num_pages: 192
description: Miami Beach has lots of memories to share. Memories of the 1920s, when Johnny Weissmuller flaunted his freestyle skills at local pools; of the 1930s, when Desi Arnaz strummed his first guitar; of World War II, when Clark Gable romanced more than one local girl; of the Fabulous Fifties, when the Rat Pack owned the joint; and of the 1960s, when Muhammad Ali snagged the heavyweight championship of the world in the Miami Beach Auditorium.A tiny spit of sand barely 15 miles long and a mile wide, the island is known throughout the world as a tropical haven and vacation playground—a neon-lit Garden of Eden dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure. And yet, serious things have gone on there. Dark things, like the blatant anti-Semitism of the 1930s, that have been intentionally forgotten from the collective psyche. In that sense, Miami Beach is a sandbox full of paradoxes.To unravel those paradoxes, Biondi interviewed more than one hundred current and former residents of the lawyers and land developers, doctors and teachers, artists and politicians, waiters and maids, photographers and strippers, comedians and singers. There’s even a Native Indian chief and a former U.S. Attorney General in the bunch. Their personal memories, along with stunning black-and-white photographs, document the island's history in a way no third-person history can. The many great images include Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Edna Buchanan in a bikini (she wanted to show off); boxer Jack Dempsey holding eight ice cream cones on the beach; the Beatles/Judy Garland/Jackie Gleason posing with hairdresser Ruth Regina (not together, of course); all the strippers in their stripping glory; and tons of evocative family portraits. The book also features social artifacts from the era, including original ID cards that African-American workers were made to carry in the 1930s, war posters, and restaurant menus.A nostalgic chronicle of days gone by, Miami Beach Memories is a chorus of varied voices and diverse points of view, a mosaic of poignant anecdotes, and an eclectic collage that paints a portrait of what life was once like on this tiny but fascinating island.
language: English
title: Miami Beach Memories: A Nostalgic Chronicle of Days Gone by
titlecomplete: Miami Beach Memories: A Nostalgic Chronicle of Days Gone by
ratings_count: 14
publisher: Globe Pequot Pr