☀️ GOOD MORNING, HOLLYWOOD!
Good morning, Hollywood. Today we’re looking at how our own beach town is quietly changing - the fading of “Little Quebec” - plus the tropical storm that formed right off our coast and then thankfully turned away. We’ve also got a beloved breakfast chain headed for Sheridan Plaza, a tacos-and-tequila afternoon at the track, a love letter to the Broadwalk, and an arts fair that wants your work. Let’s get into it.

📰 IN TODAY’S BLEND
🍁 “Little Quebec” is getting quieter
🌀 We dodged Tropical Storm Bertha
☕ Keke’s Breakfast Cafe is coming to Sheridan Plaza
🌮 Tacos & Tequila at Gulfstream this Saturday
🏖️ Hollywood Beach, by the numbers
Spotlight - Art in the Atrium wants your work

📅 WHAT’S HAPPENING - July 23-26

Thursday, July 23 - Today!
🏛️ Broward Property Appraiser Outreach at Hollywood City Hall - 10 AM-noon, homestead + exemption help
🎭 Latin Nights at The Village at Gulfstream Park (Hallandale) - free salsa lesson 6 PM, dancing to 9 PM
🎬 $1 Summer Movies at Regal Dania Pointe, from 11 AM

Friday, July 24
🎧 Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire at Hard Rock Live - 7:30 PM
🍸 National Tequila Day Tasting at Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort - 4-5 PM, ticketed
🛍️ Night Market Friday at Dania Pointe - artisan vendors + bites, from 6 PM

Saturday, July 25
🌮 Taste at the Track: Tacos & Tequila at Gulfstream Park (Hallandale) - 1-4 PM, ticketed
🎧 Bread Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin tribute) at the Hollywood Beach Bandshell - 7 PM, free
🎧 Disturbed at Hard Rock Live - 8 PM
🍽️ Yellow Green Farmers Market (Hollywood) - 200+ vendors, 10 AM-6:30 PM

Sunday, July 26
🎵 FM Band Miami (80s + 90s hits) at South City Beach Park, Hallandale - free
🍽️ Yellow Green Farmers Market (Hollywood) - 200+ vendors, 10 AM-6:30 PM

COMING UP
👗 FLL Fashion Week Summer Shows on the 101 Dania Beach rooftop - Sat Aug 1
♠️ Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open - July 28-Aug 11
🎒 Back-to-school: Broward classes start Mon Aug 10; Florida tax holiday runs through Aug 20
Art in the Atrium at the Fred Lippman Community Center - Sat Aug 15 (see Spotlight)
🍽️ Common Room + the Brooklyn Room coming to 2032 Harrison St, Hollywood
🖼️ “Force of Nature: Hurricanes and Hollywood” at the ArtsPark Gallery - through Sept 30

🌡️ High: ~93° | Feels like 100-105° | Hot, mostly dry today, storms build this weekend
Mostly sunny and hot today - low 90s with a heat index into the low triple digits, and only about a 20% rain chance. Enjoy the relatively dry day, because the weekend ramps up: storm chances climb to around 40% Friday and 50% Saturday and Sunday. Out in the Gulf, Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in Louisiana today - a near-miss reminder that we’re in the thick of the season. Hydrate, find shade midday, and never leave kids or pets in a parked car.

Source: National Weather Service / CBS Miami

🍁 “Little Quebec” Is Getting Quieter

For decades, Hollywood Beach has had a second language. So many French-Canadian snowbirds wintered here that stretches of the Broadwalk earned the nickname “Little Quebec” - crêpe cafés, French signage, and Québécois flags flying beside the palms. Lately, though, that familiar accent is fading.

Canadian visits to the greater Fort Lauderdale area are down sharply - by some counts 10 to 16% - with fewer nonstop flights and shorter stays. The reasons are a tangle of currency, cost, and cross-border tensions, but the effect on the ground is simple: hotels, cafés, and shops that leaned on loyal winter regulars are feeling a real dip.

The response has been to diversify. Businesses along the beach are courting European and South American travelers and leaning into Hollywood Beach’s growing “emerging destination” buzz. The Québécois character that shaped this stretch for a generation may be softening - but the beach itself, and the people finding it, keep evolving.

Source: CNN / Travel And Tour World

🌀 We Dodged One: Tropical Storm Bertha

Storm season just got real - just not here. Tropical Storm Bertha, the second named storm of the 2026 Atlantic season, actually took shape off the Florida coast earlier this week before sliding into the Gulf and away from us. On Wednesday it made landfall in southeastern Louisiana, near St. Bernard Parish.

For the Gulf Coast, it’s a soggy few days: forecasters expect 1 to 4 inches of rain (locally up to 6), gusty tropical-storm winds, and up to 4 feet of storm surge as Bertha pushes toward New Orleans and on to Houston before fizzling by the weekend. For us, it was a brush-by - a little extra cloud, and not much else.

But consider it a nudge. We’re heading into the busiest stretch of hurricane season, and the next storm might not curve away so politely. If you caught this week’s Force of Nature exhibition or the Hurricane Preparedness Expo, you’re ahead of the game. If not, now’s the time to build that kit and learn your evacuation zone.

Source: CBS News / National Hurricane Center

☕ Keke’s Breakfast Cafe Is Coming to Sheridan Plaza

Breakfast lovers, mark this one. Keke’s Breakfast Cafe - the fast-growing Florida chain built entirely around breakfast, brunch, and lunch - is opening a Hollywood location at Sheridan Plaza (5301 Sheridan Street), and it’s expected to seat close to 150 guests.

If you haven’t been to a Keke’s, the draw is simple: big from-scratch breakfast plates, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and pancakes, skillets, and stuffed French toast served straight through to mid-afternoon. It joins a busy plaza that already includes Chili’s, Starbucks, Piola, and more.

The chain has been targeting a summer opening, though the exact date isn’t locked in yet - the website still reads “coming soon.” We’ll flag it the moment the doors open. Until then, start planning your order.

Source: WhatNow Miami / Keke’s

🌮 Tacos, Tequila, and the Ponies: Taste at the Track

Here’s a fun Saturday. Gulfstream Park in Hallandale hosts “Taste at the Track: Tacos & Tequila” this Saturday, July 25, from 1 to 4 p.m. - a build-your-own afternoon of tacos, tequila and mezcal pours, and live thoroughbred racing all in one place.

Tickets start around $65 and include tastings from a lineup of taco vendors and agave brands, with the horses running just steps away. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual dinner-and-drinks routine - part food festival, part day at the races.

It also lands right after National Tequila Day (Friday), so consider it a weekend-long excuse. Grab tickets in advance through Gulfstream Park, wear something breathable, and pace yourself - it’s a three-hour pour in July.

Source: Gulfstream Park

🏖️ Hollywood Beach, by the Numbers

We talk about the Broadwalk constantly, so here’s the case for it in figures. Hollywood’s iconic oceanfront promenade runs about 2.5 miles of brick-paved path along the Atlantic, lined with more than 50 restaurants, 30-plus shops, and three oceanfront resorts. It’s walkable, bikeable, and unmistakably ours.

That mix is a big reason Hollywood Beach keeps landing on the national radar - Parade recently dubbed it South Florida’s “slow-burn shore,” and it’s been named among Tripadvisor’s best U.S. beaches. Add the Hollywood Beach Theatre’s free nightly music, Charnow Park’s water playground, and the surf simulator, and you’ve got a full day without ever leaving the sand.

The best part is that it still feels like a neighborhood, not a resort strip. Whether you’re a lifelong local or you just moved in, the Broadwalk is the easiest reminder of why people fall for this place. Go take a walk this week - preferably at sunrise, before the heat.

Source: Visit Lauderdale / City of Hollywood

Calling All Creatives: Art in the Atrium Wants Your Work

If you make things - paintings, jewelry, ceramics, prints - here’s your stage. The City of Hollywood’s Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts department hosts Art in the Atrium, an arts and craft fair, on Saturday, August 15 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Fred Lippman Community Center, 2030 Polk Street.

The best part: it’s free to display, and open to creatives of all ages. Whether you’re a seasoned local artist or a kid with a table of handmade goods, you can show (and sell) your work to the community - no gallery required. For shoppers, it’s a chance to meet the makers and take home something one-of-a-kind.

It’s a few weeks out, so mark August 15 - spots and details go through the city now. Call 954.921.3408 or check HollywoodFL.org. A genuinely nice way to support local art and spend a Saturday.

Image: City of Hollywood