City Information

Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America"due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. According to 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 183,606.[3] It is the county seat of Broward County, and a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which is home to over 5,413,212 people.

The city is a popular tourist destination, with 10.35 million visitors in 2006. The city is a major yachting center, with 42,000 resident yachts and 100 marinas and boatyards. Fort Lauderdale and its suburbs host over 4100 restaurants and 120 nightclubs.

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend, in what is now known as the Sailboat Bend neighborhood, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, who was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. TOP

Climate

Fort Lauderdale has a true tropical climate (Köppen climate classification Aw), with hot, humid summers, and warm, dry winters. The city does experience cold fronts from November through March. However, the average monthly temperature for any month has never been recorded as being under 64.4 °F (January averages 66 °F). Most of the year is warm and humid, and the summers are almost identical to the climate of the Caribbean tropics. In addition, the city gets most of its rain in the summer (wet season) and is relatively dry in winter (dry season). The wet season, which is hot and humid, lasts from May to October, when it gives way to the dry season, which features mild temperatures with some invasions of colder air, which is when the little winter rainfall occurs — with the passing of a front. The hurricane season largely coincides with the wet season. 69% of the city's annual rainfall occurs during the five month summer period. The hurricane season is between 1 June and 30 November, with major hurricanes most likely to affect Florida in September and October. The most recent storms to directly affect the city were Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma, both of which struck the city in 2005; other direct hits were Hurricane Cleo in 1964, Hurricane King in 1950 and the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane. TOP

Lifestyle

According to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, Fort Lauderdale is "America's top gay resort area." In 2006, members of gay-interest site, PlanetOut, named the city as the "best gay resort town"; the city actively pursues gay and lesbian tourists. The city is also home to a large year-round population of gay residents. The city's Stonewall Library & Archives is the largest-circulation LGBT library in the southeastern United States. Neighboring Wilton Manors was the second city in the country (after West Hollywood, California) to elect a gay-majority city council.

As is true of many parts of Florida, the city's population has a strong seasonal variation, as snowbirds from the north spend the winter and early spring in Florida. The city is also sometimes referred to as "Fort Liquordale" because of its beaches, bars, nightclubs, and history as a spring break mecca for hundreds of thousands of college students. However, the city has actively discouraged college students from visiting the area since the mid-1980s, passing strict laws aimed at preventing the mayhem that regularly occurred each year. The city had an estimated 350,000 college visitors for spring break 1985; by 2006, that number had declined to about 10,000. TOP

Media

Fort Lauderdale is served by English-language newspapers South Florida-Sun Sentinel and The Miami Herald, as well as Spanish-language newspapers El Sentinel and El Nuevo Herald. The city is also home to alternative newspapers City Link and New Times Broward-Palm Beach, monthly magazine HOME Fort Lauderdale and gay-interest publications Express Gay News, The 411 Magazine, and HOTspots! magazine.TOP

Culture

Fort Lauderdale's arts and entertainment district runs east-west along Las Olas Boulevard, from the beach to the heart of downtown. The district is anchored in the West by the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and runs through the city to the intersection of Las Olas and A1A. This intersection is the "ground zero" of Fort Lauderdale Beach, and is the site of the "Elbo Room" bar featured in the 1960 film Where the Boys Are, which led in large measure to the city's former reputation as a spring break mecca. The city and its suburbs host over 4,100 restaurants and over 120 nightclubs, many of them in the arts and entertainment district. The city is also the setting for the 1986 movie Flight of the Navigator, and host of Langerado, an annual music festival. TOP