Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 92

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Popular Culture Review

their rippled reflections on the waters. The overall design is both
representational and abstract, expressive and pragmatic, realistic
and surrealistic. Even today it maintains a silent dialogue with the
visitors who share the meanings of its Art Deco conventions
popularized in America.
The planning and architectural development of the Lower Miami
Beach area, a regional Art Deco interpretation and lyrical expression
of tropical resort luxury, was realized in the late 1930s.® It was
designed in resp>onse to a market demand primarily driven by middle
class Florida vacationers. Set against the cerulean Florida skies, the
pastel stuccoed, small, intimate hotels and the epicurean restaurants
with their terraces mingle with private residences as they
harmoniously adorn the western side of Ocean Drive, curiously face
the palm tree lined park and then gaze toward the warm sandy
beaches with iridescent seashells, and beyond toward the azure seas.
The designers who conceived this vacationers' paradise understood
the anticip>ations of the sun seeking visitors who wanted anything but
reminders of home. They provid^ architectural illusions of joy and
escape that turned travel memories into delightful fictions coloring
the guests' recollections of their stay. The hotels, for example, were
designed somewhat like ephemeral stage sets resonant with layers of
ambiguous meanings where the guests could act out their fantasies of
being rich and famous for a moment, or for an evening.
Characteristically, rather than being imposing, the structures
frivolously imitated ocean liners with bold horizontal stripes, ocular
windows, circular glittery bosses, and pipe railings to create a
Nautical Modeme aura within and about them. Renaissance-like
reliefs, cameos, angels' wings, flamingos, and Mayan reliefs, to
mention only a few of the many other sources of inspiration for design
concepts, also added to the kaleidoscope of ambiance enchanting the
visitors.
The interiors of these buildings were especially refreshing. Often
implying some historical reference, real or fabricated, they relied on
the unorthodox application of classical elements to create moods of
an extravagant resort that metamorphosed even ordinary weekend
visitors into ones living lives of fantastic luxury. Restaurants
esf)ecially excelled in conveying a degage disregard for conventional
concepts of hospitality designs. The "Carioca," for example,
mimicked and condensed the night life of Rio de Janeiro and