How the Old Men of Miami Beach's Jewish Community Partyed in the Early '80s

From 1977 to 1986, Gary Monroe photographed the daily lives of retired Jewish residents of Miami's South Beach neighborhood. Gary's images take us into the daily routines of their daily activities, revealing a unique and, sadly, gradually vanished community culture.

In 1977, Miami Beach native photographer Gary Monroe began this photo project in South Beach. Far from the glamorous beach community of today, the area was then home to a largely Jewish retiree population enjoying the sun, sand, and cheap rent. The photographs in this series capture candid moments of community life, daily activities, and social gatherings. Monroe’s keen eye and compassionate gaze transform the mundane moments of people walking down the street into reflections on a vanished way of life.

With a Leica camera in hand, Gary Monroe spent 10 years photographing life in South Beach.

Monroe's photographs seem to transport us back to that time, telling about the life of the Jewish community, many of whose members experienced the Holocaust and Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire.

Monroe is originally from this part of Miami Beach, and he would usually take the pictures while returning home from graduate school.

Monroe says South Beach today can be described as a place where "people party until the early hours, drink a lot of alcohol from huge glasses and are constantly looking for a parking space."

Monroe admits that she has loved this photo dearly for years. By 1987, the dense fabric of the South Beach Jewish community had become frayed, unrecognizable. Within a few years, it had disappeared, as if it had never existed.