Miami Beach Hotel That Hosted the Beatles Is Demolished
In May 1964, the Royal Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach was the site of a celebration that would be long remembered in the local music scene. It had been announced a day before, on April Fools’ Day, that the Beatles had come to town.
Now, 40 years later, nearly all that history had been erased from the streets of one of America’s most popular seaports.
It is the most stunning testament to the power of the Rolling Stones to bring the world to life, according to their longtime manager, Andrew Loewenstein.
“The Beatles are very good at making life happen for people, and the hotel is a testament to the fact that there’s power and magic that’s out there,” Loewenstein tells The Hollywood Reporter. “This was a moment, and it had been for a long time, when everyone was looking, waiting, hoping, hoping for something that would happen.”
Until the day the Beatles arrived.
At the Royal Plaza Hotel, they appeared Saturday night in one of the longest interviews they’ve ever done, with Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts telling them about how he felt when they signed a record contract, and their manager said the hotel was a “magical place” and the guests had said he could stay there anytime he wanted.
Then all ended.
By Monday, the hotel was gone, razed to the ground by crews, who bulldozed four stories worth of the three-story structure to make way for more parking. The only remaining building left was a garage that was later sold several years ago.
But while one of rock music’s greatest events was seemingly at an end, the story of the Beatles, who had been touring for more than two years in their career-making “White Album,” is far from finished.
“The fans were going crazy, they were in frenzy,” Loewenstein says of the crowd that gathered to see the Beatles at the Royal Plaza Hotel when their scheduled appearance was cancelled at the last minute. “They were screaming, ‘You know what? We’re never going back. We need to see
