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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> Memories of Old HIALEAH, Florida - Historical Photo Galleries and Commentaries - click on image to view and read > 1966 - Hurricane damage at the center of Palm Springs Shopping Center on Palm Springs Mile
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1966 Bill Avery

1966 - Hurricane damage at the center of Palm Springs Shopping Center on Palm Springs Mile

Palm Springs Shopping Center, W. 49th Street, Hialeah, Florida


Thank you to Bill Avery for contributing this image. This scene is the center of the "L" shaped shopping center, mostly shuttered up with hurricane shutters manufactured locally by Jones Shutter Products. Grables Bakery would be to the left along with Liggett Rexall, a music equipment store, a Western Auto and a Grand Union. To the right would be the Zenith TV dealer, Neisner's, G. C. Murphy's, Byrons (or was it Jackson's?) and the Palm Springs Theatre, along with numerous smaller stores and shops along the longer part of the "L" shaped center. Ruffy's was a restaurant owned by the Ruffino family whose two sons attended Immaculate Conception School with us.

It's strange but for some reason I remember Ruffy's a store or two to the left and there was another record store to the right of the above Ruffy's out of the photo with the storefront facing west and the sidewalk next to Ruffy's. Does anyone else remember that or are my brain cells malfunctioning?

This entire center section at the middle of the "L" in the shopping center is now a Winn-Dixie supermarket.


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Bruce Hirsh 09-Apr-2015 07:55
Tracy Flett recently wrote about missing the smell of coffee being ground at the A&P on W. 49th St. I also remember that pleasant aroma from a time before I had even started to drink coffee. BTW, A&P's house brand of coffee beans was called Eight O'Clock, and it was packaged in a red bag, and custom ground in a red grinding machine. That brand is still around (though no longer owned by A&P) and readily available both as whole beans and already ground.
Don Boyd11-Feb-2015 23:22
Thank you for commenting Tracy. I'm very familiar with the unincorporated area due to growing up half a block west of it in Hialeah at the equivalent of NW 111th Street . Where did you go to school and when did you graduate? It helps to put the years so people the same age might try to put two and two together if they're the same age as you. Otherwise we could be talking a 20 or 30-year span of time based on what you remember and mentioned. Thanks!

Don
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Tracy Flett 09-Feb-2015 21:10
I was born in 1962. We lived with my grandparents just north of the Mile in the still unincorporated section of Hialeah. My grandfather (Jim Flett) was the first owner of the Atlantic Service Station in Palm Springs North. My grandmother (Mary Jane Flett (Dynes)) ran a courtesy bus service to and from the Palm Springs Mile and Palm Springs North twice a day for a number of years with their VW bus until county bus service started to head out to Palm Springs North. I remember Captain Hook. Did he have a wife named Ina or Betty? It was always a treat getting a burger at his place. I drove through Hialeah today. Oh boy has it changed over the years. I miss Farrell's and before that: Dipper Dan's. I miss the smell of the coffee grounds in the old A&P on 49th street. As a kid Ioved the big slides. One would ride down then on burlap sacks. They kept moving the slides west as the area built up.
Guest 24-Apr-2013 05:14
I remember that hobby store. My little brother would take his race cars there to race other kids on the track. It was safe back then to let your kids hang out at the store...alone. So sad how things have changed.
Daren Van Aulen 11-Jul-2012 02:00
There was a pizza place that went in the corner spot to the left of this photo in the 70s. They had the best garlic rolls in the world! My dad, Dan Van Aulen, knew the owner, but I can't remember his name.
Robbin Learned 24-Oct-2011 07:16
I used to go to Recordsville, to see the WQAM Survey, and I bought A Lot of Record Albums there. That was when I was A Student at Palm Springs JR. High. It was A Real Good Record Shop. I Remember : I bought A Real Good Record Album there, called The Roaring 30, which was A Double Album, put out By WQAM, and it showed The WQAM Disc Jockies, in Gangster Outfits, ect. And The 30 Songs , that The 2 Albums had, were Top Hits, of That Time : 1965 I Believe.
Robin Tice Maizer 06-Dec-2009 18:34
I remember the hobby shop, it was to the left of this photo. they had a slot car track that I use to take my brothers slot car and race it. Recordsville was a place I went to quite often. GC Murphy , my mom use to shop there a lot. I loved to eat at he luncheonette, for in my opinion had the best hamburgers. Loved the milkshakes also. YUMMM
Larry W 12-Oct-2008 04:08
The original record store (and music instruction studios) were owned by Ralph Cerento (spelling?). The record store moved either from - or to - a space in the alcove to the right of this picture. At one time it was to the left of this photo between what was Grables Bakery and Rexall Drugs. The owner, Ralph, looked exactly like one of the men from the Peter, Paul and Mary group. Last I saw of him he said Hialeah was too baren on culture and was planning to move to Italy !
Terry Bocskey 09-Oct-2008 02:03
A shout out to Tony Villella. We went to school together years ago. I was in the U.S. Army also. First Fort Ord in Calif. then Korea. Yes every saturday morning hit the record shop for the WQAM survey. If you look thru this site you"ll see a picture of me in my 1966 Fairlane GT. Boy what good day's in Hialeah.
Joe Placeres 30-May-2008 03:21
Wow what memories... I remember my mom taking me to Captain Hook for those great burgers. There was also a hobby store where you could race the slot cars and later became a pizza place. I also remember the music store next to it where my dad bought my first guitar. The Western auto next to that is very memorable too since it was where my mom purchased our first color tv. Thanks for all these great memories Don!

Sincerely,
Joe Placeres
Guest 12-Feb-2008 19:22
Native Hialeahan (Hialeah Hospital, 1970)...I vividly remember standing in this same little "square" in the center of the shopping center circa 1980 when lightning struck one of the flag poles shown in the pic.
I also remember a hobby/model shop being just to the left of where this photo was taken. It was there in the 70's up until the early or mid 1980's.
In the early 80's, my buddy & I would bike all the way from E. 6th Ave. and 57th Street to this shopping strip and even as far as Westland. So much fun.
Tony Villella 06-Feb-2008 16:40
I worked at the record store (Recordsville) 1965/66/67 untill I entered the Army. Ruffys was a great place for Italian food. They later sold it to Dave Goldberg who opened Capt'n Hooks resturant. A sub place. Do you remember Mayers Jewlers? One other note on Recordsville, Harry Casey (KC & The Sunshine Band) also worked for Bill Bernstein, in the record store in the late 60's early 70's.
Don Boyd12-Jan-2008 01:10
That would be Neisner's, a national five and dime store, located a few stores to the right (east) of this photo. G. C. Murphy's was a few stores to the right of Neisner's. Neisner's also had a luncheonette/sode fountain on the left side of the store and they used to sell really good pre-wrapped mixed meat subs. G. C. Murphy's luncheonette counter was larger than Neisner's as I recall. J Byrons was on the east end of the mall until they built the Wometco Palm Springs Theatre and Shell's City to the east of Byrons/Jackson Byrons/J Byrons. Don
Beverly (Dorcas) Roberson 11-Jan-2008 20:18
What about Nicener's (best 5-10 Store, Pizza, (my grandmothers laundry), Three Sisters, and of course GC Murphey's (best Soda Fountain) and J Byrons for our school clothes.