Hollywood, Florida

From the time that I was four in late 1960 until the time I moved out in 1977, I lived in the city of Hollywood, Florida. Well, actually, from 1960 to 1965, it was West Hollywood until Hollywood swallowed it up, for reasons I have yet to fathom. On its own, Hollywood stands as a pretty big-sized city, but it’s sandwiched between the giants of Fort Lauderdale and Miami/Dade County. Hollywood, many years ago, had its own hometown paper, the Hollywood Sun-Tattler (which went under long ago), and as far as I can see, now has little representation in the media down there. When we moved there in late 1960, we were on the western fringes of the populated area in South Florida, with little to our west except cow pastures and the Everglades. Now, however, I’d say that my childhood home lies slightly to the east of the center of population! It’s certainly gotten very congested, to say the least! Even the old elementary school two blocks from my house, where I went to from the first through third grades, has almost completely plugged up its formerly spacious playground area with more school buildings.

Some of my most vivid memories of Hollywood involve riding with my family eastward down its main artery, Hollywood Boulevard, going either to the railroad station (running parallel to Dixie Highway) to pick up or see off my visiting grandparents or to Hollywood Beach to spend a sunny weekend day in the ocean, on the sand, and along Hollywood’s Boardwalk. The most notable aspect of our trips, to me, was going around the three huge circles on the Boulevard, each spaced a couple of miles apart from each other. Driving east toward the first circle, which contained the winter home for Riverside Military Academy (based in Gainesville, Georgia), I looked around and could see many large fields full of slash pines. Recently, the same view yielded a large, ugly (to me) glass building where Riverside used to be and nothing but buildings lining the Boulevard where the fields used to be. And going around the circles is an art in itself: one has to be very careful to stay in the correct lane (which is largely guesswork) in order not to be suddenly diverted onto a different road.

The most notable change I noticed along Hollywood Boulevard between then and now is how they’ve completely renovated the downtown area between Dixie Highway and the easternmost (Young) circle as a very pedestrian-friendly, pretty shopping and dining area. Once east of Young Circle, very little has changed over the years. As a kid, coming off the last circle, I would also get excited looking toward the end of Hollywood Boulevard at the looming Hollywood Beach Hotel, which signified the beach to me. It had an almost Oz-like feel to it, going down that road. We’d cross the draw bridge, turn north on A1A, and almost always park near the big water tower that was a little up the road. Then, to the boardwalk and beach!

The Hollywood Beach Hotel later became Florida Bible College. More recently, Ramada took ownership and has renovated this old hotel. My family and I stayed there a couple of nights earlier this month. We weren’t too happy with their parking arrangements, and the room we had booked had a problem with the air conditioning. But the staff allowed us to switch rooms and we pretty much enjoyed our stay there. But I still got a creepy Stephen King-like feeling (The Shining, 1408) walking down their hallways. There was a small food court in the lobby which had a “Hong Kong” Chinese restaurant and a Pizza place. They both had excellent food and service!

Outside, the ocean and pool were both very, very warm. They always seemed to have a live band cranking out music at an open restaurant off the Boardwalk on the hotel’s ocean side. And we walked down the Boardwalk at night, which was a pretty interesting experience in itself.

I miss the old Hollywood, but I’m realistic enough to recognize that change can be good as well. It seems that the city has taken great pains in making its eastern side as attractive as possible while letting urban sprawl run rampant in its western half. Still, I think overall, Hollywood has done a better job over the years of making itself a pleasant place to visit than some of its adjacent communities (although I think I’d go nuts if I had to live there again!).