A Visit To Fort Lauderdale

My sister Susan and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale from Stuart, Florida this past Saturday afternoon to walk the Riverwalk, which runs along the New River from the Historic Stranahan House to just past the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I really love this walk - the landscaping is beautifully done, and boats large and small are continuously cruising up and down the river. We first started visiting this area with my mother Mary back in the 1990s. I had read about a new shopping and entertainment complex there called Las Olas Riverfront which I wanted to check out. We drove down, parked near the Stranahan House, and walked along the Riverwalk to that complex, which we thought was great, filled with interesting restaurants and shops and lots of people. 

Evidently Las Olas Riverfront declined in popularity over the years. A new owner bought it in 2005, proposing to replace the complex with high-rise condos. That drove many of the tenants out, looking for a more permanent location. When the Great Recession hit in 2008, the redevelopment plans were shelved, the place fell into receivership, and it became a ghost town, populated at night by the homeless. I had no idea this had happened, since in 2005 my mother Mary began living with me up in Denver, and although we did go down to Stuart 3 times a year, we never had time visit Fort Lauderdale or other points to the south. It wasn't until Susan and I took back the condo from renters last year that we visited Fort Lauderdale again, and Las Olas Riverfront was long gone, replaced by high-rise condos. But the Riverwalk is still very nice.

The only negative was that last year, when we returned from our walk, we stopped at the outdoor patio of a place called Salt7 for a beer. Not only was it right on the Riverwalk, with tables and couches allowing you to do a bit of peoplewatching, as well as check out all the yachts cruising by, but it was happy hour, and actually very reasonable: beers for $5 and wine for $7. This time, the patio was empty - no tables or couches, and the building where the bar was located was all closed up. I checked online and the website said it did not have happy hour on Saturday or Sunday. It also said Salt7 still has an outdoor patio. Do they take everything in on weekends and bring it all back out on weekdays, or do they close the outdoor patio during the summer? Or is the patio really gone for good? Beats me. I'll have to head back down there on a weekday and find out. Fort Lauderdale, by the way, is known as the yachting capital of the world. It has 50,000 registered yachts and 100 marinas, which means you have plenty of boats to check out as you sit on a couch and have one of those $5 beers. If Salt7 ever opens up their damn patio again, that is.