TheFontainebleau Miami Beach, also known as theFontainebleau Hotel, is a hotel inMiami Beach, Florida, United States. Designed byMorris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in theAmerican Institute of Architects' (AIA) list of "America's Favorite Architecture".[2] On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked the Fontainebleau first on its list of "Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places".[3][4]
The hotel was built by hotelierBen Novack on the grounds of the formerHarvey Firestone estate. Novack owned and operated the hotel until its bankruptcy in 1977.[5] The Fontainebleau was designed byMorris Lapidus, who was known for wearingbow ties and incorporated them into the design.[6][7]
The Fontainebleau is noted for its victory in the landmark 1959Florida District Courts of Appeal decision,Fontainebleau Hotel Corp. v. Forty-Five Twenty-Five, Inc. 114 So. 2d 357, in which the Fontainebleau Hotel successfully appealed an injunction by the neighboringEden Roc Hotel to prevent construction of an expansion that blocked sunlight to the Eden Roc's swimming pool. The court rejected the Eden Roc's claim to an easement allowing sunlight, in favor of affirming the Fontainebleau's vertical property rights to build on its land.[8][9][10] It stated that the "ancient lights" doctrine had been unanimously repudiated in the United States.
In the 1970s, a suite in the hotel was used by members of theBlack Tuna Gang to run their operations.[11] The gang's use of the hotel is recounted in the 2011 documentarySquare Grouper. The film follows the burgeoningmarijuana-smuggling trade of the mid-to-late 1970s, when large amounts of the drug were being shipped to southeastern Florida; the film alleges that more than 90 percent of the United States' illicit demand was being met through such channels.
In 1978,Stephen Muss bought the Fontainebleau Hotel for $27 million,[12] thus rescuing it from bankruptcy.[13]
Muss invested an additional $100 million into the hotel for improvements. In 2001, the Muss Organization announced a partnership with Turnberry Associates[13] to what, over the years, amounted to a billion-dollar renovation of the hotel.[14]
In 2002, the hotel was renovated and expanded by John Nichols, an architect with theCoral Gables-based Nichols Architects. The renovations and expansion included the addition of a 36-story condominium-hotel, known as Fontainebleau II, and a second 18-story tower, known as Fontainebleau III, all located on the same premises as the original hotel.[15] During the renovation, Morris Lapidus's exuberant aesthetic and stylistic choices were preserved.[16]
In 2005, after 30 years of being managed byHilton Worldwide, the hotel became self-managed.[17] The same year, the Muss Organization sold the Fontainebleau toTurnberry Associates[18] for $165 million.[12]
In 2006, the hotel closed a large part of the property, though one building remained open to hotel guests, and the furnishings were placed for sale. The expanded hotel and its new condominium buildings reopened in November 2008.[19]
Fontainebleau's grand reopening on November 18, 2008 marked the end of a $1 billion transformation. Special care was taken to preserve many of the original design elements, including the "Staircase to Nowhere", also known as the "floating staircase". The hotel's elaborate reopening celebrations included hosting the annualVictoria's Secret fashion show.
Restaurants and nightclubs in the complex include:
The Fontainebleau is a prominent feature in contemporary culture, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, musical lyrics, and nationally televised sporting and other events, including:
The swimming pool is shown in the 1959 filmA Hole in the Head. Tony Manetta (played byFrank Sinatra) attends a party there for businessman and friend Jerry Marks (played byKeenan Wynn). Miami MayorRobert King High had a cameo during the gala scene.
The Fontainebleau is featured in the 1964James Bond filmGoldfinger, in the sweeping aerial shot that follows the opening credits and accompanies composerJohn Barry's big-band track "Into Miami". It is the hotel where Jill Masterson (played byShirley Eaton) is murdered by the titular villain's henchmanOddjob (played byHarold Sakata).[28]
The Fontainebleau is depicted in the 1960–1962 television seriesSurfside 6 about two detectives living and working aboard a houseboat moored directly across the street from the hotel. Supporting character Cha Cha O'Brien was an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room in the hotel. Only establishing shots of the hotel were used; the series was filmed entirely atWarner Bros. studios inBurbank, California.
In March 1960,Frank Sinatra videotaped anABC television special at the hotel,The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, as part of his regularTimex-sponsored series to welcome backElvis Presley following his two-year military service in West Germany. Broadcast on May 12, 1960, Nielsen reported a 41.5% rating and 67.7% share, with an audience at 50 million, making it the top-rated show of the year and Sinatra's top-rated television appearance of his 21-year career (1960–1981).
On January 29, 1977, boxerRoberto Durán retained hisWBA world Lightweight title with a 13th-round knockout overVilomar Fernandez in a bout that was televised live byCBS from the hotel.[29]
The Fontainebleau is the title subject of a song written byNeil Young and performed by the Stills-Young Band on their 1976 albumLong May You Run, which was recorded at the hotel.[30]
The Fontainebleau is one of the primary settings for the 1988 comedy sequelPolice Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach with the film's characters staying there during the movie and many of the film's scenes filmed there.
The Fontainebleau acts as the unmentioned location for a widely popular scene in 1983'sScarface where Manny, played bySteven Bauer, gets slapped in the face after trying to win over a girl by sticking out his tongue to her.[31]
In 2019, the Fontainebleau appears in the third season of the Amazon TV seriesThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in a scene in which Midge Maisel (played byRachel Brosnahan) and Susie Myerson (played byAlex Borstein) stay at the resort while on tour with Shy Baldwin. In one scene, Midge is shown descending the grand staircase in the ornate lobby.
Also in 2019, the Fontainebleau, billed as the Riviera Grand Hotel, was the setting for the pilot of theGrand Hotel TV series pilot. After the pilot was filmed andABC picked up a full order of episodes, the cast and crew headed toLos Angeles, where a mini-replica of the Fontainebleau was constructed. The exterior shots shown throughout the season are actually the real Fontainebleau.[32]
The Fontainebleau appears in the Season 4 episode ofThe Sopranos titled "Calling All Cars", which first aired on November 24, 2002.[33]
The local pronunciation of the hotel's name is theAnglicized "fountain blue" rather than the normal French pronunciation of the word as Fontenn-blow.[34]
