Charlie Schwartz

Bayshore 17th, Alton Rd, Miami Beach

My first meeting with Charlie Schwartz was at Bayshore Golf Course.  He was having lunch  with an attorney who was part of a firm with offices in the same building on Lincoln Road, where I had my offices.  This day the lawyer got a business call and asked me if I would play with Charlie since he had to take care of business.  Charlie and I agreed to play a round. We liked each other right from the start and it was an enjoyable round with me winning one way.  Since the attorney was not going to be available for a week or so, I continued to play with Charlie for the rest of the week and then we continued playing together after that. 
Charlie was from Philadelphia where he was well known among the gambling fraternity as a high roller and he had a reputation as being very reliable as well as an astute gambler..  He knew my father though they had never socialized.
A story goes that when two rival mob factions in Philadelphia were in the midst of a squabble over $20,000.00 they agreed to put up the money ($20,000.00 cash) with Charlie who would give it to the winner when the dispute was settled.  The dispute took a couple of months. But that is the way it went down, and Charlie gave the winner the money. 
I told Charlie I would not play for more than $25.00 a way.  Usually there was no way Charlie would play for such a small amount.  But I wouldn't budge, and finally he agreed.  We played automatic presses after every 2 holes and the amount of the first bet was established before we teed off.  When I wasn't playing with Charlie my bet limit was $10.00 a way because I didn't want any hustlers making me a target.  At Bayshore you might get taken, even in small games.   It was rare to lose more than 3 or 4 ways a side, (9 holes)  so you do the math.  Charlie could not beat me even with the handicap I gave him.  A  shot a hole and a half shot on the par 3s.  And I insisted we add a stroke or subtract a stroke after every round, depending on who won.  Funny thing, he didn't want to do it. The lawyer was better than me and had a good thing going.
One of Charlie's golfing buddies was Carroll Rosenbloom, former owner of a NFL football team, who also had a high roller reputation, and when he was in South Florida Charlie would play with him..  They would play for $25,000.00 for a nine hole round. No presses. One of their famous rounds was for $50,000.00 and was played on a Boca Raton golf course with a gallery of watchers.   I was told Charlie won the round, when Carroll missed a putt and Charlie made a putt on the last hole.
Both of them were in their later years and were short of stature.  Charlie couldn't hit the ball more than 125 yards but it almost always went straight down the middle and he was decent around the green..  And Carroll could not hit it much further than that and he was also decent around the greens..  Carroll's wife (much younger) became owner of the NFL football team when  Carroll died in the surf off of a Broward County beach. 

Amongst some other stuff  Charlie owned Hamid's Pier in Atlantic City.  The pier and everything else he owned was in his brother Harry's name because of Charlie's unfavorable reputation within the law enforcement community.   Even Charlie's car, an Oldsmobile 98, which he didn't drive, but even what was essentially his wife's car, was in Harry's name.

Charlie's heart trouble flared up and while he was in the hospital he told me he might want to sell Hamid's Pier and he asked me for advice on how to go about it.  During those visits to the  hospital I met some friends of  his and one of them,  lived in Bal Harbour,  He was often present during most of my visits.  What I said to Charlie was, if he trusted Harry not to take advantage of his wife, he could just let matters be and make with some type of agreement between harry and his wife.  But if he wanted to be sure, his best option was to sell.  He asked me if I would make a meet with him and Harry, at the hospital, to discuss it.  We had the meeting, the Bal Harbour friend was there too, and Charlie asked me how long it would take.  I said I would get on it right away so probably not too long, and that I would get some ball  park numbers as to value in about a week at the most.  Harry was just agreeable to everything in a submissive way.


To establish a price  I contacted 2 well known realtors, one in Philadelphia, one in Atlantic City, and then got the names of some potential buyers from a friend of my friend, Jerry.  (the pier was eventually sold for nearly a million dollars.)  Jerry's friends owned a Hotel on Ventnor avenue which was later purchased by Trump and is now Trump Tower.  
Not long after, before the sale was finalized, Charlie passed away..

Hamid's Pier, 1930s, its heyday.

To shorten the story, Harry turns out to be less than what Charlie had hoped.  He told Charlie's wife even the car did not belong to her.  A one hundred percent pure asshole.
I knew Charlie's Bal Harbour friend was aware of all of this stuff and when I saw him, he asked me how my part of the story went and I told him.   I also told him was I going to sue Harry for a fee at the time, especially when I heard how he treated Charlie's wife.  And then I went to visit her and she told me Harry had unexpectedly given her some money and she was satisfied.  So I didn't sue, I chalked it up, as far as my efforts were concerned, to another of life's experiences. 
And then he said, "If it makes you feel better I'll tell you what happened. I spoke to Harry.  I asked if he knew two mutual friends from South Jersey?"  And he said,  "Sure." 
Then I asked him, "You wouldn't want them wanting to talk to you?  Would ya?" 
He got alarmed and asked, "Why the hell would they want to talk to me?"  And then I  asked him if he didn't remember an incident many years ago when Charlie did a favor for them.  Harry says sure he rememberes.  So I say, then you probably also remember they liked his wife, and that they had sent her a very nice present when Charlie did the favor.
That's when I said, "Oh I see.  And here I thought he had a change of heart." 

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