Saving South Beach

How a desperate struggle over two square miles of prime oceanfront real estate gave birth to one of America’s most iconic destinations for tourism, art, fashion, and nightlife.

 
Only 30 years ago the southern end of Miami Beach was a dingy warren of deteriorating hotels, retiree apartments, and high crime rates. Saving South Beach is the compelling story of the fight to preserve a decaying neighborhood, only to see it transform into one of the world’s most glamorous hotspots--“SoBe.”
 
In Saving South Beach, historic preservation clashes with development as each side vies for control of South Beach. A spectrum of characters are present, from Barbara Baer Capitman, the ailing middle-aged widow who became an evangelist for the Miami Beach Art Deco district, to Abe Resnick, the millionaire Holocaust survivor determined to stop her. From pioneers to volunteers, from Jewish retirees to Cuban exiles, from residents and business owners to developers and city leaders, each adds another piece to the puzzle, another view of the intense conflict that ensued.
Although a number of the area’s iconic buildings were demolished, the Miami Design Preservation League succeeded in entering almost half of the neighborhood into the National Register of Historic Places, kicking off a revitalization effort that spread throughout South Beach.
Preservationist M. Barron Stofik lived in Miami during this turmoil-ridden period and, through hundreds of interviews and extensive investigation, weaves together dramatic themes of civic heroism, preservation, and cultural change in the passionate human story behind the pastelfacades and neon lights.
 

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

The story of what happened between the mid-1970s and today is what Stofik tells in Saving South Beach. The book is part of the estimable Florida History and Culture Series published by the University Press of Florida, a collaborative effort by 10 of the state's public universities, "an eclectic but carefully crafted set of books that will provide the field of Florida studies with a fresh focus and encourage Florida researchers and writers to consider the broader implications and context of their work." Stofik, who lives in Connecticut but has been very active in Florida preservation organizations, isn't the most riveting prose stylist and includes a good deal more detail than will interest most readers, but the story is exceptionally interesting and has -- as she is at pains to point out -- implications that go far beyond the boundaries of the square mile that is the Miami Beach historic district.

M. Barron Stofik is a writer and preservationist living in Connecticut. She is past chair and president of Dade (Miami) Heritage Trust and served on the Board of Trustees for the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.