Post #661530 by TikiTomD on Fri, Dec 14, 2012 5:50 PM

Great thread, everyone! Here’s another reason to like the Castaways Hotel… it is the handiwork of two architects that created the best of mid-century Fort Lauderdale, the Yankee Clipper and the Mai-Kai. As pointed out by DustyCajun in the Las Vegas Castaways thread, Miami architect Tony Sherman designed the original Miami Beach Castaways located on the oceanside. He was also the architect for Bob Gill’s Jolly Roger and Yankee Clipper hotels, as well as the original Las Vegas Tropicana Hotel. But, as we learn from the article below, Charles McKirahan, architect of the Mai-Kai, designed the signature Fairyland Island portion of the Miami Beach Castaways in a 1957 expansion of the complex. There's also a bizarre connection with someone who isn’t among the usual suspects for mid-century Poly pop temples, contemporary Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly...

Tropic Florida Living & Design December 2012

-Tom