Rows of pastel Art Deco hotels along Ocean Drive, and the mansion where Miami Vice filmed its pilot episode.
What South Beach looks like
Ocean Drive runs along Lummus Park with three and four storey hotels facing the sand, their fronts rendered in pastel stucco and lit by vertical neon signs after dark. Terrazzo porches, porthole windows and royal palms repeat down the block, with canvas awnings shading sidewalk tables outside the at Eighth Street.
The 's blue neon tower rises over a curved corner at 736 Ocean Drive, its flat parapet and glass block windows dating from the 1930s. The Avalon, two doors south, keeps a green striped awning and chrome lettering over a similar corner. The Breakwater's own vertical sign rises above rounded balconies two blocks north.
, at 1116 Ocean Drive, breaks the Streamline run with arched windows and a barrel tile roof over a carved stone doorway. It is Mediterranean Revival rather than Moderne. The Carlyle, two blocks north at 13th Street, keeps its original stepped facade and vertical fins over the entrance.
Ordinary storefronts line Collins Avenue, a block back from the beach. holds a plain white corner at 14th Street under red and green neon lettering. The marks the district's edge to the north, a narrow waterway lined with palms.
Shot in South Beach
Miami Vice filmed an empty mansion for its 1984 pilot and a dive bar for its 1989 finale, both real addresses rather than a set. Dexter later used the Colony Hotel's neon front as an establishing shot in its first season.
Miami Vice
The pilot and the finale, five years apart, used two real addresses, one on Ocean Drive and one a block off it, rather than a set.
Dexter, 2006
The Colony Hotel
The hotel's neon front appears in Dexter's first season, in a scene where Debra discovers the Ice Truck Killer's abandoned vehicle on Ocean Drive. The production used the exterior only, with no dressing beyond what stands there today. Street View
Miami Vice, 1984
Casa Casuarina
Miami Vice filmed inside Casa Casuarina for its 1984 pilot episode, when the building stood empty with holes in the floors, according to Don Johnson. Gianni Versace bought the mansion eight years later and restored the facade seen today. Street View
Miami Vice, 1989
Mac's Club Deuce
Miami Vice crew members were regulars at Mac's Club Deuce throughout the show's run, most notably filming the series finale there in 1989. The bar's neon signage was added during those years, and owner Mac Klein struck a deal with the producers to keep it after the show wrapped. Street View
What South Beach can double for
Napier in Napier, New Zealand
Napier's central blocks were rebuilt in the same Art Deco years as South Beach, with low parapets, curved corners and pastel render along Emerson and Tennyson Streets. Napier's buildings are shops and offices rather than beachfront hotels, and the inland setting with no palms or ocean gives it away in a wide shot. Try searching Art Deco blocks Napier now.
Vedado in Havana, Cuba
Vedado's apartment blocks share South Beach's curved corners and pastel stucco. Porthole windows are common on the facades, built across the same Streamline decades. Vedado's balconies carry wrought iron railings and taller party walls between buildings, and the signage and street furniture would need to be dressed out. Try searching Streamline apartment blocks Vedado now.
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