Miami Beach Stories
Bottled Sunshine
· 2 min read · Miami Beach
In 1944 a Miami Beach pharmacist named Benjamin Green was working on a problem the war had made urgent: soldiers and airmen burning under the Pacific sun. The military's answer was red veterinary petrolatum, a thick red grease that worked but smelled terrible and felt worse. Green thought the beach deserved better.
From wartime grease to the American summer
After the war he cooked smoother batches with cocoa butter on his wife's stove, and tested every one the same way: on his own bald head. By the mid 1940s the result was on shelves, and Coppertone went on to become the lotion of the American beach.
The rest is pop culture. The pigtailed little girl with the cocker spaniel arrived in the 1950s, painted in her famous form by an artist who modeled her own three-year-old daughter. A three-year-old Jodie Foster made her very first screen appearance in one of the TV ads in 1965. And in 2019 the brand born on a Miami Beach stove sold for 550 million dollars.
Every bottle in every beach bag on this sand carries a little local history.
Did you know it started here?
Where to find us on Collins
Green Market sits at 5101 Collins Ave in Miami Beach, open 7am to 10pm every day. Coffee from the espresso bar starts at $2.50, combos from $5.79. Walk in from the beach, or order on WhatsApp at +1 (305) 876-4513 and we deliver across Miami Beach.
Quick answers
- Where was Coppertone suntan lotion invented?
- In 1944 a Miami Beach pharmacist named Benjamin Green was working on a problem the war had made urgent: soldiers and airmen burning under the Pacific sun. The military's answer was red veterinary petrolatum, a thick red grease that worked but smelled terrible and felt worse.