Epicenter of the glitz and glamour

In 1964, for the Beatles, Miami was paradise.  Today, Deauville Beach Resort
still is.

The Deauville Beach Resort boasts a glamorous, all-star past, starting with its distinctive MiMo architecture.  The Miami Modern movement, which has recently come to be know as MiMo (pronounced Mee–moe), was pioneered by a group of architects who, during the post-war building boom in Miami and Miami Beach, moved away from the Bauhaus esthetic and the dictum of its star, Mies van der Rohe, that “less is more.” Instead, they embellished the modernist aesthetic with curved surfaces, bright colors, boomerang angles, concrete cantilevers, bean poles at all angles and walls with circular cut-outs resembling a ships portal windows.  Spearheading this movement of homes, hotels, motels, and commercial buildings throughout Miami Beach were architects Morris Lapidus, Norman M. Giller, Igor B. Polevitzky, Kenneth Triester and Melvin Grossman. 

The completion of the Deauville ushered in the swinging, glamorous 60s era of Miami Beach.  A time when the top TV show in the country was Surfside 6, whose hip detectives resided in a cool houseboat on Indian Creek.  Miami Beach was also home to Jackie Gleason who in 1964 moved his hit television show to Miami Beach from New York.  He opened each show with the famous words "From the sun and fun capital of the world, Miami Beach, it's The Jackie Gleason Show".

Miami Beach was favorite haunt for the Rat Pack, and the Deauville was where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop liked to hold court.

 At the height of the all the glitz & glamour, On the afternoon of February 1964, history was made at the Deauville and still stands out in Miami Beach’s entertainment history today. The Beatles appeared in their second US performance ever, broadcast live on the Ed Sullivan Show, direct from the hotel’s famed Napoleon Ballroom. They opened with She Loves You, followed by This Boy and All My Loving, then returned later to close the show with I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You and I Want to Hold Your Hand.

So as it came to be, that day in a jammed-packed ballroom at the Deauville, Beatlemania had descended on America.