Hampton House Miami Florida
Trend Magazine Online™
Travel Article February 2016

The franchise never made it out of Miami due to a lack of enough investors and lengthy and expensive court cases with stock holders. Good grief people! On Friday December 30, 1977, I remember the news reporting that Ali (and Mrs. Veronica Porsche Ali; 3^rd wife) was the proud papa of a newborn baby girl by the name of Leila Ali who has also gone on to become a boxing champion and television personality of Dancing with the Stars, American Gladiators, and news correspondence shows. She was born at Mount Sinai Hospital off Alton Road and the MacArthur Causeway (I-195) on Miami Beach not too far from my junior high school -- Nautilus. I was a senior at Beach High at the time and just had a few days before her birth signed up for the U.S. Army's delayed entry program.

One of my favorite spots in the Historic Hampton House was the old lounge area where the now iconic pic of Malcolm X versus Muhammed Ali in what seems to be another one of his trademark bluffs that also made the late lawyer turned sports announcer Mr. Howard Cosell rich and famous. He was actually born in Winston-Salem, NC, where I used to live.

Most folks that I ask do not know that Mr. Malcolm Little was actually a country boy from Omaha, Nebraska. There is also another iconic pic of Mr. X snapping a photo of Ali in this same lounge. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during those days to hear the lounge talk that more than likely was similar to barber shop talk on steroids. Another now iconic figure that frequented this now historic place was the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose father (Martin Luther King, Sr.) changed both their names from Michael in 1934 after learning the history of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther on a tour of the Holy Land which included stops in Europe. In fact, the Lutheran religion is based on his theology.

I was a child of just seven years old when Dr. King was assassinated (shot in the head) at 6:05 PM on Thursday April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his 2^nd floor room (306) at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. He was on his way to a dinner at a local minister's (Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles) house with Rev. Jesse Jackson, future Ambassador Andrew Young, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (founder SCLC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference), who were in town to assist in that city's sanitation worker's strike. The three ministers had been meeting in Dr. King's room before the fatal shot by the accused assassin and reported racist James Earl Ray from Alton, IL, who died in a Nashville, TN, prison ironically also on a Thursday April 23, 1998, just over three decades after the assassination.

King's assassination was followed by riots in over 100 cities throughout the United States including my hometown Miami. I remember seeing a car being over-turned and then burst into flames, and the National Guard shooting tear gas just up the street from my home on N.W. 74^th Street near 18^th Avenue. I had to come inside because my eyes were beginning to tear and my throat was getting itchy from inhaling the smoke. I had no idea of what that entire ruckus was about at that time. According to our guide, Dr. King's favorite rooms were the ones north of the pool on the first floor. The old swimming pool has been converted into a reflection pool.

Another now iconic Black celebrity that called the Historic Hampton House home while performing in Miami was Mr. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington who was born in Washington, DC (District of Columbia) in 1899 and died in New York City in 1974 at the age of 75 years old. This 6'1" music composer, pianist, conductor, songwriter, and band leader would thrill audiences just minutes away at the now Historic Lyric Theatre in Overtown (formerly Colored Town), and at whites-only clubs on Miami Beach. In the 1920's his sextet (6 players) grew to a 10-piece ensemble (later more) that included Mr. Bubber Miley who used a plunger to make that "wa wa" sound, Mr. Joe Nanton who introduced the world to his trombone growl, trumpeter Mr. Cootie Williams, Mr. Rex Stewart on the cornet, and Mr. Johnny Hodges on the saxophone.

Two of the band's most memorable hits are "It don't mean a thing if [it ain't got that swing]" (1931), and "The A Train" (1939). Next, you could not catch him on the street or football field but you could at the Hampton House; Bob Hayes was born Robert Lee Hayes in Jacksonville, FL. In 1942 and also died there in 2002. We folks from South Florida would refer to him as a country boy. Bullet Bob graduated from F.A.M.U. (Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University) and was a 5'11" 185 lb. record-setting sprinter who was known to be slow out of the blocks but was remarkably powerful with raw talent. He transferred from track to pro football in 1965 and I actually remember when this now Hall-Of-Famer would run punt returns for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970's -- way back when they actually had a pretty good team. Smile! In fact, I remember their Super Bowl victory in 1971 with Roger Staubach as Quarter Back and Duane Thomas as their star Running Back. Mr. Hayes played Wide Receiver and retired in 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers.

The two-story, 30,000 square foot, MiMo (Miami Modern designed) Historic Hampton House building was also once a very popular locale for weddings and I am predicting that it will once again claim that fame when their full staff and board are in place. The cool thing is that you can also host your reception there in the ball/meeting room, and perhaps they will renovate and re-open a few of the rooms to be used as the honeymoon suites to make it a trifecta. In addition, the reflecting pool with Dr. King's old room as a backdrop would make the perfect scenario for the bride's official photo. Just thinking out loud about the plethora of opportunities this place has for the once historic neighborhood of Brownsville. Our guide also gave us heads up that they are looking into renting some of the old rooms on the second floor as office space. Going to be interesting to see how much that cost will be when they get it together. You can also count on this place as a stop on the upcoming QCT Miami Black Heritage Tour^sm presented by Queen City Tours^sm and Travel.

The Historic Hampton House is located at 4240 N.W. 27^th Avenue, Miami, FL, 33142. Their website address is https://www.historichamptonhouse.org/ and phone is (305) 638-5800. Tell 'em that you read about them in Trend Magazine Online^tm.

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