EP #2: Reminiscing with the Hollywood Historical Society's Clive Taylor

Take a stroll with us through the vibrant history of South Florida, as I, Leigh Ohlone, sit down with Clive Taylor, the esteemed President of the Hollywood Historical Society. We'll unravel the rich narrative of our sun-kissed region, from its days as a pastoral retreat to the pulsating urban heart it is today. Clive, with his wealth of knowledge, casts a light on the fine line walked between progressing city life and conserving the historical gems that whisper tales of our yesteryears. You'll be swept into a discussion that's part history lesson, part personal memoir, celebrating the growth of our beloved cities while honoring the legacies they carry.

Hear my own tale of falling in love with the architecture in Rio Vista and how it propelled me to champion the preservation of our community's cultural touchstones. As Clive and I reminisce about Hollywood's quirkiest characters and the iconic structures that stand as testaments to their legacies, you'll discover the lesser-known scandals and triumphs that have colored the city's past. The episode is peppered with anecdotes about the Hammersteins' peculiar ways and the mystery of Hollywood's circular designs. Join us for a conversation that not only walks you through the annals of Hollywood, Florida, but also celebrates the collective history that binds us all.

For more information visit https://leealoni.com/ or give me a call (754) 244-3352.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to Real Life with Leigh. Powered by Leigh Ohlone, south Florida Real Estate at G&E Realty Group, the show where Leigh and her guests talk about everything South Florida, 24-7, 365, and why you should make it your home, sweet home. Leigh is a realtor, a South Florida resident since the age of five, devoted wife and mom and a dedicated community volunteer. Now, without further ado, here's your host, lee Ohlone.

Lee Aloni: 0:41

Welcome everyone. Hi there, I am Leea Loney, and this is Real Life with Lea in South Florida, 24-7, 365. So glad you joined us. Today we have a special guest, none other than my dear friend Clive Taylor. Hello, clive.

Clive Taylor: 1:02

Good morning Lea. It's a pleasure to be here and I really enjoyed that intro.

Lee Aloni: 1:06

I'm so happy to hear that. I'm glad you like that.

Clive Taylor: 1:09

Thank you, thank, you Thank you.

Lee Aloni: 1:12

So real life. Real life is all about yes, I'm a realtor. Let me just get that out there. Disclaimer I'm a realtor.

Clive Taylor: 1:20

I didn't know this. Yeah, I didn't know this. She's here From the intro.

Lee Aloni: 1:25

Yeah, that's right, real. Real means real life, not just real estate, and that's the basis of this entire podcast. So today I'm really excited to introduce you to my dear friend, clive, in real life and in the studio. He is such a great friend. We've known each other for about five years now it seems longer. He seems like he's my brother from another mother. I love you and yeah, yes, I got you, I love it, I love it. I love it. And yeah, yes, I got you, I love it, I love it, I love it. Anyway, so we're talking about real life in South Florida and the reason why I brought Clive on is that he is you are, you are the president.

Clive Taylor: 2:18

Yes, still president for now. Things change rapidly in this environment.

Lee Aloni: 2:22

Hey, you know life is all about change, but you know, right now let's enjoy the ride Hollywood Historical not hysterical Hollywood Historical Society right In downtown Hollywood. So I'm going to right now, and I'm going to let you go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about you, clive, and how you got involved in the Hollywood Historical Society.

Clive Taylor: 2:48

Thank you, leigh, for asking me to do this, by the way, because I always like opening my big mouth when it involves history and stories of South Florida in general. My story starts in 1965 at Broward General at 5.15 pm on December 4th Don't forget, that's my birthday Send cards and letters on that day. So I'm a native of South Florida, which means I've now reached the age where I can say I remember when, for instance, university Drive was a two-lane road and there was cows on there and people are like what you know and so I grew up here.

Clive Taylor: 3:21

Remember right.

Lee Aloni: 3:23

March 1965, I remember, Remember right March 1965.

Clive Taylor: 3:28

I remember we are now the present old coots of this land that we tell these young people what life was like. And when I was young I heard that from other people about State Road 7 being and everything, and I used to hear people say everything ended at State Road 7. I used to hear people say everything ended at State Road 7. So, growing up here, watching the march towards the Everglades of development, and then they finally reached it right. So that's it, you can't go any further and you think, okay, we're done, there's no more building, they can't. Well, no. So we see now, since there's no more vacant land, we see redevelopment going on in the historic cores of our of our cities, which is good and bad. You really want people to live in the downtown and have a walkable environment, but that comes at a cost of possibly losing some historic structures which tell the story of south florida, which is not that old.

Clive Taylor: 4:16

My interest in history, I think, began as a young age.

Clive Taylor: 4:19

I had an aunt that lived in rio vista and if you know the neighborhood of rio vista when was a child, there was a lot more original homes of that neighborhood still standing and I remember driving in my mother's car, looking out the window, fascinated by these stucco, rough stucco and chimneys and the windows and just the whole.

Clive Taylor: 4:38

And my great aunt lived in a house that was sold and weren't even sure what year it was built. It had two fireplaces, it had little nooks and crannies where you could secret passageways and I was just enthralled by that. And then in third grade, at Pine Ridge elementary school, we did a field trip to the King Crominey house in Fort Lauderdale and I never forgot that and I just, you know, I don't know where it comes from. Maybe those are the things that influenced me. And I got to an age where I could become involved in the historic community and I was asked to serve on boards and I got invited to be on the board of the Hollywood Historical Society and then I was nominated vice president and that president left and now I find myself in the driver's seat of that's history, as they say.

Lee Aloni: 5:23

What's that? I said that's history as they say oh, what's that?

Clive Taylor: 5:28

I said that's history, as they say, the rest is history. So, being such, I guess, a fan of history and to be in the seat of the of the leadership of hollywood historical society, I feel like it's right where I need to be and I think, a catalyst for all these involvements that I'm doing and I'm just going to shout out to Chamber Leadership Hollywood Chamber of Commerce greatest Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and their leadership program is where I met you and a lot of other leaders in the community and I got to tell you the Hollywood Historical Society Board is populated with quite a few leadership alumni.

Lee Aloni: 6:00

I want to jump in. I want to jump in because we are Leadership Hollywood class of 42.

Clive Taylor: 6:06

Right on, come through.

Lee Aloni: 6:07

That's right. That's where we met at the Great Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and you and I are both active in Leadership Hollywood program. Still, I'm a day chair for the Media Day and Health and Human Services Day every year since we've graduated. And what is your role there?

Clive Taylor: 6:23

I moved out of the steering committee and now I'm the president of the leadership foundation. So the chamber has created a foundation to separate the the leadership, from the main part of the chamber, which is a 50136. This is a 5013c so we can raise money. It was a really good move. So that's why I'm still involved the chamber and I'm still on the board, and I got elected to be the representative for my class when I graduated and I'm going to stay on. Of course that was the hook.

Clive Taylor: 6:51

Let's get on the board for one year, and then we'll like.

Lee Aloni: 6:53

I voted for you. You had to be voted on by your peers, so so tell us a little bit about the Hollywood Historical Society, you know?

Clive Taylor: 7:05

in a nutshell, In a nutshell, this organization is 50 years old this year. We started in 1974 by a group of activists. Pat Smith was the founder and she led the charge in 1974 to try to save the old Hollywood Hills High School, which was an incredible structure, like I said, that rough stucco exterior that they did in the 20s. It was a mission style school. It was built by joseph young. It was out in the middle of nowhere when it was built in 1920s and that birthed the hollywood historical society because the buildings were starting. That building was only 48 years old. It was two years away from being on the national register so unfortunately it tore it down before it was that bright beige.

Clive Taylor: 7:46

But people started to look back at that time at hollywood and saw the rich inventory of historic structures that we still have left and thought you know, it's time for historical society. We were not that old in 1974, we were under 50 years old at that point the city. So thank god for the women and the residents that started this organization back then because they started collecting stuff that we would have lost forever. There were people alive still that were there in the twenties that we were able to do oral histories with. So we are now 50 years old. We've done a lot in the community. We're housed in the Hammerstein home.

Lee Aloni: 8:24

Tell us about the Hammerstein house. I love it. Oh, I'm in it now. Oh, my God.

Clive Taylor: 8:30

We call him Ham. That was his nickname Ham, and they were pioneers in Hollywood as well. They came to Miami and followed Joseph Young's development in Hollywood and decided to. He actually worked for Joseph Young in sales selling the great real estate boom of the twenties and he decided that he was going to stay here and he built this home.

Lee Aloni: 8:52

I heard magical words. I heard real estate boom, real estate.

Clive Taylor: 8:55

This whole entire city was built on the real estate. You know model that nobody was doing. Hollywood is so unique because the promoter of our city, the founder of our city, was a master at sales and what he did people are doing today. He had a bus fleet, a boat fleet and he got people here on trains and he would get you to Hollywood up the boat from the Miami River, give you the free lunch, hold you captive for like seven hours and then take you on a tour.

Clive Taylor: 9:25

It was the original timeshare thing he was doing that in the 20s, and so he lays this entire. I mean, it was incredible.

Clive Taylor: 9:33

So no other city in south florida was growing like hollywood was because of his advertising arm and his sales team. He had a fleet sales but he got 30 sales buses and he advertised all over the country. He started a publication company where he made his own magazines. He advertised in Saturday Evening Post Literary Digest. So everybody up north was looking right here between Miami and Fort Lauderdale in the 20s and buying in Hollywood.

Clive Taylor: 9:59

So Hammerstein was a part of that. Hammerstein was a part of that and he hires a very well-known architect, bayard Lukens, who did a lot of tropical modern homes in South Florida in Hollywood, designed South Broward High School state-of-the-art South Broward High School design at the time and he built this tropical modern home. That is all original and when Hammerstein was getting older he realized this was a special home and he donates it to the city. About the time the hollywood historical society is coming into an existence and the city decides to let us have our organization in this home and we open it for tours and our research center is located here. So it was just a kismet, symbiotic thing that happened at exactly the right moment in time so I have to interrupt you there.

Lee Aloni: 10:39

You know I'm having this revelation right now. I understand why. You know I was born in chicago but I moved here when I was five. I feel like I'm cheating if I say I'm native but I am a Floridian.

Clive Taylor: 10:48

You are cheating.

Lee Aloni: 10:51

Sorry, it's our little secret, it's our little secret. Anyway, come on, this has really shaped the person that I am. You know, I started out. I wasn't always a realtor, I was a travel agent for about 10 years and it is so fascinating in downtown Hollywood and all of Hollywood and all of South Florida the world too, hello. But I understand where I got my roots from because you know the beauty that we have down here. It's unique to so many other places and that's why people love coming here. And then when I got into real estate, I wow, I love the architecture.

Clive Taylor: 11:32

That's exactly what you just said.

Lee Aloni: 11:34

Yeah.

Clive Taylor: 11:34

What the fascination for the rest of the country of South Florida, because until the railroad came in 1896, there was no way to get here. You had to take a stagecoach or you took a ship that frequently ran aground and sunk. So once the railroad got here and opened up, people like there's a tropical wonderland and the only tropical environment in the whole country is southeast florida. So countries, beaches, the caribbean, crystal clear blue waters. That is still present today and that is what still gets people to this part of the country.

Lee Aloni: 12:09

That's right. And see, even though we're having a heat wave today because we are I'm still looking out my window and the sun is shining and I'm loving it. It's not gloomy, it's always green and it's just. It's a state of mind. I love nothing more than wearing my t-shirt and my leggings and my flip flops. I don't have to worry about, oh my God, how many layers I'm going to have to wear today and do I need the umbrella, and you know so many other things to worry about. This is so relaxing and peaceful and it's just a happy place.

Clive Taylor: 12:41

It is and it makes it so much.

Lee Aloni: 12:46

Yeah, and it makes it so much easier for me to I don't like the word sell, but to sell it to my customers. It sells itself, it just lends itself to. You know, it's the vibe, and I love the architecture, and so I'm going to bring it right back to Hammerstein House right now, because I remember touring it with you a few years ago. I'd like to get in there with you another time. We'll do it, this is not just the one and done here, clive.

Clive Taylor: 13:10

Yeah, I'd have the keys anytime.

Lee Aloni: 13:14

So go ahead, and if you want to tell us more about Hammerstein House, anything or Well, what makes this house so unique is the fact that it was built in 1935.

Clive Taylor: 13:24

And there are structures here in 1935. What makes this extremely unique and I don't think it exists anywhere else, because I know a few houses that were just like this, but now they've been gutted is it had one owner and the owner was the had it built and it is 100, completely original. Inside. The kitchen is 1935, the cabinets the counters.

Clive Taylor: 13:45

Yeah, bathrooms have 1935 fixtures sinks, toilets, tubs, tile nirvana it's a time capsule, so not only do you get to see the exterior features, you come in and there's this incredible clay tile with little insets of different cool, almost like Aztec design tiles in there. There's an open beam, a pecky cypress cathedral roof with this fireplace. It's so unique and that's why people come here to visit us, because it is a time capsule from 1935. In 1935, there wasn't a lot of building because it was the depths of the Depression. You had to have money to build a house in 1935. So there's really not a lot of building. It was not a building boom. The building boom really came after World War II.

Lee Aloni: 14:28

Is there? Okay, so a little twist here, a little plot twist. Is there any kind of scandalous, you know, scandalous about hollywood or the hammerstein house or anything you know?

Clive Taylor: 14:40

let's spice it up well you know, I've heard people mention this on tour so I'm just gonna say it. Okay, I talked, I talked. Listen, I've been in this town a long time. I'm a press control and I go into a lot of houses in this town and I went into some pioneer houses and we would talk about the old days because I'm interested. And one thing that popped up before I was even interested in being in this organization was the hammersteins, especially vera, were known for being friendly, not like armed robbery, but being kind of club of maniacs and they would go to parties and you'd like to have to watch your silver, or they could go shopping and people have told this story so I'm not saying anything.

Clive Taylor: 15:18

I shouldn't say, okay, you should advertise a lot. But uh, this one gentleman, ralph springer, who was a pioneer family they were here in the 20s and they had springer car company, a springer cab company and bus company before broward county had a bus service but hollywood had their own bus service and it was a springer family. They had gas stations off and he told me that Vera would go into shops downtown and then they would. Just she would walk out with stuff and you know they would. The owners of the shop would just send the invoice to Hammerstein. They're like, okay, this is what your wife took.

Lee Aloni: 15:50

This is what she took.

Clive Taylor: 15:53

They were very nice people, but you know, some people are fuffle maniacs. It's just like what's the big deal? She paid for it in the end because they got invoiced for it. So that's a little fun tidbit. And Victor Diabonke, who was their attorney he'll tell you that all day long. Yeah, I guess we just have a little blip, a little blip.

Lee Aloni: 16:15

I need to drink a little tea, so yeah, you should have some of that coffee.

Clive Taylor: 16:18

The other scandalous thing, and it's really not too scandalous Tea.

Lee Aloni: 16:20

It's tea In honor of tradition.

Clive Taylor: 16:23

I wish I had some tea.

Lee Aloni: 16:25

Oh, clive, I'm so sorry. Next time We'll meet in person, I'll treat you to tea, yeah.

Clive Taylor: 16:33

So Clarence and Vera are still in the home. Both of their urns are in the Florida room. Oh, so they are, you know, resting peacefully in this home. They loved it so much they wanted to stay here, so we have them here if you'd like to visit them as well. That's not really a scandal. It's just a little factoid.

Lee Aloni: 16:51

I'll come and say, hi, yeah, I can go get them. No, it's okay, it's fine, they'll keep. They'll wait. It's been a long time, but they're fine. Let them rest in peace. It's fine, okay, so any trivia, anything you want to throw out?

Clive Taylor: 17:09

there. Yeah, you know what makes Hollywood trivia. Yes, so we have three circles in Hollywood. That's right. We were supposed to have four. One did not get completed, but half of it is still there. Half of the circle is still there. It was on the original plaque for Hollywood. I won't tell you the answer if you don't want me to, but people can do a little research and they can find where that fourth circle was going to be.

Lee Aloni: 17:44

I need to know now.

Clive Taylor: 17:46

You need to know now.

Lee Aloni: 17:47

Now you need to know Right now, but first tell us the other three. I know them, but go ahead.

Clive Taylor: 17:53

Oh, the other three circles Young.

Speaker 1: 17:55

Circle.

Clive Taylor: 17:55

Yeah, of course, City Hall Circle and what's now known as Presidential Circle, which used to be known as Hollywood Hills Inn. And I don't think that circle had a name at that point. But shortly after most people don't realize Presidential Circle had an old, beautiful hotel like the Hollywood Beach Hotel. It was a sister hotel, it wasn't as tall, but it was this big, beautiful, long structure with domes on both sides and a central tower. What year is that from Pardon me.

Lee Aloni: 18:28

What year was that from? I don't remember that.

Clive Taylor: 18:30

Built in 1926. And what happened in 1926? The devastating hurricane. So unfortunately, that's when everything crashed. The hotel sits empty for a couple of years and Riverside Military Academy from Georgia gets there.

Lee Aloni: 18:44

That's what I remember.

Clive Taylor: 18:45

Yeah, get wind of this old building and decide this was a big thing because they were looking for a southern home. Whatever city scored that Riverside military, it was huge because it was a depression and this was going to bring money and resources to the city that got it. So they set up shop at the Hollywood Hills Inn and they were there until the 80s the Riverside Military Academy.

Speaker 1: 19:06

I remember it, it was their winner home.

Clive Taylor: 19:08

So it became known as Riverside Military or Riverside Circle, and unfortunately they decided not to come south anymore because it doesn't get that cold in Georgia anymore. The growing orange is up there and they demolished this incredible structure that was built by Young and put up this glass gleaming structure which architecturally is kind of interesting, but it's not the Riverside Inn. So those are the three circles.

Lee Aloni: 19:30

All right, so the suspense is killing me. What is number four?

Clive Taylor: 19:35

One more little trivia I recently found out within the last year each circle is exactly 10 acres each circle including north and south lake.

Clive Taylor: 19:46

So at the heads of the lake there's a circle yeah, 10 acres. Each circle that was put in hollywood was 10 acres. So the fourth land circle was going to be in Liberia. Liberia was laid out with Joseph Young's original plan for the black community because they were not allowed to live within the white community. What did Joseph Young do? He created a mirror layout of downtown Hollywood in Liberia, including a circle with the park in the circle and a hotel, just like our Parkview Hotel on Yonge Circle. Unfortunately, everything kind of collapsed before it got built. But half of the circle got built and I think it's on 24th Avenue. If you go north you'll see this road just goes like this and it's a half a circle.

Lee Aloni: 20:34

And if you just feel like it feel true, feel true, you're taking me on a field trip, that's it. I have to see it. Liberia was built.

Clive Taylor: 20:41

Something else Most people don't realize that Liberia was laid out by Young. He paved the streets, he ran water, ran electricity and donated land for the black community to build churches and schools. There weren't a lot of developers that were thinking about the black community in this way in the 20s, and that's what he did for the for the early segment, it was Jim Crow, so, um, I think he was a little bit more socially liberal in that sense and that he felt like, if I have to separate the races, they're going to have just as good a community as the other part of the population, which is exactly what he did wow, this is Wow.

Lee Aloni: 21:17

I really do want to go see it with you. That would be really wonderful. So there's so much to talk about, but we'll be here all day because I could talk with you forever.

Clive Taylor: 21:27

I'm just getting started. You're not saying anything.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I know, I know I love talking with you.

Lee Aloni: 21:31

You really are like my other brother.

Clive Taylor: 21:32

Are we out of time already?

Lee Aloni: 21:35

Yeah, we're coming to the end here, but I wanted to ask you about any upcoming events for the Hollywood Historical Society and how we can get involved.

Clive Taylor: 21:43

So you can go on our website and you can join our organization and you will be on our mailing list and you can follow us on Facebook and now Instagram, and we do have welcome volunteers. So if you're interested in volunteering, please contact us. We'll get you set up as a volunteer and when we have events we can call on you, and we are going to have a big event in November to celebrate our 50 year anniversary. We're talking about closing the street off, we're going to have food trucks, we're going to have live music, we're going to have so excited and we're going to try to organize a scavenger hunt that will take people all over the city to learn about the history of Hollywood.

Lee Aloni: 22:21

And then the great finish will be here. I love that. That's the adventure. I love it, I love it. And November, it's so cold everywhere else. But, wow, we'll be Nice and cool and happy. We'll be without our shirts on. Still, oh, someone I know, well, me, yeah, well, maybe I'll wear a bathing suit, you know, just kind of flaunting it to the people, my family in Chicago. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Anything, before we go now, can you just tell me something real about the Hollywood Historical Society? Or about Clive Taylor, real? Do you want me to share with you what I'm getting at here?

Clive Taylor: 22:59

Yeah.

Lee Aloni: 23:00

Yeah, what is it? R? Real? R means it relates to me, to our community, to you, to my customers, family and friends. E energy. It's the vibe of the city which is Hollywood, and the vibe of the people. Yeah, a ask and learn. Learn about our story, learn about our history and L live, love, laugh, enjoy our surroundings, enjoy the beauty, explore, explore nature and all the architecture and all the businesses. You know restaurants and things that greater Hollywood has to offer. You know restaurants and things that greater Hollywood has to offer and and just build connecting and lifelong friendships, like you and I have so through the leadership program.

Clive Taylor: 23:42

It's an excellent program to join and and you mentioned, greater Hollywood People come to Hollywood because they know there's something special about the way that it's laid out. Is the city beautiful, and so having the boulevard with the circles and the white sidewalks and how everything is thoughtfully laid out is a city beautiful, and so having the boulevard with the circles and the white sidewalks and how everything is thoughtfully laid out is what makes us unique in the south floor landscape and I. People are attracted. They're not clear why. They're just like I really like it and they don't really know why, but it's that subtle influence that attracts people to our city I love our broad walk.

Lee Aloni: 24:12

I mean, there's nothing like it anywhere else.

Clive Taylor: 24:14

The only one in the entire state, the only broad walk in the entire state is. And that's Joseph Young. He wanted people to have access to the beach. He didn't want you looking at the back of the house or the hotel, and that was his big mission. Is public access for people to have access to things that they don't normally have access to.

Lee Aloni: 24:33

My turtles. I have turtle love. I do I love my turtles. Yeah, that's right. So what's your website? Hollywood Historical Society.

Clive Taylor: 24:41

Historical Society. Just Google that and we'll come right up.

Lee Aloni: 24:44

Okay, that's wonderful. Well, Clive, thank you so much. This has been such an uplifting, enriching, enjoyable, exciting fun. That's not long enough for me, I want more.

Clive Taylor: 24:54

I want chapter two.

Lee Aloni: 24:56

Oh, you're on.

Clive Taylor: 25:03

You're on. I love you, guy. Thanks again.

Lee Aloni: 25:04

All right, thank you for having me. It was a pleasure being here. It is my pleasure, all my pleasure. Thank you, and we'll see you real soon with Real Life with Lee in South Florida, 24-7, 365. Watch for us on YouTube and all your social media dials. Talk to you soon. Ciao, for now.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Thanks for joining us on Real Life with Leigh. If you love the show and it's helped you in any way, please subscribe and leave us your comments. We're all about helping each other in the community and we're so appreciative of you. You're invited to share this episode on social media and with someone you know. Tune in next time to learn more about life in South Florida and real life with Lee.