bserver O LONGBOAT
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
Thursday, JUNE 21, 2012
NEIGHBORS
DIVERSIONS
INSIDE
Jack Black enjoys a good ‘ribbing’ as the grill master. PAGE 12A
Emily Stroud is giving bag ladies a good name. INSIDE
Casa del Mar couples say, ‘I do, again.’ PAGE 18A
OUR TOWN
room to grow by Robin Hartill | City Editor
Hilton renovation in the works
with the exception The Longboat Key resort hopes to start construction in May, structures, of the northern-most building, will be completely renoresulting in a new look and the addition of 80 to 85 rooms. which vated. The new Hilton would
+ Super stupendous beach read
The Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort is getting a complete makeover and more beds. Town staff met Tuesday afternoon with Andy Berger, vice president of operations of the Delray Beach-based Ocean
Properties Ltd., which owns the Longboat Key Hilton, attorney John Patterson and architect John Wurst, of the Coral Gables firm, Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, to discuss how to proceed with the plan. “Ocean Properties has decided
to go forward as rapidly as possible,” Patterson told the Longboat Observer. “We’re hoping for commencement of construction in May 2013. That’s the end result we have to get to.” Current plans for the Hilton include tearing down existing
Longboat Key resident and author Jane K. Webb has recently released a new children’s book, “My Super Stupendous Day at the Beach.” The Casa del Mar resident wrote the book about a little girl who spends a day on the beach befriending different creatures. She rides a pelican, has tea with crabs and leads the sandpipers in a marching band. The book is available at amazon.com and Casa del Mar, 4621 Gulf of Mexico.
bring guests through a reception area with water features and include a large courtyard; angled rooms that maximize waterfront views and meeting space approximately double the cur-
SEE HILTON / PAGE 2A
FLASH OF BRILLIANCE
+ Harry’s welcomes summer solstice Where will you be 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 21? Harry’s Continental Kitchens is hosting a Summer Solstice Soirée to benefit the Surfrider Foundation. The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. There will be fresh-food stations, creative cocktails, wine and exotic beers, and live music by AMI’s Colton McKenna. Cost is $25 per person.
Turtle tracks Week of June 10 through June 16
Nests...............................69 False crawls.....................46 2012 2011 Nests
267
111
False crawls
165
75
Courtesy photo
Longboat Key resident Lou Newman captured this photo of a green flash at sunset Sunday, June 17, on Longboat Key. Green flashes are optical phenomena that occur shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when a green spot or line is visible, usually for no more than a second or two.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION by Robin Hartill | City Editor
Film could put spotlight on Key Writer/director Michael Maren hopes to begin filming ‘A Short History of Decay,’ an independent film that features a fictional Longboat couple and their son, this fall. Bob and Sandy Fisher live in a condominium on Longboat Key. Their son, Nathan, is a Brooklyn, N.Y., hipster/writer with no “real” job whose girlfriend, who works as a paralegal but has just published a book, dumped him. He ventured to the Key to be with his parents
They may sound like your nextdoor neighbors, but the Fishers don’t live in your condominium. They’re characters in the independent film, “A Short History of Decay,” that is both set on and will most likely be filmed on the Key. According to Michael Maren, who
wrote and is directing the film, Nathan Fisher gets a call early on in the film that his father has had a stroke. His mother, in the meantime, is stricken with early-stage Alzheimer’s
SEE FILM / PAGE 2A
Designed by Kerry Durkin
A poster designed for “A Short History of Decay” shows Longboat Key’s shoreline.
INDEX Bridge Bites....... 27A Briefs....................4A
Classifieds ........ 29A Cops Corner..........9A
Crossword.......... 28A Opinion.................8A
Real Estate........ 19A Weather............. 28A
Vol. 34, No. 48 | Two sections YourObserver.com