The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, May 4, 1961, page 7 (of 56)

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Goodbye to Pink, Stuccoed Lady

Goodbye, old friend. Odd, isn't it, how you can grow attached to a building? You think of it in human terms. Yet, perhaps it isn't too strange for a building holds the better part of many lives. You remember the hundreds of hours of toil in it. You remember the frustrations of broken-down machinery, lost pictures and misspelled names. There were days when a key printer had more of the grape than he should have. But mostly, you remember the good things. Like cold water melon on a hot summer's night, eaten on the loading dock while the crowd from the late movie walked by. There was no knife and you used an old metal ruler to slice the blushing red meat. And there was the lady who always brought around a box of her home-baked Christmas cookies "for my favorite newspaper people." Whatever became of the old gentleman who dropped by on Wednesday nights to get the first copy of the paper to read the want ads? And who would miss a rat? We will. There are two who come boldly out to play around midnight. They scamper up and down the hall unheedful of the chatter of the typewriter. Their run continues up a faded yellow door joist and through a secret entrance into the attic. We can hear them head for bed over by the downspout on the northeast corner. No longer we will be current on the Fire Bell. From our across-the-street vantage, for years we've known as soon as the firemen that the alarm was sounding. Maybe it's the still-small-child in us all that never fails to send us to the dormer window to watch the big red trucks roll out. For some weeks we've been preparing a leave taking. There were lease expiration formalities to be tended to. A new site had to be searched out, dickered for and outfitted. There were policy decisions such as, Would the battered office ice box fit properly into handsomer quarters? But with none of this did the shock of it all come home. Only when we saw the sign painter across the way at Anthony's Barber Shop did we realize the import of what we were doing. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Each motion scratched away the gold leaf. Finally, it no longer said, "Anthony's Riviera Times Barber Shop." Just, "Anthony's Barber Shop." We're sorry, Anthony. Goodbye, our pink, stuccoed lady. Goodbye, Old Aragon friend. For two decades you've been both a mother and a mistress to us. ROLFE NEILL Editor and Publisher

Times Moving to Third Home Ice House to Papaya Juice-- Our Building's Seen 'Em All

By MAURICE LABELLE Times Staffer The Coral Gables Times will get out of cold storage for the first time in more than 20 years when it moves into its new home at 364 Sevilla today (Thursday). For two decades the "ice house" -- the original home of City Ice and Fuel Co. -- has quartered Coral Gables' original and only newspaper. It was Jan. 15, 1926, John D. Montgomery established the Miami Riviera at 305 Coral Way, a paper he ran largely by remote control from the golf course. FOUNDED OTHERS Montgomery, who now publishes the Junction City (Kansas) Union, also founded The Tropics in Miami Beach and the forerunner of the Miami Beach Sun, the Florida Sun. From the Riviera's flat bed press in what is now Carlotta Lewis' real estate office, on Miracle Mile poured the largely social and real estate news of the embryonic community. Montgomery (no relationship to the recent mayor) sold to Albert Harum in June, 1941. Al and Julia Harum came to the Gables from the Brooklyn Eagle. He had been employed as assistant city editor and she had been a reporter and secretary to Helen Worth, the pioneer lonely hearts columnist. It was a combination of having the Coral Way rent boosted from $50 a month to $75 and a visit from one of the town's figures, Victoria Blanchard, that moved the Times, Harum recalls. "She inspired us to get out of the old building," he said. Society Editor Helen Reynolds, who had joined the staff short months before, and Jim Moore, now an executive with Fairchild Scan-O-Graver Co., were among those early staffers who settled in a converted garage alongside the former ice house on Aragon Ave. "We moved things in a wheelbarrow," she said. The building had at the time been recently used by a papaya juice processing company. Anyone familiar with the aroma of papaya juice will tell you that it is not likened to Channel No. 5. Said Harum: "For six months we couldn't get the smell out." NEW NAME Thus in 1941 the new paper boasted the biggest flat bed press in Miami and a new name -- The Riviera Times. A flat bed press meant folding sheets. All the staff pitched in. "People would just walk in and help fold papers," Harum said. Cool beer helped lighten the chore. In a couple of years, Harum built a two-story addition on the Aragon Avenue side of the building. Mrs. Marjorie Jacobson, who has since become an institution, moved in before the tile had been set and established a new home for the Greyhound travel bureau. OTHER TENANTS Soon doctors and others moved in and out. In 1946, Harum bought the Fort Lauderdale Daily News' rotary press to handle the growing circulation that had made folding a tedious proposition, even with cool beer. But even the rotary press did not take all the sting out of the problems of going daily and tabloid in 1949. Harum suffered alone for a year, then George Storer, owner of the Florida Sun, joined for one more year. Finally, the paper returned to weekly operation and Harum's control. In 1953, Alfred G. Hill, LeRoy Keller, Thomas A. Hill, Mrs. R. O. Holton, Richard Smyser, Don McKay and Robert Faloon bought out the Harums. The Times bloomed to full size again. Faloon became editor and publisher. ANOTHER OWNER In 1957, the paper changed hands again. The Knight newspaper interests acquired ownership and named John T. Watters publisher and William von Maurer editor. A year later The Times shrunk back to tabloid size. Recently the Times building acquired a new coat of paint, a new editor and publisher, Rolfe Neill, a new makeup format, and the old press was idled when printing operations were moved to The Miami Herald. TO SEVILLA Now comes the latest move to the former home of the Cameron awning shop at 364 Sevilla Avenue. What will happen to the old ice house? Harum, who retains ownership of the building and the machinery, will have an announcement to make in the near future, he said. Meanwhile, downstairs, an art gallery is moving in.

Times' Second Home When It Was An Ice House

. . . Picture taken in 1928; George O. Haskell, owner

Fire Bell

These are the calls answered by the emergency squad of the Coral Gables Fire Department during the past week: APRIL 24-400 Andalusia Ave., fuse blown. APRIL 25-Baracoa and Red Road, auto accident. APRIL 26 - De Soto and Columbus Boulevard, grass fire; In front of Veteran's Hospital, grass fire; 400 block of Zamora Ave., brush fire; 4102 University Dr., water heater leaking, Mrs. Arenson. APRIL 27-Howard Johnson's on South Dixie Highway, snake in car. APRIL 28 - Incinerator, report of heart attack, false alarm; Douglas and Bird Road, heart attack, Theoda Cloud; Algardi Ave. and Red Road, auto accident, C. A. Corene. APRIL 29-Bus terminal, light ballast in arcade burned out; Tyler's Restaurant, South Dixie Highway, woman had fainting spell, Mrs. Oiga Hahn. APRIL 30-500 Alminar Ave., auto ignited, shorted; John R. Magee, 2400 Country Club Prado, grass fire; 1531 Liguria Ave., boy having heart attack, Aron Mantell.

Page 1 Picture

That picture on the front page was taken many moons ago and shows the Times, then called the Riviera, in its first offices on Coral Way. The crowd is attracted by World Series scores, posted in the newspaper's window. The office, located near Dick Richmond men's store, is now occupied by realtor Carlotta Lewis.

U of M Goes Tapping 8 Gableites Chosen For Honoraries

Eight Coral Gables residents were selected for membership in four University of Miami honoraries at recent spring tapping ceremonies on campus. Jose E. Martinez, son of Mr. and Mrs. Pedro N. Martinez, 625 Cadagna Ave., and Terry L. Aderhold, son of Mr. and Mrs. LaRue Aderhold, 1101 Madruga Ave., were among the 19 students tapped for membership in Iron Arrow, highest UM honorary for men. Men are selected for Iron Arrow on the basis of outstanding leadership abilities and active participation in campus affairs. Aderhold is a member of the Institute of Radio Engineering. He is a 21-year-old senior electrical engineering major. Martinez, a 19-year-old junior marketing major, is treasurer of the Inter-Fraternity Council. Nu Kappa Tau, the women's counterpart of Iron Arrow, tapped Roberta Ann Kimmel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Kimmel, 530 Caligula Ave. She was one of 10 girls selected. Miss Kimmel, a 20-year-old junior home economics education major, is vice president of the UM Home Economics Club. Michael R. Botwin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Noble Botwin, 116 Sevilla Ave.; Richard Vargas-Vila, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mario Vargas-Vila, 7875 Grand Canal Dr.; and Gregory T. Zell, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Zell, 1104 Andora Ave., were among the 23 students selected for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, the nation's highest honorary for college men. Botwin, 20 a junior electrical engineering student, is president of the American Society of Civil Engineers at the UM. Twenty-two-year-old Vargas-Vila, an electrical engineering junior, is treasurer of the Inter-Fraternity Council. The honor society for sophomores, Alpha Sigma Epsilon, tapped Maria Castellanos, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emilio Castellanos, 402 Boabadilla Street, and Barbara L. Hendrick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David H. Hendrick Jr., 3903 Granada Ave. Miss Castellanos, 20, is president of the UM's International Club and Miss Hendrick, 19, is chairman of the UM student hostess program.

Jules Dubois Jr. Elected UM Interfraternity Head

JULES DUBOIS JR. Jules E. Dubois Jr., 20-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jules Dubois, 936 S. Alhambra Cir., was chosen president of the University of Miami Interfraternity Council in elections Monday. He won over three other candidates. Dubois, who will be a senior in the fall, plans to study law on graduation. He is a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and graduated from Coral Gables High School, attending Northwestern University his first year at college and then enrolling at UM. He has a sister, Lucy, who is a senior at the university. His father is Latin American correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. The Dubois family moved here six years ago from Panama.