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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> Miami Area HOTELS and MOTELS Historical Photos Gallery - All Years - click on image to view > 1950's - the MacFadden Deauville Hotel on Miami Beach
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1950s Courtesy of Jeff Levine

1950's - the MacFadden Deauville Hotel on Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida


Thank you to Jeff Levine for contributing this image.


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Gary Michaels 19-Jan-2022 14:16
Sue Moritt - you are right - the kids were Kathy and Bubba Tongay, the "Aquatots" Kathy died after a bad landing from the tower at the MacFadden Deauville.
Guest 27-Mar-2020 19:16
sue pollack moritt I went there as a child and remember a man who had 2 children, a boy and a girl who were tiny at the time and he mad them jump off of the tower. I believe one of them subsequently died
Guest 11-May-2019 08:31
My sister and I learned to swim at the McFadden Deauville pool. We went swimming there every day, and if we were lucky, our mom and dad bought us freshly-made pina coladas on our way out. The huge diving tower was scary, but the giant pool was wonderful. Such great memories!
Roberta Thorpe 11-Jul-2018 14:52
I swam there and watched the Aquamaniacs and other diving entertainment there when I was a little girl.
Ed 09-Jun-2017 19:21
You are so right, thank you so very much for correcting my comment. I can only attribute it to my age at the time.
I used to work at WQAM, which was located on Arthur Godfrey Road when I worked there, so I should have done my homework.
Don Boyd07-Jun-2017 05:02
My recollection is that Arthur did his show out of the Kenilworth Hotel in Bal Harbour. I just Googled it to make sure and this article confirms my recollection.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article1977826.html

Don
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Ed 06-Jun-2017 21:36
Is this the same hotel that Arthur Godfrey did so many shows from in the 50's?
Judy Darsky 31-Jan-2017 03:13
We were staying next door at the Marr Ocean Villas during the summers of the 1950's. We kids took swimming lessons from Paul McDonald, kind, handsome, tall, and patient. The pool was claimed to be "the largest saltwater pool in the world." We drove to Miami Beach from Cincinnati each summer to get away from the polio virus which was rampant in major cities in those days, especially in the summer in public pools.
Don Boyd26-Aug-2015 16:51
Thank you Pam, and the other folks who have posted under this photo. Your memories certainly add nice visions to the photo and it's great to have additional background information.

Don
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Pam Kelly 26-Aug-2015 14:01
My brother & I also swam at the McFadden Deauville Hotel every day when we were children in the early 50s. I think we took swimming lessons there by Bill Gamble. It was over 60 years ago so a little foggy. We lived on Meridian Blvd on Biscayne Waterway; another era, so beautiful & the air always smelled of flowers & beach!
Guest 02-Apr-2015 22:28
Does anyone have any memories of one of the owners in 1955, Joseph W. Guarente ?
Michael Winn 05-Jun-2014 00:22
I swam at the Deauville Hotel almost every day during the summer months of the 1950's. My aunt had a cabana (#52) on the ground floor complete with private shower and cabana boy to bring food and drinks. My sister and I would swim in either the ocean or the pool. We would climb the tower and do cannonballs off the top platform. I don't ever remember any guests using the pool in the 50's. It seems we always had the whole pool all to ourselves. Perhaps the hotel part was closed then. I was a kid so don't know.
Guest 21-Aug-2010 23:14
I swam in the Deauville pool in the mid-50's. It was filled with seawater, a new experience for me. I could never float very well, but I floated effortlessly in the Deauville pool.
Lee Martines19-Jun-2008 03:28
I am in complete agreement with Steve. The pool was Olympic sized, and had the 40 meter platform as well as the springboard to Olympic standards. I attended a birthday party here with my fifth grade classmates in 1950, some of which had the fortitude to make the leap off the platform. After climbing the ladder to the top, I took one look down and returned to earth the same way. To the side of the pool was a large trampoline, which was the first I had ever seen.
Steve McDonald 30-Mar-2008 18:30
What a treat to go to the MacFadden Deauville pool (Collins Ave at 51st St) for a birthday party or some other function. Although the pool cannot be seen, it is a gigantic pool, almost as big as Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, on the third floor of the hotel. The bottom of the pool is on the ground floor. Look carefully behind the MacFadden Deauville sign on the roof and you'll see the multi-level concrete diving platform, which at the top was 10 meters (40 feet). You were king of the hill when you jumped off the top of that platform! It was a LONG way down.