HISTORY & HERITAGE
Fort Lauderdale Beach
Broward County · South Florida & the Keys
The beachfront along A1A, and the stretch of sand that made the city's name.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Spring break started here in 1956. By 1961 fifty thousand college students were arriving each season, and the 1960 film Where the Boys Are, shot in the city and premiered that December at the Gateway Theatre, turned the place into a national fixture. The Elbo Room, on the corner where Las Olas meets A1A, packed them in from 1960 onward and is still standing. By the 1980s the number had reached around 350,000 in a season, more than the city could carry, and Fort Lauderdale moved deliberately to change what the beach was for. The Beach Wave Wall went up along A1A in 1986, a low white curving barrier dividing the sidewalk from the sand, and it is the image most people now hold of the place. What is there today is a wide promenade with hotels, restaurants and public parking behind it rather than a student strip. Las Olas Boulevard runs straight from downtown to this sand, which is what makes the two ends of the city walkable to one another
Not identified in this guide as an officially clothing-optional beach. This is a visit category, not a safety rating—check surf, lifeguards, water quality and posted rules.
BEACH CONDITIONS
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