The Surfcomber Hotel is a

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small-capacity Hotel, hotels that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban ar ...

Collins Avenue Collins Avenue, partly co-signed State Road A1A, is a major thoroughfare in South Florida, United States. The road runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean in Miami Beach, Florida, one block west. It also runs through the cities of Surfside and Su ...

in the historic Art Deco district of

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a Neighborhoods of Miami Beach, Florida, neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south ...

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The hotel was built in 1948 and was acquired by the Kimpton hotel chain in April 2011. The Surfcomber is known for pool parties, and it served as the headquarters for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

during the

2005 MTV Video Music Awards The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2005, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The show was hosted by Diddy at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The big winner of the night was Green Day, who ...

and for

Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...

during

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...

in 2010. The hotel is located at 1717 Collins Avenue on the shore of Miami's South Beach.

Architecture

The style of the hotel is an example of transitional architecture, bridging the ornamental styles of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

from the 1930s with the streamlined and modern graphics language of the late forties and fifties. The architectural firm MacKay & Gibbs was also responsible for the design of several other Art Deco hotels in Miami, including the Sherbrooke Hotel built in 1947. The Surfcomber is one of many historic buildings in the

Miami Beach Architectural District The Miami Beach Architectural District (also known as Old Miami Beach Historic District and the more popular term Miami Art Deco District) is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on May 14, 1979) located in the South Beach neighborhoo ...

, also called the Miami Beach Art Deco District.

is an

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

artistic and design style that began in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The Miami Beach Architectural District was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. It has the world's largest collection of Art Deco architecture and comprises hundreds of hotels, apartments, and other structures built from the 1920s to the 1940s. The Atlantic Ocean, 6th Street, Alton Road, Dade Boulevard, and 23rd Street in Miami Beach roughly bound it.

Special events

Pool parties

The Surfcomber Hotel has become known for its pool parties, featuring DJs playing house, techno, garage, drum & bass, and electro music. The parties began in 2004 and are reportedly among some of the most anticipated parties each year in Miami Beach. These events coincide with the

Winter Music Conference The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a week-long electronic music conference, held every March in Miami Beach, Florida, United States since 1985. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings togethe ...

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...

, and the July 4th IndepenDANCE Pool Party. The 2011 IndepenDANCE party featured DJs Boris, Cocodrills, the

Martinez Brothers The Martinez Brothers are a duo of disc jockeys, music producers, and remixers from The Bronx, New York (state), New York known for their long-term residencies at clubs in Ibiza. In 2014, they were named as DJs of the year by ''Mixmag'', who wro ...

, and

Victor Calderone Victor Calderone (born March 20, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American electronic music producer, DJ and remixer. Biography Raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Calderone was introduced into New York City's nightli ...

and was headlined by

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

and Dirty South. Other notable artists and DJs who have performed at the Surfcomber include Armin van Buuren,

Sander Kleinenberg Sander Kleinenberg (; born 29 December 1971) is a Dutch disc jockey, VDJ, and record producer. He founded and runs Little Mountain Recordings and THIS IS Recordings. Kleinenberg is well known for his use of digital video in concerts, his "Everyb ...

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...

, Donald Glaude, Steve Lawler,

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, music producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade as "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-fi ...

, James Zabiela,

Tiefschwarz Tiefschwarz () are a German house group consisting of brothers, Alexander "Ali" (June 7, 1967) and Sebastian "Basti" (December 28, 1969) Schwarz, which formed in Stuttgart in 1996.IMO Records"Tiefschwarz Biography", ''IMO Records''. Retrieved on ...

, Chuckie,

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), known professionally as Afrojack (stylized in all caps), is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album ''Forget the World ( ...

Joris Voorn Joris Voorn (; born 25 February 1977) is a Dutch DJ and record producer who lives in Amsterdam. Voorn is the co-owner of the Amsterdam-based labels Rejected (with Edwin Oosterwal) and Green. Biography A DJ competition in Enschede started Voorn ...

Nervo Nervo may refer to: People *Nervo (DJs), Australian DJs Olivia Nervo and Miriam Nervo *Amado Nervo, a Mexican poet *Carlo Nervo (born 1971), Italian professional footballer *Hugo Nervo (born 1991), Argentine football defender *Jacques de Nervo (1 ...

Axwell Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...

Benny Benassi Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ and music producer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction". He started his career as DJ alon ...

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

, Louis Puig, Miami-favorites Patrick M and Luis Puig of Club Space, Funkagenda, Wally López, and Cedric Gervais. The Surfcomber hosted a special MMW takeover called Legendary House Music Week the same year.

2005 MTV Video Movie Awards

During the lead-up to the Video Movie Awards (VMAs) in 2005,

took over the Surfcomber Hotel and transformed it into "Hotel MTV." On the Wednesday before the show,

Diddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

opened up Hotel MTV with a ribbon cutting and concert for the fans by the pool; however, the planned party had to be altered due to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

. The storm caused the cancellation of all planned outdoor events at the hotel on the Thursday and Friday before the VMAs. The storm moved out of the area by Saturday and the festivities continued with artists such as

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

and

The Bravery The Bravery is an American rock band formed in New York City in 2003. The band consists of lead vocalist Sam Endicott, guitarist Michael Zakarin, keyboardist John Conway, bassist Mike Hindert and drummer Anthony Burulcich. They are best know ...

performing.

2010 Super Bowl

During Super Bowl XLIV, the hotel underwent a temporary transformation when Bud Light assumed control and rebranded it as Bud Light Hotel South Beach. The entire property, from the hotel marquee to even the sugar packets, featured the logos and branding of Bud Light.

References

External links

* {{Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach Architectural District Hotels in Miami Beach, Florida Art Deco hotels Art Deco architecture in Florida Kimpton hotels Electronic dance music venues 1948 establishments in Florida Hotels established in 1948 Hotel buildings completed in 1948