Cool Old Article about NE 188th
12-30-2014, 07:12 PM
#1
Registered
Thread Starter
Cool Old Article about NE 188th
Was researching Signature Powerboats and found this cool old article from October 20, 1996, By PAUL SCOTT ABBOTT Special to the Sun-Sentinel
After An Infamous Period Of Crime And Drugs, `Gunboat Alley' In Aventura Struggles To Return As Boatbuilding Empire.
AVENTURA - — Thunderboat Row. Gunboat Alley.
The images conjured by those names and the several variations used to identify Northeast 188th Street between Biscayne Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway are fitting for perhaps the most famous - and infamous - stretch of road in this recently incorporated city.
"It was lots of money, macho men, beautiful women, performance boats - what more could you want?" said Katrin Theodoli, president of Magnum Marine at 2900 NE 188th St. "The street has quite some aura about it."
Theodoli, who with her Italian marquis husband Ted bought Magnum in 1976, noted that the street has changed a great deal over the past 20 years.
It still is lined with boatbuilders and related facilities, but a shady element of the industry that included drug-runners and mobsters has all but disappeared.
"The boatbuilders are definitely an integral part of the business and industrial part of the city," said Aventura City Manager Eric Soroka. "The street certainly has changed over the years, and we look for it to improve and possibly entice additional boatbuilders into the city."
In the mid 1960s, a wealthy real estate developer turned boatbuilder, Don Aronow, moved to South Florida from New Jersey. He developed a family owned tract on then-desolate 188th Street into the first of several boatyards he subsequently would sell.
"Don Aronow created the street and built practically every boatyard that is on it," said Theodoli, who assumed the reins of Magnum following her husband's death six years ago. "Don Aronow created this street and he died in it - sort of tragic."
Aronow, 59, was gunned down in broad daylight on Feb. 3, 1987, as he left a 188th Street race shop. Court documents support rumors that a rival boatbuilder had ordered a hit, but the man allegedly responsible for Aronow's death never was charged in connection with it. Instead, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment for drug smuggling.
"The druggies would land in there nightly," said John Crouse, a former powerboat race organizer and author of a 646-page book chronicling the history of that sport. "At one time, two-thirds of the people involved in offshore powerboat racing were directly or indirectly involved in drugs. You had guys running around there racing boats without any source of income - or at least not any source that was reportable."
In the 1980s, more than a dozen leaders of powerboat racing were convicted of drug charges and related crimes, and Signature owner-driver Tommy Adams was shot to death on Interstate 95 from a passing car full of drug traffickers.
"Regretfully, it [Adams' murder) did not happen on this street," Theodoli said with a snicker. "Now, the wild days of Thunderboat Row are gone. It's now just boatbuilders - no longer the macho man's reverie."
Magnum, which annually builds about 10 high-performance yachts, each priced at more than $1 million, was bought from Aronow by the Theodolis because Aronow did not see a future for 53-foot-long high-performance vessels. That is nearly twice as long as the racing craft Aronow built under the Formula, Donzi, Cigarette, Squadron XII and USA Racing names, according to Theodoli. Magnum clients include pianist Victor Borge, the king of Spain and various Kuwaiti royalty.
With demand for super-fast powerboats declining, business on 188th Street may be past its heyday. But at least one industry veteran, Bobby Moore, is confident that commerce along the street will rebound. He blamed the depressed powerboat market on laws that require fast boats to operate at idle speeds in many waters, as well as overzealous law enforcement tactics against anyone in a fast-looking boat.
"But I have hope for the street," said Moore, 55, who recently acquired a Mercury outboard franchise to augment the boat sales and service business he operates at 3016 NE 188th St. "I've put a lot of energy into this. I haven't thrown in the towel yet. It's a good location midway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami."
Moore, who began working along the street in the early 1960s under Aronow and offshore racing pioneer Dick Bertram, sometimes is visited by Norris "Knocky" House, 76.
House, who served as Aronow's throttleman for world championship victories in 1967 and 1969, said he does not believe Aronow was involved with the drug trade. He said Aronow, with whom he worked for nearly 20 years, once ordered him to stop building a boat and gave the customers their money back when he learned it was to be used for drug-running.
"He [Arrow] wasn't dirty." House said. "You live with a guy and travel the world with a guy and you know there's things said that just aren't true. A lot of untruths are said, and I don't want to repeat them or I might be dead. "I'll say this: Thunderboat Row is not the same as it was. It just don't seem to have the, uh, glamour it had."
After An Infamous Period Of Crime And Drugs, `Gunboat Alley' In Aventura Struggles To Return As Boatbuilding Empire.
AVENTURA - — Thunderboat Row. Gunboat Alley.
The images conjured by those names and the several variations used to identify Northeast 188th Street between Biscayne Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway are fitting for perhaps the most famous - and infamous - stretch of road in this recently incorporated city.
"It was lots of money, macho men, beautiful women, performance boats - what more could you want?" said Katrin Theodoli, president of Magnum Marine at 2900 NE 188th St. "The street has quite some aura about it."
Theodoli, who with her Italian marquis husband Ted bought Magnum in 1976, noted that the street has changed a great deal over the past 20 years.
It still is lined with boatbuilders and related facilities, but a shady element of the industry that included drug-runners and mobsters has all but disappeared.
"The boatbuilders are definitely an integral part of the business and industrial part of the city," said Aventura City Manager Eric Soroka. "The street certainly has changed over the years, and we look for it to improve and possibly entice additional boatbuilders into the city."
In the mid 1960s, a wealthy real estate developer turned boatbuilder, Don Aronow, moved to South Florida from New Jersey. He developed a family owned tract on then-desolate 188th Street into the first of several boatyards he subsequently would sell.
"Don Aronow created the street and built practically every boatyard that is on it," said Theodoli, who assumed the reins of Magnum following her husband's death six years ago. "Don Aronow created this street and he died in it - sort of tragic."
Aronow, 59, was gunned down in broad daylight on Feb. 3, 1987, as he left a 188th Street race shop. Court documents support rumors that a rival boatbuilder had ordered a hit, but the man allegedly responsible for Aronow's death never was charged in connection with it. Instead, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment for drug smuggling.
"The druggies would land in there nightly," said John Crouse, a former powerboat race organizer and author of a 646-page book chronicling the history of that sport. "At one time, two-thirds of the people involved in offshore powerboat racing were directly or indirectly involved in drugs. You had guys running around there racing boats without any source of income - or at least not any source that was reportable."
In the 1980s, more than a dozen leaders of powerboat racing were convicted of drug charges and related crimes, and Signature owner-driver Tommy Adams was shot to death on Interstate 95 from a passing car full of drug traffickers.
"Regretfully, it [Adams' murder) did not happen on this street," Theodoli said with a snicker. "Now, the wild days of Thunderboat Row are gone. It's now just boatbuilders - no longer the macho man's reverie."
Magnum, which annually builds about 10 high-performance yachts, each priced at more than $1 million, was bought from Aronow by the Theodolis because Aronow did not see a future for 53-foot-long high-performance vessels. That is nearly twice as long as the racing craft Aronow built under the Formula, Donzi, Cigarette, Squadron XII and USA Racing names, according to Theodoli. Magnum clients include pianist Victor Borge, the king of Spain and various Kuwaiti royalty.
With demand for super-fast powerboats declining, business on 188th Street may be past its heyday. But at least one industry veteran, Bobby Moore, is confident that commerce along the street will rebound. He blamed the depressed powerboat market on laws that require fast boats to operate at idle speeds in many waters, as well as overzealous law enforcement tactics against anyone in a fast-looking boat.
"But I have hope for the street," said Moore, 55, who recently acquired a Mercury outboard franchise to augment the boat sales and service business he operates at 3016 NE 188th St. "I've put a lot of energy into this. I haven't thrown in the towel yet. It's a good location midway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami."
Moore, who began working along the street in the early 1960s under Aronow and offshore racing pioneer Dick Bertram, sometimes is visited by Norris "Knocky" House, 76.
House, who served as Aronow's throttleman for world championship victories in 1967 and 1969, said he does not believe Aronow was involved with the drug trade. He said Aronow, with whom he worked for nearly 20 years, once ordered him to stop building a boat and gave the customers their money back when he learned it was to be used for drug-running.
"He [Arrow] wasn't dirty." House said. "You live with a guy and travel the world with a guy and you know there's things said that just aren't true. A lot of untruths are said, and I don't want to repeat them or I might be dead. "I'll say this: Thunderboat Row is not the same as it was. It just don't seem to have the, uh, glamour it had."
