31 Iconic Miami Landmarks That Haven't Been Destroyed...Yet

Few city are less concerned with preserving their story than Miami . Skip township for almost any amount of time , and you ’re guaranteed to find a few familiar standbys miss when you get back . Among the late casualties sacrificed to flow Miami ’s insatiable appetence for reinvention : the circa-1912 barTobacco Road ; gearing - post - turned - medicine - venueGrand Central ; and the bayfrontMiami Herald construction , recently razed to make way for a propose gambling casino hotel project .

In its brief 120 - year lifespan , however , Miami has produced enough striking pillar , architectural oddities , and cultural keystone to make any city envious – and , despite the whims of fretful - fingered condominium developer , plenty are still going strong . Here ’s a look at 31 Magic City landmark that have duck the wrecking ball .

1.The Ancient Spanish Monastery

North Miami BeachThough it did n’t actuallyarrive hereuntil 1925 , St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church – better have it away nowadays as the “ Ancient Spanish Monastery ” – is promote as the old edifice in the Western Hemisphere . The 12th - century structure , originally turn up in Segovia , Spain , was dismantle in the other twentieth century , and bring to the US by William Randolph Hearst , who seek to install it at his San Simeon estate ( the brainchild forCitizen Kane’sXanadu ) . That never happened ; instead it fade in a Brooklyn storage facility for 20 twelvemonth before ultimately bump its way to Miami , where it still functions as a church building and pretty ideal smear to get wed .

2.The Atlantis Condominium

BrickellThis repository to ‘ eighty extravagance had the distinction of appearing in both theopening credits toMiami Viceand inScarface , which used it for exterior shots of clueless kingpin Frank Lopez ’s lavish residence . Arquitectonica , the firm behind many of Miami ’s most dramatic towers , design the glass construction , which is instantly recognizable from its so - called “ ribbon court ” – a five - story , opened - air cutout that domiciliate a violent spiral staircase , jacuzzi , and a medallion Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . The style did n’t catch on . There ’s no other construction like it in Miami , or anywhere else .

3.The Bacardi Building

EdgewaterBacardi relocate its US home office down US 1 to Coral Gables in 2009 , but thanks to a swift militarization by preservationists , this Caribbean - inspired modernist classic make it the passing of its titulary renter . Designed in 1963 by Cuban architect Enrique Gutierrez , with roofing tile walls hand - paint by Brazil ’s Francisco Brennand , the main building is part of a broader complex that also let in the equally sensational 1974 annexe known as “ The Jewel Box . ”The National YoungArts Foundationacquired the building in 2012 , and has since convert them into an educational campus with assistance from Frank Gehry .

4.Cape Florida Lighthouse

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park , Key BiscayneTo chew the fat the oldest hold up structure in Miami that ’s not an import 12th - century monastery , head to the very conclusion of Key Biscayne , where four sawbuck a person will get you onto the beach at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park . in the first place built in 1825 – and reconstructed in 1846 after it was ransacked during the US ’ state of war with the Seminole Indians – the Cape Florida Lighthouse is a full 50 years older than Miami itself . Due to its out - of - the - direction location , however , it ’s a sight seldom seen by many metropolis residents .

5.Carol Mart

Carol City / Miami GardensYou wo n’t find this low - rent flea marketplace in any holidaymaker guide , but for pelvis - hop , the spot ’s iconic . Rick Ross(who turn up in the neighborhood ) , DJ Khaled , and countless Miami rappers of less fame have shot television in the Carol Mart parking lot , which can resemble an motorcar show on weekends , when local car enthusiasts bring out their “ donks ” – a style of customize saloon ( rarified reprieve , blast sound system ) that originated in Miami . The 58 - twelvemonth - old structure , formerly known as the 183rd St Flea Market , is rumored to be set for demolition shortly , so if you ’re in the market for gold grill or the newIce Billion BergCD ( and who is n’t really ? ) , get there quickly .

6.Churchill’s Pub

small HaitiFor a city driven by nightlife , Miami is woefully thin on hot music venue . Rock clubs here seem to open and tight quicker than you’re able to plug in a aux cable . Churchill ’s is the lone exception to this regulation , an endearingly scuzzy pub and punk hangout that ’s been going strong since 1979 . You could describe it as the CBGB of Miami … if only CB had hold out this long . Despite its recent sales event to a new possessor , the position is as sloppy and un - Miami - like as ever – an encouraging sign it will stay amidst the imminent gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood .

7.The Colony Hotel

South BeachThe most famous and right away placeable of Ocean Drive ’s pastel castle , the Colony Hotel is a polar piece of Miami Beach history . project in the ‘ XXX by Henry Hohauser , it was one of the first Art Deco hotels to rebel along the beach , invigorate further espousal of the architectural expressive style the expanse ’s now do it for . Today , it ’s hardly the best or most popular hotel on the strip , but it ’s decidedly the most photographed , thanks to the electric blue atomic number 10 lights which illuminate its facade at night .

8.The Coppertone Girl

Upper East SideThis 35 ft grandiloquent sign , from skincare brand Coppertone ’s iconic late-‘50s advert hunting expedition , has been a Miami fixture for generations . Its current location , at 7300 Biscayne Blvd , is in reality its third home , though . It originally appear on the Parkleigh Building at Fifth Ave and Biscayne Downtown in 1957 , then moved to West Flagler St in the ' 90 , before landing at its current coordinates in 2011 , where it stay to be a classical slice of Americana … and a lasting reminder that ad campaigns can be kind of weird .

9.The Coral Castle

HomesteadWhen Miami is necessarily swallowed by the ocean , The Coral Castle will probably be the last anatomical structure standing . build from limestone by Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin between 1923 and 1951 , this modern - sidereal day Stonehenge is a rightful wonder of engineering , and a subject of muchspeculationregarding the means by which it was built . Whatever the method , Leedskalnin ’s attractively failed attempt at wooing back his lose Latvian erotic love is now one of Miami ’s best roadside attractions . ( mention , in this compositor’s case , “ Miami ” mean Miami - Dade County , not the metropolis itself – the Coral Castle is closer to Key Largo than South Beach . )

10.Domino Park

Little HavanaThe entirety of Calle Ocho in Little Havana is worthy of watershed condition – specially now that the winds of gentrification and speculation are swirling deeper into its midst . ( The National Trust for Historic Preservation last year include the neighborhood in its list of the USA’s11 Most Endangered Places ) . One neighborhood icon that ’s not in jeopardy is Maximo Gomez Park , better know as Domino Park . As long as there are elderly Cuban men in Miami ( which therealwayswill be ) , this shrine to the Caribbean ’s preferred table plot will fill up daily with the strait of Antoine Domino twiddle against tables and spirited shouting en Español .

11.The Freedom Tower

DowntownBuilt in 1925 as the home base ofThe Miami News , the Freedom Tower develop its present identity in the 1960s , when it operated as a receipt center for refugees fly Cuba . Modeled after the bell tower of Spain ’s Seville Cathedral , it ’s likely the most prominent illustration of theMediterranean Revival - stylewhich typifies early Miami computer architecture . Today , the structure is part of the campus of Miami Dade College , which uses it to house billet , a contemporary art museum , andthe Cuban Exile Experience , a permanent display which highlight the Freedom Tower ’s past as “ the Ellis Island of the South . ”

12.Fontainebleau Hotel

Mid - BeachPhysically and symbolically , no edifice tower bombastic over Miami Beach than the Fontainebleau . Said to have been the biggest hotel in the humans when it opened in 1954 , it was before long the most recognizable , as movies including Jerry Lewis’The Bellboyand the James Bond classicGoldfingerbroadcast range of a function of its gilded third house ( “ a disturbed Gallic - provincial , Liberace - does – Boca Raton décor , ” asone modern critic put it ) and pool deck . Its affiliation with the Rat Pack , and specifically Frank Sinatra , who shot several movies of his own here , further cemented its status . Like Miami Beach itself , the hotel declined in the ‘ 70 and , thankfully , resurrected itself in the ‘ fourscore , when it was the setting forthis scene fromScarfaceand for most of the sleeper classicPolice Academy 5 : Assignment Miami Beach . Today ’s Fontainebleau offers a similar smorgasbord of epic weighing machine and populist programming . La Ronde , where Sinatra and Dean Martin once perform , is now LIV , where Lil Wayne andJustin Biebernow perform , and that awing syndicate deck is still the biggest attraction .

13.The Forge

Mid - BeachRenowned as a hangout for vacation mobster , The Forge has been the chophouse of pick for the Plectrophenax nivalis crowd since it was open up in the ‘ 60s byAl Malnik(a lawyer tight tied to Meyer Lansky – as well as Michael Jackson , but that’sanother story ) . An former restaurant was converted from an genuine blacksmith ’s forge on the site , which dated back to the 1930s . Owner Dino Phillips apparently anticipated today ’s vogue of naming restaurants after their site ’s former industrial uses by about 80 years . In a bid to shed its old - school day image , Malnik ’s Word Shareef late updated the place , adding fashionable farm - to - table fare like quinoa flannel-cake with Libyan Islamic Fighting Group marmalade , and a lobster peanut butter & jelly sandwich . The steaks , mahogany interiors , and massive vino cellar , supposedly home to 300,000 vintages , stay , which go to test some things are n’t worth exchange .

14.Hialeah Park Race Track

HialeahOpened to the populace in 1924 , Hialeah Park is iconic for horse racing ( and Miami ’s most historic sporting venue ) . Reopened in 2011 after a 10 - year hiatus , it now hosts “ quarter sawbuck ” races and a gambling casino with slot and poker – though the thoroughbreds that once brought the crowd during holidaymaker time of year are long live on . Still remaining on the lush , 200 - acre grounds are Hialeah Park’sfamed flamingo deal . A symbol of South Florida depicted on the DoS ’s drawing tickets and in the hatchway credits ofMiami Vice , as well as movies like 1989’sLet It Ride , the pink birds were the first such colony in the United States . Like so much of Miami , they are actuallyimports from Cuba .

15.The Jackie Gleason Theater

South BeachMiami ’s been persevering about preserving its historic theatre . Downtown Miami’sOlympia Theaterand theTower Theaterin Little Havana , both of which date to 1926 , have been restored in recent years . On the beach , the circa-1935 Art DecoColony Theaterremains one of the most likeable structures on Lincoln Road . The Jackie Gleason Theater ( originally the Miami Beach Auditorium , now brand by Live Nation as “ The Fillmore Miami Beach ” ) is credibly the most famous of Miami ’s vintage public presentation space , and also its most jeopardize . The South Beach turning point , which once hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageantry as well as its namesake comedian ’s TV variety show , wasrecently savedafter plan to expand the adjacent Miami Beach Convention Center call for its demolition .

16.Joe’s Stone Crab

South BeachEvery visitor to Miami should be required to strain two thing before flying home : Cuban food , and , provide your trip falls in - season , Florida stone crab claws . For the last 95 years , the unspoilt ( and for a while , only ) place to get this sweet - tasting mollusk has been Joe ’s Stone Crab . Originally a wooden shanty , Joe ’s is now thesecond - highest - grossing independent eating house in the US , despite only operating from October to May . For a classy dinner party experience in service - poor South Beach , nothing really compares . Those with allergies or aversions to mollusc should note that crabs are not all Joe ’s fare is recognize for : itskey lime piehas beencalled the public ’s unspoilt , and a superb electrocute poulet platter still cost a bare $ 6.95 .

17.Mac’s Club Deuce

South BeachOne by one , Miami ’s landmark nosedive bars –Jimbo ’s Placeon Virginia Key ; Brickell’sTobacco Road;Fox ’s Loungein South Miami – have bite the junk . That leaves Mac ’s Club Deuce on the Beach as the last gentleman’s gentleman stand when it comes to the cheap domestic beer / pool tables / vintage atomic number 10 sign combo . But what a great man it is ! Opened in 1926 , it was bought in 1964 by Mac Klein , who kept the place until he perish at 101 . Today “ the Deuce ” looks about the same as it must have when Klein bought it – with the exception of some Ne additions courtesy ofMiami Vice , the cast of which was once part of Club Deuce ’s famously eclectic clientele . As one former bartendereloquently put it : “ Mac ’s is like walking into the measure inStar Wars . ”

18.Miami Biltmore Hotel + the Venetian Pool

Coral GablesFor a windowpane into a more high - falutin ' geological era of the Magic City ’s past , visit the Biltmore , the only Miami hotel designated as a National Historic Landmark . Built during the first Miami material estate gold rush in the 1920s , it was one of the city ’s most glamourous destinations in its other years , even used as an auxiliary White House by Franklin Roosevelt on his annual Miami vacations . The hotel is also home to some of Miami ’s most famous touch : mobster Thomas Walsh , killed here in 1929 , is said to haunt an elevator . A short splash from the Biltmore ( but not to be confuse with the hotel ’s own telling pool ) is another ' 20 - era Coral Gables ikon , the Venetian Pool . The original water supply ballpark , it ’s still the rural area ’s large fresh water puddle , perhaps most famous for the aquatic galas ( contemporise swimming , diving demonstrations from Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller ) held here in the ‘ 30s . At 820,000 gallons , it ’s so heavy , gondolas once rowed around it .

19.Miami Jai-Alai

3500 NW 37th Ave , HialeahFor a rightfully surreal MIA experience , few places in town match Miami Jai - Alai . The “ world ’s fastest game , ” jai - alai was once a major drawing card in Florida , bringing K of bettors day by day to frontons across the state until cheating scandal , the arrival of major sports franchises , and various other factors led to its death . Well , ALMOST . That the summercater is still toy today is solely on account of a 2003 Florida law which grant table - gamble licenses to premises with existing betting permit – horse and dog track , or jai - alaifrontons . In a fit of almost Kafka - like fatuity , players ( many from the Basque region of Spain , where the sport was invented ) contend in physically demanding games watched by a humble sprinkling of watcher , their primary design to render a loophole for the profitable secret plan work on the other side of the bulwark . In a uniquely Miami touch , these admit not only fire hook and slots , but alsodominoes .

20.Miami Marine Stadium

3501 Rickenbacker Causeway , Virginia KeyWhat was once one of the commonwealth ’s most singular sporting venues is now Miami ’s most heroic ruination . Built to host speedboat races in 1963 , Miami Marine Stadium also became a major venue for concerts and fisticuffs matches . However , the unique structure seemed doomed from the start – a speedboat automobile driver died the daylight it opened , and it was condemned in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 . Today , the bowl is still an attractor … for graffiti writer , the destitute , and , particularly since the advent of Instagram , inexpert lensman lured in by its stunningly forlorn state and panoramic sensible horizon views . design to rehab the belongings were made public in 2014 by a grouping let in Gloria Estefan ; however , these appear to now beon hold .

21.Miami Tower

100 Southeast 2nd St , Downtown MiamiIt’sno secretthat illegal action fuel the striking maturation of Miami ’s skyline in the 1980s . And that ’s definitely true of Miami Tower , originally known as the CenTrust Tower . The I.M. Pei - design building , exalt for its three - tiered design and elaborate exterior illuminations , open in 1987 as the home office for CenTrust , a Miami bank that had one of the most spectacular spark in US fiscal history . Three year after the tower ’s completion , CenTrust was clutch by the US governing and itsmanagement was accuse of using company assetsto fund personal purchase of art , racing yacht , and Oriental rug . The building has changed hands , and name , several multiplication since then , but remain one of the focal point of Miami ’s cityscape .

22.The Mutiny Hotel

2951 S Bayshore Dr , Coconut GroveToday , the Mutiny is a unruffled long - full term stay hotel with an unremarkable restaurant . Back in Coconut Grove ’s ‘ seventy and ‘ 80s heyday , it was theepicenter of cocain gross sales and consumptionin South Florida , home to an infamousmembers - only nightclubthat brought South American drug top banana , crooked cops , deposed despots , CIA agents , and the role player who play them all together in one place , and the real - life inspiration for the den of evil inScarfaceandMiami Vice . agree to former possessor Burton Goldberg , George Bush , Jackie O , and Senator Ted Kennedywere customer , too . “ The Mutiny was like a no - man ’s land , sort of a sanctuary , ” says one former narc who worked the place . “ There was n’t many fights , because everybody was armed . ” Which was levelheaded logic in the ' 80s .

23.The “Naked Carpet Guy”

Miami NWFor decades , a monolithic , naked man has welcome commuter train and tourists entering Miami along Interstate 95 . have a page from Burt Reynolds , neophyte carpeting entrepreneur Don Baileyliterally put his shop on the mapin 1973 when he erected billboards depicting him lounge on one of his merchandise in the nude . Bailey , now in his 70s , still owns Don Bailey Flooring – which has four other South Florida locations – with the iconic icon of his bare - assed , 37 - year - sure-enough self still looming over each .

24.One Biscayne Tower

Downtown MiamiLooking at Miami ’s extensive array of skyscrapers today , it ’s hard to sound that One Biscayne Tower was the visible horizon ’s crown jewel just over 30 old age ago . But cue up theopening sequenceofQue Pasa , USA?– the bilingual , late-‘70s Miami sitcom starring futureScarfaceactor Steven Bauer – and there it is , lord over a frumpish cityscape about as telling as Newark . Times have exchange but One Biscayne , designed and built in the early ‘ 70s by a group of Cuban exiles , remains a symbolisation of prosperity for many Miami Cubans .

25.Opa-locka City Hall & Gardens

Opa - LockaOpa - locka is an main city just west of North Miami with a odd past times ( and present ) . Currently , its government is the subject of amassive FBI corruption probe . That something fishy was going on inside City Hall hardly seems out of part ; it ’s possibly the strangest municipal building in the country . Opa - locka was make in the ‘ 20 by Glenn H. Curtiss , an aviation innovator who had the entire original townsfolk designed in theMoorish Revival style , the largest such example of that architecture in the West . City Hall , the centrepiece of Curtiss ’ outlandish Arabian fantasy , looks much the same as it did in 1926 , but changes are likely coming . Miami - Dade Countyhas just urge the stateto announce a financial emergency , and consider taking over all city operations .

26. Royal Castle

GladeviewRoyal Castle was Miami ’s solvent to White Castle , a slider department store with its own birch beer . At its peak , the chain had more than 175 locations across the Southeast , but it liquidated all of its stores in the ‘ seventy , save two lonely Miami outposts buy by former employees . The last of these is owned by James Brimberry , said to bethe first black man take by Royal Castle in 1964 – a reminder of Miami ’s not - too - removed unintegrated yesteryear . Brimberry ’s Royal Castle still makes its own birch beer , and now stay open 24 hours , serving up greasy comfort all night long .

27. The club formerly known as Rolexx

WestviewNo survey of Miami would be consummate without at least one flight strip club – the city hasthe most divers selection of boob - friendly barsin the U.S. The warehouse - sizedTootsie ’s CabaretandKing of Diamondshave promptly become 305 image , but have only been in their current locations for 10 and eight years , respectively ( scarcely landmark position there ) . For a vintage Miami strip gild experience , manoeuver to the club formerly have a go at it as Rolexx ( afterwards , Club Lexx ) , fresh rebranded as Club Climax . In the early day of Miami hip - record hop – back when 2 Live gang ’s Uncle Luke ran the urban center , not Rick Ross – this is where future video vixens get along to get discovered , and producers follow to split up the newest bass records . While the grown - baller / make - it - rainfall crowd has mostly defected to K.O.D. , Lexx still realise points for the fabled BBQ sold in its parking lot . Miami is the only home in the world where it ’s not unusual to get in a car and force back to a landing strip club for a rib sandwich , then drive back home without drop a single $ 20 on a dance .

28.Stiltsville

Biscayne BayIf you ’ve ever sailed around Biscayne Bay , you may have note a cluster of wooden shack on the open piddle out by Key Biscayne . Today , a handful of social system stay from what was once a residential district of 27 private weekend retreats and public social nightclub . These house on stilts started belt down up in the ‘ 30 , skirting mainland gambling and drinking laws , but begin to fall into neglect after a combination of authorities regulation and recur damage from hurricanes made them untenable . Having miraculously evaded collapse , the seven remaining structure these days function principally to shadow cormorants , and as a canvas for the imaginativeness . writer include Carl Hiaasen – Miami ’s Tom Wolfe – have set novels here , andMiami Vicefrequently used the seaborne shanty town as a backdrop for aquatic patch .

29.Uncle Tom’s BBQ

Coral GablesMiami is not inevitably a BBQ Ithiel Town , but there orbit fistful of heater jointsworth a attempt . Shorty ’s in South Miami , People ’s in Overtown , and Shiver ’s in Homestead are all landmarks in their own right wing , but Uncle Tom ’s BBQ in Coral Gables makes this list thanks to its iconic neon sign – and because it nearly did n’t subsist . to begin with open in 1948 , Uncle Tom ’s was condemn by the city a few geezerhood back , after falling into disrepair following a fire . In 2014 , new possession restore the billet , bringing back the classic sauce formula from Uncle Tom ’s original owners .

30.Versailles Restaurant

Little HavanaIf you ’ve only got time for one meal in Miami , and no program to come in back , make it Versailles . sure enough , there are topographic point with unspoilt food , but this Graeco-Roman Cuban cafeteria is the Miami experience distil into 5,000sqft . The “ unofficial townsfolk square ofel exilio , ” Versailles has presided over putsch plots , premature Castro booklouse , and political power plays since 1971 . Even as the ' 80s brought with it cocaine and new fly-by-night construction to Miami , Versailles stood , steady , in the powder - nosed faces of laundered development money . And besides the sit - down eatery , which still serve up some of the city ’s best ropa vieja , picadillo , and other comidas tipicas ( do n’t have anyone tell you otherwise ) , Versailles is also home to the most famous of Miami ’s ventanitas – those ubiquitouswalk - up windowsserving Cuban coffee berry , pastelitos , and other small bites .

31.Villa Vizcaya

Coconut GroveMiami is awash in profligate waterfront homes , but none more impressive than the city ’s original mega - mansion , Villa Vizcaya . Built on a 180 - acre estate between 1914 and 1922 by tractor mogul James Deering , Vizcaya pioneered the Mediterranean Revival panache that ’s so ubiquitous in early South Florida computer architecture . Unlike the secret palaces on Star Island , you do n’t need to know someone to feel its magnanimousness : it ’s been a public museum since 1953 , which means there ’s no way this grandiose mansion is getting torn down anytime soon . perchance some things atomic number 79 can remain ?

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