Floridian/Biscaya Hotel

[ViceFanMan]

Found this old 1987 Miami news clip showing the demolition of the old Floridian Hotel (eventually became the Biscaya). Built in 1925, it at one time was gangster Al Capone’s favorite winter “home”. I’m not sure what year it actually closed?

The meeting scene with Crockett & Tubbs, Castillo, Trudy, and the DEA at the beginning of “Smuggler’s Blues” was filmed there, and some interior shots for a druggie-den were used in a later episode. You also get a good background shot of it at the beginning of “Nobody Lives Forever”, as the punks are going over the freeway.

 I love history and think it should be preserved, so this kind of stuff saddens and infuriates me.  I wish this could have been saved and preserved...it could be really awesome today! But hey, we always need room for more parking lots...right? 

Edited April 9, 2021 by ViceFanMan

[ViceFanMan]

I’ve posted this old vintage postcard before, but this was the Floridian Hotel in the 1930s (probably around the same time when Capone would have been staying there). Somewhere along the line, the name was changed to the Biscaya Hotel. 

[pahonu]

1 hour ago, ViceFanMan said:

Found this old 1987 Miami news clip showing the demolition of the old Floridian Hotel (eventually became the Biscaya). Built in 1925, it at one time was gangster Al Capone’s favorite winter “home”. I’m not sure what year it actually closed?

The meeting scene with Crockett & Tubbs, Castillo, Trudy, and the DEA at the beginning of “Smuggler’s Blues” was filmed there, and some interior shots for a druggie-den were used in a later episode. You also get a good background shot of it at the beginning of “Nobody Lives Forever”, as the punks are going over the freeway.

 I love history and think it should be preserved, so this kind of stuff saddens and infuriates me.  I wish this could have been saved and preserved...it could be really awesome today! But hey, we always need room for more parking lots...right? 

I’m with you on this topic.  Unfortunately, it’s really up to each community to decide on historic preservation laws.  Some cities have very strict laws like Boston and DC.  Others have nothing at all.  Miami’s are very minimal as this case shows.  It’s the classic political argument of private property rights versus the public good as a whole.  Different communities land in different places on the issue.

[ViceFanMan]

24 minutes ago, pahonu said:

I’m with you on this topic.  Unfortunately, it’s really up to each community to decide on historic preservation laws.  Some cities have very strict laws like Boston and DC.  Others have nothing at all.  Miami’s are very minimal as this case shows.  It’s the classic political argument of private property rights versus the public good as a whole.  Different communities land in different places on the issue.

True. And there actually was a huge local uproar when the Floridian and other Art Deco historical places were being demolished. This actually helped put in place more strict preservation laws for the Miami area—at least at the time. Anymore it seems there’s always a way around them now, so more parking lots and high rises can crap up everything.  

Edited April 9, 2021 by ViceFanMan

[pahonu]

26 minutes ago, ViceFanMan said:

True. And there actually was a huge local uproar when the Floridian and other Art Deco historical places were being demolished. This actually helped put in place more strict preservation laws for the Miami area—at least at the time. Anymore it seems there’s always a way around them now, so more parking lots and high rises can crap up everything.  

It seems to take the loss of something big before people are willing to act.  Even then, the resulting changes have often been fairly weak laws in most communities.  The good news is that most cities have some kind of preservation laws on the books now.  That wasn’t close to true even in the 80’s.  
 

Still, many of these laws require owners to voluntarily apply to have their property designated as historic and protected.  That designation often comes with significant tax benefits, but still many owners resist, fearing it will make resale problematic.  The few cities with review boards that can vote directly to designate properties have been FAR more successful.  I don’t think it’s as much about getting around the laws, but more about the relative strength of the laws themselves, or more commonly the lack of strength, unfortunately.

[airtommy]

I wrote a series of posts on Biscaya in the Misc thread:  click me

[ViceFanMan]

12 minutes ago, airtommy said:

I wrote a series of posts on Biscaya in the Misc thread:  click me

Awesome...I had not seen those posts before...more superb info and pics!!  I knew Al Capone like to stay at the Floridian, especially during the winter, but I didn’t know he actually owned a part of it at one time. That’s pretty cool! Thank you for more in-depth info!  

It’s pretty crazy that in less than 10 years the Floridian/Biscaya looked as decrepit and trashed as it did!  If it was abandoned and shut down in 1978, it was only 7 years later, in 1985, that MV filmed there for “Smugglers blues”. It looked like it had been abandoned for 30 years or more! Still wish it could have been saved & restored. 

[Tom]

It´s really a crime and a token of disresoect and ignorance of one´s own heritage how old significant buildings were not only destroyed, but replaced by parking lots! (The Senator Hotel, The St. David Court Hotel) or simply by ugly condos that in turn killed the livelihood of whole city areas. 

Miami was a swamp just about 100 years ago and many groundbreaking buildings that were built in the decades after have already been destroyed again. That is a Chapter 11 statement for anyone who is interested in his or her own history and for Miami politicians as a whole.

[pahonu]

10 hours ago, airtommy said:

I wrote a series of posts on Biscaya in the Misc thread:  click me

I remember viewing it.  Well done.  I also remember you referencing Zaha Hadid’s design for a tower in the area.