Prior to becoming Club Play, the location it sits on at 5th and Lenox has had a flamboyant history spanning two decades and has been a landmark on Miami Beach since its original construction in 1990. The club was originally built and eventually opened as a premier gentleman’s club by a group out of Atlanta. This group already ran a successful chain of Adult Clubs under the name “Gold Club” and wanted to bring their trade to Miami Beach.

Shortly after their opening, the City of Miami Beach decided to create ordinances against nudity and alcohol and despite several attempts to prevent this, the new code was passed. The owners of the building felt betrayed by the City of Miami Beach and decided to get even with the city by contacting the controversial Luther Campbell (aka Uncle Luke) of 2 Live Crew, who leased the property in 1990 and operated it under the name "Luke’s".

Uncle Luke began throwing hip-hop parties nightly that made the headlines in ways that Miami Beach did not care to brag about. After only two years of operation, he lost the club and it was eventually sold by the Atlanta group in 1994. A new company purchased this property and created Cristals Night Club, which began as a Latin Club that attempted to lure the lucrative South Florida Latin population and the Latin tourists.

The failure of Crystals to gain any headway led to a couple of more unsuccessful tries until 2005 when a popular restaurant and lounge in Toronto, Canada decided to throw its hat into the South Beach ring. “The Fifth” was created and became a Mecca for corporate events and popular parties across multiple demographics. Despite some initial success, the failure of the building boom to reach the furthest stretches of South Beach and, as some will often rumor, that tricky US tax code, proved to be too much for the group to survive and opened up an opportunity for someone new to approach the spot.

It was in May of 2009 when the current owners and operators stepped in to take over and try their hand at South Beach nightlife. While initially focusing on the Friday hip-hop party that The Fifth had become known for, the owners knew that the time would come to introduce more to South Beach consumers and to create an experience that was as unique as South Beach itself.

After operating the club for more than a year and carefully studying the unique characteristics of what South Beach was and determining what South Beach should eventually be, the group completed a multi-million dollar renovation and reopened as Club Play South Beach with a grand opening ceremony on October 15, 2010. The night included a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Mayor of Miami Beach, was sponsored by Worth Magazine and Rolls Royce Motor Cars and was attended by Miami Heat players Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Udonis Haslem. This grand opening, and the participation of Rolls Royce and the star Heat players, set the tone for what the new Club Play South Beach would seek to become.

Each week begins with Laugh and PLAY Wednesdays, which is a live comedy show hosted by the world famous Malik S and featuring top-notch comedians booked weekly by the Miami Improv. PLAY Hard Thursdays continue the live action but this time featuring Live MMA Cage Fighting right inside the club (two times per month). Four PLAY Fridays have become the most popular Hip-Hop party in America and produce more celebrity sightings than any other party in the country. PLAY Caliente Saturdays allow our patrons to experience the REAL beauty that Miami has to offer (beautiful Latinas) and has quickly become the hottest Latin party anywhere. Finally, the newest party is the PLAY House Sundays which is a once a month Sunday party featuring the biggest house DJs anywhere.

Club Play has been the hot spot for some of the biggest celebrities, entertainers and athletes in the world since Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson were coming when it was Luke’s back in the 1990s. Today it is no different as it is rare to attend a function and not see several athletes, entertainers or other celebrities. The fact that Club Play South Beach now has 4 to 5 fully functioning nights per week, the number of celebrity sightings has only multiplied and the only difference from then to today is that the celebrities have become more diverse and are much bigger than ever before.

Lia Ames
VIP Director