Quite a curiosity to be cruising through the African-American neighbourhood of Opa-Locka, to find ourselves among classic buildings from The Arabian Nights. This tiny former city was developed in 1926 by aviation pioneer Glen Curtiss, of Curtiss Bomber fortune. Why the Arabian style interested him no one seems to know, but Opa-Locka has the largest collection of Moorish Revival Architecture in the western hemisphere. And there would be many more such buildings but they were destroyed in an epic hurricane later in 1926. Still, many survive and the Moorish motif is still carried on in new structures.
Opa-Locka is where Amelia Earhart took off on her doomed flight around-the-world. And it was a regular stop for German zeppelins in the golden era of blimp voyages. But today it is the haunt of Ali Baba and a real (Open) Sesame Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment