photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> Miami Area GROCERY STORES and Food Markets Historical Photos Gallery - All Years - click on image to view > 1964 - A&P Supermarket and Al's News Stand at 8225-27-29 SW 124 Street, Miami
previous | next
1964

1964 - A&P Supermarket and Al's News Stand at 8225-27-29 SW 124 Street, Miami

8225-27-29 SW 124 Street, Dade County, Florida


The Shack Bar attempted to move into the vacant space next to Al's News Stand after their previous bar in the area was torn down but the zoning appeals board turned them down due to some community opposition to having drunks next door to Al's News Stand where a lot of kids went to read magazines, buy comic books, etc.


other sizes: small medium large original auto
comment | share
Greg P. 08-Oct-2018 02:25
Does anyone know anything about Al— who he was and what became of him? For some reason, i’m Thinking the guy was a WWII vet...

My dad used to take me to Al’s about once a week, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and I can still distinctly remember the layout, lighting and smell of that place. It was THE preeminent newsstand in that part of Miami— he had a lot of unusual and hard-to-find magazines on the shelf. I could always find my latest copy of Starlog’s, Cinefantastique, Famous Monsters, Fangoria, Epic, Creepy, Heavy Metal, Fortean Times etc... Al was an interesting and rather surly character. When I was with my dad he was always cool, but later in the early 80’s when my friends and I would ride our bikes there he would be a real crank. Great memories. As an enthusiastic reader, That place always evoked a sense of joy and wonder in me!
Andy Kell 24-Jul-2015 02:19
I spent a lot of time in Al's Newsstand. Yes, Al had kind of a cantankerous demeanor but deep-down, he was a pussy cat. I remember he closed during the lunch hour and left a hand written note on the door about something to the effect of "maintaining his sanity". I passed by on my way to Palmetto Jr. High School in the middle 1960's. Al never seemed to mind me spending a lot of time looking over the Superman comics or the Archie comics or the Mad Magazines and the Classics Illustrated comic books. Al also had no problem selling tobacco products to... well, just about anyone.
Rob MacNeill 04-Nov-2010 17:57
I was born at Mercy Hospital in Jan/1959 and lived on S.W. 133rd Street, between Chapman Field Drive and S.W. 62nd Avenue. I used to walk or ride my bike to Al's from 1964-1969, when my parents divorced and I had to move to Tallahassee for 2 years before I came back to Coconut Grove to live with my Dad and brother. Al would sell me cigarettes when I was no more than 7 or 8years old. My older sister would write a note "from my Mom," and he would sell me a whole carton! My brother and I had a huge comicbook collection from his place. In 1985, I was a cook at Sakura Japanese Restaurant in Coral Gables at the old Lum's on US-1 and LeJeune Rd. They had a South Miami branch right next to Al's space and sometimes I cooked there too. I remember going into Al's one afternoon and couldn't believe he was still there behind the counter!(1985) My Mom used to shop at the A&P there...
Guest 10-Aug-2010 05:17
Doesn't anyone remember Hungry Hounds Restaurant, behind A&P on S Dixie?
Jeff Koehler 16-May-2010 00:24
Craft's was the most amazing little store.....shoe polish, fishing line, fresh meats, cold beer. Anything you needed, they had, or would order for you. Harold was truly a very special person, friend. I just got home from his memorial service at Stanfill.......God Bless you Harold....
Guest 30-Apr-2009 15:29
Weird that the one poster commented about the smell of Al's. Amazing that I remember that, too. I grew up off 152nd Street, but Al's was closest news stand. Bought a lot of Street & Smith football magazines there, as well as a lot of Cliff's Notes. I remember Al as being sort of a curmudgeon; then again, sitting all day in that dark store probably made him ornery. What year did Al's close?
Jim 19-Oct-2008 00:04
This is the first place I have seen a reference to Bogart's supermarkets. I lived in Boca in the early 70's as a kid, and I recall shopping for groceries at the Boca Bogart's. When we moved north to the Orlando area, there was a location in Ocoee, but it's long gone. There's not really much information available about them. I suspect they fell to the wayside as the larger companies grew. (I'm in OH now and would kill for a Publix.) I do remember a cashier at the Boca store who always gave the kids Kraft carmels as the parents were checking out. What a nice memory.
Ted 29-Apr-2008 01:20
The whole building is still the same. There is an Ace hardware and Gardners market where the A&P was.

Who else remembers Bogarts that went in where the A&P was? Used to buy beer there because they never carded.
Steve 19-Mar-2008 01:22
What a great web site! Anyone remember Quik Chik adjacent to the 7-11, behind Royal Castle? They made the greatest fried chicken wings. It was take out only and they had white generic boxes similar to KFC's. I had a friend who used to buy Nudist Camp magazines from Al's News Stand.
John 21-Feb-2008 02:11
Christine, Message received and thanks. I just turned 6 years old when we moved to Miami in 61, so I would never have seen the old Crafts. Very interesting. I know exactly where you're talking about too. Like Al's, I have fond, but vague memories of Crafts. I would have never thought or remembered if you hadn't come on the site and posted. I had totally forgotten about good old Crafts, a wonderful store for a kid w/ a few quarters. I probably crossed U.S. 1 for the first time (ever) to get to your family's store, possibly on the walk home from the kiddie show at Suniland Theatre.....remember that?
Guest 20-Feb-2008 05:13
Addendum: The new Craft's store was built and opened in 1954.
Guest 20-Feb-2008 04:10
Hi John,

Craft's Food Store sold pretty much everything, toys, produce, magazines, canned goods, candy, even TV tubes, had a butcher counter at the back of the store, and so much more. Pretty much everything.

The old store, before the new one was built, was across from A & P and Al's, well, closer to the corner, it faced them, but was the second building from U.S. 1, right after Royal Castle and before the trailer park.

My mom said it was called Craft's Food Market when it was on that side of the highway, but changed to Craft's Food Store when my Uncle Art built the new store. The old store had front doors that they lifted up into the air, the new store had real doors! ;-)

I'll see what I can find in the way of images, but we lost so much to Hurricane Andrew. :-(

I did find a small article written by Jack Roberts for the Miami Herald (don't know what year) about the store.
John 16-Feb-2008 22:14
Christine, Sorry about that. I am the "Guest". I hit add comment by accident. Jog my memory on exactly where Crafts was located before it moved. That part is real fuzzy to me. I must have been going to Crafts during the 60s, so help me out w/ my frame of reference and what products you guys sold. Thanks!
Guest 16-Feb-2008 22:11
Christine, Yes on your family's store. If I remember correctly, Crafts was on 124th st. just across the hwy from Royal Castle....caddy corner across, and right on the other side of the train tracks. Crafts had a lot of candy products right? Seems like it was a "bigger" Al's newstand w/ more products? If you can get a photo, why not get Don to post it.
Guest 14-Feb-2008 05:49
Hey, our old store was near there before the new one was built across South Dixie.

Any one have any memories of Craft's Food Store? Any old pics?
John 11-Feb-2008 00:38
Yes Al, I do remember the pine-cone fights....outch! You also brought up another great memory and that was the cinnamon toothpicks sold at school by kids that must have spent some of their weekends soaking them. You remember odd-even gambling w/ nickels or pitching nickels against a wall at Palmetto Jr. High?
Carol 08-Feb-2008 15:15
I remember when this center was built. It was our favorite grocery store since it was new and clean. My brothers often had haircuts at the barber there and Al's was a staple.
Al 08-Feb-2008 06:18
Wow! What memories! I grew up about 1.5 miles SE of this picture. I went to all of the Palmetto Schools in the area in the 60's and 70's. In the mid 60's I used to ride my bike from Palmetto Elementary (also on 124th Street), to Al's News Stand for models, and to the 7 Eleven across 124th Street from the A&P for candy and gum. Spillers Drugs was right around the corner from Al's facing the A&P. I would buy small bottles of cinnamon oil from Spillers and soak toothpics in it to make cinnamon toothpics.

Those pictures of Stonehaven (which spans between Palmetto Elementary on 124th and Palmetto High on 120th), with the tall Dade County pines all over the place are just plain beautiful. The whole area was adorned with pines in those days. I think Hurricane Andrew must have killed most of them. Does anyone remember pinecone fights? ; ^)

Don, thanks for the great pictures and the great memories.

Al
John 26-Jan-2008 03:51
Curt, Al was a trip. He hollered at us too for similar activities. Man I can still smell that place. He was a regular stand-up guy and a favorite of teens throughout the Howard Drive-Palmetto locale. I think my parents frowned upon my visits to Al's. I collected a lot of baseball cards from Al's.....bubblegum too. Unfortunately, my collection never survived my tour in the Army. I think my Mom trashed them after I left. Little did she know that those cards today would be probably fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. I had quite a collection that I accumulated through an awful lot of smart trading.
Curt 25-Jan-2008 04:07
I grew up in the area in the 70's and in junior high and high school I can remember Al yelling at us for trying to sneak a peek at the dirty mags. Fond memories
John 19-Jan-2008 02:32
Don, That is amazing! Sorry about the delay in my response, but I've been out of the net on business. There was a foursome that my dad golfed w/ at HAFB, and Deece was one of the four. I met him once or twice. I was still in the military. Course it was yes sir-no sir, but Deece was a good guy. very distinguished.....Paul Newman-type look. My Dad passed away in 1999. He's buried at Arlington National Cemetary. I accepted the flag at his burial. The Coast Guard Honor Guard of officers performed well at the ceremony. I've visited his gravesite at Arlington about 6 or 7 times since 2003. I usually go when I travel to DC area. They have a "user friendly" system there for family. I park right in front of the cemetary tourist building, run in and get my vehicle pass, and they allow me to drive into the cemetary. My Grandmother (Dad's Mom) is buried in the Army Nurse section of Arlington. She died in 1937. Amazing huh?
Don Boyd13-Jan-2008 17:48
John, I remember your father's name very well and I probably met him a few times whenever I pulled active duty in the Federal Building.

Deese's full name was D. C. Thompson - he rose to become Vice Admiral in charge of the Atlantic Area. He should have become Commandant but didn't. After he retired with 36 years from the USCG he was the airport manager at Freeport in the Bahamas in 1989 and he came over to MIA to see how we did things and I spent a wonderful couple of hours with him showing him around the entire airport and talking. Everyone CG aviator that I knew thought he was a great guy. It's a small world!

Don
John 13-Jan-2008 15:47
Barber shop yes.....I got cut there a few times too. Remember the Princeton haircut in the 60s? I used to frequent Al's for comic books, bubble gum, and cigarettes......didn't need an ID back then. He sold just about anything a kid could want. I think Al got busted a couple of times. Maybe for selling Playboy, but I'm not sure. Spiller's Drug Store was around the corner; I knew Spiller's son.

Don, I found it! Google searches produce results to your photos. Amazing. By the way, last night after I discovered your site, I posted a comment at the 1964 USCG Dinner Key photo link. Not until later, did I find out that you were USCG too. My Dad was a C-123 pilot who retired in 64 after 22 years, then went on to a successful 20 year career w/ the 7th USCG District as the Safety Engineer. He inspected all the bases from Tampa down to PR. He retired from that around 85 I think +/-. I have his retirement photos somewhere. He golfed w/ Adm Deece....something or other out at HAFB for years. (I can't remember Deece's last name). Thanks much Don.
Steven 09-Nov-2007 20:27
There used to be a barber shop in that shopping center as well. My grandpa (who lived on Chapman Field Dr) used to take me when I was a kid in the late 60's.
Ray26-Oct-2007 01:54
Thanks Don. I since joined the site and figured out I can actually show the picture in my post. Very nice feature.

So here's the Google Earth image I mentioned:

Don Boyd19-Oct-2007 01:58
Ray, actually you can post a link in the comments sections by putting a < in front of the URL with no space between it and the h in http..... and make sure the tail end is clean without a period to end the sentence unless you have a space in between. Don
Ray 19-Oct-2007 01:12
I'm playing with Google Earth (highly recommended). I zoomed into this address and sure enough, the building built by A&P is still standing! The shadow of the sign tower gives it away. Cool to see old buildings still standing in Miami. If you don't have google earth and want to check it out, put this after my domain name: /images/miami/8225SW124ST.jpg rayvaughan (you know) com.

I think the news stand part was replaced, or at least was extended much closer to the street. You can see the seam in the roofing.
Joanne 09-Aug-2007 17:23
My Mother and I shopped here through the 60's and into the early 70's. We used to collect the green stamps, I was in charge of pasting them into the books.
Guest 10-Jul-2007 12:27
Didn't realize Al's was around that long ago. I remember as a kid in the early 80's Al would catch me sneaking looks into Playboy mags. That A&P has been a Garderner's Market for about 20 years or so now.