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MiamiStories: Up In Smoke

This story, as told by Oscar Fuentes, is part of an oral history series.

It was the summer of 2003; I was living in a very old and ugly apartment building between Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 2nd Avenue, off of 33rd Street. I had a bitter, mentally unstable landlord that walked around with a concealed weapon. I had a part-time gig at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, now HistoryMiami. I would give guided tours of the permanent galleries and write historical theater scripts for their summer camp program.

Every afternoon of that summer I would arrive home from work, and I remember noticing really shady people coming in and out of my building -- pimps and prostitutes -- the same ones I would see walking the sidewalks while driving on the boulevard. I also remember a particular barbecue smell circulating the hallways of the building.

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Miami Stories is a project by WLRN, the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and HistoryMiami. To share your story, click here

 

Credit HistoryMiami

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