MIAMI BEACH – As Florida leaders plan for the upcoming Republican National Convention in Tampa, a view of how city fathers planned for Republican and Democrat national political conventions in 1972.

This video, from the Florida Memory project, shows Miami Beach as it planned, including logistics. The convention was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center, still extant.

One interesting point; hippie demonstrators were a threat to the order then. Officials in 1972 allowed the long-hairs to have a tent city, rather like Occupy was allowed to camp in some locales. They thought that keeping the youths under control, in camp areas, was preferable to mess in the streets.

Find out more at seewinter.com

DAYTONA BEACH

Featured artists include John James Audubon, Winslow Homer, Doris Lee, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Moran, Jane Peterson, Ogden Minton Pleissner, Anthony Thieme, Laura Woodward, and Andrew Wyeth.

The exhibit opens to the public on November 13 and will run through March, 2012.

Reflections I, which debuted at MOAS in 2009, is part of the largest private collection of Florida Art and is currently travelling throughout Florida. “This second exhibition is a stunningly beautiful follow-up to the first. The works are very different in format and technique, but are as visually interesting and historically important as the oil paintings,” said David C. Swoyer, Curator of the Brown Collection and MOAS’ former Chief Curator and Gary R. Libby Curator of Art, in a press release.

The exhibition, as well as the accompanying definitive volume, Reflections II, Watercolors of Florida 1835-2000 from the Collection of Cici and Hyatt Brown, presents a broad, full-color survey of watercolors of Florida in all styles, cataloging 168 years by the most significant artists working in Florida – and includes examples within Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Ashcan, Regionalism, Modernism and varieties of Abstraction.

The Reflections II volume, beginning with an essay by noted Harvard scholar and Chairman of its Department of American Art, Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., PhD, represents the very first devoted exclusively to Florida watercolor and the artists who helped to memorialize the culture and art of Florida.

See www.moas.org

MIAMI

Former employees, friends and family of Pan Am International Flight Academy’s founding airline, Pan American Airways, affectionately known as Pan Am, together with aviation aficionados from all over the globe and every division of the company, are expected to attend the reunion being held in the Dinner Key/Coconut Grove area of Miami.

Attendees will be celebrating the Centennial of Aviation in Miami as they honor the enormous part the airline played in shaping aviation history while also marking 20 years since the close of one of the country’s most iconic pioneering companies.

Pan Am Craze Over ABC Show

Interest in “Pan Am” is at an all-time high. Along with the noteworthy rise and continued success of the former airline’s only remaining division, Pan Am International Flight Academy – providing training solutions worldwide, there is the much-anticipated ABC network television series “Pan Am,” and the musical “Catch Me If You Can” is now running on Broadway.

Pan Am International Flight Academy president Vito Cutrone enthusiastically welcomes former fellow employees: “…In many ways we are all part of a very special family with an aviation legacy second to none…” Speaking of his own personal experience as a former Pan Am Airways pilot, managing director and head of its training division, Mr. Cutrone said: “…Working for Pan Am was an amazing experience!  It wasn’t unusual to be treated as if you were the U. S. Ambassador to the country you happened to be in…. such was the respect the airline had throughout the world.”

PAIFA intends to receive this special group with open arms and provide tours of its facilities and operations, which include over 19 different types of full-flight jet simulators.

Store at Pan Am Academy

The Pan Am Airways Memorabilia Store located within Pan Am International Flight Academy campus at the Miami International Airport, features a combination of original items, reproductions and new products adorned with the Pan Am logo that are difficult to find anywhere else. The staff of the Pan Am Store are all original Pan Am employees and have a wealth of knowledge about the airline.

Other reunion events include a “Hangar Party,” to be held in the historic Coast Guard Hangar on the shores of Biscayne Bay in Dinner Key which the original Pan Am Clippers once called home during the pioneering days of aviation, as well as tours of the special exhibit “Aviation in Miami: The First 100 Years” at HistoryMiami in downtown Miami.

For reunion schedule and registration details visit: www.panamreunion2011.com

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Pan Am International Flight Academy website: www.PanAmAcademy.com

The link to the memorabilia store can be found at: www.PanAmAcademy.com/pan-am-store

The base of the show is the graphic design work of the Cincinnati-based Strobridge Lithographing Company, one of the country’s leading printers for the circus. Their posters were unrivaled in the circus’ Golden Age, when circuses were one of the leading entertainment forms in the U.S.

The Amazing American Circus Poster exhibition was organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The show runs from September 17, 2011  to January 29, 2012. See www.ringling.org.

SARASOTA – The week before Memorial Day weekend is a perfect one to visit Crescent Beach on Siesta Key. The parking is free and spaces are usually available even on Saturday.

Crowds are a nice mix of families, retired folks and youth with a nice mix of natives and visitors. No smoking or dogs but you can drink on the beach as long as it’s in cans. Best local form is to drink your beverage in a plastic cup or wineglass. Even wine in bottles needs to be kept in cooler.

The beach was just named number one in the over-hyped “Dr. Beach” survey, but just because Dr. Leatherman is over-hyped it doesn’t mean he is wrong.

If the beach is crowded (as it will be in season and on major holiday weekends) head south to Turtle Beach, where there is usually plenty of parking. The sand is grittier, and the beach quite narrow, but it will do, as the sunsets are all the same, and restaurants like Turtles are nearby.

• Joe’s Stone Crab, Miami. Still a classic restaurant, ever since it was in Goldfinger.
• Morada Bay Beach Cafe, Islamorada. Fresh berries and graham crust. www.moradabay-restaurant.com
• Kermit’s Key West Lime Shoppe. Popular with cruise ship visitors but still true with condensed milk and local credibility. www.keylimeshop.com
• Porkys Bayside BBQ. This key lime is deep fried. In Marathon. www.porkysbaysidebbq.com
• The Wreck & Galley Grill, Grassy Key. Lots of local color, with big slices and has a “natural” key lime hue. 305-743-8282.

Any other ideas for great Key lime pie?

FORT LAUDERDALE

Both the 25,000 square-foot Bloomingdale’s – The Outlet Store and the outlet concept from Prada are located in The Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills, which recently completed an expansion project, adding other luxury retailers such as Canali, Giorgio Armani General Store, TAG Heuer, Tommy Bahama’s Outlet, True Religion Brand Jeans and Tumi.

The state’s first Coach Mens Factory, located in The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills, offers masculine upscale leather goods at great prices, including wallets, watches and satchels, as well as a variety of luxury business and travel accessories, such as footwear, outerwear, timepieces and colognes.  The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills is also now home to G by Guess.

Other new additions include Crocs (popular lightweight footwear), It’ Sugar (innovative candy store) and Famous Footwear (shoes for the whole family).  Later this year Sawgrass Mills’ shoppers will see Bijoux Terner (value-priced accessories), Express (chic apparel and accessories) and The LEGO Store, providing even more great shopping opportunities.

“Millions of shoppers from around the world delight in our unique brand of shopping with the largest selection of outlet and value retail stores,” said Luanne Lenberg, VP/General Manager at Sawgrass Mills, in a press release.

In addition to more than 350 name-brand outlet and off-price retail stores, Sawgrass Mills has two food courts, six full-service restaurants and entertainment venues such as GAMEROOM and Regal 23 Cinemas & IMAX.  The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills and The Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills enhance the center’s popularity with outdoor shopping and dining including Barneys New York Outlet, Burberry Factory Outlet, Coach Factory Store, Hugo Boss Outlet Store, Last Call by Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5^TH, The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Villagio and more.

Sawgrass Mills is at 12801 West Sunrise Blvd in Sunrise, Fla. at the crossroads of West Sunrise Boulevard and Flamingo Road, just 10 miles west of Fort Lauderdale and approximately 30 minutes from Miami and Palm Beach.  It is open from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Mon. through Sat. and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sun. Restaurants, movie theaters and bars enjoy later hours.

Call (954) 846-2350 or see www.sawgrassmills.com.

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA managers have determined space shuttle Endeavour will not launch before Sunday, May 8, but will not officially set a new launch date until early this week, according to a NASA press release.

After the last launch scrub, Kennedy Space Center technicians searched for the cause of a failure in a heater circuit associated with Endeavour’s hydraulic power system. The failure was found to be in a power circuit in a switchbox in the shuttle’s aft compartment.

Managers and engineers are developing a schedule to remove and replace the switchbox and retest the new unit. That work will delay Endeavour’s launch until at least May 8.

The shuttle has three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) that provide hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry. The hydrazine fuel lines on each APU have two heater circuits that prevent the fuel from freezing while the shuttle is in space. NASA launch commit criteria and flight rules require all three APUs and heater circuits to be operational for liftoff.

Endeavour’s six astronauts have returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for several days of additional training. See www.nasa.gov/shuttle

MIAMI – Florida International University has two museums, the Wolfsonian and the Frost. The Frost, officially known as the Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum, is located on the main FIU campus. It holds rotating shows, and also has children’s galleries. It focuses on Latin American and 20th century art. Most notable is its outdoor sculpture garden, which ties together the arts campus of FIU. See Frost Art Museum.

The Wolfsonian, located in Miami Beach, is also part of FIU. It is devoted to design, and named after collector and benefactor Mitchell Wolfson. Wolfson donated his collection to FIU, which included 80,000 design items. See Wolfsonian.org.

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