Image via Complex Original
Exclusivity, it’s coveted by the aspirational, mocked by the indifferent, and enjoyed by the select few. Belonging to a club is a shared bond, and it comes complete with privileges unknown to outsiders. These are neither nightclubs nor speakeasies where membership is fleeting, these are hubs of culture, sport, and recreation where members share a set of ideals. Miami is ripe with these haunts of exclusivity, and we’re looking to explore the benefits of belonging. Be prepared to be inspired or utterly deflated as we walk you through Miami’s most refined.
The Field Club at Sun Life Stadium
Address: 2269 NW 199th St.
Don’t get it twisted, the Field Club at Sun Life Stadium where the Miami Dolphins play each and every home game isn’t your typical club level seating experience. Members—that’s right, not just any John Q Dolphins fan is permitted—are entitled to “on-field seating” which is actually standing room on the field. You know the guys that the wide receivers are required to awkwardly high-five after monster touchdowns, yeah these are those guys. If standing on the field during all home games wasn’t enough, Field Club members also get to rub a private entrance and HD devices that allow them to control their own replays in plebeian football fans’ faces. Good luck attaining member status, and expect to pay a premium for the privilege. We’ll see you on the field.
Fisher Island Club
Address: 1 Fisher Island Dr.
What was once the winter retreat for the Vanderbilts is now touted as Miami’s most exclusive private members club. Being that it was once the winter retreat for you know, the Vanderbilts, it’s hard to argue the superlative. Before we get into the specifics of what the Fisher Island Club has to offer, it’s worth noting that Fisher Island is only accessible by private yacht or private auto-ferry—you know, if your yacht is in the shop. Now that the yacht prerequisite is out of the way, we can explore the tenets of the club. Fisher Island is an exclusive and private community in its own right sporting billionaire and celebrity residents alike. The club offers an added layer of exclusivity with a pair of marinas (for that yacht we mentioned), private beaches, private tennis, a private professional gold course, spa, and an on-site aviary for when residents are tired of counting their money and would rather count species of exotic birds. Before you start planning your descent on the Fisher Island Club, know that an equity membership will set you back a quarter-million greenbacks in addition to an id="mce_marker"8,000 annual fee. So start stacking your cheddar, working on your slice serve, and preparing for a life not lived at the Fisher Island Club.
Soho Beach House Miami
Address: 4385 Collins Ave.
You may have heard of the Soho House which was founded in London in 1955 and billed as a private members club for creative cavaliers. You may even be familiar with the Soho House flagship locations in New York and Los Angeles. But what you’re not familiar with is what it feels life to bask in the Miami sun on the private beach of the Soho Beach House a.k.a. the Soho House Miami. What the Soho House Miami boasts over other locations is a 16-story oceanfront tower and finely groomed private beach and gardens that members and members alone saunter out to after dining at the on-site restaurant. Expansive views and the ability to woo would-be clients at a locale non-members aren’t allowed to set foot in are among the reasons applicants are required to lineup multiple references from current members and endure a waiting list. If private beach access and cabana life is out of reach, there’s always takeout pizza and public beach life to fall back on.
The Collins Club
Address: 4525 Collins Ave.
Overlooking Miami Beach, check. Situated on Millionaire’s Row, check. Private beach access, check. Enticed? We thought so. More than just a private beach club, The Collins Club touts its sporting lifestyle, offering its members private surf lessons, access to Miami Beach Golf Club, jet-skiing, sailing, and waterskiing on-site. If you’re not proficient in any of those activities, save your chips and stick to swimming. The Collins Club boats a bevy of celebrity clientele as well as captains of industry looking to catch R&R through sport, lest we forget the opportunity to post up in one of multiple indoor and outdoor pools.
Casa Tua
Address: 1700 James Ave.
More than a restaurant, hotel, or private beach club, Casa Tua is all three. If private dining, accommodations, and a beach club aren’t your steez, a rotating art exhibit is sure to satisfy Miami-based aesthetes. Artists from all countries and mediums are hand curated at Casa Tua and offered up exclusively to members for early viewings and launch parties. For those less artistically inclined, there is always the aforementioned private restaurant, hotel, and beach club. Instead of a grand experience, Casa Tua keeps things concise and curated to an extremely select roster of members which creates an intimate ambiance. In other words, good luck getting in.
The Surf Club Miami
Address: 9011 Collins Ave.
The first rule of The Surf Club, you don’t choose The Surf Club. The Surf club chooses you. This invitation only private beach club has been in existence since 1930, and offers members a reprieve from city living with an all-private-everything approach to dining, pool partying, and beach lounging. More than a traditional social club, the Surf Club holds its own by hand selecting members for invitation rather than allowing for applications. Only after current members have vouched, conferred, and agreed upon a potential candidate are they informed of their enviable status. From there, the final qualifier is cold, hard American sawbucks. Initiation will set inductees back over $200,000, but if you’ve been selected for invitation, that’s not a figure you’re going to balk at. If you’re still waiting for your handwritten invitation in the mail, it’s time to move on.
Miami Yacht Club
Address: 1001 MacArthur Causeway
Originally founded in 1927 under the auspices of the Florida Boat Racing Association, the Miami Yacht Club now serves the boating community at large in addition to nautical adrenaline junkies looking for high speed action. The Miami Yacht Club is a private boat club that offers members private dining, docking, and races organized for members. You can join without a boat, but you shouldn’t. Members often host communal gatherings on their boats, so you’ll look a little suspect if you're always attending and never hosting. The Miami Yacht Club is world-renowned and welcomes other sea faring world traveling yachtsmen the opportunity to dock up, kickback, and enjoy the fruits of owning a private yacht with Miami Beach as a backdrop.
Williams Island Club
Address: 5300 Island Blvd.
More than a private social club, more than a private spa club, more than a private tennis club, Williams Island Club is all three. With 16 tennis courts and a 27,000 square foot spa ensconced in lush Floridian foliage, Williams Island Club is nothing like your local health and racquet club. Members can choose to spend their days posted up on massage tables or sweating it out on the clay courts—and non-members can do neither. Boasting a pro shop and cafe on the tennis grounds, it’s just as easy to dress the part and lamp at the breakfast table as it is to actually hit the courts, but hey, membership has its benefits. Those benefits include access to a private marina and the opportunity to attend guest lectures from business and cultural luminaries that are brought in to reaffirm how dope it is to be a member of Williams Island Club. If you’ve got a solid forehand, backhand, and slice serve, you’re probably not any closer to becoming a member.
The Leadership Circle
Address: 770 NE 125th St.
The Leadership Circle is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami’s most distinguished inner sanctum. Judging from the name, you already know this distinction isn’t reserved for Miami’s common patron of the arts. This invitation only club is hand selected by the museum’s board of trustees based on patronage and promise to the arts, philanthropy, and culture. Basically, if you’ve ever boasted about how much more cultured you are than all your homies, you’re not getting in. Members are afforded a three-year program through which they’re granted sit-downs with preeminent art dealers, cocktail hours with burgeoning artists, and countless other swaggy ceremonies. After members of the Leadership Circle successfully complete the program and display the requisite tact, they’re invited to become honorary trustees of the museum and attend board meetings. Leadership Circle candidates aren’t informed they’re up for consideration, so start reading, start philosophizing, start theorizing, but most importantly, don’t quit your day job.
The Bath Club
Address: 5937 Collins Ave.
The Bath Club has been showing non-members the door since 1928, making it one of Miami’s oldest private beach clubs. Sporting a private pool, private beach, private tennis courts, and a private lounge, it’s hard to imagine why members would need the private spa.(But yeah, they’ve got that too.) The Bath Club touts the fact that “some things never change,” and the rigorous application process is one of those aspects steeped in tradition. If you hope to wiggle your toes in the private sands of The Bath Club, be prepared to come correct with referrals, nail a personal interview, and put a year’s worth of college education costs up as a membership fee. In other words, prepare to be on the outside looking enviously in.