Miami Beach, FLORIDA - New Americana Hotel - 1956:  The Sheraton Bal Harbour was originally built as the Americana Hotel by Robert and Laurence Tisch of the Tisch Hotel chain, and opened on December 1st, 1956. The 475-room Americana cost $17 million to build and on its opening day commanded the unheard of rate of $32 per day. As business boomed, the hotel soon expanded to 720 rooms.  The Americana had four restaurants where the wait-staff wore uniforms ranging from waitresses in costumes reminiscent of Jeanette MacDonald’s “Rose Marie” operetta, to waiters in Argentine cowboy pants in the Gaucho Steak House. By 1968, scantily clad French show girls were performing the “Toujours Paris Revue” in the Americana’s Carioca Lounge.  The hotel was designed by famed Miami Beach architect Morris Lapidus who had just completed the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels and the interior of the Sans Souci, all further down Collins Avenue in Miami Beach.  This Photochromatic postcard, mailed in 1956, is in good condition.  Natural Color.  Curteichcolor. Art Creation.  Gulf Stream Card & Distributing Co.  Miami, Florida.  No. G435.