Jumbo's Restaurant was a local institution in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. Owned and operated for 59 years by the Flam family, the diner was one of the first Miami restaurants to integrate, hiring black employees and allowing black customers to eat in the same dining room as white customers. It remained a popular favorite for locals, including politicians, throughout its history.
Jumbo's Restaurant was a local institution in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. Owned and operated for 59 years by the Flam family, the diner was one of the first Miami restaurants to integrate, hiring black employees and allowing black customers to eat in the same dining room as white customers. It remained a popular favorite for locals, including politicians, throughout its history.
Richard A. Kahn (1891-1958), a lawyer and economist, taught economics and business law courses, published numerous articles and held a variety of positions in the United States government. Born in Germany, Kahn studied in Heidelberg and served as counsel for the city government of Ludwigshafen-Rhine. During the 1920s, Kahn became executive director of the Tobacco Association of Mannheim. He later worked as a financial consultant and then as Vice President of the Electric Works Company in Berlin during the 1930s.
A research fellowship from Johns Hopkins University brought Kahn to the United States, where he conducted research and taught at American University and later at the Catholic University of America. Kahn also served as economic advisor to the Railroad Retirement Board, before joining the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during World War II. Kahn represented the fisheries industries, and participated in efforts to settle labor disputes and establish price ceilings for the OPA. He handled appeals cases and corresponded with other government agencies including the War Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
In 1944, Kahn became Chief of the Economic and Cooperative Marketing Section of the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Working in the Branch of Commercial Fisheries, Kahn planned and directed economic research, wrote economic reports for the U.S. Congress and government agencies and produced bulletins and pamphlets for the public. Kahn recorded and analyzed investments, cost and consumption statistics and frequently appeared before congressional committees to give reports and represent the interest of commercial fisheries.
Kahn wrote several articles on economics and law published in America and Germany. A member of the Investment Bankers Association and the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, he also participated in the activities of these organizations.
Author Laura Kalpakian, described by some critics as one of the "most unheralded, brightest talents" in the country, has published several novels and short story collections, novellas, short stories, essays and interviews for magazines and newspapers including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, and Hawaii Review.
Born on June 28, 1945, in Long Beach, California, Kalpakian grew up in Southern California. Before she "took to the typewriter seriously" in the 1970s, she graduated from the University of California, Riverside, and worked briefly as a social worker. She continued her education and obtained the M.A. degree from the University of Delaware, and completed graduate work at the University of California, San Diego. Kalpakian taught English at several universities including the University of Redlands and Western Washington University.
Kalpakian's earliest works include several short stories which she developed into novels. Critics praised her first novel, Beggars and Choosers (1978), as "fast-paced and humorous, "comparing it to Alison Lurie's "The War between the Tates." Kalpakian's novel These Latter Days (1985) traces a family history, moving from Liverpool to Idaho, California and Utah between 1893 and 1972. The work, considered "a cut above most family sagas," received praise for its characterization and "descriptive flair." The "highly readable story line" and "raucous cast of characters" in Crescendo also appealed to reviewers. Kalpakian's most recent work Graced Land, appeared in 1992, received enthusiastic reviews and was filmed as a television movie, "The Woman Who Loved Elvis." Two collections of Kalpakian's short stories have also been published: Fair Augusto and Other Stories (1986) and Dark Continent and Other Stories (1989). Two of Kalpakian's works A Winter's Tales and Tiger Hill were published only in England.
Originally born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, Betsy Kaplan moved to Miami, Florida in 1934 where she attended Miami Edison Senior High. She later graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Theater Arts from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. She eventually returned to Miami to teach English as a second language at Miami-Dade Community College and served as a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board for 16 years, advocating for the improvement of public school education up until her retirement at the age of 77. She also served as a member of the boards for the following institutions: Actors’ Playhouse and GableStage in Coral Gables; Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network/Safe Schools; WLRN; Miami Children’s Foundation; and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. Some of her notable achievements include winning the Wesleyan College's Distinguished Achievement Award and the Jewish Museum of Florida's Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award.
She passed away in Miami in 2017 at the age of 90.
