EARLY HISTORY, 1817-1970
2.11. POST-WAR DEVELOPMENT
The postwar years brought Miami Beach its second boom, as well as social shifts with the residual effects of the rise of the middle-class across America.99 Between 1880 and 1925, an estimated 2.5 million Jews had emigrated from Eastern Europe. The nation had the impression that a majority of this elderly population retired to Miami Beach and its reputation
95 Kleinberg, 141-142.
96 Ibid., 151.
97 Stofik, 16; The introduction of parking lots accommodated Buick and Mercury station wagons coming from New Jersey and Michigan.
98 Kleinberg, 153.
99 Klepser, 74-75
as a premiere destination rapidly deteriorated as more exotic, international destinations became fashionable. As M. Barron Stofik chronicled, “The reputation of Miami Beach as a seaside Hebrew home for the aged was turning away the jet set and the young,
free-spending tourist.”100 City leaders desperately aspired to revert back to Miami Beach’s vision as “America’s Playground” from the 1920s to revitalize their most lucrative industry, tourism.
2.11.1. Criminal Elements
More bad publicity followed as tales of Al Capone’s headquarters in Miami Beach and the expansion of the illegal gambling industry persisted through the late 1940s. It garnered national attention and in 1949, the Congressional Crime Committee, began to investigate and found that economic power of these corrupt individuals allowed them to persuade municipal policies.101 As a result, many gambling establishment were forced to close. Though this was ultimately a benefit to the community at large, the short-term losses and continual downturn prompted city officials to act quickly and spur development.
2.11.2. Upzoning begins 1950s
The mansions of Millionaires’ Row fell to rezoning, which the property owners
themselves urged in the 1950s as children of these sizeable inherited villas couldn’t afford the upkeep. Investors once again saw potential in a slumped market. They began to construct towering hotels on the demolished razed oceanfront areas to the north, creating icons such as the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc. Humbler Art Deco hotels and apartments in South Beach fell out of fashion, but were comfortable for retirees and middle-class visitors. Developers assembled properties to demolish structures and capitalize on new zoning incentives through the 1970s to erect large residential towers that dwarfed the two- and three- story buildings of South Beach.
100 Stofik, 19.
101 Rodriguez, et. al., 172.
Figure 2.50: James Snowden estate, c.1920s Figure 2.51: Same location, c.1959
Figure 2.52: Firestone estate as Fontainebleau develops Figure 2.53: Fontainebleau today, Firestone estate was demolished
2.11.3. “God’s Waiting Room”
Miami Beach south of Lincoln Road had a history of catering to moderate-to-lower income people, as demonstrated by the early Lummus brother’s humbler ambitions. Art Deco hotels and apartments, designed in the 1930s, had been taken over by the elderly. Kleinberg painted the demographic shifts, “On any day, from the 1950s to the 1980s, the sight of hundred of retirees sitting on webbed chairs on the porches of these hotels was a familiar one.”102 Miami Beach went from the most desirable tourist destination to “God’s waiting room” in the span of a few decades. A new generation of larger and more glamorous hotels
102 Kleinberg, 173.
surged north along the oceanfront from the 1950s to 1960s. Changes to the urban landscape also evolved and the imaginings of Carl Fisher were vanishing. The golf course north of Lincoln Road was converted into a civic complex that included parking facilities, an auditorium designed by Morris Lapidus, the convention center, and a new city hall.103
The dominant change of Miami Beach in the 1960s was demographics. Aside from the influx of an elderly Jewish population, a first and subsequent wave of Cubans came to Miami Beach in great numbers. After Fulgencio Batista’s departure from Havana in 1959 to flee Fidel Castro’s army, many of Cuba’s professional class followed to South Florida.104 Previously, Cubans came as tourists just like the rest of the world, not only due to political reasons, but the latest exiles were fleeing a communist dictatorship.105 The Hispanic population continued to swell. In 1960, only 1% of the population in Miami Beach was Hispanic, but following the mass migration from Cuba, Hispanics made up 10% by 1970.106
Figure 2.54: Deserted Ocean Drive and elderly in front of Chelsea Hotel, c.1970s 2.11.4. Renewed tourism interests
Despite the decline of South Beach, large development in the northern sections of Miami Beach renewed interest in the city as a destination. Its image as an elite-only destination would never truly return, but in 1961, the Greater Miami telephone directory
103 Kleinberg, 178; The auditorium, transformed several times to become the Jackie Gleason Theater of Performing Arts, had its first fame a the site of boxing matches every Tuesday night.
104 Ibid., 17; Cubans, both as tourists and as exiles, have an extended history in Miami Beach. As early as 1933, former Cuban president General Mario Menocal took up residence here.
105 Ibid., 172; In 1947, it was reported that more than 6,500 Cubans were vacationing in the area each week.
106 Lavender, 151-152; By 1980, Hispanics accounted for 22 percent of the city’s population; by 1990, 47 percent, and by 2000, 53 percent. Now, about half of the Hispanics are non-Cuban.
listed 460 hotels on the Beach and its immediate environs to the north, which didn’t even include motels. Image-conscious from early development marketing continued through the 1960s and 1970s. Major events attracted famous personalities and international media attention. In 1964, The Beatles recorded the Ed Sullivan Show, Muhammad Ali was victorious over heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, and Jackie Gleason moved his CBS show to Miami Beach. Three major political conventions were headquartered in Miami Beach: the 1968 Republican Convention, and the 1972 Republican and Democratic Conventions.107
Figure 2.55: The Beatles in Figure 2.56: Muhammad Ali training at the Figure 2.57: Postcard from Jackie Gleason Miami Beach for the Ed 5th Street Boxing Gym in Miami Beach which taped on Miami Beach, 1968 Sullivan Show, 1964
2.11.5. Opportunity for historic preservation
For all this notoriety, by 1970, South Beach and businesses outside of the prominent northern hotels struggled to make ends meet. Interior architecture of the smaller Art Deco hotels and apartments were remodeled to include kitchenettes to attract long-term guests, effectively becoming residential hotels for the elderly. As Stofik noted, “…they recreated the shtetls of Eastern Europe, a close-knit community.”108 Second waves of Cubans, known as the Muriel refugees, also began to settle in South Beach and were socioeconomically distinctive from the first wave of professionals. Though ethnically diverse, this deteriorating
neighborhood inspired efforts of Barbara Capitman and Leonard Horowitz as they drove around South Beach in 1976.109 They saw a unique opportunity for historic preservation in what many considered an area slated for urban renewal. Miami Beach’s demographics shifted to an elderly population and many saw this reflected in its “tired” architecture.
107 Kleinberg, 179.
108 Stofik, 18.
109 Ibid., 18.
However, an alternative appreciation for revitalization instead of demolition was gaining national momentum.
The combination of preservation and development came out of national ideas surrounding America’s 1976 Bicentennial. Later that same year, the Miami Design
Preservation League (MDPL) was founded. As Denise Scott Brown wrote Norman Giller on January 26, 1973, “The progression from south to north along Miami Beach is also a progression through recent American architectural history from the 1930s to the 1970s.”
Miami Beach was something to be treasured and a renewed interest in vernacular American architecture spurred advocacy from notable architects Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, who pointed out the potential of Miami Beach as a record of design history and a
“priceless record of the early 1930s.”110 They later submitted a planning proposal to preserve South Beach. Barbara and Leonard understood the evolving role of historic districts in
preservation and urban revitalization. The preservation movement began in Miami Beach in direct opposition to another entity formed in 1976, the South Shore Redevelopment
Authority.