MIAMI, FL.- The Historical Museum of Southern Florida presents the exhibit Miami Beach: America's Tropical Resort through January 14, 2007. Glorious sun … miles of sandy beaches …stylish hotels … dazzling nightlife … beautiful people … this is Miami Beach, “America’s Year ‘Round Playground.” Tour the exhibition at the Historical Museum to revisit the glamorous story of how a mangrove-covered sandbar was transformed into Miami Beach: America’s Tropical Resort.

Recreating that magical tourist experience, “check in” to a replica of a Miami Modern hotel and begin your journey through the glamorous history of Miami Beach. Explore the beach’s early history, advertising, transportation, hotels and motels, recreation, workers and celebrities.

The Miami Herald reports that “A visit to this exhibition is to see Miami Beach in its many heydays -- the boom years of the 1920s, the Art Deco era of the 1930s (and the rediscovery of the city's treasure trove of architecture in the 1970s and 1980s), and what one might call the ''Jackie Gleason Years'' of the 1950s -- with nightlife, hotels and motels galore.”

Artifacts on display include:

vintage bathing suits from the late teens to the 1950s
a piece of the wooden 1913 Collins Bridge
a 1930s switchboard from the Skylark Hotel
a 1935 slot machine
a polo mallet from 1926
hotel silver and china
uniforms
swizzle sticks and matchboxes
postcards and photographs dating back to the early 1920s
Footage from the Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive will feature home videos of vacationers and promotional films.

The exhibition offers several interactive activities for families. Kids will have an opportunity to build their own Art Deco hotel puzzle and have their photo taken as 1956’s Miss Miami Beach.

Miami Beach: America’s Tropical Resort is made possible from the generous personal and institutional contributions of the following: Seth Bramson, Antolin Carbonell, Jerry and Jane Goodman, Dr. John Nordt, Patsy West, the City of Miami Beach, the City of Sunny Isles Beach and the Jewish Museum of Florida.