South Beach Information
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History
South Beach started as farmland. In 1870, Henry and Charles Lum purchased 165 acres
(668,000 m²) for coconut farming. Charles Lum built the first house on the beach in 1886. In
1894, the Lum brothers left the island, leaving control of the plantation to John Collins, who
came to South Beach two years later to survey the land. He used the land for farming
purposes, discovering fresh water and extending his parcel from 14th Street to 67th in 1907.
In 1912, Miami businessmen the Lummus Brothers acquired 400 acres (1.6 km²) of Collins'
land in an effort to build an oceanfront city of modest single family residences. In 1913
Collins started construction of a bridge from Miami to Miami Beach. Although some local
residents invested in the bridge, Collins ran short of money before he could complete it.[1]
Carl G. Fisher, a successful entrepreneur who made millions in 1909 after selling a business
to Union Carbide, came to the beach in 1913. His vision was to establish South Beach as a
successful city independent of Miami. This was the same year that the restaurant Joe's Stone
Crab opened. Fisher loaned $50,000 to Collins for his bridge, which was completed in June,
1913. the Collins Bridge was later replaced by the Venetian Causeway.[2]
On March 26, 1915, Collins, Lummus, and Fisher consolidated their efforts and incorporated
the Town of Miami Beach. In 1920 the County Causeway (renamed MacArthur Causeway
after World War II) was completed.[3] The Lummus brothers sold their oceanfront property,
between 6th and 14th Streets, to the city. To this day, this area is known as Lummus Park.
In 1920, the Miami Beach land boom began. South Beach's main streets (5th Street, Alton
Road, Collins Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Ocean Drive) were all suitable for
automobile traffic. The population was growing in the 1920s, and several millionaires such
as Harvey Firestone, J.C. Penney, Harvey Stutz, Albert Champion, Frank Seiberling, and
Rockwell LaGorce built homes on Miami Beach. President Warren G. Harding stayed at the
Flamingo Hotel during this time, increasing interest in the area.
In the 1930s, an architectural revolution came to South Beach, bringing Art Deco,
Streamline Moderne, and Nautical Moderne architecture to the Beach. To this day, South
Beach remains the world's largest collection of Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture.
Napier, New Zealand another notable Art Deco city, makes an interesting comparison with
Miami Beach as it was rebuilt in the Ziggurat Art Deco style after being destroyed by an
earthquake in 1931.
By 1940, the beach had a population of 28,000. After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl
Harbor, the Army Air Corps took command over Miami Beach.
In 1966, South Beach became even more famous when Jackie Gleason brought his weekly
variety series, The Jackie Gleason Show to the area for taping, a rarity in the industry.
Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the 1980s, South Beach was used as a
retirement community with most of its ocean-front hotels and apartment buildings filled with
elderly people living on small, fixed incomes. This period also saw the introduction of the
"cocaine cowboys," drug dealers who used the area as a base for their illicit drug activities.
Scarface, released in 1983, typifies this activity. In addition, television show Miami Vice
used South Beach as a backdrop for much of its filming due to the area's raw and unique
visual beauty. A somewhat recurring theme of early Miami Vice episodes was thugs and drug
addicts barricading themselves in utterly run-down, almost ruin-like empty buildings. Only
minor alterations had to be made for these scenes because many buildings in South Beach
really were in such poor condition at the time.[citation needed]
While many of the unique Art Deco buildings, such as the New Yorker Hotel, were lost to
developers in the years before 1980, the area was saved as a cohesive unit by Barbara
Capitman and a group of activists who spearheaded the movement to place South Beach on
the National Register of Historic Places. The Miami Beach Architectural District was
designated in 1979.
Before the TV show, Miami Vice, SoBe was considered a very poor area with a very high rate
of crime. Today, it is considered one of the most wealthy and prosperous commercial areas
on the beach. Despite this, poverty and crime still exist in some isolated places surrounding
the area.
In the late 1980s, a renaissance began in South Beach, with an influx of fashion industry
professionals moving into the area. In 1989 Irene Marie purchased the Sun Ray Apartments
(famous for the chainsaw scene in Scarface) and opened Irene Marie Models - the first
international full-service modeling agency in Florida. Many of the large New York based
agencies soon followed. Photographers and designers from around the world were drawn to
the undiscovered Art Deco oasis.
Currently
Today, the South Beach section of Miami Beach is a major entertainment destination with
hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and boutique hotels. The area is popular with both
American and international tourists, with German being the third most spoken language after
English and Spanish. The large number of European tourists explains South Beach's
tolerance of topless sunbathing, despite being a public beach.
Another unique aesthetic attribute of South Beach is the several colorful and unique
lifeguard stands, still used today by South Beach's lifeguards. After Hurricane Andrew,
Architect William Lane donated his design services to the city and added new stops on
design tours in the form of lifeguard towers. His towers instantly became symbols of the
revived City of Miami Beach.
Geography
South Beach is traversed by numerical streets which run east-west, starting with First Street
and the largely pedestrianized Lincoln Road (between 16th and 17th). It also has 13
principal Roads and Avenues running north-south, which, from the Biscayne Bay side, are
Bay Road, West Avenue, Alton Road, Lenox Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Jefferson Avenue,
Meridian Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Drexel Avenue, Washington
Avenue, Collins Avenue (Route A1A), and Ocean Drive. There are three smaller avenues
(that do not run the entire length of the beach) in the Collins Park area, named Park, Liberty,
and James. Most locals agree that South Beach's northern boundary runs along Dade
Boulevard from Lincoln Road on the bay side of the island, and heads east-north-east until it
connects with 23rd Street, which forms the northern boundary on the ocean side.
Residential neighborhoods
There are several residential neighborhoods in South Beach. The old stereotype of South
Beach as a run-down retirement mecca for seniors is exploited in the Hollywood movie The
Crew which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds. In its early existence, Jews were not
allowed to live north of Fifth Street, thus the area became known as SoFi (South of Fifth.)
Today much has changed. This same area (SoFi) boasts many of the the most affluent and
exclusive condominium buildings ever to be built on Miami Beach. In fact SoFi, this
relatively small area, now accounts for nearly 18% of the residential tax base for all of Miami
Beach due to it's high property values. The glittering glass towers of the area include the
large resort-like condominium buildings such as Portofino Tower and sister buildings such as
ICON (spearheaded by designer Philippe Starck), Murano at Portofino, Murano Grande at
Portofino, The Apogee, and The Continuum buildings ( I and II). Now the hotspot
encompasses the area from the Atlantic ocean east to Biscayne Bay on the west, and from
Fifth Street to the South Pointe Park[citation needed]. Although mostly residential, the area
has some light commercial (mainly restaurants, a few hotel's and the Miami Beach Marina
complex). This area has several notable nightlife destinations, including Opium Garden,
Privé, Nikki Beach Club, and Pearl. It also has several smaller, upscale bars and restaurants,
including Joe's Stone Crabs, Smith & Wollensky's steak house, and China Grill. South Beach
is also home to two schools in the area; Miami Beach High School and South Pointe
Elementary.
Flamingo Park is the neighborhood directly north of Fifth and expands from Alton Road on
the west to Washington Avenue on the east, with its northern boundary being Lincoln Road;
it does not include Lenox. This area consists mainly of low rise apartment buildings, with
commercial development largely limited to Alton Road, Washington Avenue, and Lincoln
Road. Presently, there is little notable nightlife, with the exception of Tantra on 15th Street.
It is also home to Flamingo Park, one of South Beach's public parks, which includes
recreational facilities such as tennis, racketball and basketball courts.
Flamingo West is a neighborhood of single family homes that spans from north of the Park to
Lincoln Road on Lennox and Michigan Avenues.
Collins Park is South Beach's most "up and coming" neighborhood, according to the Miami
New Times. The newspaper cites the new Sanctuary Spa Resort, an updated public library,
and several open projects as evidence for its claim. Collins Park is contained by 17th Street
to the south, 23rd Street to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and Washington
Avenue/Pinetree Drive to the west. It is directly across from the Miami Beach Convention
Center. Collins Park consists mainly of low rise art deco buildings built in the 1930s and
1950s; it is also the location of the Bass Museum of Art. The area is currently undergoing
gentrification, as many of the old apartments from the 1980s (many of which still have bars
on their windows) are being purchased by major New York and South Florida real estate
developers to be converted into condominiums.
Additionally, many high-rise buildings are located along Bay Road and West Avenue, and
there are multifamily residences located north of Lincoln Road and east of Collins Park. The
Flamingo, the world's largest apartment complex, is located on Bay Road.
Lincoln Road
Lincoln Road is an open-air pedestrian mall, considered South Beach's premiere shopping
area. It is home to many restaurants and several night clubs, such as Score and Funktion, as
well as many retail outlets. While Lincoln Road was one time rather downtrodden, with its
unique boutique shops and restaurants, since the 1960s it has had "an esoteric chic that
maintains its trendy appeal." (ref. Ocean Drive Magazine) It is located in between 16th
Street and 17th Street and spans the beach in an east-west direction. Among the late 1990s
restaurants on Lincoln Road was one owned by actor Michael Caine, and managed by one
of his daughters. The restaurant has since closed. Lincoln Road commerce is greatly
facilitated by the 17th street parking garage. The Miami Beach Preservation Board recently
approved the closure of automobile traffic on the westward part of Lincoln Road, in favor of
the renovation of the SunTrust building. The extension of the pedestrian mall is
complemented by the opening of STAY at Lincoln in March of 2008.
Collins Avenue
Collins Avenue runs parallel to Ocean, one block west. It is also State Road A1A. Collins is
home to many historic Art Deco hotels, and several nightclubs to the north, including Mynt
and Rokbar.
Española Way
Española Way, which runs from Collins Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, was conceived by
N.B.T. Roney (of the Roney Plaza Hotel) in 1925 as "The Historic Spanish Village," modeled
after the romantic Mediterranean villages found in France and Spain. Today it consists of art
galleries, restaurants, and quirky shops.
Alton Road
Alton Road is the main westside north-south street located 1-3 blocks from Biscayne Bay. On
the part that traverses South Beach, the road is host to many local businesses, including dry
cleaners, small furniture stores, small grocery markets, non-chain restaurants and fast food
restaurants. It is mainly residential once it crosses Michigan Avenue north of South Beach.
Washington Avenue
Washington Avenue is one of the best-known streets in South Beach. Running parallel with
Ocean and Collins, Washington is notorious for having some of the world's largest and most
popular nightclubs, such as Crobar and Mansion. During "season" (October 15 to May 15th)
the street is jammed with traffic until early in the morning (as late as 6 am) every night of the
week. In the 1990s explosion of South Beach as a nighclub venue, its nightclub moguls
included Ingrid Casares, whose investors included the singer Madonna Ciccone.
South Beach started as farmland. In 1870, Henry and Charles Lum purchased 165 acres
(668,000 m²) for coconut farming. Charles Lum built the first house on the beach in 1886. In
1894, the Lum brothers left the island, leaving control of the plantation to John Collins, who
came to South Beach two years later to survey the land. He used the land for farming
purposes, discovering fresh water and extending his parcel from 14th Street to 67th in 1907.
In 1912, Miami businessmen the Lummus Brothers acquired 400 acres (1.6 km²) of Collins'
land in an effort to build an oceanfront city of modest single family residences. In 1913
Collins started construction of a bridge from Miami to Miami Beach. Although some local
residents invested in the bridge, Collins ran short of money before he could complete it.[1]
Carl G. Fisher, a successful entrepreneur who made millions in 1909 after selling a business
to Union Carbide, came to the beach in 1913. His vision was to establish South Beach as a
successful city independent of Miami. This was the same year that the restaurant Joe's Stone
Crab opened. Fisher loaned $50,000 to Collins for his bridge, which was completed in June,
1913. the Collins Bridge was later replaced by the Venetian Causeway.[2]
On March 26, 1915, Collins, Lummus, and Fisher consolidated their efforts and incorporated
the Town of Miami Beach. In 1920 the County Causeway (renamed MacArthur Causeway
after World War II) was completed.[3] The Lummus brothers sold their oceanfront property,
between 6th and 14th Streets, to the city. To this day, this area is known as Lummus Park.
In 1920, the Miami Beach land boom began. South Beach's main streets (5th Street, Alton
Road, Collins Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Ocean Drive) were all suitable for
automobile traffic. The population was growing in the 1920s, and several millionaires such
as Harvey Firestone, J.C. Penney, Harvey Stutz, Albert Champion, Frank Seiberling, and
Rockwell LaGorce built homes on Miami Beach. President Warren G. Harding stayed at the
Flamingo Hotel during this time, increasing interest in the area.
In the 1930s, an architectural revolution came to South Beach, bringing Art Deco,
Streamline Moderne, and Nautical Moderne architecture to the Beach. To this day, South
Beach remains the world's largest collection of Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture.
Napier, New Zealand another notable Art Deco city, makes an interesting comparison with
Miami Beach as it was rebuilt in the Ziggurat Art Deco style after being destroyed by an
earthquake in 1931.
By 1940, the beach had a population of 28,000. After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl
Harbor, the Army Air Corps took command over Miami Beach.
In 1966, South Beach became even more famous when Jackie Gleason brought his weekly
variety series, The Jackie Gleason Show to the area for taping, a rarity in the industry.
Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the 1980s, South Beach was used as a
retirement community with most of its ocean-front hotels and apartment buildings filled with
elderly people living on small, fixed incomes. This period also saw the introduction of the
"cocaine cowboys," drug dealers who used the area as a base for their illicit drug activities.
Scarface, released in 1983, typifies this activity. In addition, television show Miami Vice
used South Beach as a backdrop for much of its filming due to the area's raw and unique
visual beauty. A somewhat recurring theme of early Miami Vice episodes was thugs and drug
addicts barricading themselves in utterly run-down, almost ruin-like empty buildings. Only
minor alterations had to be made for these scenes because many buildings in South Beach
really were in such poor condition at the time.[citation needed]
While many of the unique Art Deco buildings, such as the New Yorker Hotel, were lost to
developers in the years before 1980, the area was saved as a cohesive unit by Barbara
Capitman and a group of activists who spearheaded the movement to place South Beach on
the National Register of Historic Places. The Miami Beach Architectural District was
designated in 1979.
Before the TV show, Miami Vice, SoBe was considered a very poor area with a very high rate
of crime. Today, it is considered one of the most wealthy and prosperous commercial areas
on the beach. Despite this, poverty and crime still exist in some isolated places surrounding
the area.
In the late 1980s, a renaissance began in South Beach, with an influx of fashion industry
professionals moving into the area. In 1989 Irene Marie purchased the Sun Ray Apartments
(famous for the chainsaw scene in Scarface) and opened Irene Marie Models - the first
international full-service modeling agency in Florida. Many of the large New York based
agencies soon followed. Photographers and designers from around the world were drawn to
the undiscovered Art Deco oasis.
Currently
Today, the South Beach section of Miami Beach is a major entertainment destination with
hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and boutique hotels. The area is popular with both
American and international tourists, with German being the third most spoken language after
English and Spanish. The large number of European tourists explains South Beach's
tolerance of topless sunbathing, despite being a public beach.
Another unique aesthetic attribute of South Beach is the several colorful and unique
lifeguard stands, still used today by South Beach's lifeguards. After Hurricane Andrew,
Architect William Lane donated his design services to the city and added new stops on
design tours in the form of lifeguard towers. His towers instantly became symbols of the
revived City of Miami Beach.
Geography
South Beach is traversed by numerical streets which run east-west, starting with First Street
and the largely pedestrianized Lincoln Road (between 16th and 17th). It also has 13
principal Roads and Avenues running north-south, which, from the Biscayne Bay side, are
Bay Road, West Avenue, Alton Road, Lenox Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Jefferson Avenue,
Meridian Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Drexel Avenue, Washington
Avenue, Collins Avenue (Route A1A), and Ocean Drive. There are three smaller avenues
(that do not run the entire length of the beach) in the Collins Park area, named Park, Liberty,
and James. Most locals agree that South Beach's northern boundary runs along Dade
Boulevard from Lincoln Road on the bay side of the island, and heads east-north-east until it
connects with 23rd Street, which forms the northern boundary on the ocean side.
Residential neighborhoods
There are several residential neighborhoods in South Beach. The old stereotype of South
Beach as a run-down retirement mecca for seniors is exploited in the Hollywood movie The
Crew which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds. In its early existence, Jews were not
allowed to live north of Fifth Street, thus the area became known as SoFi (South of Fifth.)
Today much has changed. This same area (SoFi) boasts many of the the most affluent and
exclusive condominium buildings ever to be built on Miami Beach. In fact SoFi, this
relatively small area, now accounts for nearly 18% of the residential tax base for all of Miami
Beach due to it's high property values. The glittering glass towers of the area include the
large resort-like condominium buildings such as Portofino Tower and sister buildings such as
ICON (spearheaded by designer Philippe Starck), Murano at Portofino, Murano Grande at
Portofino, The Apogee, and The Continuum buildings ( I and II). Now the hotspot
encompasses the area from the Atlantic ocean east to Biscayne Bay on the west, and from
Fifth Street to the South Pointe Park[citation needed]. Although mostly residential, the area
has some light commercial (mainly restaurants, a few hotel's and the Miami Beach Marina
complex). This area has several notable nightlife destinations, including Opium Garden,
Privé, Nikki Beach Club, and Pearl. It also has several smaller, upscale bars and restaurants,
including Joe's Stone Crabs, Smith & Wollensky's steak house, and China Grill. South Beach
is also home to two schools in the area; Miami Beach High School and South Pointe
Elementary.
Flamingo Park is the neighborhood directly north of Fifth and expands from Alton Road on
the west to Washington Avenue on the east, with its northern boundary being Lincoln Road;
it does not include Lenox. This area consists mainly of low rise apartment buildings, with
commercial development largely limited to Alton Road, Washington Avenue, and Lincoln
Road. Presently, there is little notable nightlife, with the exception of Tantra on 15th Street.
It is also home to Flamingo Park, one of South Beach's public parks, which includes
recreational facilities such as tennis, racketball and basketball courts.
Flamingo West is a neighborhood of single family homes that spans from north of the Park to
Lincoln Road on Lennox and Michigan Avenues.
Collins Park is South Beach's most "up and coming" neighborhood, according to the Miami
New Times. The newspaper cites the new Sanctuary Spa Resort, an updated public library,
and several open projects as evidence for its claim. Collins Park is contained by 17th Street
to the south, 23rd Street to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and Washington
Avenue/Pinetree Drive to the west. It is directly across from the Miami Beach Convention
Center. Collins Park consists mainly of low rise art deco buildings built in the 1930s and
1950s; it is also the location of the Bass Museum of Art. The area is currently undergoing
gentrification, as many of the old apartments from the 1980s (many of which still have bars
on their windows) are being purchased by major New York and South Florida real estate
developers to be converted into condominiums.
Additionally, many high-rise buildings are located along Bay Road and West Avenue, and
there are multifamily residences located north of Lincoln Road and east of Collins Park. The
Flamingo, the world's largest apartment complex, is located on Bay Road.
Lincoln Road
Lincoln Road is an open-air pedestrian mall, considered South Beach's premiere shopping
area. It is home to many restaurants and several night clubs, such as Score and Funktion, as
well as many retail outlets. While Lincoln Road was one time rather downtrodden, with its
unique boutique shops and restaurants, since the 1960s it has had "an esoteric chic that
maintains its trendy appeal." (ref. Ocean Drive Magazine) It is located in between 16th
Street and 17th Street and spans the beach in an east-west direction. Among the late 1990s
restaurants on Lincoln Road was one owned by actor Michael Caine, and managed by one
of his daughters. The restaurant has since closed. Lincoln Road commerce is greatly
facilitated by the 17th street parking garage. The Miami Beach Preservation Board recently
approved the closure of automobile traffic on the westward part of Lincoln Road, in favor of
the renovation of the SunTrust building. The extension of the pedestrian mall is
complemented by the opening of STAY at Lincoln in March of 2008.
Collins Avenue
Collins Avenue runs parallel to Ocean, one block west. It is also State Road A1A. Collins is
home to many historic Art Deco hotels, and several nightclubs to the north, including Mynt
and Rokbar.
Española Way
Española Way, which runs from Collins Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, was conceived by
N.B.T. Roney (of the Roney Plaza Hotel) in 1925 as "The Historic Spanish Village," modeled
after the romantic Mediterranean villages found in France and Spain. Today it consists of art
galleries, restaurants, and quirky shops.
Alton Road
Alton Road is the main westside north-south street located 1-3 blocks from Biscayne Bay. On
the part that traverses South Beach, the road is host to many local businesses, including dry
cleaners, small furniture stores, small grocery markets, non-chain restaurants and fast food
restaurants. It is mainly residential once it crosses Michigan Avenue north of South Beach.
Washington Avenue
Washington Avenue is one of the best-known streets in South Beach. Running parallel with
Ocean and Collins, Washington is notorious for having some of the world's largest and most
popular nightclubs, such as Crobar and Mansion. During "season" (October 15 to May 15th)
the street is jammed with traffic until early in the morning (as late as 6 am) every night of the
week. In the 1990s explosion of South Beach as a nighclub venue, its nightclub moguls
included Ingrid Casares, whose investors included the singer Madonna Ciccone.