Place · United States
The history of Miami, one place at a time
Assembled from 3 dug tiles · 23 sourced records · last reviewed 17 September 2026
This record gathers the Collins Avenue beachfront in Miami Beach, built up from bay and barrier island from the 1870s onward, where a 1957 MiMo tower hosted the Beatles in 1964 and was, decades later after a fire, deliberately reduced to rubble in 2022.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in Miami — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in Miami
The hotel that hosted the Beatles and died on purposeA quarter mile from where you are standing, a 1957 beachfront resort went from rock and roll history to a pile of rubble. Monticello Hotel
1870–2004 Beatles played here, then the hotel was left to rot
You are standing near the beachfront strip where a MiMo landmark hosted the Beatles and, decades later, was dynamited into rubble. Akoya
1870–2022 A hotel where the Beatles played, torn down by its own owner
A half mile up Collins Avenue, a beachfront hotel went from Beatlemania to a pile of rubble in one long, slow argument over money. Monticello Hotel
1964 back to 1926
Miami in layers
The Monticello Hotel, 233 meters away, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places among the district's surviving hotel stock. Wikidata / National Register
from 1870
Familysearch's gazetteer traces Allison Island back to 1870, the earliest recorded name for the waterway just southwest of where you stand, before it was folded into the modern county system in 1997. FamilySearch
1870-1920s
Allison Island, where Alfonso died, sits in Indian Creek near a cluster of man-made islands raised out of Biscayne Bay in the 1920s for Miami Beach's development boom. Wikipedia: Allison Island
1904
John B. Gordon, a Confederate general and later U.S. senator, died in Miami in 1904 — the oldest death this ground's records name. Wikidata
from 1919-1927
The Boardwalk along the beach and Collins Avenue were both laid out starting in 1919 and 1927, the skeleton the neighborhood around you was built onto. OpenHistoricalMap
1924
Just under a kilometer away, La Gorce Island was dredged up and built from Biscayne Bay in 1924, named for Carl Fisher's friend, the explorer John Oliver La Gorce. Wikipedia
September 18, 1926
A hurricane with winds over 150 mph struck Miami Beach before dawn on September 18, 1926, drowning parts of the peninsula under an 11-foot storm surge and killing an estimated 113 people nearby. PBS American Experience / Library of Congress
1926-1992
Allison Hospital opened on Allison Island in 1926 and was renamed St. Francis Hospital by 1929, serving the area until it closed in 1992. FamilySearch
1936
The 1926 hotel and casino on the site was bought by publisher Bernarr MacFadden in 1936, who renamed it the MacFadden-Deauville. Wikipedia: Hotel Deauville (Miami)
1938
Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, once heir to the Spanish throne, died in Miami in 1938 near Allison Island, an exile far from the crown he never wore. Wikidata / Wikipedia: Alfonso, Prince of Asturias
1946-1973
The Hotel Martinique, once standing 75 meters from this spot, operated from 1946 until it was demolished in 1973. Wikidata heritage record
1949
The Casablanca Hotel, 84 meters away, opened in 1949 as one of a run of postwar hotels built along this stretch of Collins Avenue. Wikidata heritage record
1955-2007
The Carillon Hotel building, built in 1955, sat empty for fifteen years until it was folded into the Canyon Ranch spa and condominium complex in 2007. Wikipedia: Canyon Ranch Miami Beach
1957
Julio Lozano Díaz, a former president of Honduras, died in Miami in 1957. Wikidata
1957
Architect Melvin Grossman designed the 1957 Miami Modern tower that replaced the earlier hotel and became the building the Beatles later played in. Wikipedia: Hotel Deauville (Miami)
February 16, 1964
Built in 1957 in the Miami Modern style, the Deauville Beach Resort hosted the Beatles' second live Ed Sullivan performance on February 16, 1964, before later burning in an electrical fire. Wikipedia
February 16, 1964
On February 16, 1964, the Beatles played their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance from the Deauville's Napoleon Ballroom, 519 meters from this spot. Wikipedia: Hotel Deauville (Miami)
March 15, 1968
Thee Image opened on March 15, 1968, on the site of the old Sunny Isles Bowling Center, with three stages, black lights, and a meditation room for the crowds. Wikipedia
1968-early 1970s
Thee Image opened in 1968 on the site of a demolished bowling alley and hosted Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead and Cream before closing within a few years; a Publix stands there now. Wikipedia: Thee Image Club
1990
A woman was shot and killed inside her South Beach apartment on Pine Tree Drive in 1990, a case that stayed unsolved until DNA evidence led to an arrest after extradition from Jamaica. CBS Miami
1991
The Nobel Prize-winning writer Isaac Bashevis Singer died in Miami in 1991. Wikidata
2004
Built in 2004 and standing 150 meters tall, the Akoya Condominium is one of the tallest buildings in Miami Beach, going up just before the city capped how tall towers could be. Wikipedia
November 13, 2022
The 17-story Deauville tower was imploded on November 13, 2022, leaving only the Napoleon Ballroom where the Beatles once played, itself slated for demolition. Wikipedia: Hotel Deauville (Miami)
Questions about Miami
What is Miami Beach's Collins Avenue strip known for historically?
It is known chiefly for the Hotel Deauville, a 1957 MiMo-style tower designed by Melvin Grossman, where the Beatles filmed their second Ed Sullivan Show performance in the Napoleon Ballroom on 16 February 1964. Nearby, hotels such as the Casablanca lined Collins Avenue from the 1940s and 1950s, part of the same beachfront hotel row.
What happened at the Deauville site in 1964?
On 16 February 1964, the Beatles taped their second live Ed Sullivan Show appearance in the Deauville's Napoleon Ballroom, a high point of Beatlemania at the beachfront resort.
What happened to the Deauville Hotel?
After a fire in 2017 closed it for good, the Deauville was left to decay for years. Voters rejected a redevelopment plan, and days later, on 13 November 2022, its tower was imploded into rubble.
What stands near the former Deauville site now?
The Monticello Hotel, listed on the National Register, stands near the former Deauville site, as does Akoya, a condominium that rose there in 2004.
What was on this ground before the hotels were built?
The area was shaped from bay and barrier land from the 1870s, when Allison Island was first named; it was further built up through the 1920s, alongside the laying of Collins Avenue and the Boardwalk between 1919 and 1927. A hospital stood on Allison Island from 1926 to 1992.
What other landmarks were near the Deauville site?
A short-lived rock club, Thee Image Club, opened on 15 March 1968 where a bowling alley had stood, hosting acts including Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead before vanishing in the early 1970s. Other hotels nearby, including the Hotel Martinique, were demolished between 1946 and 1973.