>>Funding for Florida Road Trip was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

>>Florida Road Trip is heading south to Miami, a city known for its sunshine and rich Hispanic heritage.

Pack your sunscreen and get ready to soak up some rays as we discover the unique stories and people that make Miami so special.

We're hitting the road.

Buckle up and let's explore Miami together.

[MUSIC] Thank you for joining us.

I'm Allison Godlove.

Welcome to Miami.

This city feels like it's been part of the US for a long time, but it's actually pretty young.

Not even 130 years old yet.

It's named in honor of the people who lived here before settlers arrived.

>>Miami in general comes from the word Miami.

It was old for the tribe on Lake Okeechobee, and they're no longer with us.

And so when settlers started to name the area, they went and settled on that name just to honor the folks who came before him.

>>Essential to the founding of the city is Julia Tuttle.

>>Julia Tuttle was known as the mother of Miami for good reason.

She's the only recognized at least female founder of a major United States metropolis.

Big city, Miami.

>>Tuttle was from the Ohio area and came down to visit her parents who were living in Florida.

>>It was really harsh, hot, humid.

Lots of plants around.

But she also saw so much more.

She found the beauty in it.

>>After her husband died, she moved down permanently from Ohio and bought 640 acres of land.

>>In the 1890s, she came down to South Florida and she was actually only the second landowner in the area that we now know as Miami.

And her only neighbors at the time were Mary and William Brickell.

And that was it.

And it was just wild.

But she saw its possibilities and it was her dream.

She told it to friends, she wanted to see this area develop, that other people could come down here.

But it was so hard to get here.

She knew the key to it would be the railroad.

>>Getting the railroad to Miami was no easy task.

>>It took a long time.

She actually tried to convince Mr. James Ingram, who worked for Henry Flagler, was a partner, and she talked to Mr. William Brickell about giving away a good portion of their land in order for the train to come down to South Florida.

>>Didn't help.

He was not interested in it either.

He went down as far as Palm Beach and thought no one is ever going to go farther.

It was just wild country, hard to get to.

But then she saw her opportunity.

In 1894, 95, that winter, there was a hard frost.

I mean, it was cold.

And it reached all the way from Palm Beach, all the way up the state.

And it decimated the Florida orange groves.

Our citrus crop was just burnt from the cold.

She went, “I know.

” She got herself a little box.

She filled it with white cotton, apparently dampened it.

And the story goes that she put in some of the most fragrant orange blossoms right from her tree.

Maybe an orange or two.

But for sure, those orange blossoms and sent it up to a Henry Flagler in Palm Beach and said, The weather's fine down here.

Come on down.

See for yourself.

That definitely got his attention.

And he did.

She also did more than that, though.

She made him an offer that was hard for him to refuse.

She donated half of all of that land.

She donated her land.

If he would agree to come down and bring the railroad and build a hotel and all the amenities, which would mean electricity, water, sewage, which by the way, she got free for the rest of her life.

She also talked to Marion and William Brickell.

They donated land, too, and it worked.

And that was the beginning.

You know, people always said, oh, no one would ever come down here, it was so far.

But I think maybe Mama was right, because after all, Miami is known all over the world.

People come here from every corner of the world.

[MUSIC] >>When you walk the grounds of the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, you're instantly transported back to the 1920s.

It's now a national historic landmark, but it was billed as the winter residence of James Deering.

>>James Deering was an agricultural industrialist, which really means he made mechanized farm equipment.

They were one of the largest companies in the United States at the time.

It's how the Deering family comes into their money.

The Vizcaya House is modeled after an Italian home that still exists today.

>>Deering and his artistic director were traveling throughout Europe and just finding things that were inspirational to them Mediterranean architecture, Italian villages.

>>Paul Chalfin was the artistic director traveling with Deering.

But F. Burrall Hoffman was the architect.

Hoffman was challenged with more than building a home based on the European inspirations.

>>Deering and Chalfin when they were doing these travels in Europe, they were buying things for the estate.

And of course, like whatever you buy a couch for the room as you're getting into a new place.

Deering and Chalfin, they were also buying ceilings and they were also buying gates.

And so imagine if I go to my architect and they say, I want you to design my house, but you also have to fit the ceiling into it.

>>Hoffman achieved success, but Deerings vision didn't stop there.

He wanted to also design the gardens.

He kept a lot of the native plants and ecosystem because he liked the way they looked.

But he also recruited a landscaper to help Diego Suarez.

>>He designed it from afar.

And then when he got here on site, he needed to make a bunch of tweaks because how could you possibly design a site without being on site?

But there's a lot of those hallmarks.

There's symmetry here.

I think.

Suarez did a great job figuring out how to maintain an esthetic of Italian style gardens, but situated for Vizcaya and Miami's climate.

>>Deering built his fortune on agriculture related technology.

So it's not surprising his home would have first of its kind tech.

>>There is direct dial telephone which today we don't think anything of.

We've all got these computers in our pockets with our smartphones.

But 100 years ago you had to use an operator to call Joe in Chicago.

There's also a central vacuuming system, dumbwaiters, ice boxes, two elevators.

This guy is really advanced.

>>And while it's fun to think about how advanced Vizcaya was for the time period in which it was built, it's also a great reminder of its place in Miami's history.

>>Miami is more than South Beach.

Vizcaya proves it.

It's just one way to think about how rich and broad and long our history is.

>>Another way to connect the history of Miami is through their initiative, Beyond Vizcaya.

>>Beyond Vizcaya is a community storytelling series tells the stories of those that live or grew up in Miami.

>>Stories like those of the Bahamians who left their home in the Keys to come work in Miami.

They helped build the Vizcaya estate.

>>Eustace Edgecombe was actually one of the Bahamian individuals that came over to Miami.

Specifically when he came here to Vizcaya, he started off as a water boy, but he immediately was able to advance, did a lot of work inside the home, and he eventually became the houseman.

We know that for a long time, probably didn't hear that story about the Bahamians and their contributions to Vizcaya.

That's a great thing that now we're building partnerships with people in the community.

We're bringing those stories out.

Sometimes we're missing from the story and we're probably missing because someone that thought that they were the storyteller didn't want to tell that side of the story.

But it's important to tell all sides.

And I appreciate the fact that with Beyond Vizcaya we have an opportunity to do that.

[MUSIC] Flagler, Julia Tuttle, William Brickell, all people whose impacts on Miami are still felt today, a name a little less known, but just as important to the area, Dana A Dorsey.

Born to former slaves, Dana Dorsey was a man with humble beginnings who found success in challenging times >>And he moved down to Miami in 1896 when the city was being cultivated.

He came down here as a carpenter, you know, he was working on building the railroads and building the land just like everybody else.

Agriculture, clearing the sugar cane and building the city of Miami.

And then he started to amass wealth and property.

>>Dorsey was Miami's first black millionaire.

As he built his own success, he made it a priority to help others climb the ladder with him.

He lent money to other black entrepreneurs to support the growth of their businesses.

>>One of the most interesting business deals that Dana Dorsey did was, you know, as he had amassed wealth and he was a man of means.

He bought a barrier island off of Key Biscayne with the intention to develop an all black resort because, you know, black people couldn't stay at the white resorts.

But there were black people who had money to come here on vacation.

The white newspaper at the time, I believe it was the Metropolis, had a cover story that exclaimed that this, you know, black businessman to build black resort on barrier Island, which started all kind of drama.

And it created so much of roadblocks for him that he ended up selling the island to Carl Fisher.

>>That barrier island today, you probably heard of it, Fisher Island.

It's one of the most expensive and exclusive zip codes in the United States.

And while Dorsey didn't get to see the island become a black resort, what he did accomplish continues to inspire future generations.

>>Even though we talk about plenty of the roadblocks and injustices that are still in place, understanding that you can either lament those things or you can step on top of those things and use them to elevate yourself and other people.

And that's what he did in a time where it's almost unheard of to think of a black man accomplishing some of the things that Dorsey did.

>>A replica of Dorsey's home sits on the original property in Overtown.

It's listed in the National Registry of Historic Places and is currently used as a museum and a space for exhibits.

It's cared for by the Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida.

>>The Black Archives is a nonprofit organization, and it was founded in 1977 with the mission to preserve, protect and make available to the public Miami's Black History.

From 1896 to present.

The city of Miami wouldn't exist without black men.

And I'm not even saying that from a standpoint of, you know, the labor that built the city.

But when it was time for the city to become incorporated in 1896, there were not enough literate white men who were in favor of that vote.

So a lot of the men who had workers that were building the railroads and clearing the land to build the city had their workers report downtown, and they were given the right to cast the one vote to incorporate the city of Miami.

So a third of the signers on the incorporation document were black men.

And that's why we think it's important to preserve our history.

[MUSIC] >>Not unlike many big cities, Miami is composed of many small communities with their own unique character.

Wynwood is a destination for art lovers, but it wasn't always that way.

This area is a rags to riches or industrial to neighborhood story that inspires preservation of communities.

>>The Wynwood Walls is a collection of murals and sculptures created by some of the world's leading street artists who have narrative driven artworks.

And they've optimized the exterior of commercial spaces here inside the Wynwood Walls, which is the world's leading outdoor street museum.

>>The museum is in the heart of the Wynwood neighborhood.

Prior to 2005, abandoned warehouses lined the streets, and it wasn't the busy art community it is today.

>>Wynwood Walls was the idea of the late founder of Goldman Properties, Tony Goldman.

He saw an opportunity to bring in world class artists to create what would become the epicenter for Miami's art scene.

>>Goldman Properties renovated several neighborhoods in big cities, including Soho, Philadelphia and Miami Beach.

Tony Goldman loved preserving existing spaces while also improving them.

>>So rather than coming in as a developer to create shiny and glass modern buildings, they said, Hey, let's stay true to this authentic personality trait that exists.

And so we found the world's leading street artists.

We invited them here to build something.

>>Goldman purchased the abandoned warehouses and commercial properties and invited artists to decorate the storefronts.

The art attracted not only pedestrians but businesses to use the spaces.

It revived the neighborhood.

>>A lot of the artwork that you see here is really spray paint and graffiti street art at its finest.

>>The Wynwood Walls Museum opened in 2009.

Since then, more than 15 million people have visited.

It's featured more than 50 murals for more than 100 artists representing more than 20 countries.

>>A lot of the artists that you see here have created artworks all over the world.

We have a lot of world renowned artists as well.

Dan Kitchener, Shepard Fairey, Hebru Brantley.

>>The collection inside rotates with one exception.

They'll buff the walls every few years to give an opportunity to new artists.

In the legacy area, you'll find work from artists who have been on display at the Wynwood Walls museum since it opened.

>>For example, the mural behind me is created by Shepard Fairey.

Shepard Fairey has been on this wall.

This same space is an 80 foot mural three times.

>>If you don't recognize the name.

Shepard Fairey designed the Barack Obama “Hope ” poster.

The mural showcases a lot of freedom fighters.

With admission, you can also try your hand at street art.

>>It allows guests to really understand the technique.

Street and graffiti art is not usually in the art curriculum at a lot of universities, and it's unfortunate because it's a really specialized technique.

And while it hasn't necessarily been as respected as we've found it to become in the last 15 or 20 years, we're continuing to see it evolve.

And we love to allow guests to put their hands on a spray paint can, take to the wall, try it themselves and really understand what a complex art medium it is.

[MUSIC] >>As Castro took over in Cuba, many people fled the country, making their way to Miami.

They gathered in a neighborhood where they could preserve their culture and support one another.

That area is known today as Little Havana.

>>It's grown in a way where we get visitors from every corner of the world to Little Havana.

We are now just as big as Miami Beach, just as big as South Beach, Just as big as the Keys.

Little Havana is a place to come and see because our culture is just as strong as it's ever been.

>>Miami and Havana have had a sister city relationship since before the revolution.

There's actually a plaque in Little Havana dictating this friendship.

The Sisterhood of Cities.

And so the relationship between the Cuban population and South Florida is nothing new.

This goes back to the 1500s with a lot of early settlements in Key West, as well as Tampa.

So when you have coming into the 20th century, the Batista regime and a lot more businesses opened up here in the United States for those folks.

But after Batista and then to Castro, you saw a lot of influx of Cuban refugees coming into the island who were primarily business owners.

>>As Cubans relocated to the area.

They also played a part in shaping the city of Miami.

>>The Cuban population took Miami to a whole other level.

The reality is that the Cubans that came from Cuba were highly educated, and because we couldn't go back, you had no other choice.

You had to sink or swim here and as Cubans were not sinking, I mean, we even swim here and we don't sink.

Calle Ocho is the famous roadway in the area.

In English, it translates to Eighth Street.

Calle Ocho is happy.

Calle Ocho is great food.

Calle Ocho is warm people.

Some don't speak perfect English like Celia Cruz used to say.

My English is not very beautiful.

But the reality is we communicate.

We have fabulous, fabulous restaurants.

We have wonderful gift shops.

We have amazing cigar shops that you probably won't find anywhere in the United States because it's still the old fashioned way.

We have Cuban Memorial Way, which kind of gives you a little history of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

And the Tower Theater was the first theater in Miami to play a dual language movies.

>>And if you come across a rooster, not the real ones, but one of the fake ones, make sure to rub it.

>>The roosters signify new beginnings when the rooster crows in the morning.

It means a new beginning, a new day.

And the Cubans came to this country and settled in this neighborhood to start a new life.

But when we say to someone “suelta gallo ” let go of my rooster or “donde esta mi gallo ” where is my rooster?

It means, where's my money?

Hand over my money.

So it's also signifies, you know, new beginnings and wealth and luck.

Always rub that rooster when you come to Little Havana for good luck.

>>People who visit Little Havana will get a taste of Cuban culture.

But for the Cuban-Americans, the neighborhood represents their perseverance.

>>It means how far they've come.

They came here with nothing.

They settled here.

And listen, we are in Washington.

We are in New York.

We're just everywhere in this country.

Making a difference, really.

We came here with nothing and just turned into Americans, but kept our culture at home.

[MUSIC] >>The oldest performing arts organization in the state of Florida calls Miami its home.

The Florida Grand Opera was founded in 1941 and continues to produce performances.

>>A gentleman by the name of Arturo di Filippi came to Miami.

He started the organization way back then.

First and foremost, a singer himself.

And he wanted to have a live opera in his community.

>>The original name of the Florida Grand Opera was the Greater Miami Opera, because it started in Miami.

The group joined the Opera Guild of Fort Lauderdale in 1994 and became the Florida Grand Opera.

>>Well, in a period in our history.

We were kind of known, and we still are as the Met South.

So Renata Scotto, Franco Corelli, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, they're just an endless string of names of people who were during some of the golden years of opera, who came every year and performed at FGO.

>>Miami was Pavarottis first stop in the United States.

>>He had his debut on the stage of the Miami Dade County Auditorium.

And there are many pictures of him in our building, of him dining in local restaurants.

He really was quite a star here in Miami early on in his career, loved the audience and really got to know the community.

>>The group performs at theaters all around the area but have residency at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

>>We share many staff members and work together each time we do a production to make sure that the audience has a wonderful experience and that we can give them the best opera possible.

>>And the opera has been around for 82 years, which is absolutely phenomenal.

They deserve all our support and all the accolades they get.

It's a it's one of the oldest opera companies.

And for them to have a home where they can truly do whatever they want is special.

And we're proud of them and we're proud of the relationship, and we're happy to be able to house them in a house and a home where they can literally dream whatever and they can do it.

>>The Arsht Center is the vision of a group of people living in Miami who in 1970 recognized that as the city grew, it would need a performing arts center to attract renowned performers.

>>I think one of the things that we feel very, very strongly about, and I think the visionaries that created this was to recognize that Miami has an incredibly wide array of artists, of creatives, of stories that need to be told, that need to be facilitated, that need to be given a stage to develop so that they could be the best they can be, but also potentially then tour from Miami.

>>Providing space and opportunity for local artists is part of the mission.

>>Our Live at the Plaza series features only Miami artists, local artists and hundreds of them have already performed in that series and many of them have then gone on to do more.

And that's really the point.

We want to develop and launch careers rather than that happen somewhere else.

And we only get the artists back when they when they're ready to tour.

All around the building, inside and outside are public art installations.

They're a part of the architecture and there's a lot of really beautiful pieces all the way from the floors in the lobbies to the balustrades, to the curtain In the Opera House is a gorgeous piece of art, and the public can have access to that art.

They really thought about public art as a as a really important design element in this building.

We also have rotating visual arts exhibitions in our lobby.

So we're not just thinking about performing arts, but also giving our visual artists an opportunity to be here.

[MUSIC] >>Its said life is about the journey, not the destination.

For the President of the United States, it's also about transportation.

Before Air Force One, the President's fastest mode of transportation around the country was by train.

In 1943, the Presidential railcar, U.S.

Car Number One began service.

Remember this iconic photo of President Truman holding the newspaper with the headline Dewey Defeats Truman?

It was taken as he stood on the platform of the presidential railcar.

>>After the beginning of World War Two, a couple of Secret Service agents thought it was a great idea that the president have a rail car to travel in that was built for safety and security.

>>It converted a Pullman car, which was basically a hotel on wheels, armor plated, bulletproof glass.

Originally, that car was about 160,000 pounds.

When they finished it, it was about 285,000 pounds.

So it it is probably the heaviest rail car to ever be use here in United States.

So it went into service with President Roosevelt.

First trip was down here to Miami, and he use it very regularly.

Probably 50,000 miles put on it in the first couple of years of service.

>>The rail car was used by several U.S. presidents.

>>It was used by Roosevelt, by Truman, a little bit by Eisenhower.

Then it was storage.

And then the museum acquired it in the late fifties.

>>The sign of the train still bears the name Ferdinand Magellan as part of the Pullman series honoring famous explorers.

To make it suitable for presidential use, some changes to the interior were necessary.

>>They reduced the number of rooms to four.

They made the dining room and the observation lounge, the observation lounge is in front, to make it a more useful tool for the presidency.

>>The rail car is now part of the collection at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.

>>We are about 50 acres of property.

We run large scale trains and small trains here.

We've got a building full of model train equipment.

It's really a great piece of property and a great historic attraction.

>>Miami is a place full of history and wonder.

Keep exploring.

You never know what you might discover.

Thank you for joining me on this Florida Road Trip adventure, I'm Allison Godlove.

[MUSIC] >>Funding for Florida Road Trip was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.