Hollywood FLORIDA: Laying To Rest

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Mark and I met in Hollywood, Florida this summer with the aim of completing a task.

My family moved from Ambler, Pennsylvania to Hollywood in the summer of 1962. I was just 7 years old, Mark was 13. Dad chose to break out on his own, and purchased a small start-up manufacturing business called Everbest Products. In the first several years, we spent summers living on Hollywood Beach, in the Dolphin Motel (recently torn down). It was an idyllic time for this young family -- in spite of the 7 AM swim workouts in the nearby chlorinated saltwater pool.

We eventually moved down the beach to a six-story condominium, Darby Hall, this during my middle and high school years. It was a life spent in and around a pool and the beach/sea, again a particularly memorable time for my family.

Mark and I returned this summer with the cremation ashes of our parents, with the intent of sprinkling them on the beach adjacent to the Dolphin Motel and Darby Hall. As we reflected at dinner last night, this was a ceremony for the living, a kind of personal closure, a gesture of kindness from two appreciative kids whose lives were shaped significantly by generosity of these parents in this place. We're clear that there are no perfect families, but the time the Spedding family spent in Hollywood was highly memorable and happy.

Description of photos (top to bottom): photo 1: mom with lifeguard John G., taken in the summer of 1963; we sprinkled our parents ashes in the approximate location of his lifeguard stand (photos 2-4); photos 5-9: taken on the beach adjacent to our apartment in Darby Hall

Hollywood FLORIDA: Johnson Street 2

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Activity along the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk. Photos 1-5 were taken during a concert at an outdoor bandshell; photo 6: my big brother Mark.

Hollywood FLORIDA: The Wonder Years

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Description of photos (top to bottom): photo 1: childhood pal, Bob Tobias, and his wife Jan at their home in Ft. Pierce; Bobby Tobias and his brother Ron at our condo on Hollywood Beach, late 1960s; photos 3-10 are courtesy of high school friend and fellow competitive swimmer, Diane Blouin, now residing outside Montreal: photos 3, 7, 9: Diane; photo 4: Diane's close friend Michel Martel; photo 5: Diane and Michel; photo 6: a totally cute photo of Diane and I, right out of the Wonder Years, Diane with a rose; photo 8: Bob Tobias resting between events at a high school swim meet; photo 10: Sherri Nelson, an age group swimmer with the Hollywood Swim Association.

Hollywood FLORIDA: Johnson Street 1

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Johnson Street on Hollywood Beach was and continues to be a happenin' spot for locals and tourists. I have many memories of time spent there as a kid -- trampolines, a pinball arcade, a bakery serving hot apple pies, and the Hickory Pit restaurant down on A1A.

The Hollywood Beach Boardwalk, lined with restaurants and cheesy tourist shops, is remarkable for its lack of pretense. It's not hip, but just what it is, welcoming, and international.

A stage at the end of Johnson Street features a summer concert series. Tommy Nehls and his three-piece ensemble performed last night, featuring a little bit of everything, from rock to big band. It's not an all-night gig, just 7:30 to 9PM, early enough to get the families and retirees off to bed at a decent hour.

The event was very sweet, as a fantastically diverse group from the audience came to dance on the boardwalk. The attention was entirely on having fun and enjoying the moment, despite age or ethnicity.

Note the photos above.

Hollywood FLORIDA: Back In The Hood

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Arrive Hollywood FLORIDA. I had a rather idyllic youth, growing up near the beach and the sea, our playgrounds. The buildings are older now, difficult to know where quaint becomes depressed, a combination of age and the poor economy.

Times change, as they must.

It's remains, I think, a very therapeutic place.

Working Madrid 2

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Working Madrid 1

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