The Elbo Room, a Ft. Lauderdale Landmark!

Approximately 15 years ago, I first ventured down Interstate 95 from Canada to Fort Lauderdale. Three other young men, all age 17, drove 27 hours straight in a black Caprice Classic in search of the Spring Break dream. We were not disappointed. The tradition, typically occurring between late February and mid-March, peaked in 1985 at over 350,000 students, and the city of Ft. Lauderdale became overwhelmed. They erected a wall in 1987 to keep all people on one side of the street and cracked down on open containers and underage drinking. With all these provisions, the spring breakers went other places. 'Nuff said.

Last week, my ladyfriend and I flew, separately, for a wedding to the city first made famous in "Where The Boys Are". One underpriced Delta flight for her and one overpriced Spirit ticket pour moi. Three glorious nights and two sunfilled days at the Howard Johnson's on the beach. Would there still exist the same strip of cheap hotel bars that somehow managed to 'get a pool in the parking lot'? The places with beer for a quarter at 9am, fifty cents at 10am, 75 cents at 11am... you get the idea. Fat guys from one school cheering on fatter guys from other schools in belly flop or 'boat races'. Girls, six to a room. Texas. Syracuse. Connecticut. Georgia. Virginia. Oh sweet SVA. Chalk people. That's what U of F girls call Canadians. Would it still be the same? Would it? Could it? It would not. It could not. What started out as a party destination in the 1950s has peaked and been replaced by thousands of beach front condos, hotels rooms, outdoor malls and offices - and not too many people drink in public here anymore. Not that that's a bad thing. It's certainly cleaner. And I couldn't help but think that the bikers sans helmets from Central Casting that cruz by every ten minutes, might be some of those same lost doormen who hassled my Super Bonzai Party Buddy Dave Case for ID all those years ago.