Here Comes the Hotstepper

In emailing with an old friend from high school, I found out that Signature Gardens closed its doors forever in December.  Here is the story I found about it in the Miami Herald.  For those of you who don’t know, Signature Gardens was the banquet hall in what was referred to as “West Kendall” (which these days probably referred to as midtown Kendall), that housed most of the area  high school dances, birthday parties, bat mitzvahs, and bar mitzvahs, and most notably, in my friend Jen’s case, weddings.  For the RHoNJ fans, Signature Gardens was the Brownstone of South Florida.

Every single dance I went to between the years of 1995-1999 was held either at a hotel ballroom or Signature Gardens.   I can’t remember the décor, but two things are for sure: the air was full of pheromones mixed with Cool Water for Women and the walls had been witness to many-a-first kiss and first slow-dance.  This was the place where we thought we invented “Did you see what she was wearing?” and “I just want to dance in a circle with my friends.” High school was horrible with all of the “Who is that girl he’s talking to?” and “Why won’t my mom let me pluck my eyebrows?”, but Signature Gardens was great.

So tonight I tip my hat to you Signature Gardens, “heroes get remembered but legends never die.” Good bye old friend.  143-123