:06about the Palm Beach Mall 1967ish? Yes,
- 13:44:101967. So there wasn't even a
- 13:44:13Palm Beach Mall until then.
- 13:44:14There was the Palm Coast Mall down south
- 13:44:18that hadn't been
- 13:44:18developed yet. So the idea of you
- 13:44:20had to go to downtown to get to the
- 13:44:22department stores and see
- 13:44:23that. But now you can go down
- 13:44:25Klamadu Street and you see a wide
- 13:44:28spectrum of different types
- 13:44:29of merch. You see restaurants,
- 13:44:31you see places for people who are
- 13:44:33visiting. I don't think there's too many
- 13:44:34hotels along Klamadu
- 13:44:36right now. We have the Ben. I think of
- 13:44:38the Ben. Sorry, Ben. You're exactly
- 13:44:40right. It's just off
- 13:44:42Klamadu Street. And that is a beautiful,
- 13:44:45beautiful facility. So one
- 13:44:48can argue that alongside the
- 13:44:51tremendous growth we're seeing all over
- 13:44:53the city and all over South Florida,
- 13:44:56Klamadu is not being
- 13:44:56left behind. It's taking its step with
- 13:44:59everything else that's going
- 13:45:00on. I agree completely. I see
- 13:45:03Klamadu still being really the center of
- 13:45:07West Palm Beach. It's where we all
- 13:45:09gather. I see it on my
- 13:45:11lunch break. I see it right. Everybody
- 13:45:13heading out, going to get
- 13:45:15lunch, going to get dinner a happy
- 13:45:17hour later. There's a lot of movement
- 13:45:20still. Absolutely. It is
- 13:45:23a dynamic, wonderful spot.
- 13:45:26Part of appreciating what it is today is
- 13:45:28being able to look back and see the
- 13:45:30history and understand
- 13:45:31where it's been from its very earliest
- 13:45:34form of a little wood shack
- 13:45:35with people buying stuff out
- 13:45:37of it just to stay alive to what we have
- 13:45:40today. It's just amazing
- 13:45:42that all this history has
- 13:45:43happened in just a short period of time.
- 13:45:46It's amazing, but it's
- 13:45:47only been what, 132 years?
- 13:45:51132 years since 1894. We're pretty fresh
- 13:45:56compared to other sites.
- 13:45:57Yeah, we lose sight of that. The
- 13:45:59fact that you go and visit a similar
- 13:46:02small little village in Scotland. Oh
- 13:46:06yeah, that was built
- 13:46:072000 years ago. The kind of thing. Yes,
- 13:46:11but at the same time, it's
- 13:46:13important for us, even though we
- 13:46:14are like babies compared to other
- 13:46:17communities, that we take the time to
- 13:46:19study and understand
- 13:46:20our history so that we can appreciate the
- 13:46:24now. Exactly. Because
- 13:46:25development, especially you see
- 13:46:27it on Klamadu Street, development in West
- 13:46:30Palm Beach was so fast
- 13:46:32and it's unlike anything.
- 13:46:34That's very good. Kalani, thank you for
- 13:46:36your time today. This has been a
- 13:46:38fantastic little trip
- 13:46:39down history down Klamadu Street. Again,
- 13:46:43we thank you for everything
- 13:46:44that you do and everything
- 13:46:45that happens at the Historical Society of
- 13:46:47Palm Beach County. We want
- 13:46:48to tell people to head on out
- 13:46:49there and take a visit. You have a
- 13:46:52website? Yes, we are
- 13:46:53pbchistory.org. Check us out.
- 13:46:57So come by there and go by there and take
- 13:46:59a quick look. Kalani, thank
- 13:47:00you for being a part of the
- 13:47:01show. Thank you for having me, Jerry. And
- 13:47:04thank you for joining us
- 13:47:05for Inside West Palm Beach.
- 13:47:08Hey, we may have a new name, but we're
- 13:47:09close to completing our
- 13:47:10third full year of production.
- 13:47:13We've got many past podcasts available
- 13:47:15for your listening pleasure. We're
- 13:47:17available on all major
- 13:47:18podcast outlets. Just look for City of
- 13:47:21West Palm Beach and you'll find our
- 13:47:22shows, both past and
- 13:47:24present. If you have comments or ideas
- 13:47:26for other topics, please
- 13:47:27feel free to write us at podcast
- 13:47:30at wpb.org. This has been a production of
- 13:47:34the City of West Palm Beach
- 13:47:35Communications Department.
- 13:47:37I'm Jerry Marcello.
- 13:47:38We'll see you next time.