Boca Raton, is a city in southern Palm Beach County, Florida. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. At the 2020 census, the population was 97,422. However, approximately 200,000 additional people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,012,331 people as of 2015. It is known as one of the wealthiest places in South Florida.
Miami, officially the City of Miami, is a coastal metropolis located in Miami-Dade County in southeastern Florida. With a population of 442,241 as of the 2020 census, it is the second-most populous city in Florida, eleventh-most populous city in the Southeast, and 44th-most populous city in the United States. Miami is the core of the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area with 6,138,333 people. The city has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 58 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m).
Fort Lauderdale is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 as of the 2020 Census making it the tenth largest city in Florida. Fort Lauderdale is the second largest and one of three principal cities comprising the Miami metropolitan area with a population of 6,166,488.
Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The average temperature is between 68 and 83 °F. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the 12th-largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which separates the Beach from the mainland city of Miami. The neighborhood of South Beach, comprising the southernmost 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) of Miami Beach, along with Downtown Miami and the Port of Miami, collectively form the commercial center of South Florida. Miami Beach's population is 82,890 according to the 2020 census. Miami Beach is the 26th largest city in Florida based on official 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. It has been one of America's pre-eminent beach resorts since the early 20th century.
North Miami Beach is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Originally named Fulford-by-the-Sea in 1926 after Captain William H. Fulford of the United States Coast Guard, the city was renamed North Miami Beach in 1931. The population was 41,523 at the 2010 census.
Sunny Isles Beach is a city located on a barrier island in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on the west.
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on an island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west, though Palm Beach borders a small section of the latter and South Palm Beach at its southern boundaries. As of 2010 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 8,348 and an estimated population of 8,816 in 2019, increasing by around 25,000 people between November and April.
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The population was 117,415 at the 2020 census. West Palm Beach is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,138,333 people in 2020. It is the oldest incorporated municipality in the South Florida area, incorporated as a city two years before Miami in November 1894. West Palm Beach is located approximately 68 miles (109 km) north of Downtown Miami.
Biscayne National Park is an American national park in southern Florida, south of Miami. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers 172,971 acres and includes Elliott Key, the park's largest island and northernmost of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossilized coral reef. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world.
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon, with characteristics of an estuary, located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area, while the southern end is largely undeveloped, with a large portion of the lagoon included in Biscayne National Park. Sources differ on the extent of the lagoon. The part of the lagoon that is traditionally called "Biscayne Bay" is approximately 35 miles (56 km) long and up to 8 miles (13 km) wide, with a surface area of 573 square kilometres (221 sq mi). Various definitions may include Dumfoundling Bay, Card Sound, and Barnes Sound in a larger "Biscayne Bay", which is 60 miles (97 km) long, with a surface area of about 703 square kilometres (271 sq mi).
The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 million damage toll. As a result of the devastation wrought by the hurricane in Florida, the Land Boom in Florida ended. The hurricane represented an early start to the Great Depression in the aftermath of the state's 1920s land boom. It has been estimated that a similar hurricane would cause about $235 billion in damage if it were to hit Miami in 2018.
The Miami Biltmore Hotel is a luxury hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. It was designed by Schultze and Weaver and was built in 1926 by John McEntee Bowman and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel chain. The tower is inspired by the Giralda, the medieval tower of the cathedral of Seville. When completed it became the tallest building in Florida at 315 feet (96 m) holding the record until 1928 when the Dade County Courthouse was built. At one time, the pool was the largest pool in the world and employed swimming instructor Johnny Weissmuller. It served as a hospital during World War II and as a VA Hospital and campus of the University of Miami medical school until 1968. Abandoned for many years it became a hotel again in 1987.
Overtown is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States, just northwest of Downtown Miami. Originally called Colored Town during the Jim Crow era of the late 19th through the mid-20th century, the area was once the preeminent and is the historic center for commerce in the black community in Miami and South Florida.
Anastasia Island is a barrier island located off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. It sits east of St. Augustine, running north–south in a slightly southeastern direction to Matanzas Inlet. The island is about 14 miles (23 km) long and an average of 1 mile in width. It is separated from the mainland by the Matanzas River, part of the Intracoastal waterway. Matanzas Bay, the body of water between the island and downtown St. Augustine, opens into St. Augustine Inlet.
The Venetian Islands are a chain of artificial islands in Biscayne Bay in the cities of Miami and Miami Beach, Florida. The islands are, from west to east: Biscayne Island (Miami), San Marco Island (Miami), San Marino Island, Di Lido Island, Rivo Alto Island, and Belle Isle. Flagler Monument Island remains an uninhabited picnic island, originally built in 1920 as a memorial to railroad pioneer Henry Flagler. The islands are connected by bridges from the Miami mainland to Miami Beach.
The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble, a copious amount of land speculation and swindling, and hasty construction of flimsy homes and stores, that lasted from 1924 to 1926, attracting unwary investors from all over the nation. The land boom left behind entire new cities, such as Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Springs, Opa-locka, Miami Shores, and Hollywood. It also left behind the remains of failed development projects such as Aladdin City in south Miami-Dade County, Fulford-by-the-Sea in what is now North Miami Beach, Miami's Isola di Lolando in north Biscayne Bay, Boca Raton, as it had originally been planned, Okeelanta in western Palm Beach County, and Palm Beach Ocean just north of the Town of Palm Beach. The land boom shaped Florida's future for decades and created entire new cities out of the Everglades land that remain today. The story includes many parallels to the real estate boom of the 2000s, including the forces of outside speculators, easy credit access for buyers, and rapidly appreciating property values, ending in a financial collapse that ruined thousands of investors and property owners, and crippled the local economy for years thereafter.
Downtown Miami is an urban city center, based around the Central Business District of Miami, Florida, United States. In addition to the central business district, the area also consists of the Brickell Financial District, Historic District, Government Center, Arts & Entertainment District and Park West. The neighborhood is divided by the Miami River and is bordered by Midtown to the north, Biscayne Bay to the east, Civic Center and Overtown to the west, and Coconut Grove to the south.
The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass transit (Metrorail), commuter rail (Tri-Rail), automated guideway transit (Metromover), highways, two major airports and seaports, as well as three county-wide bus networks, which cover the entire urbanized area of South Florida. Census and ridership data show that Miami has the highest public transportation usage of any city in Florida, as about 17% of Miamians use public transportation on a regular basis, compared to about 4% of commuters in the South Florida metropolitan area. The majority of public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), which is currently the largest transit system in Florida and was the 14th largest transit system in the United States in 2011.
The Fulford–Miami Speedway was a AAA Championship Car wood race track located in North Miami Beach, Florida. It was the first speedway built in South Florida. The 1.25 mi (2.01 km) track was built in 1925 by Indianapolis Motor Speedway co-founder Carl Fisher, who was also developing the city. To help build the track, Fisher hired 1911 Indianapolis 500 winner Ray Harroun, who also served as general manager of the track. The track's banking was at 50°, and as a result, cars had to drive at a speed of 110 mph (180 km/h) in order to remain on the track without sliding off. In comparison, the Daytona International Speedway's banking is 32°. Because of the speed the track's configuration produced, the track was considered as the fastest in the world.
