On December 31st 1920 the Flamingo Hotel opened to its first paying guests. It was developer Carl Fisher's second Miami Beach Hotel, and Miami Beach's very first hotel that could honestly be considered grand. Located on Biscayne Bay, where the massive Flamingo apartments are now, the bright pink Flamingo Hotel was known for its glass dome, lit up at night in constantly changing colors, which could be seen for miles around, and for the publicity stunts that Fisher pulled to give it the international press attention it would soon earn, including the many appearances of Rosie the Elephant, and enticing President-elect Warren G. Harding to vacation there. Most of these images, of the hotel in its prime, are from the Wolfsonian Museum's library blog, while a few of Rosie come from the archives of Miami Beach city hall.
· Miami Beach's Flamingo Hotel: A President, a Pachyderm, and a Publicity Hound [Wolfsonian Library]