Jimbo Celebrates 83rd Birthday (Video)

No one is really sure when the birthday celebrations began. Hell, no one is really sure when Jimbo’s first opened on Virginia Key. At least not the people celebrating his birthday Sunday.

They were a little too caught up in the festivities.

And in making sure they showed their support for Jimbo Luznar, who is fighting to keep his establishment alive after the City of Miami cut off his power last year, forcing him to turn to generators to run his business.

But even at 83 years old, Jimbo is remaining defiant, as you can see in the above video. You can also see he hasn’t lost his touch with the ladies.

And his defiance and charm appears to be paying off.

The city’s newly appointed film-production coordinator, Harry Emilio Gottlieb, has vowed to restore the ramshackle shacks.

And hundreds of friends and customers have vowed to help restore the shacks. Hopefully, that just wasn’t the beer talking.

The shacks were built for a 1980 horror flick called Island Claws, which turned out to be a box office flop. But since then, the shacks became popular with model shoots, music videos and other movies, including Blood and Wine starring Jack Nicholson in 1997.

But Jimbo’s history goes much further than 1980. He set up his shrimping business shop on the city-owned Virginia Key in 1954 after he was ousted from the area where the The Miami Herald building now stands.

Back then, they told him he could stay as long as he wants. Rent-free.

But politicians and city officials lie.

Last year, they shut down his power, citing his place a safety hazard.

The problem was an electrical fire broke out in one of the trailers where Jimbo’s son lived. Then city officials became concerned with the smoked fish they were serving.

But now city officials are beginning to see what Hollywood has known for years. That the place makes a hell of a backdrop for movies and videos.

We always knew our city officials were a little slow.

Let’s just hope this time they are not as dishonest as they’ve been in the past.

Now check out the photos from the birthday celebration below.

Photos and video by Carlos Miller

Related Categories: Carlos Miller is a featured writer at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller. See more articles by Carlos Miller Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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"Jimbo Celebrates 83rd Birthday (Video)"

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