Florida: Skunked, but weird banks - PICTURES

[kennedyfan]

Went on a road trip to Florida recently. I only had time to stop by a few banks to get whatever halves I could find, but unfortunately I was SKUNKED. At least it was fun.

Since I'm not from around there, I saw many banks I had never seen before, including the legendary TD bank. (Also, near the Miami airport, I saw signs for LeJeune Road, named after the famous CRH'er no doubt!)

I took some pictures of some of the weirdest banks I saw. Enjoy the pictures!

 

[minkybodl]

Nice pics!

I live in Fl and it is tough down here. For one thing the old people were alive when they stopped making silver coins and a lot of them still have the hoard they socked away back then. Standing in line with my coins, I had one old man tell me about the 700 in silver dollars he had that would go to his children, hopefully they are all knuckleheads who will just spend them. On the West Coast where I live, we don't have any banks with coin counters like they do on the East Coast so the tellers all have the chance to cherrypick the silver. Worse of all is that so many people don't work, old and young, and have nothing but free time on their hands. Most of the time I ask for halfs I get someone just took them, or 3 or 4 people have asked and we don't have any, or the smiling teller who says yeah how many do you want and then reaches where I can't see and picks out the clad ones she wants to get rid of and says I can give you 10 dollars worth. I get boxes and am amazed at the number of coins that are marked with red R's, red blue and black ears, eyes, or nose, just any and every way they can think of to mark "their" coins. With that said, I try to be happy and thankful to everyone, in the long run I have been able to get a few here and there hopeful of a dream score some day. I do much better with getting dimes and nickels down here than the halfs.

 

[ckrakowski]

are those real banks?

 

[CubanHunter]

I work near LeJeune Road. Yep we have some weird buildings down here A trick that I use here in Miami is to visit banks where the majority of the population is Hispanic. Most Hispanic people think that CRH is a waste of time (I am the exception to the rule ) or they do not care. Numismatics in my community is not a big thing . You can get a surprise of what you can find at some banks in Hialeah and Little Havana.

 

[SFBayArea]

@CubanHunter

Off the topic but I was curious, how close was Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface. Do some Cubans really use "Mang" a lot as slang? I'm not trying to propose anything insensitive. I was a fan of the movie when I was younger and was always curious about Cuban accents. I'm in CA so one doesn't meet too many Cubans out here. I just remember the movie and also the Razor Ramon character when I watched WWF when I was younger. I'd like to visit Miami one day if I have the funds. LOL

 

[ivan salis]

1915 "cuban" coins in silver were made in the good ole US mint in philadelphia * yep little known but true fact -- 10 , 20 , 50 and 1 peso

 

[dinero]

@CubanHunter

Off the topic but I was curious, how close was Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface. Do some Cubans really use "Mang" a lot as slang? I'm not trying to propose anything insensitive. I was a fan of the movie when I was younger and was always curious about Cuban accents. I'm in CA so one doesn't meet too many Cubans out here. I just remember the movie and also the Razor Ramon character when I watched WWF when I was younger. I'd like to visit Miami one day if I have the funds. LOL

Pacino had the right attitude in the movie and the pronunciation is more like "MENG".

 

[dinero]

I work near LeJeune Road. Yep we have some weird buildings down here A trick that I use here in Miami is to visit banks where the majority of the population is Hispanic. Most Hispanic people think that CRH is a waste of time (I am the exception to the rule ) or they do not care. Numismatics in my community is not a big thing . You can get a surprise of what you can find at some banks in Hialeah and Little Havana.

Oye Acere!, try going to Coral Gables for some pickups. There are a lot of rich old folks in the Gables and I am sure some of them cash in around there. Also a lot of little weird banks exist around there. I'd try the grove as well.

 

[cyberdan]

A trick that I use here in Miami is to visit banks where the majority of the population is Hispanic. Most Hispanic people think that CRH is a waste of time

Out here in SoCA I like the Korean Banks the best. Koreans only tend to associate with Koreans and only do business with Korean businesses. Many Koreans have their own small businesses and they like to have them in the ghetto, especially liquer stores. So everyday they bring in the cash and coins they get. For some reason those folks that live in South Central (you So CA people know where that is. for you others lets just say welfare and food stamps) seem to have an over abundance of halves and big dollars.

I always do good at Korean banks

 

[CubanHunter]

@CubanHunter

Off the topic but I was curious, how close was Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface. Do some Cubans really use "Mang" a lot as slang? I'm not trying to propose anything insensitive. I was a fan of the movie when I was younger and was always curious about Cuban accents. I'm in CA so one doesn't meet too many Cubans out here. I just remember the movie and also the Razor Ramon character when I watched WWF when I was younger. I'd like to visit Miami one day if I have the funds. LOL

Yep it was pretty accurate but It depends on what part of Cuba the person came from and what social strata you were in Cuba. Example: people from the country side like me do not speak that way we pronounce stuff a bit different. Mainly people from the capital Havana or from very bad neighborhoods speak that way. People from the eastern part of the country sound more like Mexicans. A lot of people take accent reduction at Miami Dade college to sound better also. The best place to see all the accent is Hialeah, 90% of the population is from Cuba so when you visit don't forget to go to Hialeah and drink a Cuban cafe and the famous pastelito de guayaba

 

[CubanHunter]

1915 "cuban" coins in silver were made in the good ole US mint in philadelphia * yep little known but true fact -- 10 , 20 , 50 and 1 peso

Yes

Sometimes you find people here selling them but the price has been artificially inflated because some people use these coins for religions purposes and that makes the price go higher. A month ago I bought 1 silver Cuban peso at a Broward county numismatic show for $45 and 2 weeks later I sold it for $100 to a religious guy in Miami Gardens. When our money was money we used the mint on Philadelphia to make our coins. These coins were designed by Charles E. Barber, who also designed the Barber dimes, quarters and half dollars for the US. Then Castro started to mint our fake currency in Kremnica, Czech Republic and in Leningrad

 

[SFBayArea]

@CubanHunter

Off the topic but I was curious, how close was Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface. Do some Cubans really use "Mang" a lot as slang? I'm not trying to propose anything insensitive. I was a fan of the movie when I was younger and was always curious about Cuban accents. I'm in CA so one doesn't meet too many Cubans out here. I just remember the movie and also the Razor Ramon character when I watched WWF when I was younger. I'd like to visit Miami one day if I have the funds. LOL

Yep it was pretty accurate but It depends on what part of Cuba the person came from and what social strata you were in Cuba. Example: people from the country side like me do not speak that way we pronounce stuff a bit different. Mainly people from the capital Havana or from very bad neighborhoods speak that way. People from the eastern part of the country sound more like Mexicans. A lot of people take accent reduction at Miami Dade college to sound better also. The best place to see all the accent is Hialeah, 90% of the population is from Cuba so when you visit don't forget to go to Hialeah and drink a Cuban cafe and the famous pastelito de guayaba

Good Info.. Gracias Meng

 

[kennedyfan]

are those real banks?

Ha! Not quite. One if from the "Curious George" section at Universal Studios. Then there's the sign for a bank at one of the mini-towns -- I believe this is Times Square in New York -- at LegoLand. Finally, there's a BofA-sponsored exhibit at the Miami Children's museum.