Deauville Beach Resort (CLOSED)

This icon is famous for two reasons: it’s a prime example of Jetsonian-esque MiMo architecture (it was built in 1957 by Melvin Grossman, a protégé of Morris Lapidus); it was also the site of Beatlemania in 1964. Today, it oozes faded grandeur and retro cool (there’s more character in its flamboyant lobby than in many a whole boutique hotel). True, parts of it look distinctly dowdy (chipped paint, dull corridors) and the bedrooms are a bit chainy. But it still bustles and the rooms cost a fraction of designer hotels. And it retains an old Miami feel: the silver-haired Jewish grannies, long banished from South Beach, are still in evidence. The rooms become marginally more stylish the higher you go (the 15th and 16th floors are best; below ten and things are more budget). The seafront balcony rooms offer stellar views: the hotel is near the water and the sands are silky smooth. The Deauville Lounge features live music, a nod to the hotel’s swinging heyday.