Hollywood-by-the-Sea was envisioned and designed from the ground up by Joseph W. Young, Jr., who planned a modern city in detail and, recognizing that Florida's segregation laws would restrict Black workers and potential Black landowners helping to build it, bought land on high ground along the main routes near Dania, where an established Black community already existed. In August 1923 he announced Liberia, a new town for African Americans, and Frank Dickey's map of May 1923 showed forty square blocks surrounding a circular park intended as a hotel site, similar to Hollywood's Circle and the Parkside Hotel configuration. Liberia was laid out in September 1923, and when the land opened for development, water and electricity were available. The Young Company built four frame houses and donated land for schools, churches, and parks, while Young's vision for Liberia was presented as a town where Black residents would control municipal affairs and share in the prosperity Hollywood had already brought to southeast Florida's coast. Liberia and the neighboring Black community in Dania prospered over time, and residents regarded them as one community. The area was home to the sixty-five-time champion Red Bird baseball team, and Historic Attucks High School, designed by Hollywood architect Bayard Lukens, stood at the center of community life before becoming a middle school after desegregation while retaining some original architectural features. Residents remembered institutions such as the Masonic Lodge, the laundromat, King's Grocery, Mr. Sears' Grocery, Mr. Harry's Store, Smith's Store, OC Barbershop, Johnny Hill's Barbershop, Ms. Parlor's Beauty Shop, Bryce Davis Funeral Home, West Lawn Cemetery, Tony's Bar, Foxx Bar, Penn's Pool Room, and the Paradise Club. Early settlers, athletes, and entertainers lived in or spent time in the community, and local oral historians say Sam Cooke, performing with the Soul Stirrers, sang at a local church while James Brown stayed with relatives there; because of racial segregation, Liberia and Dania welcomed Black entertainers who were barred from staying in some places where they performed.