I was born in a wood frame building on Miami Beach in 1924. My parents were Greeks, born in Turkey. My father’s parents raised silkworms that were sold to the local factories in Bursa. A wealthy Turkish merchant in the silkworm industry who did business with my grandparents, made frequent business trips to the United […]

My name is Alex Sturman, and I am sharing with you a glimpse in the life that took place in the summer of 1957 when I was a nine year old in a family of six. We were living in Charleston, S.C., where I was born. My father was a ‘travelling salesman’ at the time. […]

From Pogroms to Palm Trees: Rose Weiss, “The Mother of Miami Beach” How does it feel to be the granddaughter of a Pioneer Family In a word—unique! It would be a colossal understatement to say being born in Miami and growing up in Miami Beach has been spectacular, but how that all happened is the […]

“Tey, mire esos hombres con esos sombreros tan chistosos. … Tey, yo quiero ir ahi.” “Tey,” I said to my grandmother. “Look at those men wearing funny hats. … I want to go over there,” I excitedly pleaded. “Please, take me over there, please, pretty please, I want to see what’s over there. Look at […]

You can probably imagine my reaction as a 9-year-old from Winston-Salem, N.C. after seeing Miami Beach for the first time in 1947. My parents brought my younger brother and me down from North Carolina to escape a polio epidemic running through the South that summer. Miami Beach was the first big city I had ever […]

Just like so many other Cuban-Americans, we came to Miami to escape the ravages of the Communist regime that had taken over our island-nation. We were lucky enough to still be able to come on a regularly scheduled Pan Am flight. My parents obtained their visas to leave Cuba in November 1961 and were forced […]

I remember vividly the days that led to my coming to Miami from Cuba. I was only 9 years old and turmoil, to say the least, was at hand. We were leaving my country for a short period of time. No one in my family thought it was forever. But even as a goodbye, it […]

I was born in Georgetown, Guyana, which is the only English-speaking country in South America. When I was 6 years old, my parents migrated to Toronto. I started school in Canada, and it was my second-grade teacher who was influential in my love of education at an early age. You see, I had an accent […]

My parents sold their business in Washington, D.C. in 1951 and we came to Miami Beach for vacation. After a few weeks, they informed me they were not going back and this would be our new home. My dad bought a dry-cleaning/tailor shop on 15th Street off Washington Avenue, one block from a dreary street […]

One sunny, mid-week afternoon, I arrived at home to family cars parked in the front yard. I did not have to dig for the house key in my bookbag. My father stood in front of the door as if shielding me from something. As I entered the house, I heard a woman crying. Family members […]