Al Samet's Deli on Miami Beach

The creation of a wealthy vacationer’s paradise in South Florid depended in part on fostering the image of exclusivity. Many of the hotels in Miami Beach and the new developments inland guaranteed this exclusivity through restrictive covenants that forbid the selling or renting of property to Blacks or Jews.

While African Americans as well as Bahamians were some of the original settlers in the region, they increasingly found themselves restricted to certain designated areas, including the black district of Coconut Grove and Colored Town, just west of the railroad tracks. The hotels and beaches of Miami Beach were off limits to Blacks except as laborers. For Jews property north of 5th Street was restricted, though there were some exceptions.

Many early Jewish families in Miami Beach started businesses just south of 5th, including Joe Weiss, owner of Joe’s Stone Crab. By the 1930s, however, more northern Jews began vacationing in Miami Beach and some restrictions were lifted. Samet's Deli, pictured here from 1930, was right on the border of the formerly restricted area, between 5th and 6th Streets. Following World War II, the region experienced the most dramatic increase in its Jewish population in history, as many veterans who has been stationed in Miami returned with their families to begin their new lives together. Between 1945 and 1950, the Jewish population increased 300 per cent. Recent migrations of Latin American Jews, especially Cubans, have transformed the Jewish community in Miami and made it truly cosmopolitan.