I felt great nostalgia reading of the passing of Preston Henn. At times, vilified by the community and painted as a scary caricature – I wrote about Mr. Henn’s enterprise but never met him…to great relief. Working at the what was then called the “Monday, Thursdays” Forum newspaper, the Swap Shop was one of my beats. I’d go there and interview vendors and write up amazing stories of this cast of characters that sold goods at the eclectic landmark. One thing though…. My newspaper peeps said to steer clear of Henn – that he could scare the pants off of an elephant (ok, I made that up…the point being… he was highly intimidating and possibly even a little crazy. No political correctness there. They really said that. I’ll never know if it was true. I only heard of the legend and took the advice to not actually meet him).
In any case, I went to more than a few films at the drive in during high school and college. It would rain and be muggy and yet we enjoyed the experience. Ah youth!
That’s it. I’m happy that I felt I played a bit part in history of the unique side of South Florida.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article147905984.html
Linda Hamburger
Founder and Moderator of the South Florida Public Relations Network
sfprn 