Playboy, like many a senior citizen with somewhat regressive views on masculinity before it, is moving to South Florida.
The bunny-branded media company, still known primarily for its revealing magazine centerfolds your uncle flipped right past to get to the serious articles, announced in August that the enterprise’s global headquarters will relocate in 2026 from Los Angeles to a Miami Beach office building called Rivani (1691 Michigan Ave.).
In addition to Playboy’s offices, the building will house “state-of-the-art content studios” to “support Playboy’s growing creator network” producing “podcasts, photography, and other media ventures.”
And, most relevant to travelers, the place will have a new Playboy Club open to members of the public looking to experience the Playboy lifestyle.
Playboy Clubs’ boom and bust (emphasis on the bust)
During the magazine’s 20th-century heyday, when founder Hugh Hefner was at the helm, a chain of Playboy Clubs opened in cities across the U.S., including Chicago (where Playboy started), New York, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and, yes, Miami.
Instead of seedy strip joints, these nightspots aimed for an atmosphere of glamour and worldliness, with headliner musicians and stand-up comics performing for well-dressed crowds drinking cocktails served by “bunnies” in skimpy costumes that nevertheless kept the X-rated bits covered.
The clubs went defunct in the early 1990s, though Playboy has attempted short-lived revivals—including in Las Vegas, which seems like a natural fit (but no go)—at several times in the years since.
The latest iteration of the Playboy Club in Miami Beach will feature a “world-class restaurant,” according to the company’s announcement, as well as an “exclusive members-only space inspired by the storied Playboy Mansion,” Hefner’s former residence in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Beyond that, Playboy hasn’t released many specifics about the new club. More details should trickle out as we near the opening, which is planned for September 2026, according to the Associated Press.
Why is Playboy moving to Miami?
In a statement, Playboy’s current CEO, Ben Kohn, cites Miami Beach’s “vibrancy” and “pro-business approach” as reasons for moving the company to Florida.
Playboy has been in need of a little revitalization lately.
Hefner died in 2017. The magazine went online-only in 2020 (except for one print edition per year). And in 2022 allegations from former Playmates accusing Hefner and the company of mistreatment and sexual harassment prompted the brand to issue a statement, as reported by USA Today, asserting that “today’s Playboy is not Hefner’s Playboy.”
Nevertheless, “the Playboy brand accounts for $3 billion in annual consumer spending across the world,” claims the Miami Herald, suggesting a lot of money must be made from licensing those bunnies on clothes and other merch.
The possibility of getting in on some of those profits likely helps explain why Miami Beach city leaders have declared themselves delighted with the impending move.
As the Miami Herald points out, Playboy’s love affair with South Florida goes way back. Miami had its own Playboy Club from 1961 to 1985, as well as a Playboy Plaza hotel that opened in Miami Beach in 1970 (it’s now the Castle Beach Club).
Those content creators working at Playboy’s new studios should feel right at home, too. Miami has more OnlyFans models per capita than any other city.
Frommer’s Best of Florida
Frommer’s books aren’t written by committee, by AI, or by travel writers who simply pop in briefly to a destination and then consider the job done. We employ the best local experts to author our guides, in this case, Tampa-based journalist Beth Luberecki, Miami-based newspaper reporter Leslie Abrava…
Get the book
Frommer’s Best of Florida
Frommer’s books aren’t written by committee, by AI, or by travel writers who simply pop in briefly to a destination and then consider the job done. We employ the best local experts to author our guides, in this case, Tampa-based journalist Beth Luberecki, Miami-based newspaper reporter Leslie Abrava…
