Gay Block Houston, Texas, b. 1942

Gay Block’s Love: South Beach in the ‘80s are photographs of Jewish retirees in Art Deco hotels on South Beach in the early 80s. Block grew up in a strict reform Jewish household in Houston and found the retirees on South Beach to be easy going and relaxed. She fell in love with the Yiddish accents and carefree demeanor, saying that they were “the bubbes and zaydes (grandmothers and grandfathers) I had longed for.” In Untitled (Interior–Green Chairs, Polaroid), a woman in a purple dress quickly walks by in a blur with a polaroid in her hand, perhaps a photograph she just received in the mail. The interior of the lobby shows some of the grandeur of South Beach with the large chandeliers and geometric Art Deco terrazzo flooring. Even in the 1980s, however, the artificial flowers are apparent, and the buildings were beginning to show signs of age as seen in the peeling paint on the ceiling.