ART DECO DISTRICT

OCEAN DRIVE, MIAMI - FEBRUARY 2009


"OCEAN DRIVE - The southern end of Miami Beach is home to the Art Deco National Historic District. The buildings, started to be built in the 1920's, are examples of pre-war modernism. In the beginning, South Beach became associated with liquor, gambling and Al Capone. By the early 1980's, much of the Art Deco district had become a slum; however, it experienced a revival in the late 80's, as a result of the work of the non-profit Miami Design Preservation League and its founder Barbara Capitman. The highlight of the District is the section of Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th street that we'll see here"


"CASABLANCA"


"LANSCAPE PICTURES - Clockwise, from top left: Ocean Drive, design chairs, Boulevard Hotel, leasing, whites, MM, The Netherland and a street corner; the centre is taken by the Heathcote Apartments..."


"PORTRAIT PICTURES - Featuring The Victor, Cavalier, Congress, Winter Heaven, The Tides, Medi, Ocean Plaza Hotels and a light grey building..."


"AVALON - One emblematic building of the Art Deco District with a 1950’s Oldsmobile parked in front to induce the excitement of SOBE. In the evening, the lobby of the hotel is transformed into the restaurant «A Fish Called Avalon», a culinary institution of the last twenty years"


"WALDORF TOWER - Designed by architect Albert Anis in 1937, it is one of the most photographed buildings in Ocean Drive"


"OCEAN DRIVE LANDMARKS - Majestic, Beacon(1937), Colony (1939) and Shore on the Park (1930 by E. A. Ehrmann, home of Gloria Estafan's restaurant, Larios on the Beach) Hotels"


"FAT TUESDAY - It used to be a nice jazz club in New York (3rd Avenue); now, since 1984, you get «fun food items to complement the featured frozen specialty drinks»..."


"DECOWALK - The ONLY hostel on Ocean Drive"


"ART DECO SHOW - From top left to bottom right: Casa Grande, Pelican, Barbizon, Starlite, Crescent, Cardozo, Penguin, McAlpin and The Carlyle Hotels"


"LESLIE - Vacant for a while, the Leslie, designed by architect Albert Anis and built in 1937, was finally sold in 2009"


"CASA CASUARINA - It was built in 1930 by Standard Oil heir Alden Freeman as a tribute to what was then the oldest existing house in the western hemisphere, the Alcazar de Colon built by Christopher Columbus' son Diego in Santo Domingo in 1510. In the early 1990s, Versace bought the mansion and expanded the original 16th-century Mediterranean design with a south wing, a pool and a garden. After having been a private club during the last years after the murder of Versace, it seems that the mansion is going to reopen as a hotel: «The Villa by Barton G.». We'll see..."


"THE BETSY ROSS - Built by L. Murray Dixon in 1940 and opened in 1942, the Betsy Hotel is another historic landmark hotel"


"ESPAÑOLA WAY - This historic village, modeled after artistic and romantic Mediterranean villages in Spain, has been a longtime favorite of the bohemian crowd. Originally intended for Miami Beach's high society, it had problems in the 1920s when Al Capone and others used the Clay Hotel for gambling. In the 1930s, however, the scene came close to its original vision, and Española became known for its rumba beat"