Shown are two archival 1947 magazine ads for The Cromwell and The Pancoast Hotels. These ads referred to “Selected Clientele”and “Carefully Restricted Clientele”, and offering “Congenial Companionship”. These catchphrases all appeared on colorful brochures advertising Miami Beach Hotels back in the 1930’s and the 1940’s. Sadly, they were code at the time for no Black or Jewish guests being allowed in their hotels. This discriminatory climate began to change slowly starting in the late 1950’s and early ’60s. However, it wasn’t until 1964 when segregation ended, that those phrases were no longer legally allowed on brochures.
1947 Discriminatory advertisement for the Pancoast Hotel at 29th and Collins Avenue
1947 Discriminatory advertisement for the Cromwell Hotel at 20th and Collins Avenue
What would Miami Beach be like without Historic Art Deco, Mediterranean, and MiMo buildings?
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Read Time: 2mins Barbara Baer Capitman, founder of the Miami Design Preservation League and monumental leader in the movement to save Art Deco, fought tirelessly for the preservation of Art Deco in the 1970s and 1980s. But it wasn’t until about 10 years into the effort that preservationists began to be taken seriously at the local level.
Read Time: 3mins In 1988, the Miami Design Preservation League held its 11th Annual Art Deco Weekend. The festival’s theme was Streamline Dreamtime. Ocean Drive and the Art Deco District were slowly progressing from a hopeful dream to an innovative reality.
Read Time: 3mins Hosted annually from 1978 through the 1990s, the Moon Over Miami Ball was a black-tie soiree held to fundraise for the Miami Design Preservation League. The event featured a lively evening with a 1930s nightclub atmosphere, held at several hotels in the historic Art Deco district, and featuring a variety of celebrities each year highlighting a unique theme. Over the years, the Balls brought in some of the greatest talent in the industry, including Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, the Incomparable Hildegarde, Lionel Hampton and the Swing Classics.
