The famed Miami Beach hotel that hosted the Beatles and President John F. Kennedy during its 1960s heyday – and which once outraged Canadian delegates at the annual IPW US travel trade show – was turned to dust last week after falling into disrepair and abandonment in recent years.

The 17-storey Deauville Hotel, built in 1957, imploded after a series of explosions were set off, sending up a large cloud of dust.

Kennedy spoke there to the Young Democrats Convention in 1961 and The Beatles performed there in 1964, recording six songs for “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which drew an estimated television audience of 70 million people. Celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. also performed there.

In 2009, the Canadian delegation to International Pow Wow (now known as IPW) was posted to the hotel, at the time under renovation. Lost reservations, shoddy accommodations (for some) and feeble food prompted a host of delegates to leave during the week for greener pastures.

One trade rag wag, having found a condom in a coffee cup in his room wrote, “Will that be one condom or two with your coffee at the Deauville?” – leading to threats of a lawsuit from hotel management that were eventually dropped.

Combined with lengthy commuting distance from the IPW event, the Deauville sparked a perfect storm of indignation by the Canadian travel trade troupe, who felt the country – the US’s top international market by almost every metric – was being taken for granted by US Travel, whose head honcho Roger Dow issued a sincere apology and ensured that Canadians scored the best conference hotel the following year in Orlando.

As for the Deauville, the Canucks’ experience there foreshadowed the property’s decline and disrepair in subsequent years, and eventual closing in 2017 after an electrical fire. Miami Beach officials and the family that owned the hotel sparred over millions of dollars in fines for various code violations.

It is unclear what will now happen with the lot.

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, a billionaire New York developer, wanted to buy the property and build a 107-m.-tall hotel and condo tower, but that plan is in limbo. The area has a 61-m. height limit and a city ballot measure that would have allowed the construction failed last week.

City officials say Ross may still be interested in purchasing the lot if an alternate plan can be worked out.