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Transcript6 lines
- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Miami Beach, a land of sun and sand, glamour and glitz, and also a capital of gay culture in America. Of course, Miami beach is also in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has been carrying on his campaign against woke culture. And last year, he tried to get rid of one of the city's most beloved landmarks, a tribute to the gay community and everything they have contributed to Miami Beach. Now, he did not succeed. A coalition of city officials, activists, business owners, they got together, they saved the landmark. They refused to be bullied. I am Jonathan Cohn from the Bulwark, here to tell you the story of how they did it and why saving this tribute was more than a symbolic victory. I talked to people like Tanya Bott, city commissioner, who led the fight to restore the landmark.
- [00:46]
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You can see the scar where the crosswalk was on the street where the pavers were ripped up. And these pavers that make up this new sidewalk installation where went from being an engineered crosswalk that fit traffic requirements to a full rainbow. It's the same pavers. They were carefully packed up by the people who ripped them out of the street at the behest of our governor. And the idea came to just basically flip the crosswalk onto the park, which is our property. Nobody can touch it. And was a full city commission effort. Everybody had a hand in it. It was approved unanimously by all of my colleagues. The city staff got it done in time for Miami Beach Pride week in April. The banners that you see in this neighborhood, the Forever Proud banners, were installed thanks to the guidance of Commissioner Alex Fernandez, within 48 hours of the crosswalk being torn up. And, you know, it's not a traditional set of rainbow colors. It's a little bit more muted, which pays respect to Leonard Horowitz, who is a gay historic preservation activist who helped design the Art Deco palette. And so this sort of pays homage to that as well. So this crosswalk had so much meaning to us, not just because of the queer community that has been so foundational to Miami beach, making it what it is and how vibrant and inclusive and diverse and fun and creative it is, but also to the Art Deco, which, you know, this is the largest naturally occurring collection of Art Deco buildings anywhere in the world.
- [02:13]
A
So, you know, the history of the gay community in South Florida goes back to the 1930s and the first tourists. Miami beach played a huge role in in the gay rights movement of the 1970s. It said sometimes that one of the first pride celebrations took place here in Dade county, in which Miami beach sits, is one of the first communities to pass the anti discrimination law protecting LGBTQ members of the community. And that law also sparked a backlash led by Anita Bryant, famous anti gay activist, laid the groundwork for what became the Moral majority nationwide. But here in Miami beach, they held the line. In part because of a transformation taking place here, an economic transformation. Miami beach went from being a sleepy town with old, neglected buildings into a vibrant capital of tourism, culture, and international finance.
- [03:02]
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If you look at the photographs of Andy's suite, it just captures what happened between when art deco buildings were built and they were the premier hotels in Miami beach to what it was in the Scarface era, right. Which is unsafe, unkempt. It became called God's waiting room, where sort of the senior citizens started dying off, and there wasn't money for them. And there were assisted living facilities. In fact, one of our great legacy businesses here, Mangoes, is this fantastic, really fun, immersive Miami beach experience where there are dancers and great food, and it's this really quintessential super fun Miami beach experience. It used to be an assisted living facility. That's the transformation. Miami beach was home to the stars, the entertainment world in the 60s, the Deauville Hotel up in North Beach.
- [03:50]
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And now from the stage of the Deauville Hotel, here he is.
- [03:53]
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Ed Sullivan was the hotel to the stars, it was called, because there were so many amazing arts and musical performers and acts that came in from around the country. But what really started changing Miami beach into what it is now was the arts community discovered how beautiful it is here. The gay community was a huge part of that. They were among the first to come here and. And put down roots and build businesses. I mean, the palace, which is just a couple blocks away, is an anchor on Ocean Drive. It's got arguably the best drag show anywhere in the country, and people from all walks of life, of all ages, come in and have a blast. And it's. It's just so.