By the 1970s the Deco district had faded into a stretch of peeling paint and aging retirees, and the bulldozers were circling. It was saved by an unlikely crusade: a preservationist named Barbara Capitman and the Miami Design Preservation League fought to protect the old hotels, and in 1979 the district became the first twentieth-century neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The pastel was repainted, the neon relit, and South Beach — SoBe — reinvented itself as one of the most photographed places on earth.
It started with a bridge. Collins ran short of money finishing a two-and-a-half-mile wooden span to the mainland — the longest in the world at the time — and Fisher loaned him the cash in exchange for land. On March 26, 1915, Collins, Fisher, and the Lummus brothers folded their separate beach companies together and chartered the Town of Miami Beach. Fisher then sold it to the world: grand hotels, polo fields, and a Times Square billboard that promised “It’s always June in Miami.” For one publicity stunt he posed a baby elephant as a golf caddie for a president-elect. America’s winter playground was open for business.
Why People Visit Miami Beach
Miami Beach rewards visitors who want style with their sand: the world’s great Art Deco strip, a wide Atlantic beach, walkable streets, and neon nights. Add the South Beach glow and the year-round Florida sun, and the man-made island makes an easy case for itself.
