Miami Beach Stories
The Hotel That Glowed
· 2 min read · Miami Beach
On New Year's Eve 1920, Carl Fisher opened the Flamingo Hotel on Biscayne Bay, eleven stories rising over a beach town that barely had streets. On top sat a great glass dome, lit up at night, and as the story goes, sailors claimed they could see the glow far out at sea. Below it the resort ran like a stage set: Venetian gondolas gliding the bay, singers in velvet drifting through the gardens, polo fields, a golf course, speedboat races off the private marina.
Gondolas, polo fields and a president-elect
Weeks after it opened, president-elect Warren Harding checked in, fished off Fisher's yacht, and handed the little resort town the kind of front-page publicity money cannot buy. Land prices jumped, and the great Miami Beach boom had its spark.
The Flamingo outlived its builder and the boom itself, then came down in 1960 for an apartment complex. Not a wall remains. The city it advertised is the monument.
Did you know the beach's first great hotel faced the bay, not the ocean?
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
- What was the Flamingo Hotel in Miami Beach?
- On New Year's Eve 1920, Carl Fisher opened the Flamingo Hotel on Biscayne Bay, eleven stories rising over a beach town that barely had streets. On top sat a great glass dome, lit up at night, and as the story goes, sailors claimed they could see the glow far out at sea.