South Beach isn't an official city, but rather it is an informal
name attached to approximately the southern one third of Miami
Beach. South Beach is in fact the originally inhabited part of
Miami Beach.
The history of Miami Beach really starts in 1870. John Lum, from
New Jersey, was returning from Havana, saw what is now Miami
Beach from a ship, and decided it looked like a promising place to
establish a coconut plantation. He started that venture in 1882,
but the business eventually failed. His son Charles, along with
Charles' wife, tried to live in the area for a few more years, but
since Miami Beach was then primarily a swampy jungle, they too
gave up and left. To this day, coconut palm trees are plentiful
throughout Miami Beach.
Southern Florida in general got a boost from a man named Henry
Flagler, who co-founded Standard Oil with John D. Rockefeller.
Despite being retired, Flagler became interested in Florida on a
visit, and bought two railroads. He extended those further south
than they had previously been, reaching Miami in 1896. He
eventually extended his railroad all the way to Key West, building
the foundation for the road that now connects the Keys to the
Florida mainland in the process.
In 1896, a New Jersey farmer named John Collins, who had lost
money in John Lum's ill-fated coconut venture, visited the area to
see why the business had failed. He felt the area did in fact show
agricultural promise, and eventually acquired 1,675 acres of land
in 1909 (at the age of 71!). He succeeded in growing mangoes,
avocados, bananas, and other tropical fruits. Collins in 1912 built
the first bridge from Miami Beach to mainland Miami on the site
of what is now the Venetian Causeway.
But the area really took off based on the efforts of a man by the
name of Carl Fisher, an Indianapolis automobile baron. He made
a large fortune by developing one of the early headlights for the
fledgling automobile industry. He eventually sold his Prest-o-Lite
business to Union Carbide, thus becoming even richer. Flagler
decided the railroad would bring winter tourists to southern
Florida, and wanted to form a business venture to capitalize on
that. He ultimately chose what is now Miami Beach as that site.
At the time, Miami Beach was literally a swamp, dominated by a
thick mangrove jungle, and inhabited by alligators and other wild
creatures. Fisher acquired a substantial amount of land (partially
from John Collins in exchange for helping finance his bridge to the
mainland), and funded the monumental task of having people cut
down (primarily by hand) the thick mangrove jungle. He then
spent about two years (and literally millions of dollars) dredging
sand from the bottom of Biscayne Bay, and putting it on top of the
levelled mangrove trees. Once that sand had been filled to a
suitable height, and had dried, he had a layer of topsoil brought
in, and planted grass. During those dredging operations, he also
formed some of the islands which are now part of Miami Beach,
including Star Island, Belle Island, and Sunset Island. The
dredging also had the beneficial side effect of making Biscayne
Bay suitable for recreational boating.
The ultimate purpose of Fisher's huge investment was to sell the
resulting property. He helped two Miami banker brothers, named
J.E. and J.N. Lummus, set up the first real-estate company. They
established Ocean Beach Realty, and set up an office to sell the
580 acres of what is now South Beach that they had acquired.
The main portion of Miami Beach was originally a peninsula. In
1924, a strip of land around what is now 110th Street was blown
away to allow for boat traffic between Biscayne Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean. This turned the main part of Miami Beach into
an island.
Fisher spent many years cultivating and promoting Miami Beach
as a vacationland for people from the midwest and the northeast.
He built incredible homes and hotels, and enticed his many
millionaire friends to likewise develop elegant hotels and homes. It was his money and connections that largely were responsible
for the upscale orientation that has long been a part of Miami
Beach's (and thus South Beach's) history.
In 1920, there were only 644 permanent residents in Miami Beach,
and all eighty phones could be listed on a single page in the
Miami telephone directory. Then as the 1920s went on, however,
Florida in general, and Miami Beach specifically, experienced a
tremendous land boom. As the stock market went up dramatically,
more and more people had the money to buy land and build
homes. By 1925, Miami Beach had grown to 15,000 residents.
During this boom of the 1920s, some of the unique buildings were
constructed that still remain today. In particular, the popular style
of that era was Mediterranean Revival. And Spanish-style
architecture was used in some locations such as in the vicinity of
Española Way.
Two disasters hit Miami Beach, resulting in the end of the boom
times. The first was a major hurricane in 1926. Since many of the
buildings were put up hastily, the damage from the hurricane was
quite severe. Then of course in 1929, the whole country was hit
with the stock market crash, and beginning of the resulting
Depression.
Miami Beach recovered from these fairly well, however, and
slowly but surely the 1930s evolved into a second boom era. It
seemed that the beautiful beaches, sun, and warmth of Miami
Beach (including South Beach) just couldn't be held in check for
long. By the mid-to-late 1930s, Miami Beach buildings were once
again going up, with the South Beach region experiencing the
biggest boom. People wanted to see a change, and the
architecture now known as Art Deco (the term first used in the
1960s to describe a ground-breaking design show held in Paris in
1925) provided a light-hearted and exciting new environment.
There were several architects that designed a very large number
of structures that still stand today during this period. In the 1930s,
2,028 homes, 164 hotels, and 485 apartment buildings were built.
Late 1930s era photos of Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue, and
Washington Avenue look amazingly similar to how those streets
look today.
The 1940s saw World War II. For a variety of reasons, Miami
Beach became virtually a military base during the 1940s. During WWII Miami Beach became a training center for early
500,00 U.S. Army Air Corps Cadets Military
personnel trained on the beaches, and lived in the many hotels
and apartment buildings. Although the building boom slowed
during this peroid, the presence of significant military personnel
(and thus money, and the need for housing) caused construction to
continue. The period during and after the war also saw Miami
Beach's nightlife to flourish (and it still does today).
In the 1950s and 1960s, Miami Beach overall thrived as one of
the premier vacation destinations. However, the portion of Miami
Beach known as South Beach started a downward trend as people
migrated further to the northern part of Miami Beach. New and
much larger hotels and apartment building were built, particularly
along Collins Avenue. The older Art Deco buildings from the
1930s and early 1940s were quickly going out of style, as
compared to the new mega-resort complexes like the
Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc.
Ultimately, Miami Beach had enough hotel rooms for the very
large number of annual visitors, and the building boom tapered
off. The last new luxury hotel built in Miami Beach for a very long
time (until 1998) was the Hilton in 1967.
The 1970s and 1980s were a down period for Miami Beach, and
a very down period for South Beach. In 1960, the average age of
a Miami Beach resident was 50. In 1972, the average age had
increased to 65. And not only were many of the residents fairly
old, they were increasingly poor and suffering from bad health.
South Beach was in fact nick-named "God's waiting room" by
some. Crime was also rampant throughout the area.
By the 1980s, it became clear that something had to be done to
bring back the glory days of Miami Beach. One major effort was
the replenishment of the beach itself. Years of wind and surf and
unchecked beachfront building had taken its toll on the beach.
Many of the building went right to the ocean, and there was
literally almost no beach for public use. The Army Corps of
Engineers once again looked to dredging (although this time from
the Atlantic Ocean) to solve the problem. The project took nearly
three years, and by 1982, Miami Beach had a completely new
beachfront, increased in width by about 250 feet, and stretching
about ten miles long (going from South Beach to in fact further
north than even Miami Beach). This resulted in the beautiful
sandy beach which is considered such a treasure today.
Many influential people in Miami Beach felt it was time to tear
down the old Art Deco buildings to make room for more high rise
hotel complexes. Such demolition was in fact started when a
woman by the name of Barbara Baer Capitman took an interest
in preserving the old buildings. She founded the Miami Design
Preservation League, a non-profit organization devoted to
preserving the rich history of Miami Beach. She crusaded to have
the Art Deco buildings placed on the National Historical Register,
and ultimately succeeded in getting approximately 400 bulidings
listed in 1979. The buildings were the youngest placed on the
Register (in fact, the only ones from the twentieth century). Also,
the area so designated (roughly one square mile) was the largest
area on the Register. The Art Deco District lies between 5th
Street and 23rd Street, and between the Atlantic Ocean and
Lenox Avenue. Barbara Capitman is viewed by most as the
person who saved the beautiful Art Deco buildings which are now
universally viewed as part of the rich visual content of South
Beach.
Although there were many factors in the resurgence of South
Beach, perhaps two things stand out more others. One was the
popular television show Miami Vice, which was filmed to a large
degree in South Beach. The beautiful people, cool clothes, hip
music, and exotic cars captured the world's imagination (even if
with a significant dose of crime and violence). South Beach
started to show a bit of resurging magic as it moved to the late
1980s, due in part to this show.
Then the fashion industry provided the second boost.
Photographers, always looking for unique scenery, good and
predictable sunlight, and a warm place for shooting during the
winter months, found that South Beach provided a truly fabulous
setting. Fashion magazines began showing up with photos taken
around the nature and architecture of South Beach, and people
started to take note of just how beautiful the place was. The
modeling industry took note and many modeling agencies
established a major presence in South Beach.
Today, it is estimated that there are over 1,500 professional
models working basically full time in South Beach during the
season (the winter), and many more working at least part time.
Although this may not be as many as in New York, Paris, or
London, one must keep in mind this is in roughly a one square
mile area rather than in a large city. Many have said there are
more models per square area in South Beach than in any other
location in the world, and merely strolling down the sidewalk is
evidence of that.
All of this combined to turn South Beach around, and into one of
the most desired locations in the world. Money once again
started pouring in, with the beautiful Art Deco buildings
continually being restored to their former elegance, and
incredible new condominium complexes like the Portofino
Towers and Il Villagio being built with wonderfully modern
interpretations of the Art Deco architecture.
South Beach is now "the happening" place. The beautiful, the
rich, and the famous come here not only for periods of the winter,
but increasingly even during the summer. The place is just too
fabulous to stay away, and everyone who comes here always goes
home with incredible memories of a great time.
For those wishing to read further about the history of Miami
Beach, the following is an excellent book which was used as a
reference for some of the above information: "The Life and
Times of Miami Beach" written by Ann Armbruster, and
published in 1995 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York.
