Bacallao Family

Bacallao Family
by Rosi Bacallao Rodriguez

In 1957 when I was 7 years old my family came to Miami Beach during summer vacation. We visited the Miami Seaquarium and afterwards entered Key Biscayne and had ice cream in the Howard Johnson that was at the entrance of the Key. We drove through this small island and saw nice small houses. There were no traffic lights, no streetlights; the island had one shopping center and a couple of gas stations and was not very populated. We loved it at that time. Who would have known that just three years later Key Biscayne would be our home for the next 60-plus years!

In the summer of 1960, my parents (Miguel “Coco” and Rosario Bacallao) and I left Cuba. We locked our house in Cuba and came with a few things to meet my paternal grandparents, who were already here. It was then that we came back to Key Biscayne. We rented a Mackle house at 355 Hampton Lane. It was a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home. Both of my parents got jobs and soon we were settled.

At that time, there were 90 Cuban families on the Key. Most of them were friends or part of our family and many of them are still here today. There was no need to leave the island, we had everything we needed right here. It was an Island Paradise!! My father Coco Bacallao enjoyed playing tennis at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club with many of his friends – tennis was his passion! He played until he passed in 2010. My mother Rosario passed away four years later.

My grandfather loved to take pictures. He converted the utility room of our house into a darkroom to develop his photos. During Halloween he would take pictures of every kid on the Key and give them out after developing them.

I went to Key Biscayne Elementary School. My teachers were Mr. Jenkins, Mrs. Koster, Mr. Sanchez, Miss Missio and many others. I was there until 7th grade; then we were bussed to South Miami Junior High for 8th grade. I made many close friends who are still here on the Key today.

I celebrated my 15th birthday at the old, old Key Biscayne Yacht Club. By “old, old” I mean the one with basically no building and only a screened patio for dining and parties. It was nothing like the new facilities we are now able to enjoy.

I made many new friends on the Key. Our bikes were our transportation, and when I was 13 my father taught me to drive in Cape Florida, which was just a dirt road. At the time, at 13 you could get your restricted driver’s license. My friends and I would ride our bikes through what is now Key Colony, which at the time was a golf course with a little pond. We would all get together at the Beach Club during the weekend and have a great time. On the east side of Crandon Boulevard there was a red barn with horses, and we would jump the fence and play there. Next to the ocean was a house owned by Mr. Paul; it had a deck with little lights, and he would let us have parties and barbecues there lots of times. He was a lawyer and we loved to go there.

The doors to our homes were left unlocked and my bike was on the front porch, and we never had a problem. We stayed on the Key during a couple of hurricanes and everyone would help each other afterwards. The houses were very well built.

Who can forget the 4th of July parades with Dr. Handwerker as “Uncle Sam” and later Tim Stickney as master of ceremonies? At the beginning they were not as large as the current ones, but it was a place where you could find all the Key residents celebrating that very important date in the history of the United States and mingling with friends and neighbors. I think we all missed not having a parade in 2020 due to the pandemic.

I will always remember with great fondness the new friends my parents made when we moved to the island. They always made us feel welcomed: The Herrings, Feltons, Claytons, Frieds, Hegamyers, Molts, Vernons, Curtisses, our neighbors the Johnsons and Camarotas and many others, most of whom are not with us anymore.