The Surfcomber Hotel
Encyclopedia
A boutique hotel in the historic art-deco district
of South Beach, Miami, Florida
. The Surfcomber was built in 1948. It is part of the Kimpton hotel chain. The hotel is known for throwing some of the biggest and most anticipated pool parties each year in Miami and served as headquarters for MTV during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards
and for Bud Light during Super Bowl XLIV
. It is classified as a 4-star resort property.
The Surfcomber is one of many historic buildings in the Miami Beach Architectural District
, also called the Miami Beach Art Deco District. Art Deco
is an eclectic
artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and 40s. The Miami Beach Architectural District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1979. It has the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world and comprises hundreds of hotels, apartments and other structures built from the 1920s to the 1940s. . It is roughly bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, 6th Street, Alton Road, Dade Boulevard and 23rd Street in Miami Beach.
The hotel is fifteen minutes away from the Miami International Airport (MIA). Also nearby are the Brickell Avenue financial district, the Lincoln Road mall, the Miami Beach Convention Center, American Airlines Arena, Coconut Grove, the South Beach nightlife, and I-95.
On December 1st, 2011 the hotel will be unveiled, fully renovated, by Kimpton Hotels. The Surfcomber will adopt the features of other Kimpton hotels, such as pet friendly rooms and services, "Forgot It? We've Got It! menu of travel essentials, creative mini bars with healthful and organic options, complimentary Wi-Fi to Kimpton InTouch members, morning coffee and tea service in the living room, hosted evening wine hour daily, and health-minded wellness options, such as complimentary on-demand yoga, Pilates and meditation television channels".
The Surfcomber regularly hosts pool parties as part of the Winter Music Conference
and Ultra Music Festival
. Every 4th of July weekend, the IndepenDANCE Pool Party is held. The 2011 IndepenDANCE party featured DJ’s Boris, Cocodrills, Behrouz, the Martinez Brothers, and Victor Calderone
and was headlined by Fatboy Slim
and Dirty South
.
Other notable artists and DJ's who have performed at the Surfcomber include: Armin van Buuren, Sander Kleinenberg, Pete Tong
,Donald Glaude
, Steve Lawler
, Kaskade
, James Zabiela
, Tiefschwarz
, Chuckie
, Afrojack
, Joris Voorn
, Nervo, Axwell
, Benny Benassi
, Avicii
, Louis Puig, Miami-favorites Patrick M and Luis Puig of Club Space
, Funkagenda, Wally Lopez, Cedric Gervais.
stars, a performance by Flo Rida
and the Official Jimmy Football tailgate party. Wave 2 guests were able to take in a training and fighting styles demonstration by UFC stars in an octagon placed above the hotel pool, a Super Pool Party featuring Uncle Kracker and DJ Skribble, and ended with an invite-only party hosted by GQ Magazine. The third and final wave featured shows by Jamie Foxx and Usher, as well as pre and post game tailgates for the Super Bowl itself. Some of the shows were also broadcast live online through Ustream
.
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
. 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
and The Bravery
performing.
Miami Beach Architectural District
The Miami Beach Architectural District is a U.S. historic district located in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida...
of South Beach, Miami, Florida
South Beach
South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach, Florida, United States. It is the area south of Indian Creek and encompasses roughly the southernmost 23 blocks of the main barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay.This area was the first...
. The Surfcomber was built in 1948. It is part of the Kimpton hotel chain. The hotel is known for throwing some of the biggest and most anticipated pool parties each year in Miami and served as headquarters for MTV during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards
2005 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2005, honoring the best music videos from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005. The show was hosted by Diddy at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Florida...
and for Bud Light during Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
. It is classified as a 4-star resort property.
Architecture
The style of the hotel is an example of transitional architecture, bridging the ornamental styles of art deco 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
Miami Beach Architectural District
The Miami Beach Architectural District is a U.S. historic district located in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida...
, also called the Miami Beach Art Deco District. Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
is an eclectic
Eclecticism in art
Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in art: it is characterized by the fact that it was not a particular style...
artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and 40s. The Miami Beach Architectural District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1979. It has the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world and comprises hundreds of hotels, apartments and other structures built from the 1920s to the 1940s. . It is roughly bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, 6th Street, Alton Road, Dade Boulevard and 23rd Street in Miami Beach.
Features
The Surfcomber Hotel is located on the shore of Miami’s South Beach allowing direct access to the beach for customers. In addition to the beach, customers can enjoy the pool bar and grill. Patrons of the hotel also have access to wireless high speed internet.The hotel is fifteen minutes away from the Miami International Airport (MIA). Also nearby are the Brickell Avenue financial district, the Lincoln Road mall, the Miami Beach Convention Center, American Airlines Arena, Coconut Grove, the South Beach nightlife, and I-95.
On December 1st, 2011 the hotel will be unveiled, fully renovated, by Kimpton Hotels. The Surfcomber will adopt the features of other Kimpton hotels, such as pet friendly rooms and services, "Forgot It? We've Got It! menu of travel essentials, creative mini bars with healthful and organic options, complimentary Wi-Fi to Kimpton InTouch members, morning coffee and tea service in the living room, hosted evening wine hour daily, and health-minded wellness options, such as complimentary on-demand yoga, Pilates and meditation television channels".
Pool Parties
The Surfcomber Hotel is well known for its over-the-top pool parties, featuring distinguished DJ’s from around the world playing house, techno, and electro for crowds of bikini-clad partiers and their companions. The parties began in 2004 and are now reportedly among the most anticipated parties each year in Miami Beach.The Surfcomber regularly hosts pool parties as part of the Winter Music Conference
Winter Music Conference
The Winter Music Conference is a weeklong electronic music conference, held every March since the mid-1980s in Miami, Florida, United States. Venues are hosted primarily in Downtown Miami and Miami's South Beach...
and Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that occurs in March in the city of Miami usually during the annual Winter Music Conference. It is held in Downtown Miami in Bicentennial Park. It was a 1-day festival from 1999-2006, a 2-day festival from 2007-2010, and was a...
. Every 4th of July weekend, the IndepenDANCE Pool Party is held. The 2011 IndepenDANCE party featured DJ’s Boris, Cocodrills, Behrouz, the Martinez Brothers, and Victor Calderone
Victor Calderone
Victor Calderone is a house music producer, DJ and remixer.-History:Raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Calderone was introduced into New York City's nightlife by his older brother, Cesar, who was very active in the club music business. Calderone began to dabble with turntables and...
and was headlined by Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
and Dirty South
Dirty South (DJ)
Dragan Roganović , better known by his stage name Dirty South,is a Serbian-born Australian DJ, remixer and record producer based in Melbourne.-Biography:...
.
Other notable artists and DJ's who have performed at the Surfcomber include: Armin van Buuren, Sander Kleinenberg, Pete Tong
Pete Tong
Peter "Pete" Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for...
,Donald Glaude
Donald Glaude
Donald Glaude is a house music artist, DJ and remixer, and is consistently ranked as one of DJ Mag's top 100 DJs.-Biography:As a child, Donald was classically trained in the upright bass and violin. After hearing early funk records, he began experimenting with tape decks and a primitive radio...
, Steve Lawler
Steve Lawler
Steve Lawler is a British house music producer and DJ born in Birmingham, England. He has held residences at many popular dance clubs such as Space, The End and Twilo. Because of his successful performances at Space in Ibiza, he has been nicknamed "King of Space". Lawler has released several mix...
, Kaskade
Kaskade
Ryan Raddon , better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ and record producer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records Kaskade placed at #30...
, James Zabiela
James Zabiela
James Zabiela is a DJ and producer from Southampton in the United Kingdom. In his early years his signature style was a fusion of Breakbeat and House music, more recently however, he is regarded as a Tech House DJ although his use of Breakbeat music is still key to the more flashy parts of his sets...
, Tiefschwarz
Tiefschwarz
Tiefschwarz is an electro house group comprising brothers, Alexander "Ali" and Sebastian "Basti" Schwarz, which formed in Stuttgart in 1996. Peter Hoff, who runs the Benztown studios in Stuttgart, joined later, and completed the first Tiefschwarz production team...
, Chuckie
Chuckie (DJ)
Chuckie, born Clyde Sergio Narain is a Dutch DJ and producer of Surinamese descent.-Biography:Chuckie grew up in Surinam and was influenced by the large number of musical genres of the country. When one of his friends started working as a DJ, his interest for DJing started at the age of thirteen...
, Afrojack
Afrojack
Nick van de Wall, born 9 September 1987, commonly known by his stage name Afrojack, is a Grammy Award winning Dutch music producer and DJ. Born and raised in Spijkenisse, Netherlands, He was listed as number 7 on DJ Mags top 100 DJs of 2011...
, Joris Voorn
Joris Voorn
Joris Voorn is a Dutch DJ who currently resides in Amsterdam. Amongst being a renowned DJ, Joris is a graduate in architecture. Joris is the co-owner of the Amsterdam based labels Rejected & Green...
, Nervo, Axwell
Axwell
Axwell is a DJ, remixer, record producer and record label owner from Sweden. He is part of a three person group dubbed the Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello...
, Benny Benassi
Benny Benassi
Marco Benassi , better known as Benny Benassi, is a Grammy Award winning Italian disc jockey and record producer of electro house music. He is best known for his 2002 summer club hit "Satisfaction"...
, Avicii
Avicii
Tim "The Phoenix" Bergling , known professionally as Avicii, Tim Berg, "Ashwin", "Yeshel", "Harshil" and Tom Hangs, is a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. His single "Bromance" has charted in the top 20 on the national single charts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and his native Sweden...
, Louis Puig, Miami-favorites Patrick M and Luis Puig of Club Space
Club Space
Club Space is a large nightclub located in the downtown area of Miami, Florida, owned by Louis Puig.In the nine years of operation, Space has resided in two buildings. was a one-story renovated warehouse, consisting of three rooms, as well as an outdoor patio area, which was one of the primary...
, Funkagenda, Wally Lopez, Cedric Gervais.
2010 Super Bowl
For Super Bowl XLIV, Bud Light took over the hotel and renamed it Bud Light Hotel South Beach, completely transforming it. Everything from the hotel marquee to the sugar packets were re-branded with the Bud Light Hotel logos. Fans had to win their way into the hotel for the week along with access to all the VIP events hosted by Bud Light at the hotel. The event was broken up into three waves. The first wave included a kickoff party, a volleyball exhibition with AVPAssociation of Volleyball Professionals
The Association of Volleyball Professionals, or AVP, is a beach volleyball tour which takes place throughout the United States. The summer tour starts in April and continues almost every weekend until the end of October....
stars, a performance by Flo Rida
Flo Rida
Tramar Dillard , better known by his stage name Flo Rida , is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. His debut single "Low", featuring T-Pain, was a #1 hit for ten weeks in United States in early 2008. Two other singles resulted from...
and the Official Jimmy Football tailgate party. Wave 2 guests were able to take in a training and fighting styles demonstration by UFC stars in an octagon placed above the hotel pool, a Super Pool Party featuring Uncle Kracker and DJ Skribble, and ended with an invite-only party hosted by GQ Magazine. The third and final wave featured shows by Jamie Foxx and Usher, as well as pre and post game tailgates for the Super Bowl itself. Some of the shows were also broadcast live online through Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...
.
2005 MTV Video Movie Awards
During the lead up to the VMAs in 2005, MTV took over the Surfcomber Hotel and transformed it into "Hotel MTV." On the Wednesday before the show DiddySean Combs
Sean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...
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
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. 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
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...
and The Bravery
The Bravery
The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
performing.