1614-5 Various Miami Beach of 163, 8 Terms
mh BEACH'S ATLANTIC TOWERS HOTEL TURNS KOSHER 08/22/1985
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1985, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1985 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 44 lines
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DEBBIE SONTAG Herald Staff Writer
BEACH'S ATLANTIC TOWERS HOTEL TURNS KOSHER
On the eve of the Jewish New Year, the Atlantic Towers Hotel will marry
its next door neighbor, inheriting its name, adopting its kitchen and turning
kosher.
The 165-room Atlantic Towers, 4201 Collins Ave., will become Waldman
Hotel II Sept. 15, merging two Miami Beach properties leased last year by
Martin and Jeff Weiner, a father and son realty team from Tamarac. The
135-room Waldman Hotel, 4299 Collins Ave., has always been kosher.
"The only business around now is the kosher business. Since we took on
the places, the Waldman has been filled and the Atlantic has taken its
overflow. There were conflicts between the kosher crowd and the non-kosher
crowd. So we're going kosher all the way," said Martin Weiner.
The conversion of the Atlantic Towers into Waldman Hotel II will keep the
number of Miami Beach kosher hotels constant at eight. The 145-room Sea Gull,
2100 Collins Ave., kosher since 1970, became a gay resort in June. The kosher
strip runs along Collins Avenue from 15th to 43rd streets.
"To some extent, kosher hotels have a small immunity to the drying up of
business on the Beach. We have a faithful clientele," said Eric Jacobs, owner
of the kosher Tarleton, 2469 Collins Ave. "But we're not recession-proof. And
there are more and more kosher facilities offered in other resort spots. "
A kosher hotel follows Orthodox Jewish dietary laws that, among other
things, mandate the separation of meat and dairy foods and outlaw pork and
shellfish. The hotels generally have resident mashgiachs, or rabbis who
supervise the food preparation and offer daily services.
For the most part, the hotels shut down on the Sabbath. They close their
front desks and kitchens and prohibit smoking in the lobby and cars in the
driveway between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.
"We're putting the mezuzahs on the room doors and turning the elevators
into Shabbos elevators so that they stop automatically at every floor, " Weiner
said.
The new Waldman will open for the two weeks spanning the Jewish High
Holidays and then close Sept. 26 for a more complete renovation. It will open
again for Thanksgiving, Weiner said.
"Personally I invite the competition, " said Jacobs of the 123-room
Tarleton. "Beside, it's really not a new hotel. The Waldman's just going to
have more rooms."
TAG: 8503070912