Windward Resort (Miami Beach Gay Resort/60's to 80's)

The Windward Resort — Miami Beach Vintage Gay Resort Tee

Before South Beach became synonymous with gay Miami, The Windward Resort was already giving gay men a reason to head to the beach.

Located directly on the ocean at 16051 Collins Avenue, the Windward became a major gay resort destination during the 1970s, offering something considerably bigger than the small guesthouses usually associated with gay travel at the time. This was a full-scale resort with hundreds of rooms, a private beach, an Olympic-size swimming pool, restaurants, bars, dancing, live entertainment, and nude sunbathing.

And apparently there was very little reason to leave once you checked in.

The resort included the Buccaneer Disco, Stowaway Piano Bar, Tahitian Pool Bar, and even its own gay bathhouse, the Pirate’s Den Bath & Health Club, complete with private rooms, exercise facilities, movies, and a nude sundeck overlooking the pool and ocean.

Places like the Windward were an important part of early gay travel. At a time when openly gay vacationers couldn’t necessarily assume they would be welcomed everywhere, a resort catering specifically to them offered something pretty extraordinary: a place to swim, sunbathe, dance, cruise, meet people, and simply be gay without having to think much about it.