The Deauville Hotel, 6701 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach was designed by Melvin Grossman in 1957. This MIMO style hotel was named “Hotel of The Year” as it attracted many celebrities over the years such as Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Rivers and Jerry Lewis. On November 18, 1963, John F. Kennedy spoke to the Inter-American Press Association at the Deauville Hotel about social injustice, economic welfare, and political democracy days before his assassination.
What really put the Deauville on the map was that the world famous Beatles performed there. Their US debut was made in New York on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964. Their second US show was performed and recorded a week later at the Deauville Hotel on February 16th, 1964. The Beatles performed six songs: ‘She Loves You’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me To You’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. The show was watched by an estimated 70 million people in 22,445,000 homes, and was repeated on 20 September 1964 at 8pm.
Shown are 1960s archival memorabilia donated by Merle Shama; vintage brochure, vintage hotel ashtray, Cabana Club Maraca Shaker. Also shown are photographs of the Beatles rehearsing for the Deauville show, their performance onstage, a trading card of the Beatles relaxing on the beach of the hotel, and a photograph of the Beatles leaving their Deauville room on February 21st, 1964.
Sadly, today this historic hotel sits abandoned in a severe state of disrepair.
