The Pompano Beach CRA is proud to announce the McNab House Restoration and Botanical Gardens is the 2021 winner of the “Out of the Box” category in the annual Florida Redevelopment Association Awards.

“We are honored to have received this prestigious recognition,” said Nguyen Tran, Pompano Beach CRA director. “The McNab House and Botanical Gardens is an innovative mix of historic preservation and future visioning. The entire team is delighted that our project was selected by this esteemed redevelopment organization.”

The McNab House, built in 1926, was moved from its original location on Atlantic Boulevard when the owners sold the land for development. With the support of the Pompano Beach Historical Society, the Pompano Beach CRA saved the historic home, moving it several blocks to McNab Park, with the vision of transforming the home into a restaurant and the surrounding land into a botanical garden. The goal of the McNab House and Botanical Gardens project is to continue economic growth with the East CRA and Atlantic Boulevard corridor. Activation of the park will encourage more pedestrian activity and create a unique attraction with park elements for residents and visitors to enjoy. 

The moving of the McNab House was a TV news sensation, and since then there has been continuous progress on the project, much of which has occurred behind the fence, which obstructs the public view. Recent key milestones include waterproofing of the home’s foundation and then lowering the structure onto the foundation, which will include a basement/wine cellar. To make way for the botanical gardens, the former Chamber of Commerce building was acquired by the CRA and then demolished. In addition, there have been community stakeholder meetings helmed by the award-winning design firm, Bermillo Ajamal & Partners, to receive input about the botanical garden design and to showcase concepts.

“We are thrilled by the progress we have made during these past months,” continued Tran. “There were many structural elements that required completion before moving to the next phase. In the coming months, we look forward to announcing the restaurateur who will be operating the venue and to finalizing the configuration of the botanical gardens.”

About the FRA:

FRA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting Florida professionals and volunteers in community revitalization efforts. With its mission of “transforming spaces, revitalizing places,” FRA is committed to providing a forum for its more than 300 members to share knowledge and common experiences regarding revitalization opportunities and issues throughout Florida.

Each year, FRA accepts entries for the annual awards from its members in a variety of categories, ranging from annual reports to cultural enhancement. The entries are examined for effectiveness and completeness – including the narrative, supplemental material and compliance with the submittal instructions. A cross section of Florida redevelopment professionals, individuals and business organizations judge and rank all of the entries and select the winners

About the Pompano Beach CRA:

The City of Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was created in 1989. It has two independent districts: Northwest CRA and East CRA established by City government for the purpose of carrying out redevelopment activities that include reducing or eliminating blight, improving the economic health of an area, and encouraging public and private investments in a CRA district.

 The Pompano Beach CRA is funded through Tax Increment Financing (TIF). The funds are collected as property values increase and a portion of that increase is captured by the Agency. TIF raises revenue for redevelopment efforts without raising taxes. For more information www.pompanobeachfl.gov/pages/cra

Vince Wooten, Lorena Ledesma and Nguyen Tran at the FRA awards.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

One of the fringe benefits of the awards season is the emphasis upon classic movies that have won awards or have been nominated for films in the past. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will feature 31 days of Oscars, which presents 24 hours and seven days a week of Oscar-associated movies. Given that the Golden Idol is now 91 years old, you can witness an interesting visual history of humanity, themes and pop culture.

Released in 1945 and based on a best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams, Leave Her to Heaven earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color), which featured shot composition and colorization inspired by the American Realism Art Movement (Check out the Edward Hopper oil canvas “Nighthawks.”) While nominated for two more technical awards, Leave Her to Heaven earned Gene Tierney a best actress nomination.

Top billed Tierney portrays Ellen, a narcissistic femme fatale who woos handsome writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) after dating political lackey Russell Quinton (Vincent Price). The film is incredibly dated as Cornel Wilde and Vincent Price are seen relaxing in a rustic setting wearing neckties with starched shirts and double breasted suits.

Beneath the award-winning cinematography, Leave Her To Heaven is a dark movie. You can witness a passive aggressive abortion and the drowning of the handicapped brother of Cornel Wilde. Both sequences are hard to watch seven decades after they were filmed, for the horror of the mind’s eye is filled in by what is not seen.

It is the terror of the mind’s eye that has made A Quiet Place a critic’s darling with award nominations. Directed and co-written by John Krasinski, this film stars his wife, Emily Blunt. The movie opens 89 days after the alien apocalypse and a family quietly forages for food. The alien invaders are blind as a bat, but with sonar hearing and their diet is humans. With minimal dialogue and abundant use of American sign language, we witness a family quietly adapting to their dangerous world.

A Quiet Place works on so many levels: story strength, character development and keen visualization. Like last year’s best screenplay winner, Get Out, A Quiet Place works as a metaphor for a society that is afraid to speak out.

Both Leave Her to Heaven and A Quiet Place are as diverse movies as one can see, but both films truly represent the time periods in which they were produced. Fortunately, for Broward County residents, both DVDs of these movies can be found for free at your local library.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Since our family, the Eller family, has lived in Deerfield Beach since 1923, I’ve often been asked to put in writing some of the history of the area, either experienced personally, or that I heard from my parents or grandparents. For some of you old timers who might be worried about certain old “scandals,” don’t worry. I won’t be writing about those (smile). To read previous historical essays, go to www.observernewspaperonline.com and click on “The History of Deerfield.”

David Eller, Publisher

While I’m Away at College, Observer  newspaper is born – In Deerfield –

Some of you may have noticed that there has been a pause in my Historical articles for a few months and may have wondered why? It is quite simple. I’ve only written about things I personally knew to be true. How our family came to South Florida in 1923, after having first immigrated to North Carolina from Switzerland and Germany some 150 years earlier.

How my grandfather, Hoyt Eller, a skilled carpenter and farmer in his early 30s brought his wife and five children here to live in a tent next to the Hillsboro River/Canal and Dixe Highway. How he worked directly for the famous architect Addison Mizner to do the finish carpentry work for the Boca Raton Hotel. How he saved his money and went to farming land he bought for $1 per acre at what is now Quiet Waters Park, and later on $15 per acre in what is now the City of Parkland.

I wrote about some of the farm families like the Butlers, Wiles and Jones, who were already in Deerfield at the time.

How my father, Marlin Eller, quit farming with his father at age 21 to start his own business manufacturing large water pumps to sell to local farmers and government agencies for irrigation or drainage.

I wrote about the fact that when I started first grade at Deerfield Elementary School in 1947, there were only six students, and I was the only boy. Now I’m informed that first graders in Deerfield are measured in the hundreds. Stories about other local families were included along the way, as I wrote many stories trying to share what it was like growing up here in north Broward County in the 1940s and ‘50s. The ‘60s began with me at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and then onto the University of Florida in Gainesville, which I graduated from with an engineering degree in 1964.

However, when I wrote the story about college, I suddenly realized that I was getting away from my original objective of writing about the history of this area, the north Broward County/South Palm Beach area. Therefore, in order to stay true to my initial objective, I will attempt now to combine the two, by telling some of what was going on in my life at college and, at the same time, to tell what was simultaneously going on back home in Deerfield (using the Observer archives). Eventually, the two storylines will merge when I graduate from college and come home.

For instance, while I was away at college, in 1962 the Observer newspaper first began publishing under the direction of Margaret Moore (the mother of my good friend from high school, Adrian Moore) and the first Publisher, Bill Beck of Delray Beach.

Meanwhile, in the morning of my first day at college in DeLand, we freshmen engineering students found seats in the auditorium before the head of engineering, Dr. Lowry entered. Very distinguished-looking with a white beard and wavy white hair he told us to “Look at the student sitting in front of you. Now look at the one to your left. Now look to the right. Only one of you will ever become an engineer. The others will flunk out … or become a lawyer… or something else.” That was my first day and introduction to college. And he was right.

David Eller, Publisher