AUBURN Speedsters.com

SOUTH BEACH
ART DECO WEEKEND

Miami Beach, Florida

"Selling Glamour and Style", was the theme of the 34^th Annual Miami Beach Art Deco Weekend held January 14^th – 16^th 2011. A couple of my friends made this trip and were kind enough to share these photos. The event takes place on South Beach in the Historic Art Deco District between 5^th and 15^th street on Ocean Drive. Lining Ocean Drive over looking the Atlantic Ocean are Beautiful examples of Art Deco Hotels and Restaurants. Events include tours, live music, vendors, guest speakers, a parade,  and a Car Show on Sunday courtesy of the South Florida Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA).

Art Deco is considered a 20^th Century Architecture style that later expanded into the design of our everyday products. Art Deco styling emanated from Art Nouveau, which originated at the 1925 Paris Exposition. The Exposition was a design fair that celebrated advancements in technology and industry and the modern art movement. Art Nouveau was a decorative style that blended floral designs and colors with function. Art Deco
being similar in context took on a scientific, bolder look emphasizing design based on function and geometry. There was a definite design theme that exuded motion, speed, power, machine like in appearances with a futuristic look. This modernized styling became known as Streamlining. Streamline styling was being used in Automobiles, Cruise Ships, Trains and Aircraft.

On South Beach Art Deco took on a unique styling that concentrated on nautical themes and a tropical motif. The exteriors and interiors of the Historical Hotels take on many styling ques from the then new Luxurious Ocean Liners.

South Beach grew from the economic boom of the Roaring Twenties. Wealthy people and their families were looking for ways to spend their wealth, vacation and winter getaways. To accommodate those needs, Miami decided to build a new Modernized City on Ocean Drive. The South Beach Art Deco movement was born.

The once popular Hot Spot for the Rich began showing it's age. By the 1950's the area was used regularly by mobsters. The once ritzy hotels would later become retirement homes, by the 1970's South Beach was a Mecca for the homeless and drug dealers. In 1976 the Miami Design and Preservation League was established in order to save the deteriorating South Beach Art Deco District along Ocean Drive. An optimistic 800 buildings were selected to have architectural value and were placed on a list of buildings to be preserved and later restored. Today 795 of those 800 registered buildings have been restored to their original design and condition.