STRANGE ROOM

My favorite access point to the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk (yes, it's broad not board) is from Coolidge Street. That's a block north of Harding and the last of the streets in town named after a president. (There's no Hoover or beyond. The founding fathers in the 1920s, lacking any more presidents, continued instead with names of celebrated war generals: Lee, Sheridan, Scott, etc.)

If I ever forget - five miles west in my city house - that I live near the beach, this spot reawakens me. The sudden vision of the ocean also makes me think of my first summer down here, when the center of Katrina first made US landfall at this very beach, a mild storm then, only sixty knots or so, before it crossed into the Gulf.

It's about a nine-iron in the other direction across Ocean Drive (A1A) to the Intracoastal.

On weekday mornings, it's usually easy to find a metered parking spot. Even during the Season.

In Hollywood "the Season" means roughly the period from Christmas to Mother's Day when a lot of Canadians stay here. For the most part these are folks from Quebec. As lousy as the local economy is, it's good to have the Montreal contingency down here every year. Without their money and influence, all of the renovation along the beach never would have happened. They keep the place robust.

The busy way to walk from Coolidge is north towards the larger hotels and shops, bars, etc. From Coolidge my turnaround point is Nick's bar and grill. This round-trip gives me a good fifty minutes walk time.

The lane by the seawall is reserved for bikes and skaters.

Lampposts are double posted. The walkway is paver brick. It's ample and scenic and while not as visual as South Beach, it's easier on the nerves.

Four or five years ago, the Broadwalk looked pretty rag-tag.

The transformation is amazing. Some of us thought little old Hollywood could never pull it off.

The beautification includes the old deco motels too. They all did facelifts. They either had to spruce up or face the hungry developers.

The not-so-busy way to walk from Coolidge is south toward the preserve area called Keating Park.

When walking this direction I pass what I call the Secret Code Condo.

Its balcony railings seem to be communicating to aliens in some sort of strange keypunch language. (click on any photo to enlarge it)

Underneath the building is a nice restaurant and bar called Oceans Eleven. It's the last commercial stop before a long stretch of natural dunes and beach.

At Keating Beach park, the fancy Broadwalk ends, and the more plain one begins.

The preserve is actually at the eastern end of Sheridan. It's a beautiful little stretch of beach.

There are many areas that are natural on the north end of Hollywood Beach. Public access areas dominate, and getting down to the beach with all your gear is easy, a rare thing in South Florida.

There is little building except for an old section just south of Dania Beach where the DeSoto Inn is located, our preferred place to stay during South Florida house hunting trips in 2004.