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Overview

Hotel Dixon is an art deco hotel located in Ocean Beach, Vice Beach, Vice-Dale County, that is set to appear in Grand Theft Auto VI. The hotel is situated along the unnamed Ocean Drive-inspired road in Vice Beach and was first seen in the game's first trailer at approximately the 0:33 mark. Its distinctive vertical neon lettering along the side of the building displays the hotel's name, making it one of the most visually striking buildings on the Vice Beach strip.

Architecture

Hotel Dixon is designed in the Art Deco style that defines the Ocean Beach waterfront. The building features the streamlined curves, geometric ornamentation, and pastel color palette characteristic of the Art Deco architectural movement that shaped Miami Beach during the 1930s and 1940s. Vertical neon lettering spelling out "Hotel Dixon" runs along the side of the facade, a common design element in Art Deco hotels of the era.

Flanking the hotel's entrance, both the flag of Vice Beach and the Leonida State Flag are displayed, adding civic identity to the building's exterior. The overall design closely mirrors the proportions and styling of its real-world counterpart, Hotel Victor, which stands as one of the signature buildings on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach.

Key Facts

Name and Historical Reference

The hotel's name is derived from Lawrence Murray Dixon (February 16, 1901 to October 8, 1949), the original architect of Hotel Victor in Miami Beach. Dixon was one of the most prolific architects working in Miami Beach during the Art Deco era. Born in Live Oak, Florida, he attended the Georgia School of Technology before working in New York for the firm Schultze and Weaver from 1923 to 1929. He relocated to Miami Beach in 1929, where he became one of the principal architects of the South Beach Art Deco Historic District.

Dixon's portfolio of work included some of the most recognizable buildings on Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, including The Tides Hotel (1936), Hotel Victor (1937), The Tiffany (1939), The Marlin (1939), The Raleigh Hotel (1940), and the Ritz Plaza Hotel (1940). The PBS documentary series American Experience identified Dixon and fellow architect Henry Hohauser as the principal architects of Deco South Beach, crediting them with the "streamlined curves, jutting towers, window eyebrows, and neon" that define the neighborhood's visual character.

Real-World Inspiration

Hotel Dixon is based on Hotel Victor, located at 1144 Ocean Drive in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. Hotel Victor was designed by Lawrence Murray Dixon in 1937 and is one of the most photographed buildings on Ocean Drive. The hotel features the curvilinear design elements that were Dixon's signature, including rounded corners, porthole windows, and the streamlined horizontal banding typical of the Streamline Moderne variant of Art Deco.

By naming the in-game hotel after the architect rather than keeping the original name, Rockstar pays tribute to the creative mind behind the building while maintaining the series' tradition of renaming real-world locations. This naming approach is similar to how other GTA locations honor the people or concepts behind their real-world counterparts through altered names.

Trivia

• Hotel Dixon is located on the same Ocean Drive-inspired strip as the Ocean View Hotel, making them neighbors on Vice Beach's most famous road.

• The vertical neon signage style used on Hotel Dixon is authentic to the Art Deco period, when many South Beach hotels used neon lettering as both advertising and architectural ornamentation.

• Lawrence Murray Dixon designed over 100 buildings in Miami Beach during his career, many of which are still standing and form part of the South Beach Art Deco Historic District, a designated National Historic Landmark.

• The flags of Vice Beach and the state of Leonida displayed on the hotel are among the few confirmed instances of in-game municipal and state heraldry.