Hertz, Stephen interview

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/MBVM000005/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral histories -- Miami Beach (Fla.)
Tourism -- Social aspects -- United States -- Florida
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: North and Central America -- United States -- Florida -- Miami-Dade -- Miami Beach
Coordinates:: 25.790654 x -80.1300455

Scope and Content:: Steve Hertz, retired attorney, member of the Visitors and Convention Authority board of directors, was born and raised on Miami Beach and has never wanted to live anywhere else. His father was a prominent business leader on Miami Beach, who owned a very successful shoe business on Lincoln Road. His father believed that Lincoln Road could boost its business by closing off the street and creating an outdoor mall, following the trend of malls in the North. He sketched a design and Morris Lapidus was hired to do the work. Hertz’ parents, Hal and Ethel Hertz, were denizens of the Miami Beach night life, which preceded Las Vegas as the night club capital of the U.S. with its famous performers and extravagant shows. His father wrote a monthly history column for the Miami Beach Sun because he didn’t want residents to forget the Beach's origins. Hertz talks about the social life in the cabanas at the big hotels on the Beach when he was growing up. It was the center of middle class family life in the summers, which gave the hotels needed revenue in the low season. There were “teen rooms” created by the hotels for teenagers to hang out in, dance and listen to music. He says he still has friends he made in those days. Hertz’s wife Jacque started Prime Time Seniors, a service organization which helped senior citizens on the Beach adjust to old age socially and medically, giving monetary assistance when needed. ( English )