Ocean Drive and the Art Deco district
Neon, pastel hotels and a beach across the road: Ocean Drive is the postcard image of Miami, and the reason Vice City looks the way it does.
Updated September 28, 2026
The real Ocean Drive
Ocean Drive runs along the southern end of Miami Beach, facing the sand and palms of Lummus Park across the road. Its most famous stretch is lined with small hotels built in the 1930s and early 1940s, many in the style now called Tropical Deco: rounded corners, porthole windows, concrete "eyebrows" shading the windows from the sun, and bold neon signs.
The street is the heart of the Miami Beach Architectural District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It was the first 20th-century district in the country to be listed, thanks largely to preservationist Barbara Capitman and the Miami Design Preservation League, who fought to save the buildings when many were run-down and facing demolition.
How Miami Vice made it pastel
In the early 1980s, much of South Beach was shabby and faded. Designer Leonard Horowitz began repainting the Deco buildings in the pinks, turquoises and lavenders that now define the look, and the TV series Miami Vice, which ran from 1984 to 1989 and filmed heavily in the area, carried that image around the world.
That matters for GTA: the 2002 Vice City was built on Miami Vice's version of Miami, pastel colors and all. Ocean Drive's look is baked into the series' DNA.
Ocean Drive in GTA
In GTA Vice City, the beachfront Ocean Beach district had its own Ocean Drive, and Tommy Vercetti's first safehouse was the Ocean View Hotel, a clear nod to the real Deco strip.
For GTA 6, Rockstar hasn't published street names yet. The trailers show a neon-lit beachfront of low-rise hotels, crowded sidewalks and nightlife that closely resembles modern Ocean Drive, with a much denser skyline behind it than the 2002 version ever had.
Real vs game
| In GTA 6 | In real life | |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Neon, low-rise hotels facing the beach | Art Deco hotels facing Lummus Park |
| Mood | Party strip and social-media chaos | Tourist strip, cafés and nightlife |
| Era of buildings | Modern city built around a retro core | Mostly 1930s and 1940s |
| Name | Not yet confirmed | Ocean Drive |
Landmarks on and around Ocean Drive
- The Art Deco Welcome Center, starting point for the Miami Design Preservation League's walking tours.
- Casa Casuarina, the former Versace mansion, where Gianni Versace was killed in 1997.
- The Colony, Park Central and Breakwater hotels, some of the most photographed neon signs on the street.
- Lummus Park, with its colorful lifeguard stands on the beach.
Visiting Ocean Drive
The neon is best after dark, and the buildings photograph best in early-morning light before the crowds arrive. Ocean Drive is walkable end to end in about twenty minutes, and nearby Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue hold more of the district's Deco buildings.
Rockstar hasn't released an official map of Leonida. A map image from an older development build leaked in August 2026; we don't use it here. Everything on this page comes from Rockstar's own trailers, screenshots and region descriptions, and it will be updated after launch on November 19.
Questions
Is Ocean Drive in GTA 6?
Rockstar hasn't confirmed street names. The beachfront shown in the trailers closely resembles Ocean Drive, and the 2002 game had its own Ocean Drive.
Why is Miami Beach so pastel?
Many Art Deco buildings were repainted in bright pastel colors in the 1980s, a look popularized by the TV series Miami Vice.
What was the Ocean View Hotel in GTA Vice City?
It was Tommy Vercetti's first safehouse in the 2002 game, on the beachfront, inspired by the real Deco hotels of Ocean Drive.