American
Czech-Slovak Cultural Club By
Ivana J. Robinson
BBT Contributing Writer
“When
I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging. When my patrons
serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called
hospitality.”
Al Capone said back in the 1920s, and little did he know that
one of his bootlegging sites would someday become hospitable.
The place in question is the American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club,
located at 13325 Arch Creek Rd. Although the connection between
the ACSCC and Capone is somewhat tenuous, the bits of factual
history that remain in support of the theory are preserved by
the club’s current members.
The legend goes that during the 1920s and ’30s this location
served as a busy smuggling spot for Capone and his Chicago friends.
“What do you need for bootlegging?” said Alan Sokol,
of the Greater North Miami Historic Society, who has researched
the story. “Water to get liquor in, road and railroad to
get it out. This place had it all.”
The club sits in the middle of the Arch Creek historic area, where
in 1856 the Army cut a military trail to connect Fort Lauderdale
to Miami. Some 40 years later a railroad, which at the time passed
directly through the ACSCC property, was erected.
According to Sokol, FBI files from 1930 traced Chicago booze to
Miami. After Capone ended up in jail on tax evasion charges, records
from 1934 confirm that somebody paid Capone’s taxes by selling
a property in the Arch Creek area. The name and the exact address
of the property, however, cannot be deciphered. But a detailed
description of the house, a smaller building and a barn match
the site at 13325 Arch Creek Road. At the time, the property was
owned by John. T. Larkin, who lived on N.E. 81st Street, where,
as rumor has it, Capone also owned a house.
“Capone ran his whole business through third parties,”
said Sokol. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that
the property actually belonged to him and not to Larkin as cited
on the deed.”
In 1949, 77 Czechoslovak immigrants purchased land in the Arch
Creek area – land with a single-family home, one smaller
building and a barn. But Sokol is cautious not to jump to conclusions.
Within three to six months, he will finish his investigation and
present the findings at ACSCC.
“I’ve been working on this for almost a year,”
he said. “I’m trying to pinpoint it directly to this
address, but, honestly I haven’t gotten that far.”
The nearby trail and railroad attracted many Czechoslovak immigrants
from Chicago, not just Capone and his cronies. Compared with the
brutality of working in a Northern U.S. mine, living on fertile
land in a warm climate seemed like a dream to many immigrants.
“There were three great waves of immigration of Czechoslovaks
to the U.S.,” said Dr. Robert Petrik, honorary consul of
the Slovak Republic, “In 1948, when communists took over
the country, in 1968, when Russian and Warsaw Pact troops invaded
Czechoslovakia, and then in 1990s, when a lot of young people,
especially from the Czech Republic, came here.”
According to the 2000 census, there were nearly 97,000 people
of Czech and Slovak descent living in Florida. Early immigrants
gathered at local parks and beaches until a group of 20 decided
to form a club at the Slavia Inn in Miami Springs.
When the tavern became too small to accommodate the increasing
number of members, they decided to purchase the current site of
ACSCC. Marie Kosen was a child during the society’s formative
years. She remembers the 1950s, when she used to run around the
main building with other children.
“The club was open four days a week,” said Kosen.
“It was a favorite place for many Czechoslovak families.
It used to be so packed that you had to wait for an hour to be
seated.”
Today, the club is to the public on Saturday and Sundays, and
closed for July and August. According to Karl Kmoch, the club’s
vice-president, their revenue comes mainly from an extensive cultural
program, as well as from the leasing fees for special events.
In addition, Sunday lunch, prepared by Miroslav Dusek, the club’s
co-president and an experienced German, Hungarian and Czechoslovak
chef, adds some money to a lean budget.
Occasionally, the society receives a City of North Miami grant
in recognition of its historic importance, but that is still not
enough to effectively maintain the property.
Kmoch is looking forward to the conclusion of Sokol’s research,
which might shed some media light on the club itself. In the meantime,
he adds one more bit gossip to their 3.3 acres landscape.
“I’m not sure about Capone, but during the WWII, this
was a bordello for the army servicemen,” said Kmoch. ”Rooms
on the second floor had numbers and big, red beds when we first
bought it. That is a fact.”
Today, there is a library upstairs, perhaps a symbolic renovation
after years of vice-women and (possible) gangster operations left
their mark. The structure, native art pieces, cultural program
and meals served at the ACSCC reflect a rich Czech-Slovak history
that will hopefully continue in years to come.
