OPALOCKA JNL

Opa-locka JNL is named for a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida and is based on an Art Nouveau-era bit of hand lettering found on vintage sheet music.

Legendary aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss (who successfully developed the city of Miami Springs and the city of Hialeah with James Bright) began the development of Opa-locka around 1925 as a planned community with a “1001 Arabian Nights” theme.

Plans for this exclusive community included a country club and a small private airfield, but the hurricane of 1926 derailed Curtiss’ original vision of the city.

Opa-locka gradually took shape as a residential area for middle-class families, but the closing of a long-established Marine base, changing demographics and a reputation for being a hot-spot for crime, drug abuse and corruption tarnished this once-grand community (which boasts the largest collection of Moorish Revival architecture in the Western hemisphere).

Old-time Miamians bristle when the city’s name (an abbreviation of a Seminole place name, spelled Opa-tisha-wocka-locka) is mis-spelled as “Opa-Locka”, “Opa Locka” or “Opalocka”.  The correct name is hyphenated, and the second part is in lower case.