Rainbow Crosswalk

Rainbow Crosswalk

Stopping at 12th and Ocean Drive we find ourselves at the iconic Rainbow Crosswalk, which also happens to be the original location of The Palace.

February 1988 Steve Palsar launched the original Palace @ 1200 Ocean Drive, which is now located on 1052 Ocean Drive since 2017 after a change in owners. Miami in 1988 was a much different city at the time. There were no restaurants on Ocean Drive and the city was riddled with grittier, gang-ridden people. Everyone thought Palsar was crazy to introduce Palace as the very first restaurant on Ocean Drive, but after making it big with the LGBTQ community, the Palace quickly became the spot to be.  The Palace hosted some of the most famous LGBTQ parties, with epic run way shows that always led to crowds trickling out to the street, parking lot and all the way to the beach. The events were so epic that the entirety of Ocean Drive would get shutdown to accommodate the vast crowds. In 2009 the LGBTQ Community Committee allowed Palace to decorate the 12th street corner sign and crosswalk with rainbow colors in memorium of it's original location, marking it as a historic South Beach LGBTQ Landmark for all to strut and enjoy!  

The first rainbow flag was designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, as he was urged by Harvey Milk to create a universal symbol of pride for the LGBTQ+ community. Baker decided to make the symbol a flag as he believed a flag was the most powerful symbol to display pride. The original flag consisted of 8 colors, each representing something different. Hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turqouise, indigo, and violet. Due to production issues the pink and turqouise had to be removed and the indigo replaced by a basic blue. The flag that we all know today is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, and was first flown on June 25, 1978 at a pride parade in San Francisco, California. The flag was officially established as the symbol of the LGBTQ+ community in 1994.