Yo Soy Hialeah: An Honest Hustle

Part two of several stories about Hialeah.

Carlos Miller interviewing a Hialeah street vendor.

The second installment of Yo Soy Hialeah focuses on the city's street vendors. Carlos Miller and I spent a day seeking out the hard working peddlers in some of Hialeah's busiest intersections.  Filming wasn't easy.  We had to dash in between cars and trucks as they pounded the pavement.

None of the men we interviewed spoke English. We have a few explanatory subtitles in the video but you can read about their lives below.

SEE THE VIDEO

Click here if the embedded video doesn't appear.

THE STORIES

Marcos Estopiñan (a.k.a. "El Manicero," or peanut vendor), is a former trapeze artist from Cuba who worked with Ringling Brothers Circus in the U.S. until an injury halted his career.  He's still quite the performer though, peddling peanuts in a hairy intersection while entertaining commuters with his upbeat personality and singing.

Marcos lives in Little Havana with his wife and commutes to Hialeah on a motorcycle. His daughter is studious and is looking forward to college, although he makes only $50 a day at his job.  Marcos works without an official street vendor's license.

Alberto from Nicaragua sells bottled water and churros (fried-dough pastry covered with sugar) at another busy intersection.  He was fined $350 for not having a license; it took him seven days to recoup that fine. He told us that street peddling isn't easy, because many people who drive by can be nasty, although some are nice.  "It's risky dealing with so many cars," he said.

Despite a meager income, he still manages to help out his family in Central America.  Alberto has been living in the U.S. for five years and became a street vendor because he couldn't find any other kind of employment.

Gilberto immigrated from Cuba in 1994. The former bus driver worked as a welder in the U.S. until a motorcycle accident left him in a coma for eight days and an injured hand. Since the accident took place on the road, he was ineligible for workmen's compensation and other work-related benefits.

Like El Manicero, Gilberto has a positive outlook and banters with potential customers even if they don't purchase any of his wares, which on the day of the shoot were solar-powered dashboard clocks. 

Gilberto had a protégé of sorts -- 18 year-old Johnny who claimed he was from Argentina, although he had no accent. Johnny told us he likes to work hard and make an honest living instead of a dishonest one. "I like to be decent with folks. I try to sell these little things to eat," he added. "Because if not I won't have food." On the day of the shoot, he told us he was saving money to get his $90 street vendor's permit and that he really wanted to go to college.

Documenting the lives of these men was a very challenging; we had to improvise and get these strangers to open up to us.

It was also humbling.

Their determination and fortitude made me gain a new appreciation for hard working immigrants who just want to make an honest living.  This is just as much part of the real America for me, beyond the hallowed halls of white collar kingdoms.

My father, a Cuban immigrant, thankfully found work here as an architect -- he revalidated his license to practice in the U.S. -- but I remember hearing stories about Cubans who were successful professionals in Cuba, forced to step down to eke a living during the initial exodus.  Some would stand on street corners under flight paths to clean windshields.

While researching the topic of Florida's street vendors, I came across a Virginia-based organization that filed a lawsuit against the city of Hialeah.

"In October 2011, the newly created Institute for Justice Florida Chapter filed a lawsuit in state court on behalf of street vendors.  These vendors are challenging a law passed by the city of Hialeah, Fla. (located near Miami), that not only makes vendors’ work more dangerous by forcing them to constantly be on the move rather than vend in one location, but also is purposefully anticompetitive—making it impossible for vendors to compete against politically powerful brick-and-mortar businesses."

Read more at the Institute for Justice.

So next time you see those silly looking plastic flower clocks on a dashboard -- they do seem to be ubiquitous in Miami -- think about these hard working men.

Yo Soy Hialeah: Stephen's New York Style Deli

Part one of several stories about Hialeah.

Stephen's Restaurant is located at 1000 E. 16th St. in Hialeah.

It's a rather long story about how I got back into filmmaking, but suffice it to say that Comcast liked my treatment and gave me an extraordinary opportunity to explore my passion for documentary storytelling.

Project Open Voice involves a handful of producers like myself in cities across the country who are documenting local life, all in a commitment to broaden the discovery of local content. Hialeah is one of six trial markets. The other five include: Peterborough, NH; Medford, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Houston, TX; and Fresno, CA.

My first video, a three-minute documentary produced in collaboration with Carlos Miller of Magic City Media, focuses on Stephen's Deli in Hialeah. Most people think of Hialeah as a very Hispanic community and no doubt that is exactly what it is today. But the city wasn't always about misspelled Spanglish signs and botanicas selling spiritual cures. Prior to the first Cuban exodus, Hialeah -- and Miami for that matter -- was totally gringo.  Think "Miami-uh" in a Southern accent instead of "Mayami" in a Spanish voice.

SEE THE VIDEO



Click here if the embedded video doesn't appear.

STEPHEN'S DELI

Stephen's Deli is an oddity in a predominantly Latino community. The establishment, which I reckon serves the best pastrami and corned beef south of Katz's in New York City, is happily caught in a time warp in ever-evolving South Florida.

Founded in 1954, Stephen's Deli is located in the former Jewish garment industry district of Hialeah, not far from the iconic race track.  Jack Frisch, a former New Jersey businessman who went to culinary school after retirement, purchased the business from its second owners not long ago.  A little kitchen remodeling and a dining room facelift left this vintage establishment freshened up, but still old school, unpretentious and authentic.

Chef Henderson Biggers has been working at Stephen's for 53 years and still slices corned beef the old fashioned way. Fortunately, Carlos and I were able to coax the camera shy chef out of the kitchen.  As you hear him talk about the old days, you can almost envision hungry garment district workers lining up around the street corner for sandwiches, matzoh ball soup and potato latkes.

I'm very grateful for this interview, because you don't come across a Chef Biggers every day in Miami-Dade. Ditto regarding the corned beef on rye, which I have enjoyed several times since my first visit while Sinatra croons through the dining room's speakers.

Sandwiches are serious business at Stephen's.

Reasonably priced, Stephen's is a true mom and pop place, blessed by a goddess of good nosh. In Miami Beach, the glory days of Wolfie's, Rascal House and Arnie and Richie's Deli are long gone.  Sadly, those restaurants have been replaced by corporate franchises and concrete condos. Isn't it ironic then that Miami's best pastrami and corned beef is served in la cuidad que progresa?

People seem to stick to Stephen's like the food sticks to your ribs.  There's no high turnover here.  Several servers I spoke to had been working at the restaurant for over fifteen years. Customers admitted to being even more decades-long loyal. In fact, every time I've returned, I've seen familiar faces enjoying their New York style deli treats.

Something else makes Stephen's an anomaly east of the Palmetto -- unlike many places in Hialeah, aqui se habla ingles -- English only -- but with that warm hospitality that all good folk share, right?

Stephen's is open for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday from 6 am to 3 pm and is well worth the drive if you're far from the neighborhood.  Take an extra long lunch and tell your boss you're blaming it on the pickles.

See the original post in the YO SOY HIALEAH website.  All of my documentaries were chosen to be broadcast on Video on Demand in Comcast's Hialeah territory.

Fowl Gang Terrorizes Miami Urbanites

You just never know what you're going to find in Brickell. I witnessed the aggressive shenanigans of this gang of chickens yesterday while I sat at the Lucky Clover Bar during a conference call. They fought. They hung close and tight. They're the feathery terrors of Miami's hip neighborhood, lording it over the Brickell Metrorail Station, home turf to this crew of would-be poultry dishes or santería sacrifices.

Don't mess with the Brickell Chickens. And they're too sexy to pay rent or invest in Miami condo short sales, by the way.

Silicone Bitch: Occupy Miami and Citizen Journalism

News and notes about the South Florida social media and blogging scene, with a little tech thrown in for good measure. And maybe some other random events, too.

Last night, I was on video duty at the Social Media Club South Florida panel on protests and citizen journalism. From my laptop, I was able to live stream the prior Occupy Miami press conference as well as the panel, which featured recently arrested photojournalist Carlos Miller as well as Janie Campbell of The Huffington Post, Jared Goyette, Online Producer at The Miami Herald and Founder and Producer of Open Media Miami, as well as Muhammed Malik, Co-Producer, Let’s Talk About It Radio (880 AM).

You can see it all below. If you are coming to this late, scroll through the archives. It's the first two broadcasts.



Here's one pet peeve of mine: citizen journalist or not, it's everyone's responsibility to broadcast responsibly. It's one thing if you capture a moment on your phone camera and put it out to the world, but if you are writing something post-event, please always fact check your information if it's something that warrants fact checking -- rule number one of blogging. And as you know, I don't even like the word blog. It's a self-published product, call it a blog, apple, orange or whatever. I think in this day and age, everyone should get an education in basic journalism principles as early on as elementary school, just like we get lessons on avoiding plagiarism and learning academic research. Citizen journalism need not be sloppy or unreliable. If you're gonna do it, do it right.