a very SPECIAL MOMENT in TIME, Issue 3, October 2014

THE REAL & TRUE STORY OF THE SOUTH POINTE PIER
By Seth H. Bramson, Miami Beach Historian

To celebrate Miami Beach’s centennial (March 26, 2015) the City of Miami Beach will publish a monthly monograph of Miami Beach history through February of 2016. Issues will focus on chronology, events, places and people. Through the complete series, the reader, the historian, and those interested in Miami Beach in general will enjoy a look back at the history of the city that, for its size, has had more words and stories written about it than probably any other city on Earth.

Looking south from Fourth Street, 

Fisher Island, Government Cut, 

dog track and oceanfront hotels.

In late August of 2014, Miami Beach opened its South Pointe Park Pier. Taking almost a year and a half to construct, the pier, which cost $4.8 million, is the third to grace that same site. The pier was originally a concrete walkway flanked by a band shell and dance pavilion jutting across the man-made beach where Ocean Drive and Biscayne Street come together. The pier opened in the early 1920s and was built by George R. K. Carter, a well-known casino operator of the period. Attempting to emulate the grandeur of Atlantic City’s fabled Steel Pier, the Miami Beach version was named “Carter’s Million Dollar Pier.”

According to a November 22, 1984 article in The Miami Herald, Carter put a two-story building on the pier's tip to house what became the city's most popular strip joint, Minsky's Burlesque. The Miami Beach Minsky’s, of course, was one of several of the famed adult entertainment venues under that name then popular in various American cities.

Although Minsky's was severely damaged by a runaway barge during the terrible September 17 and 18, 1926 hurricane, the pier was repaired and continued to operate with the two large buildings on it apparently into the very early 1950s. Then, aging and in increasingly poor condition, it was shortened, then becoming  a major Miami Beach gathering spot for fishing and outdoor evening dances.

Aerial view north from pier at South Pointe, 1950s.

When the city took over the pier in the 1950s, razing the honky-tonk bars at its entrance and proclaiming it Pier Park, the dances often drew, according to Miami Herald writer Paul Shannon, more than 1,000 revelers a night.

Indeed, the pier was touted as "demonstrating the city's eternal pledge to give tourists of all ages and inclinations a happy holiday on Miami Beach.”

As it does, life, time and the literally tides took their toll on the pier. In 1973, the city stopped maintaining the pier due to the fact that it was to be demolished under a not very popular redevelopment plan which condemned almost everything south of Sixth Street, basically leaving only Joe’s Stone Crab, Piccolo’s Restaurant and Temple Beth Jacob intact. That plan, to the joy of almost everybody on Miami Beach, was officially dropped in 1983 and by that time, the pier had become a hangout for drug dealers.

A new pier was constructed in 1979, but with numerous hurricanes battering it from then until 2004, the 25-year-old structure showed significant deterioration and was condemned.

Happily, city administration heeded the pleas from a citizenry wishing to have the opportunity to again enjoy fishing and sunbathing, as well as sightseeing on a South Beach pier and in 2013 construction on a new, 450-foot long pier, was begun, paying particular attention to the relocation of endangered coral which had grown under the old pier.

A very exciting structure, with a bold new look, the pier features an entrance designed by famed artist Tobias Rehberger, which was commissioned by the Miami Beach Art in Public Places Project.

 

The new South Pointe Pier was completed in summer 2014.

The new pier may not have a Minsky’s Burlesque or a bathhouse on it but it certainly reflects the desire of a city administration to provide, wherever possible, opportunities for the city’s visitors and residents to enjoy all that Miami Beach offers.

Reader’s comments are welcome and should be addressed to Professor Seth H. Bramson, Office of the City Manager, City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

In addition to serving as the Miami Beach City Commission appointed historian, Seth Bramson is the historian in residence and adjunct professor of history at Barry University and adjunct professor of history at Nova Southeastern University’s Lifelong Learning Institute. He is also the company historian for the Florida East Coast Railway.