Draft:Summers on the Beach

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SUMMERS ON THE BEACH was a FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH bar and concert venue founded in 1980 by Suzanne and Allan Migdall, located a half block north of Las Olas Boulevard on Florida State Road AIA at 219 South Atlantic Boulevard. The beachfront nightclub was one of the iconic party spots on the Fort Lauderdale “Strip” during the height of college Spring Break madness. The outrageous beach parties, cheap drinks, and wild round-the-clock rowdiness took off in the 1960s, following the release of the book and movie Where the Boys Are, and peaked in 1985, when some 400,000 students reportedly descended upon the town. As a Spring Break hotspot, Summers was heralded as South Florida’s “Home of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” with live bands nightly, a DJ spinning music between sets, and national acts performing year-round.[2]

Summers had a maximum capacity of 950 and featured six bars, a sidewalk café, and an Olympic-sized pool that was at the center of the club’s outdoor poolside parties. Summers opened at 7 a.m. during Spring Break with drink specials like “Beat the Clock,” featuring 25-cent drinks 7-8 a.m., 50-cent drinks 8-9 a.m., and 75-cent drinks 9-10 a.m. WSHE radio DJs Skip Herman and Jim McBean set up on the front patio for live broadcasts during morning drive time (6-9 a.m.), and the club closed at 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on Saturdays.

Summers was located in the Omar’s Tent Motel famously spotlighted in the 1960 movie Where the Boys Are, which was the first teen film to explore adolescent sexuality and the changing sexual morals and attitudes among American college youth.[3] The motel later was renamed the Ocean Mist and in 1980 became Summers on the Beach. Today the space is home to Rock Bar.[4]

During Spring Break, Summers hosted infamous pool parties, with beer-chug relays, a belly-flop contest, and the Wettest Wet T-shirt Contest that offered a $175 cash prize.[5] “Just how does everyone know where to congregate for the afternoon and evening events? Simple. The bar called Summers, for example, hires a plane with a trailing banner proclaiming POOL PARTY AT 4 to strafe the beaches. The party is an excuse for a series of beer chugging contests and then the main event: The wet-T-shirt competition.”[6] There were 3,000-4,000 people per day through the doors during Spring Break, and the club gave away 50,000 Summers-branded T-shirts every Spring Break.

In March 1988, MTV veejay Adam Curry hosted a Spring Break telecast live from Summers on the Beach daytime pool party where the crowd went wild with high-energy Spring Break anthems like “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)” by the Beastie Boys.[7] “Summers is a rock and roll club, not a disco. This spot is a traditional favorite among the Spring Break crowd. Live music and some of the most phenomenal contests you will ever witness.”[8]

Hundreds of bands played Summers during its run. Summers was the venue in Fort Lauderdale that was booked by Fantasma Productions. Jon Stoll and John Valentino brought in national and local acts for original-band showcases all year round.

Some of the notable local bands that played the club were Critical Mass, the Front, Nuclear Valdez, Charlie Pickett & the Eggs, Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, and the Kids, an early punk/New Wave band with a young guitarist named Johnny Depp. The list of the dozens of national bands who played Summers (below) includes Joan Jett, Skid Row, Soundgarden, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Foghat, Front 242 and Flock of Seagulls, Iggy Pop and Circle Jerks, Weird Al Yankovic and Warren Zevon.

In the 1980’s the Fort Lauderdale Strip was lined with world famous hotels, fabled bars, and beachfront clubs, from Las Olas A-1-A with the Button in the Holiday Inn, the Elbo Room on the corner, Summers on the Beach in the center of the block, the Candy Store, the New Wave Lounge, and Penrod’s in the Yankee Trader Hotel. Further north was Howard Johnson’s Hotel and the Parrot Lounge.

Spring Break began in 1938 with a swim forum event in Fort Lauderdale, and the tradition lives on today. Drone footage from March 2024, which was first published by the U.S. Sun,[9] shows large crowds of co-eds sprawled out across the beach, with girls doing beer bongs and guys boxing on the sand with gloves, a ref, and an overexcited crowd cheering them on. “Fort Lauderdale mayor welcomed spring break with open arms before the annual March madness and party seekers flocked to the city’s beach in droves.”[10]

Summers on the Beach closed on May 1, 1992.

MUSIC: NATIONAL CONCERT ACTS THAT PLAYED SUMMERS Alcatraz, Allen Collins Band, Andre Cimone, Annihilator, Animal Logic, Animotion, Aquanettas, Arlo Guthrie, Aswad, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Axe, Babylon A.D., Bachman Turner Overdrive, Bad Company, Badfinger, The Band, Bangles, Baton Rouge, Beat Rodeo, Berlin, The Big F, Billy Thorpe, Black Crowes, Blackfoot, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Uhuru, Blonz, Blue Murder, Blue Oyster Cult, Bonham, Bullet Boys, Burning Tree, Busboys, The Byrds, The Call, Catholic Girls, Chalice, Cheap Trick, Chuck Leavell w/Sea Level, Circle Jerks, Clearlight, The Connells, Cruzados, Dan Peek, Danger Danger, Dave Mason, David Crosby, Death Angel, Dead On, Del Lords, DFX2, Dickey Betts, Dirty Looks, Doro Pesch, Donnie Iris, Dreams So Real, Drivin N’ Cryin, DRI, Dwight Twilley, Eddy Grant, Edgar Winter, Eek-A- Mouse, Elvin Bishop, Eric Burdon, Eric Johnson, Every Mother’s Nightmare, Extreme, E.Z.O., Fates Warning, Felix Cavaliere, Feme Fatale, Firefall, The Fixx, Flock of Seagulls, Flotsam & Jetsam, Foghat, Forbidden, Front 242, Gene Loves Jesebel, Georgia Satellites, Golden Earring, Gregg Allman Band, Greg Kihn Band, Guess Who, Gun, Headeast, Headpins, Helix, Henry Lee Summer, Henry Paul Band, Holy Terror, Honeymoon Suite, Hot Tuna, Humble Pie, Hurricane, Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson, Iggy Pop, Indigo Girls, Jane’s Addiction, Jan and Dean, Jason & The Scorchers, Jetboy, Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie), Joan Jett, Joe Satriani, John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, John Kay & Steppenwolf, Johnny Van Zant Band, Johnny Winter, John Parr, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Judy Mowatt, Killer Bees, Kix, Kreator, Kris Kristofferson, Krokus, Leon Redbone, Leon Russell, Leslie West & New Mountain, Little Caesar, Lizzy Borden, London Quireboys, Lord Tracy, Love Tractor, Madness, Malevolent Creation, Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, Mark Farner, Marshall Crenshaw, Marshall Tucker Band, Meatloaf, Master of Reality, Meditations, Michael Stanley Band, Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo, Midnight Oil, Mike Love (The Beach Boys),Mind Over Four, Missing Persons, Molly Hatchet, MSG, Nazareth, Nelson, Neverland, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Nicolette Larson, Night Ranger, Nuclear Valdez, Outlaws, Pablo Moses, Pantera, Pat Travers, Phil Garland, Poco, Point Blank, Producers, Prong, Psychefunkapus, Pure Prairie League, Pylon, Radiators, Ravyns, Red Rider, Red Siren, Rembrandts, Reverend, The Revival, Rick Derringer, Robin Trower, Romantics, Rough Cut, Roxx Gang, Sanctuary, Savatage. Savoy Brown, Sha Na Na, Shirelles, Shooting Star, The Silos, Skid Row, Sleeze Bees, Soundgarden, Special Beat, Spread Eagle, 24-7 Spyz, Stage Dolls, Steel Breeze, Steve Morse, Stranger, Suicidal Tendencies, The Supremes, Testament, Third World, The Toasters, Tommy Tutone, Tony Carey, Toots & The Mayalls, TPAU, Trouble, The Tubes, The Turtles, Vixen, Voivod, The Wailers, War, Warrant, Warren Zevon, Waxing Poetics, Weird Al Yankovic, Weirdos, Wrathchild American, WWIII, X, XYZ, Yellowman, The Youngbloods.

FILMS REFERENCING SUMMERS Lauderdale (1989), filmed primarily on location in Fort Lauderdale. Produced by Suzanne Migdall and Bob Gallagher Can It Be Love (1992), Fort Lauderdale locations. Produced by Brian Shuster, Bob Gallagher, and Suzanne Migdall Stallone’s Knockouts (1990), On-Demand Pay-Per-View

References

1 Piccoli, Sean (January 30, 2010). "Back where the boys are." South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved March 29, 2011. 2 Seeman, Joey, and Chris Potash. Punk Under the Sun: 80’s Punk and New Wave in South Florida. HoZak Books, 2023, pp. 168-170. 3 Nordin, Rhonda. "Where the Boys Are." Center of the American Experiment magazine, May 11, 2016. 4 Elmore, Cindy. "Landmarks’ End Nationally Notorious Spring Break Bar, and Its Memorable Promotions, Face final ‘Last Call.’" Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, April 19, 1992. 5 Hickey, Mary C. "Belly flopping's beach's newest fad." Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, January 3, 1983, section BR, p. 3. 6 “Pictoral: Permanent Vacation.” Playboy magazine, August 1983, p. 75. 7 Eiland, Darrell. “Cool weather, hot action welcome MTV to Strip.” The Miami Herald, March 16, 1988, p. 8. 8 The Breaker’s Guide ’88 to Fort Lauderdale, “Nightclub Review,” 1988, p. 45. 9 Brenner, Steve. “Break It Up.” The U.S. Sun, March 11, 2024. 10 Eberhart, Chris. “Florida spring break draws massive crowds, beach boxing matches to Fort Lauderdale.” Fox News, March 12, 2024.

Rock Bar Night Club (rockbarflb.com) “Bedtime Bar Stories,” Streaming Digital Podcast, Episode 8 and 9, Lee Hardwicke, producer; Gina Noble, narrator.