South Beach
Sun-soaked stretch of sand fronting a candy-colored art deco hotel strip, once nearly bulldozed for high-rises.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to South Beach in Miami follows Barbara Capitman, an art historian who looked past the peeling paint of what locals nicknamed God's Waiting Room and saw the largest concentration of art deco architecture on earth. In the nineteen seventies she founded the Miami Design Preservation League and made a habit of standing between demolition crews and the buildings she meant to save, more than once chaining herself to their doors. Not every fight went her way: the Boulevard Hotel and the New Yorker both fell despite her efforts.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Art Deco Welcome Center
Visitor hub and museum inside a pastel Art Deco landmark, gateway to South Beach's historic hotel district.
Ocean Drive
Palm-lined beachfront strip of pastel Art Deco hotels and open-air cafes facing the Atlantic.
The Colony Hotel
Streamline Moderne hotel with an inverted-T blue neon sign, among the district's most photographed nighttime landmarks.
Lummus Park
Oceanfront beach park with a wavy Copacabana-style promenade, Deco lifeguard towers, and public land preserved since nineteen twelve.
Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU
Restored Art Deco synagogue with a copper dome and eighty stained glass windows, now a museum of Jewish heritage.
Española Way
Pedestrian lane of pastel Mediterranean-style facades, tiled courtyards and sidewalk cafes.