Attractiveness of The Immutable

Explore the rise, fall, and resurgence of Miami Beach as a major American resort, from its celebrity-filled boom in the mid-1920s to its status as a hot spot for entertainment and tourism.

By Paul S. George, Ph.D., Resident Historian at HistoryMiami Museum

he city of Miami Beach was but ten years of age when it joined the ranks of major American resorts in the mid-1920s. This development coincided with a great real estate boom that radically transformed “the Beach” and many other parts of Greater Miami, giving rise to new communities, a vast population surge, and spiraling awareness of the area. The boom also drew celebrities to Miami. Sports spectacles wowed onlookers. Movies were made with the warm waters of the Atlantic as a backdrop. The sounds of music wafted from the lobbies of hotels and music halls. But the boom’s collapse in 1926 ushered in a lingering economic downturn.

Miami Beach struggled for much of the Great Depression. Ironically, World War II allowed the municipality to draw a second breath, hosting hundreds of thousands of trainees for the Army Air Corps and visitors. The full flowering of “the Beach” as a resort came with a post-World War II boom, which brought new clubs, hotels, and entertainment, including television, showcasing its alluring subtropical ambiance.

The Beach was now poised to welcome America’s entertainment royalty. Nightclubs arose along Collins Avenue, the community’s main street. More exclusive clubs, such as the Copa and Lou Walters’ spectacular Latin Quarter on Belle Isle and Palm Island, drew large audiences. Many entertainment greats, from Ella Fitzgerald to the insatiable appetite for entertainment. Not to be forgotten in the rush to embrace television were radio personalities like Walter Winchell and Larry King, who carried news of Miami Beach and its delectable offerings to many parts of the country.

The appearance of entertainment giants coincided with the advent, in the late 1940s and 1950s, of lavish hotels in mid-Beach and beyond, hostelries like the Saxony, Fontainebleau, Deauville, and the Eden Roc. Each offered upscale restaurants and watering holes with live entertainment.

A galaxy of stars, headed by Frank Sinatra, who sang solo or with an early version of the Rat Pack, co-starring Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, continued to pour into Miami Beach. At the top of his craft in the 1950s, Sinatra enjoyed performing in the La Ronde Room of the nonpareil Fontainebleau Hotel, which stunned the resort world with its opulence and curvilinear design upon its opening in 1954. A year later, the Eden Roc opened next door, bringing its own roster of illustrious entertainers. Farther north, the lavish Americana opened later in the decade. Stars continued their rush to the Beach in the 1950s and 1960s, when a broadened roster included Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Elvis Presley, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Streisand, and others.

The heady days of Miami Beach reached an epic moment in February 1964, when Jackie Gleason moved his popular television show to the Miami Beach

Auditorium (today’s The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater). The Beatles appeared before an audience of 4,000 mostly hysterical fans at the Deauville Hotel’s capacious Napoleon Room (with thousands more outside, hoping to enter!) for a live appearance on television’s popular Ed Sullivan Show; Cassius Clay, soon to be Muhammad Ali, stunned the sports world by knocking out Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship in the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Often overlooked was the welcome mat rolled out by the entertainment maestros for Black talent. Jim Crow-era Miami Beach welcomed Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Nat “King” Cole, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, and Eartha Kitt, who took their places alongside many popular white singers in the constellation of stars appearing each winter.

Miami Beach experienced a nosedive in its fortunes in the 1970s and 1980s, as new competitors, ranging from Las Vegas, with its gambling attractions, to exotic islands in the West Indies, now accessible by vessels from the growing cruise ship industry, became, more “hip” destinations for fun and relaxation when compared to a tired island with aging accommodations and prices out of kilter with the worth of the product being offered.

But the slow turnaround of South Beach’s Art Deco District, a retiree haven until the late 1980s, brought Miami Beach back as a major tourist draw. Patrons flocked to various venues to enjoy the sounds of Madonna, Pavarotti (who sang before an estimated 120,000 people on the sands of South Beach in 1995), Gloria Estefan, Lenny Kravitz, Sean Combs, and many other talented artists. Newly restored hotels and new clubs, like Mansion and Club Liquid, offered lavish settings for music, while an international roster of visitors and locals were drawn to them. The rich and beautiful sought out the island for fun, entertainment, and partying.

The Beach was back, showcasing its eternal gifts — warm weather and waters juxtaposed with stellar entertainment attractions and resourceful administrators filled with endless ideas for providing good times for a wide audience.

Learn more about Miami’s unique and diverse history at the HistoryMiami Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate located in the heart of downtown Miami. For more information visit www.historymiami.org.