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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> 1930 to 1939 Miami Area Historical Photos Gallery - click on image to view > 1930 - The Roney Plaza Hotel on Miami Beach
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1-JAN-1930 Florida State Archives

1930 - The Roney Plaza Hotel on Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida


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Patrick McCullough 05-Apr-2022 14:15
My father " Big Bob Mccullough would hang out here during winter months with the Boys referring to gangsters from Chicago and New York where they would play medicine ball and talk over business .Many would stay blocks away on Alton rd.
and travel over to meet others in the crime business
Lorena Reith, Jr. 26-Jan-2017 16:21
Ted and Lorena Reith were the dancers in the Roney (in The Tony DeMarco Studio) in the mid- to late '40s and early '50s. They also worked in the Versailles and the Biltmore about that time. I would love to get the chronology right if anyone has more detailed information. I do know they were in the Versailles in 1949 and in the Biltmore the next season. At some point, they were the dancers in The Colonade Hotel too. Much of the dating is vague just yet. I would appreciate help with it.
Don Boyd22-Jun-2013 15:09
Jean, I would love to have them to scan or take digital photos of them to put on this site in order to preserve the history of them and let others enjoy seeing the photos. I'll send you a private e-mail about it. Thanks.

Don
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Jean 22-Jun-2013 15:01
I was at an estate sale in Phoenix Arizona, where I live, and purchased a small booklet with original black and white photos of Boat Nikko that was a tourist boat out of the Roney Plaza. I also have a brochure for the sightseeing boat. If anyone is a collector and has memories of these days I'd be happy to send these items. I just couldn't leave them in a garage to be thrown out... great memories for someone. You? Jean Petty letsgojean@gmail.com
carol miller 29-Sep-2012 03:51
my email is lolamiller77@yahoo.com ...Carol Miller
carol miller 29-Sep-2012 03:49
My Mom ,Helen Dugo Gunning use to work at the Roney Pub in the early 70's I was friends with the hostess her name was Cathy and i lost contact with her when I moved back to NYC. My Mom was a waitress there. I would love to know how I can get ahold of Cathy if anyone out there remembers her. My name is Carol and i had my daughter with me at the time i was staying with my Mom,she was only a few months old. I miss the old miami Beach. We use to hang out at The Dolphins Den ,I cant remember what hotel it was in but it was on 30th and Collins,beachside. Thank you :)
Kevin Burke 01-Dec-2011 21:46
Sorry, I forgot to give my contact info. It is kburke9@mac.com
Kevin Burke 01-Dec-2011 21:42
Sorry for the intrusion. I am very eager to get in touch with another poster, Stephen Ellis. I am looking for a photograph of his father, Emil K. Ellis. Thanks.
Kevin Burke - Cambridge, Massachusetts
Don Boyd22-Oct-2011 04:41
Mrs. Vance, I'm sorry but the only information I have is the image that is displayed here. I can not explain the difference in names and years. Perhaps the Roney Plaza Beach Station was a different hotel that was constructed earlier? I honestly don't know and I don't have the time to do the research on the issue.

Don
Don Boyd29-Sep-2011 12:49
Thank you Allan. I hope Zola sees your message.

Don
A. Kirshner 29-Sep-2011 12:36
Restaurant was the Bamboo Room. I have a menu from around 1950.
Guest 27-Aug-2011 19:39
If you want to see the sister hotel of the Roney Plaza, look at the Biltmore in Coral Gables. Almost fraternal twins. Like the Olympic which survived the Titanic.... I think that if you could split the Biltmore into 3 parts, and move them all to the corner of 23rd (?) and Collins in MB, with the tower on the corner, and the 2 wings going north and east, as in the picture here, you'd have the Roney Plaza again.
I wonder if any filmmakers used the Biltmore as a double for the Roney in any movies set in Miami Beach during that period.
Mary Anne C. 19-Jun-2011 03:03
I remember my friend's dad, Sergio Valdes, played in a Latin Band at the Roney. We used to go and hang around in the shadows listening to them back in the 50s and early 60s.
Harold 31-May-2011 15:50
Dan, for the party that asked about the restaurant, it was the Jardin Swisse I believe as my father, Leon Stoller was an attorney on the Beach use to take my brother and I for lunch a couple times a week. They had the best choclate mousse! That was early 1960's.It was a very classy hotel but needed a make over. We had our first cabana there and later at the Fountainbleu. Sad that it was demolished.
Don Boyd09-Apr-2011 15:14
Thank you, Dr. McCormick, for writing in with such a great recollection!

Don
Richard H. McCormick 09-Apr-2011 14:29
In October of 1948, I was working for Southern Bell. Another installer and I received a call to install a "Washington hot line"in the Presidential Suite for President Harry Truman who was staying at the Roney and was due to give a keynote address to the American Legion convention. In the process of installing the phone, Mrs. Bess Truman came into the room and introduced herself to everyone including myself. What a lovely and gracious lady.
Dr. Richard H. McCormick
nedra ware 05-Apr-2011 02:06
my uncle had levy wander jewelery store across st from rooney, i went to
the beach every day when i was 5 yrs old, then had drinks there in the 509s
thats where i got sand in my shoes there at an early age, also got 1st jellyfish
sting there, nedra ware
Zola 30-Mar-2011 22:46
Actually this plaque was on the front door of a Restaurant inside the Roney. Does anyone know what the name of that restaurant was?
Zola 29-Mar-2011 17:56
I have always heard my father talk about the Roney Plaza Hotel.
He just loved it. He watched the demolition and purchased a concrete plaque from the front of the Roney of a bear standing On hind legs with paws in air. I have it hanging on a wall at my house and it is beautiful. Wish I could have seen this building before it was torn down
Don Boyd27-Nov-2010 02:21
Olga, wow, thank you very much for writing in with your comments. Please feel free to make more comments or describe some of your memories in Miami back then. : )

Don
olga powell 27-Nov-2010 00:25
I worked at the Roney Plaza in 1945 till 1951. It was the most beautif hotel I have ever seen. I wish my children could of seen. Olga
John Ritter 18-Oct-2010 01:31
Dear Laura;
As a child I spent Xmas vacation at the Roney Plaza...I have one great foto with my grandparents and mother.......how times have changed.....I was there from 1937-1945
Thanks for the wonderful foto...
my e-mail is jbrittermmm@yahoo.com....
All the best,
John Ritter
Laura 02-May-2010 22:47
I am trying to get info on the restaurant and people that may have worked and lived there in the Roney Plaza, I am doing a geneaology search and was told that Mom, Helen Strom/Felt may have lived there. Any help would be great
Rory Dunn 22-Apr-2010 18:48
My mothers name is Jean Roney, and we are related to the original owner of Roney Plaza. My mother, who is currently 71, is the daughter of the original owners brother, Joseph. He lived in San Fransico. Joseph died in 1939 when my mother was 1 1/2 years old. We've since lost touch with that side of the family, and hope to make some kind of contact to compare histories.

Rory Dunn
Stephen Ellis 08-Apr-2010 17:40
Guest: When I was a kid, 1939, my father (noted NY attorney, Emil K. Ellis) used to take my brother and I to the Roney Plaza. It was "the" hotel in Miami Beach on the corner of Collins Avenue and 23rd Street. When my father would return to NY, my mother would rent a cabana on the beach at the Roney. While there as a kid, I played baseball with legendary Dodger Manager, Leo Durocher, I practiced my diving lessons with movie star Ann Sheridan, and gave my opinion of what was gping on to noted columnist, Walter Winchell. The pool area at the Roney was always filled with celebrities. As a kid, my father nick-named the hotel the "Roney Plasma" because their prices were like taking blood out of you. It was great and my memories of the Hotel are happy ones.
Don Boyd21-Jan-2010 01:19
Guest, if you'd like to scan that photo and send it to me I'd be happy to post it on this site and give you credit for sending it in like I do with my other photo contributors.

Don
Guest 20-Jan-2010 21:47
I have an original photograph of LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson) on the golf course next to Roney Plaza. He's standing at the 9 hole with "Roney Plaza" right behind him.
Jeff 25-Aug-2009 21:11
My grandfather, Ruben Rosen, purchased the "old" Roney Plaza in 1968 with his partner Mr. Frankel. I do not know the details of what was saved from the old Roney Plaza but they were responsible for building the current structure. They sold the new Roney Plaza in the late 1970's to a new group of investors. I was told that they designed and built the new building hoping casinos were allowed to come to Miami Beach.
Guest 19-May-2009 01:06
My name is Roney, I am some how related to the original owner whose name I
beleive was Newton Benjiman Taylor Roney.

A.R.
Guest 02-Feb-2009 21:23
A piece of the "family silver" my Mom gave me is an old silver plated pot with no lid, about the size you might make oatmeal or warm a baby bottle in. It has a small raised crest on the front that has an R on one side, below and across from it is a P . Between the two letters are some palm trees and a beach, and you can barely discern two little people below enjoying the scene. The pot says Roney Plaza on the bottom. It also features a raised logo on the handle showing a three masted schooner. I found the hotel picture fascinating, especially the empty vista surrounding it, as compared to the bustling Miami of today. I have no idea what year this pot is from, but I enjoyed seeing its place of origin. Napo
PJ 13-Jan-2009 17:41
I found old documents my mom had (she passed) from the Roney, an invoice from her stay in the 50's, a napkin, the directory of services, and luggage tags. Why she saved these, I have no idea. So I googled the Plaza and found this site. Imagine there are great memories from such a grand hotel.
Ana 16-Mar-2008 02:00
I have lived in Miami Beach since 1959, I used to live across the canal from The
Roney Plaza, it used to be pink, and black, and magnificent, with beautiful gardens
and flamingos, I used to go there with my mom, walk around the gardens, they served drinks, and they had a live band, I used to find these wooden sticks
with wooden balls on the beach behind the Roney from place pigalle. Joys of childhood. I always remember and loved the pink and beautiful majestic Roney Plaza
I loved the Majestic Pink Roney
Dave 16-Jun-2007 13:15
Sheila: While I don't know who built the Roney Plaza, it was bought by Papal Marquis George MacDonald, a wealthy NY businessman during the depression years. In 1944, it was sold to J. Myer Schine, a rags to riches movie theater chain owner from upsate New York, for $1.6 Million cash, a record price at the time. Schine went on to buy the McAllister and Gulf Stream Hotels in Miami and the Boca Raton Hotel and Club in the 40's. Eventually, through Schine Enterprises, Inc., he owned and operated a total of fifteen hotels across the United States. Besides the four Florida hotels, there were five in New York: the Queensbury in Glens Falls, the Ten Eyck in Albany, the Gideon Putnam in Sarasota and the Schine Inns at Forest Hills and at Massena. There were two in Massachusetts: the Schine Inn at Chicopee and the Hotel Northampton & Wiggins Tavern in Northampton. Finally, there were the Western Skies Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the Schine Airport Hotel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut; the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the Ambassador Hotel & Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, California. Schine originally lived in the Rooney but moved in to the Boca Raton Hotel when he bought it in 1946. His original plans to update and expand the Rooney was transferred to the Boca Raton Hotel. Consequently, the Rooney was forgotten and did not age gracefully. Ironically, many of the grand old ladies in the Schine collection such as the Coconut Grove in LA were saved by historical preservation groups at the last minute befre they were about to be torn down. Typical for Miami in the 60's and 70's, however, the Rooney was permitted to be torn down in 1968. Almost nothing was salvaged and certainly not the beautiful domes, which were probably sold for scrap.

Mike Green 06-Jun-2007 10:32
My Nmae is Mike Green, my grandfather was the head chef at The roney plaza for years, he used to take me there as a kid and we would walk through the garden area with live flamingoes walking around it was great.
SHEILA 01-Jun-2007 05:21
THANK YOU "GUEST"...I ASSUME BY "TOOK ITS PLACE" YOU MEAN THE ORIGINAL RONEY WAS TORN DOWN??...I GUESS IT DID MAKE IT THRU THE '26 HURRICANE. I WONDER IF ANY OF THOSE BEAUTIFUL COPPER DOMES WERE SALVAGED & RECYCLED...SAD TO SEE THOSE GORGEOUS LANDMARKS GO...THANKS FOR THE INFO, SHEILA
Guest 31-May-2007 21:00
The original Roney, built in 1925, was a 17-story hotel with a Florentine bell tower and copper dome. In 1968, a 1,162-unit, two-tower apartment building took its place.
SHEILA (POLAND) LARGO 28-May-2007 15:29
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE RONEY PLAZA HOTEL? WHO BUILT AND FUNDED IT...WAS IT BUILT BEFORE THE '26 HURRICANE?.....HOW DID FLAGLERS ROYAL PALM HOTEL HOLD UP IN THAT SAME HURRICANE? ARE THESE BUILDINGS STILL IN MIAMI TODAY?...IN USE? OR MUSEUMS? WHAT IS HISTORIC PRESERVATION DOING TO PROTECT THESE BEAUTIFUL OLD BUILDINGS??....ALSO MR. BOYD I JUST HAVE TO ASK IF YOU EVER KNEW OR HEARD OF MY FATHER, MR. CLIFFORD H. POLAND? DAD WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CINEMATOGRAPHERS IN S. FLORIDA AND KNEW HENRY RENO IN THE DAY. WOULD LOVE TO KNOW... SHEILA (POLAND)LARGO