Latin Quarter, Miami Beach 1944/45
Free Shipping In The US
‘This place was hot,’ says the Miami Times of the Latin Quarter nightclub on Palm Island, Florida. In its prime, the club was patronized by millionaires, socialites, celebrities and mobsters.
The nightclub got its start in the roaring ‘20s as the Palm Island club, when Palm Island would have been a sparsely populated part of Florida. Then, it was a gambler’s paradise and served illegal booze, ignoring Prohibition.
Lou Walters, a London-born theatre impresario and who later became the father of TV newscaster Barbara Walters, took it over in 1939. He eliminated the gambling tables and re-opened it as the Latin Quarter, modeled on a similarly named club he ran in New York City.
Every night, guests enjoyed a highly choreographed cabaret style show featuring a full orchestra, lavish sets, and more than 100 elaborately costumed dancers (often scantily clad) performing can-can routines.
Celebrities who flocked to the Latin Quarter along the MacArthur Causeway included Sammy Davis Jr., Sophie Tucker and Milton Berle.
This elaborately illustrated menu cover features a peacock with its train of iridescent, shimmering ‘eye ‘spots marked with blue, bronze, and green. A scantily clad dancer in a part-peacock costume appears alongside, signifying that the Latin Quarter was the place to show off and to be seen.
The menu is dated 1944 - 1945 and was for a ‘Premiere’ New Year's Eve Dinner.
Walters ran the Latin Quarter for about five years before moving on to other ventures. In 1959, the Latin Quarter burned down and, after becoming derelict, the once glitzy nightclub was demolished in 1968.
Each order includes a print of the interior menu.
All printed in USA.
