The Fontainebleau Miami Beach or the Fontainebleau Hotel is one of the most
historically and architecturally significant hotels on Miami Beach.
Opened in 1954 and designed by Morris Lapidus, it was arguably the most
luxurious hotel on Miami Beach, and is thought to be the most significant
building of Lapidus's career. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked
ninety-third in the American Institute of Architects list of "America's
Favorite Architecture". On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked
the Fontainebleau first on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100
Places. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is
situated on oceanfront Collins Avenue in the heart of Millionaire's Row and is
currently owned by Fontainebleau Resorts. Fronting the Atlantic Ocean,
the 1504-room resort’s most distinguishing features include two new
towers; 12 restaurants and bars; a 40,000-square-foot spa with mineral-rich
water therapies and co-ed swimming pools; and oceanfront poolscape
featuring a free-form pool shaped as a re-interpretation of Lapidus’ signature
bow-tie design. History
Lapidus once wrote, “If you create a stage and it is grand, everyone who
enters will play their part.” He conceived of the ideas for the hotel
each morning as he took a subway from Flatbush to his office in Manhattan. The
hotel was built by hotelier Ben Novack on the Harvey Firestone estate. Novack
owned and operated the hotel until its bankruptcy in 1977.
The Fontainebleau is famous in judicial circles for its victory in the landmark
1959 Florida District Courts of Appeal decision, Fontainebleau Hotel Corp. v.
Forty-Five Twenty-Five, Inc. 114 So. 2d 357, in which the Fontainebleau Hotel
successfully appealed an injunction by the neighboring Eden Roc Hotel, to
prevent construction of an expansion that blocked sunlight to the Eden Roc's
swimming pool. The Court rejected the Eden Roc's claim to an easement allowing
sunlight, in favor of affirming the Fontainebleau's vertical property rights
to build on its land. It stated that the "ancient lights" doctrine has been
unanimously repudiated in the United States.
In the 1970s a suite in the hotel was used by members of the Black Tuna Gang
to run their operations. This is recounted in the 2011 documentary Square
Grouper, which follows the burgeoning marijuana-smuggling trade of the
mid-to-late 1970s. It was at this time that large amounts of the drug were
being shipped to southeastern Florida - the film goes so far as to allege that
more than ninety percent of the United States's illicit demand was being met
through such channels. In 1978, Stephen Muss bought the
Fontainebleau Hotel for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. He injected
an additional $100 million into the hotel for improvements and hired the
Hilton company to manage it. In 2005, the Muss Organization sold the
Fontainebleau to Turnberry Associates for $165 million.
The hotel closed a large part of its property in 2006, though one building
remained open to hotel guests, and the furnishings were available for sale. The
expanded hotel and its new condominium buildings re-opened in November 2008.
On December 22, 2008, the Fontainebleau was added to the U.S. National Register
of Historic Places. = Film, television and music history=
The swimming pool is shown in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head. Tony Manetta
comes to a party there for businessman and friend Jerry Marks. Miami Mayor
Robert King High had a cameo during the gala for Marks. Sinatra then videotaped
a special, on March 26, 1960, during his regular Timex-sponsored television
series for ABC, to welcome back Elvis Presley from his two years of military
service in Germany, which was then broadcast on May 12, 1960.
The hotel was also the setting for Jerry Lewis's 1960 comedy film, The Bellboy.
The Fontainebleau is continually depicted and mentioned in the 1960-1962
television series, Surfside 6 which centers on two detectives living aboard
and working out of a houseboat moored directly across the street from the
hotel, at the eponymous address. Supporting character Cha Cha O'Brien was
an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room in the hotel. Aside from
establishing shots, however, the series was filmed entirely at Warner Bros.
studios in Burbank, California. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is
featured in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, most notably in the sweeping
aerial shot that follows the opening credits and accompanies composer John
Barry's big-band track "Into Miami". It was the hotel where character Jill
Masterton was murdered by the villainous Oddjob. It is also featured in the Frank
Sinatra film Tony Rome in 1967. In 1979, Art Fleming hosted a revival of the old
College Bowl game show, as the syndicated College Bowl '79 tournament
was filmed in the hotel's LaRonde Room. It gained a second round of
architectural fame by its inclusion in critic and novelist Tom Wolfe's From
Bauhaus to Our House, published in 1981, which referred to the condescending way
that Lapidus was treated by the architectural profession and critics. In
the 1971 Woody Allen movie Bananas, the hotel is referenced when the ex-dictator
Vargas flees his fictitious country San Marcos in a plane and calls the
Fontainebleau to reserve a room. The hotel, predominantly the pool area,
was featured in the 1983 film Scarface. Other movies filmed there include Go for
It, Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, The Bodyguard, and The
Specialist. The Fontainebleau was seen on The
Sopranos in the season 4 episode "Calling All Cars". The Fontainebleau
was also the location of the Bravo television network's show Top Chef for
the third season in 2007, and an episode of FOX's The O.C..
The hotel was the location of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2008.
From May 5–9, 2009 Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa broadcast their talk show
Live with Regis and Kelly from the Fontainebleau Hotel, primarily from the
pool area. The hotel is repeatedly mentioned by
Allan Sherman in his 1962 comedy song, "The Streets of Miami". The
Fontainebleau is the title subject of a song written by Neil Young and performed
by the Stills-Young Band on their 1976 album Long May You Run, which was
recorded at the hotel. The Joni Mitchell song "Otis and Marlena" from her 1977
album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is generally thought to include an oblique
reference to the Fontainebleau as, among other things, "that celebrated dump
sleazing by the sea". Renovations
Fontainebleau’s grand re-opening marked the end of a two-year, $1 billion
transformation. Special care was taken to preserve many of the original design
elements, including the "Staircase to Nowhere".
Restaurants and nightclubs in the complex include:
Stripsteak by Michael Mina. Scarpetta
Hakkasan La Côte
Blade Sushi Vida
Fresh LIV
Bleau Bar Glow Bar
Michael Mina 74 Chez Bon Bon
Pronunciation The local pronunciation of the hotel's
name is the Anglicized "fountain blue" rather than the normal French
pronunciation of the word. References
External links Fontainebleau Resort - Miami Beach
website