THE BEACH HOUSE

An abandoned beach house right on – and sometimes in – the ocean.

The beach house | Photo © 2016 Sugarbomb

Tucked away at the far end of Hollywood beach among million dollar condos sits a little green beach house. The beach house is so close to the water it's basically in the ocean itself.

The house has been abandoned since Flowerbomb was a kid – so at least 15 years – because she remembers it from when she would stay with her friend who lived nearby.

The beach house was originally built in 1954. Online it says it's 2,016 square feet inside has 6 bedrooms on 2 floors. It has the hardcore old Florida architecture from a time before builders would carelessly fling whatever material was cheap and readily available into a house just to get it up as fast as possible – i.e. Pembroke Pines.

The beach house, on the other hand, has a solid concrete foundation, concrete block exterior, and an asphalt roof. Without that kind of material, a house so close to the ocean would have never been able to remain standing through all the hurricanes of the last six decades and South Florida weather in general. Realty websites warn of high flood possibilities, tornado risks, and extreme storm surge risks – no kidding!

The beach house | Photo © 2016 Sugarbomb

This little beach house has had a front row seat to every hurricane since before Vietnam yet it still sits overlooking the Atlantic, though the ocean grows ever closer each passing day because of erosion. I can only imagine the intensity of the storm surges this place gets during hurricanes – it probably tops even the roof considering that the waves will brush the concrete slab the house sits on during high tide on an average day.

But this place is sturdy, showing no sign of the storms its weathered other than a single broken window on the second floor and heavily calcified light fixtures set beside the doorways. I like to imagine it's a vacation home for mermaids – it sits so close to the water that Ariel herself could just climb right inside!