Moon over MiMO - Miamism

You’ve been driving in the MiMO District seeing this ginormous Coppertone Girl Sign for ~~months~~ years and have no clue what it’s about – happy to say that there is history behind it and it is not at all about the little girl’s butt or tan line. It’s vintage, it’s an icon, it’s now restored and prominently featured ….and may I add shows much better in a smaller scale building than its previous location (that’s my humble opinion of course).

The current location is the sign’s third (and hopefully final place). It went from The Parkleigh Building (Biscayne Boulevard near the Freedom Tower) to the Concord Building (66 W Flagler Street) to it’s home now on the side of 7300 Biscayne Boulevard.

The sign was designated as a local historic landmark by Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board which would make the girl exempt from the many laws that could keep her off any building in the city (for its obvious scale reasons). It was placed in the care of the Dade Heritage Trust who later donated it to the MiMO Biscayne Association who ultimately restored it and found its new home.

One thing is for sure – it took a lot of love and determination from caring individuals to make it happen – sure indication that people care about Historic Preservation in Miami. Here are some articles written about this Americana Icon:

~~Get That Girl in the Picture by Margaret Griffis of the Biscayne Times~~

Not-at-all-pedophiliac Coppertone Girl sign gets new home tonight by Gus Garcia-Roberts of the Miami New Times

Home At Last! by Margaret Griffis of the Biscayne Times

*originally published Aug 2009**

5 thoughts on “Moon over MiMO”

and I believe “the girl” is a very young Jodi Forester…Check for accuracy!

According to Wikipedia:

The inspiration for the Coppertone girl was Deborah Clowe, who was the granddaughter of early Coppertone owner Charles E. Clowe. Clowe’s wife Sophia noticed that Deborah’s training pants had slipped and exposed her bottom while poolside. She then remarked to her husband that such an image on a billboard would be more appealing to her than sexy girls

I’ve seen this same information on several articles as well

That little girl image was common in advertisements beginning in the late 50’s (memories from my childhood)..

jack – I remember growing up in Venezuela to a motorized sign of the same image where the bathing suit would come up and down 😀

Brings back memories, love it! Thanks for sharing!

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