Opa-locka is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,463, up from 15,219 in 2010. The city was developed by Glenn Curtiss. Developed based on a One Thousand and One Nights theme, Opa-locka has the largest collection of Moorish Revival architecture in the Western Hemisphere, and streets with such names as Sharazad Boulevard, Sinbad Avenue, Sabur Lane, Sultan Avenue, Ali Baba Avenue, Perviz Avenue, and Sesame Street. The name Opa-locka is an abbreviation of a Seminole place name, spelled Opa-tisha-wocka-locka (or Opatishawockalocka), meaning "wooded hummock" or "high, dry hummock." History Opa-locka was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss in 1926. Curtiss developed the city with a Moorish architecture theme. While the 1926 Miami hurricane badly damaged the city and brought the Florida land boom to a halt, several Moorish-style buildings survived. Twenty of the original Moorish Revival architecture buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Opa-locka Thematic Resource Area. Amelia Earhart launched her historic trip around the world from Miami Municipal Airport, located at the time in what is now the southern part of Opa-locka. The German dirigible Graf Zeppelin visited Naval Air Station Miami, which later became Opa-locka Airport, as a regular stop on its Germany-Brazil-United States-Germany scheduled route. In the 1950s, the Opa-locka airport—specifically Building 67—became the site of a large CIA operation, PBSuccess, run by operatives including E. Howard Hunt. The operation helped launch the U.S.-led coup in Guatemala in 1954 and was a precursor to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. The airfield center then served as a listening post for Cuba until the 82nd Airborne took over Opa-locka Airbase during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1980s, Opa-locka transitioned from majority white to majority African-American and was seen as a pioneer in black empowerment in northern Dade County where neighboring cities (North Miami, North Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, and Golden Glades) were undergoing a similar racial shift. In 1943, Opa-Locka hired its first Black police officer. In 1972, the first Black City Commissioner was elected, Albert Tresvant, who then went on to serve as the first Black mayor of Opa-Locka in 1975. The city was the first community in the United States to commemorate the first African-American president of the United States. A mile-long section of Perviz Avenue—from Oriental Boulevard to Ali Baba Avenue—was renamed Barack Obama