Miami’s oldest bar, once named one of the best bars in America, stands the change of time | Miami

In Miami Beach, where things seem to change at a rapid pace, having your claim to fame be the oldest of anything, could be described as an accomplishment, a deed that belongs to a local dive bar, which was first established in 1926.

The bar Club Deuce, named after its address – 222 14th Street in Miami Beach – was eventually purchased by a World War II veteran named Mac Klein, and other than adding Mac to the name – Mac’s Club Deuce – little has changed in the club since.

Mac worked at the club since he died at age 101.

The little dive bar that has become a South Beach institution, offers a laid-back atmosphere and old-school vibe, that locals enjoy.

In 2010, Playboy named Mac’s one of the best bars in America.

In the 80’s when the TV series Miami Vice used Mac’s as a location, they decorated the inside with pink and green neon, making it one of the most unique bar decors anywhere in the world.

During the 80’s, Don Johnson, who played James “Sonny” Crockett in Miami Vice, was known to step behind the bar at wrap parties. At the time, part of Mac’s Deuce Club clientele consisted largely of drag queens, club kids, and off-duty cops.

A 1989 Miami Herald article titled “All Kinds Make a Merry Mix At Mac’s Club Deuce,” said that on any given day, you could run into “a poet, an accountant, a cremation urn salesman, a carpenter, a nuclear physicist, a janitor, a yacht captain, and a bus driver.”

For more on Mac’s Deuce Bar from VICE, click here.