Florence Ali and Her Building

Located west of Dixie Highway on Martin Luther King Boulevard, the Ali Cultural Arts building is a unique venue that offers the public visual arts exhibits, musical and dance performances, and a glimpse into the heritage of Pompano Beach African-American community. The building takes its name from its original owner, Florence Ali (pronounced Al-eye), a leader in Pompano’s black community for nearly seven decades.

Florence Major Poitier was born in Nassau; her exact birthdate is in some dispute, with various sources stating she was born in either 1898, 1906 or 1910, although the latter date seems unlikely. We do know she arrived during what was a part of the great exodus from the Bahamas in the early years of the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1920, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 Bahamians, about twenty percent of the islands' population, migrated to southern Florida. This influx of people had a significant impact on southeastern Florida, considering that in 1900 its total population was about 5,000 people, and by 1910 had increased only to 17,000. Even with a surge in population during the next decade, it still would mean that in the first decades of the twentieth century as much as 15 to 18 percent of the local population was born in the Bahamas.

In Pompano, the Rolle, Major, Armbrister, Newbolt, Thurston, Russell, Lytton and other Bahamian families were among the earliest blacks to place permanent roots here. Typically, most of these pioneers had entered the United States through Miami or the Keys and subsequently moved north to Pompano.

Such was Florence’s experience. She left the Bahamas with her family for Cuba while still very young for her father’s work and was brought up speaking Spanish as her first language. She received a few years of elementary education in Cuba but following her father’s death the family moved to Florida. The family first moved to Pompano – as had other Bahamian Poitier families – but then settled in Miami so that she and her sister could attend school, since at that time there was no school for African-Americans in Pompano. In Miami, she learned English and received a sixth-grade education from the segregated Dunbar High School. She later received training in hair dressing at several beauty shops.

Records indicate that, not unlike many families during that era, Florence’s family moved from place to place in South Florida with some frequency. But by the early 1930s, Florence was residing in Pompano, and in 1933, she married Frank Ali. It’s not clear when or where they met, but that same year the newlyweds had a two-story concrete building constructed on Hammondville Road (now Martin Luther King Boulevard). At that time, Hammondville Road was an extension of Pompano’s downtown with a wide variety of both white and black operated businesses lining the street. The Ali building was located between the International Harvester Truck and Tractor Company on the east and Jack’s Bar on the west. Although the Ali building was not the only black-owned building on Hammondville Road, it was certainly the largest.

One the first floor of the Ali building, Florence established her beauty shop and Frank opened a barber shop. During the segregation era, when blacks were prevented from entering many occupations and training for other professions, such as in medicine or the law, were beyond the economic means of all but a few blacks; hair dressers and barbers were well-respected vocations. Both businesses were successful, and Frank and Florence passed on their skills, training many local men and women over the years. Initially, at least, the Ali’s lived above their businesses, on the second floor. According to the 1940 U.S. Census, the Ali’s had two children: a son James (who may not have been their biological offspring), and a daughter, also named Florence. The Ali’s divorced in 1953, but still operated their businesses in the Ali building and remained business partners in other ventures.

In the years after their divorce, Florence assumed an increasingly strong leadership position, both professionally and in the life of the community. Already recognized as a skilled hair stylist, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Hairstyling Guild for “Exquisite Hair Styling” in 1953 and subsequently other professional awards for hair styling in throughout the 1950 and into the late 1970s. Florence also served many years as president of the Broward County Negro Beauticians Association.

Florence’s business acumen extended beyond her beauty shop. According to Broward County records, she also ran “a boarding house (Ali’s Rooms, 351 Hammondville Road, first opened about 1958 and closed about 1974), a billiard parlor (Ali’s Pool Room, 310 NW 6th Avenue, first opened about 1960 and closed about 1974) and a nightclub (Ali’s Club Clover Tavern, 312 NW 6th Avenue, first opened about 1962 and closed about 1970).” The latter establishment was envisioned as an upscale night club, with top-notch entertainment and a more refined atmosphere than that found in other drinking establishments in Pompano. However, as one Hammondville business owner observed, the local community did not have the economic means to support Club Clover.

Florence’s business success led to leadership positions with in the African-American Community and in Pompano Beach. During tense racial divisions during the Civil Rights era, she was appointed in 1967 to the Pompano Beach Community Relations Committee by Mayor Edward J. Stack. She was active in working to help get polling places and voting machines into the black precincts of Pompano Beach and for working to provide access for blacks at local public beaches.

Florence was a long-time member of the Greater Bethel AME Church of Pompano Beach, as well as other civic and charitable organizations.

Frank Ali passed away in 1966, and Florence died in Pompano Beach on August 29, 1982. Both are buried in Pompano Beach’s Westview Community Cemetery.

Following Florence’s death, the Ali building passed through several owners and was slated for demolition until the City’s Northwest Community Redevelopment agency, responding to community demand for it preservation, stepped in to purchase and restore the historic building as a center for arts and history.