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South Beach Before It Was SoBe

By Christine Alexis

Miami Beach, much like many other cities, has undergone major cultural transformations. It traces to what happened during the 1960s and ’70s.

During this period, the country was in upheaval. Among other things, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and the United States was in the thick of the Vietnam War. Much like the country, Miami Beach was shifting, too. Although Miami Beach presented some of the era’s finest African-American musicians, such as Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, they weren’t allowed to stay at the hotels in which they performed. In addition to racial tensions, Miami Beach also had a boost in its Jewish population. By 1965, there were 65,000 Jews living there—considerable growth compared to 20 years prior, when only 7,200 Jews called it home.

In the 1960s, this immigrant population hailed from Eastern European descent, originally moving to New York before relocating south. Some were Holocaust survivors. They brought with them their culture, the Yiddish language and other traditions. Eventually, as the crime rate grew in the 1980s, many of them moved to Broward County.

Today, the Jewish population makes up 7 percent of the city of Miami’s population with more than 150,000 residents, according to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition, South Florida’s Jewish community is the second-largest in North America after New York. Although South Beach has drastically changed since the 1950s, the Jewish influx of the ’60s and the crime of the ’80s have left an impact on South Florida.

On Oct. 27, HistoryMiami Museum will open “South Beach, 1974-1990: Photographs of a Jewish Community,” exploring how today’s “SoBe” once was. During that era, photographers Gay Block, Gary Monroe, Richard Nagler, David Scheinbaum and Andy Sweet each undertook long-term documentation projects of South Beach before the neighborhood transformed into today’s famous tourist and nightlife destination.

Information for this feature is courtesy of the HistoryMiami Archives & Research Center, which is open to the public and contains more than 1.5 million images of southeast Florida, the entire state and the Caribbean from 1883 to the present. For information or to visit HistoryMiami, visit historymiami.org.

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.