Miami Beach’s mid-section used to look like that? See the scene from 1950s through ’90s
By Miami Herald Archives
Arthur Godfrey Road in 1983.
C.W. Griffin
Miami Herald File
It’s not South Beach. It’s not North Beach.
Miami Beach’s middle section, sensibly known as Mid-Beach, isn’t famous or glamorous or going through earth-shaking changes.
But it is one of the hearts of the city, with a business district that stretches from water on the east to highway on the west, a major medical center, several schools and places of worship, lovely homes.
Yes, 41st Street, also known as Arthur Godfrey Road for the 1950s singer who frequented the area, has changed through the years. It was once a street dotted with the mundane places of daily life: hardware store, drugstore, gourmet grocery, theater, discount supermarket.
The corridor also has been home to the Forge restaurant, a couple of well-known delis and a pioneering synagogue.
Now you can also find kosher cafes, boutiques, banks and a bunch of other new businesses. One of the mainstays of the street: the Giller Building, with medical and other offices.
Let’s take a look at Mid-Beach through the photo archives of the Miami Herald:
BANKS
In 1964, the new Jefferson National Bank at 301 41st St. in Miami Beach. Miami Herald File
In the 1990s, more than a dozen banks dotted 41st Street in Miami Beach. In 1997, a woman walks by the entrance of the newly opened Ocean Bank. Jeffery A.. Salter Miami Herald File
A bank building in 1981 at 300 W. 41st St. John Walther Miami Herald File
A worker installs a neon sign on the new Sheridan Financial Center on the corner of 41st Street and Sheridan Avenue in 1987. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
Colonial Bank at 901 Arthur Godfrey Rd. in 2009. John VanBeekum Miami Herald File
In 1999, City National Bank asked students from North Beach Elmentary, Nautilus Middle School and Miami Beach High to make posters illustrating Miami Beach. The banners were displayed on the fence surrounding the future site of City Naltional Bank on 41st Street and Royal Palm Avenue. Miami Herald File
FOOD
In 2006, Chef Andrew Swersky of the Forge at 432 41st St. holds up bone-in filet mignon, baby root vegetable salad with gorganzola, spiced pecans, and seared tuna, scallop lobster claw and salmon four ways. Marice Cohn Band Miami Herald File
Epicure gourmet market on 41st Street in 1984. Randy Bazemore File Miami Herald
Waitress Helen Boundreau waits on customers at Moderne Drugs on 41st Street in 1984. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
In 2002, Arnie & Richie’s Deli at 525 Arthur Godfrey Road. Owners Arnie London, left, and his son Troy, right. MARICE COHN BAND Miami Herald File
STREET SCENES
In 1953, a car parked at a meter space in the 700 block of 41st Street in Miami Beach. Steve Wever Miami Herald File
Crews tend to a fire at a medical building on 41st Street in Miami Beach in 1986. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald
41st Street And Pinetree Drive in Miami Beach in 1972. Miami Herald File
A car inside a store at Royal Palm Avenue and 41st Street. Miami Herald File
For the Miami Beach premiere of “Mutiny on the Bounty” at the Sheridan Theater on 41st Street in 1962, dancers from the Mai-Kai restaurant in Fort Lauderdale dance on the sidewalk outside the movie house. John Walther Miami Herald File
A sign points drivers to Arthur Godfrey Road. Miami Herald File
A street sign on the stretch in 1987. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
SCHOOLS AND SYNAGOGUES
In 1985, North Beach Elementary at 4100 Prairie Ave. Miami Herald File
Students enter Nautilus Junior High in Miami Beach in 1970. Gus Schuettler Miami Herald File
In 1978, Susan Tabas brought her hunting and jumping show horse Freddie to Nautilus Jr. High in Miami Beach as a showand-telltell for her social studies class. Miami Herald File
In 1998, a plywood cutout of a Miami Beach police officer in front of North Beach Elementary on 41st Street. The goal was to slow traffic. Chuck Fadely Miami Herald File
Rabbi Gary Glickstein and Rabbi Leon Kronish, the founding rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in the 1940s, gather at the synagogue in 1985. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
HOSPITALS
The main building of Mount Sinai Hospital, at the foot of the Julia Tuttle Causeway and just north of the 41st Street business district. Miami Herald File
A nursing instructor and an auxiliary officer at the new Mount Sinai Hospital in 1959. John Walther Miami Herald File
In 1958, the old Mount Sinai Hospital building, formerly the Nautilus Hotel. Bill Kuenzel Miami Herald File
STORES
In 1988, employees at Central hardware on Arthur Godfrey Road. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
Ben Siegel opened Central Hardware on 41st Street in 1954. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
In 1995, shoppers at Central Hardware on 41st Street. Nuri Vallbona Miami Herald File
In 1963, precious gems and metals are fashioned into jewelry by these artisans in the Balogh workrooms on Arthur Godfrey Road. Miami Herald File
Arthur Murray displays the scroll presented to him as a new member of the 41st street association. Murray had just opened his $200,000 dance studio at 767 41st St. in Miami Beach, the 167th unit in the coast-to-coast chain. Miami Herald File
In 1994, Kitchen Hearth, a kitchenware shop, on 41st Street inn Miami Beach. Marice Cohn Band Miami Herald File
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM.
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