illing itself as the largest dealer of exotic cars in the world, the Toy Store Group in Fort Lauderdale sells automotive dreams to wealthy and famous customers — Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jay Leno among them. The gleaming sports and luxury cars — from regal Bentleys to sleek Ferraris…
Forget the supposed midsummer South Florida exodus. Last week’s Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting was packed. Crowds spilled onto the sidewalk, others were sequestered on the eighth floor to watch via TV. The reason for this sudden upsurge in civic engagement? Free money. Got your attention, didn’t it? It seems…
On most maps of South Florida, civilization simply ends somewhere out west. In Broward County the demarcation line is I-75 in the south and the Sawgrass Expressway in the north. In southern Palm Beach County, State Road 7 is pretty much the end, though some development straggles west of the…
The owner of the Marlins got to first base with us last year when he said he’d keep the team here and, in order to do it, build a new baseball stadium himself. No sales tax or tourist room tax needed for this self-made gazzillionaire who thrived in the free-enterprise…
Here’s some advice: Never tell Russ Rector, director of the Dolphin Freedom Foundation, that you can’t see how swimming with dolphins could be as dangerous as, say, swimming with sharks. “Don’t get me started on the shark thing, goddammit!” an already started Rector thunders in response. “Don’t even go there!…
Info:Correction Date: 09/16/1999 Info: The Sex Empire Strikes Back Adult businesses in Broward put the heat on the heat by investigating local vice cops, but their evidence is slim By Paul Demko In late May, Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle, Broward County state attorney Michael Satz, and other local politicians…
Woes All the Way to Their Toes Excellently written piece by Paul Demko on the Miami Fusion woes (“Total ConFusion,” June 24)! It’s very refreshing to read a well-researched article on soccer. Thanks and keep up the good work. Daniel Zirin via the Internet The Redemption of Crime Boy Lies…
He calls himself a “DMV Specialist,” but his clients call Randolph Williams “the Title Man.” Williams’ numerous customers hire him to obtain Florida titles — legal documents of ownership. And for a $150 fee, he has an uncanny ability to get the documents quickly and easily, be they for a…
There’s nary a bump in the road as you pass over the bridge that spans the New River at Broward Boulevard, nothing to call attention to the fact that you’ve just crossed a dividing line between two worlds. On the south side of Broward, the New River is lined with…
South Florida needs another sports talk radio station like the Marlins need another rookie who couldn’t hit a basketball with a two-by-four. But that’s exactly what listeners are going to get. As the Miami Herald reported ad nauseam last week, WAFN-AM (1700) will be offering yet more around-the-clock sports talk…
The sun is still just a promise on the horizon, the perfect time to zip along Hollywood’s eight-mile-long beach on an ATV scouting for sea turtle nests. Dawn Miller grips the handlebars and scans the sand by the beam of her headlight. Pre-Dawn would be a more apt name for…
Goal! Paul Demko’s article on the Miami Fusion soccer team was the most insightful piece of journalism I have read regarding a sports franchise (“Total ConFusion,” June 24). How could the club go from a sellout of their first game to the abysmal performance of the 1999 season? Through chronic…
The fluorescent green lizard wearing a Miami Fusion uniform has picked a bad time to visit section 113. It is about midway through the second period on a steamy Saturday afternoon in late May, and the Fusion is losing — again. D.C. United has just scored its second unanswered goal…
When you write a book about fanatics, you might expect to offend a few of them, even if the book is, essentially, about flowers. In the six months since its publication, The Orchid Thief, the best-selling South Florida-based tale of plant crimes and orchid obsession by The New Yorker magazine…
They called themselves names like Shai and Kel and Shia and Chen. These weren’t their real names. They were Zendik names. Maybe you ran into these strangeoids hawking newsprint zines or audiotapes along Himmarshie or at the Las Olas Riverfront. Twentysomething societal dropouts with an eerie glint in their eyes,…
In some respects this year’s gala fundraising dinner-auction benefiting the Manatee Survival Foundation (MSF) was a disappointment. And not just because Broward County Commissioner Lori Parrish, in a break with past practice, left her manatee costume at home. The turnout for the event was lower than ever — “probably less…
Gretchen: No More Whining, Now She’s Demanding I am requesting a retraction of Harris Meyer’s use of the word whined to characterize my remarks at the June Dolphin Democratic Club Board meeting (“Et Tu, Dolphins?” Harris Meyer, June 17). If I demanded a retraction, would you respect me more? It…
Seven years ago, when Percy Campbell was still running the streets of Fort Lauderdale as the notorious Crime Boy, he stole a car when he needed transportation. The skinny youth piled up an astonishing 57 criminal charges by age 12, including armed robbery. In 1993 he was tagged “Crime Boy”…
Jean-Francois Buslik, the fugitive from European justice whose arrest in North Palm Beach two months ago was sparked by a New Times investigation, seems desperate to stall the extradition process. In an odd twist Dave Bogenschutz, Buslik’s high profile Fort Lauderdale lawyer, has put our story at the center of…
Remember what happened when you were a kid and you got into a fight with your sister about who called whom a name? Your father growled, slapped you on the tuchis, and it was over. That same sort of fanny-whacking took place last week when Broward County Democratic Party chairman…
Best Place to See It Hit the Fan Your column about the aftereffects of Harris Meyer’s “Hooray For Hollywood!” and the intrigue it spawned hit the nail on the head (Undercurrents, June 3). Your newspaper cited Hollywood as the “Best Place to Watch Democracy in Action” (Best of Broward and…
It’s a classic tale in rock ‘n’ roll: dreams of a record deal — and the ensuing sex and drugs and MTV appearances — nearly crushed by lawyers, managers, dueling labels, and other music industry vultures. For the suburban metal-punk band Crease, the insanity began last September when the group,…
