A South Beach Documentary: “Rascal House”

Aaron Davidson is a professional photographer and videographer based in Miami Beach who has been making films and taking photographs for more than half his life. He covers the music, fashion, arts, and cultural scenes in South Florida and around the country for his production company, AaronsView.com, and for one of the top photo agencies in the world. He has also done a variety of pro bono production work, most recently for Chabad of Venetian Island. Growing up in Miami Beach, he began making films when he was 12; documenting the places most familiar to him – including the local bakery, butcher shop, and restaurants he frequented with his parents – seemed only natural. Now, with the passage of time, his earliest films have become historical records and time capsules, sharing places that have since closed or changed and now live on only in film. A hallmark of Davidson's films is that he continues to update them, often with poignant, ironic or unexpected results. He is presenting three films focused on Jewish life in Miami Beach: Tradition at Steak, about one of the oldest surviving and last stand-alone kosher butcher shops on Miami Beach; Rascal House, filmed during the closing weekend of the Rascal House Restaurant, a Jewish-style deli and a fixture in South Florida for more than 50 years; and Abraham's Bakery, a Miami Beach landmark for more than 30 years and one of the last old-fashioned bakeries of its kind. These films made innocently more than a decade ago have taken on new meaning with periodic updates and contemporary footage that adds new perspective, nostalgia, and historical insights. In that context the films being screened for Miami Book Fair now amazingly span 13 years – very significant in Jewish terms as the films are of Bar Mitzvah age – and these new iterations will premiere at a special screening.