In a desire to renovate the northwest section of Fort Lauderdale, the city's CRA community redevelopment agency approach the Smiths about starting a restaurant on the corridor. After a lot of reflection in prayer, the Smiths teamed up with the city's CRA to begin plans for Smitty's restaurant. They broke ground on May 28, 2019.
In 2011 Christopher Smith and Desiree Giles Smith purchase an abandoned building in the Northwest section of Fort Lauderdale located on Six Street also known as Sistrunk Boulevard. For nine years they use the building for temporary office space, political campaign headquarters and general event space.
SISTRUNK HISTORY
Sistrunk Boulevard, a main thoroughfare, which spans Historic Sistrunk from its eastern to western boundaries is named in honor of pioneering Black physician, Dr. James Franklin Sistrunk. Dr. Sistrunk is the founder of Provident Hospital, Broward County's first Black hospital.
During segregation, blacks lived west of the tracks and were forbidden from crossing over to the east side after dark. The boulevard was named in honor of Doctor James Sistrunk, a black physician who helped establish Broward County's first African-American hospital in 1938
