Search for a Gatsby bar in Miami and you mostly turn up ticketed parties in grand downtown buildings, or listings for places that closed years ago. What most people are actually after is something smaller: a candlelit room, live jazz in the corner, and a cocktail built the way it was built a hundred years ago. That room exists on the Coral Way corridor near FIU. And the question we get more than any other, before anyone asks about the drinks, is what to wear.
The short answer is cocktail attire. The longer answer is far more forgiving than people expect, and it deserves a proper explanation, because the dress code is the one part of a 1920s themed bar in Miami that talks people out of booking at all.
What a Gatsby Bar in Miami Actually Feels Like
The Library is a prohibition-inspired speakeasy hidden behind a bookcase. From the street we look like a quiet old book binding shop, which is very much the point. Step through and the century falls away: dim candlelight, Art Deco brass, worn leather, and the low hum of live jazz underneath the conversation.
The bar program is built on the classics that came out of the Prohibition era and were refined over the century that followed, the Old Fashioned and the Sidecar, the Bee's Knees and the Last Word. Prohibition-era recipes meet modern technique across sixteen taps, and the bartenders also build original drinks inspired by books and the authors who loved a good one, from Hemingway to Fitzgerald to Dorothy Parker. If you want the full story of how the room came together, it's on our about page.
None of that requires a costume from you. It does ask for a little effort, and here is what that means in practice.
Cocktail Attire, Translated
Our reservation page says it as plainly as we know how. The room is candlelit and dressed for the era, so come dressed for it too. You don't need a costume, just the outfit you'd put on for a night you had been looking forward to.
If you want something more concrete than that, this is roughly how it tends to look on a given night:
- A jacket over a collared shirt does most of the work. A tie is welcome and never required.
- A dress you can sit and talk in for three hours beats one you'll be fussing with all evening. The room is for lingering.
- Fringe, beads, a drop waist, a pocket square, a good hat from the right decade: all of it belongs here. So does a plain black dress and a well cut blazer.
- This is still Miami in September, so linen and lighter fabrics are your friends. Nobody has ever looked out of place in a summer-weight suit.
- The things that feel wrong in candlelight are the obvious ones. Gym clothes, beachwear, and the baseball cap you wore all afternoon will all be happier somewhere else.
Think of it less as a rule and more as a favor to the room. Everybody dressing slightly up is a large part of why a 1920s bar feels like one, and it's the cheapest thing any of us can do to keep the illusion intact.
Wednesday Through Saturday, and the Half Hour You Pick
We're open Wednesday through Saturday, 6 PM to 1 AM. A Wednesday night out in Miami has a particular quality to it, unhurried and a little conspiratorial, and the early seatings tend to be the most conversational hours of the week. Later on, the jazz does more of the talking.
Seatings start every 30 minutes and each window holds just a handful of people, so the choice of half hour matters more here than it would at a big room. Walk-ins are welcome, and a reservation simply guarantees your seats. If there are more than four of you, email the team instead of booking and we'll sort it out.
Parking is free in the plaza lot out front, and the rest of the practical details are on our find us page. Give yourself a few extra minutes the first time. Finding the door is part of the evening.
Your Library Card Is What Opens the Door
Everyone in the inner circle carries a library card. It's free, your phone number becomes your card number, and the card is what scans you through the street door. You can claim your card on its own, or reserve a time and yours arrives with the booking.
That's the whole dress code and the whole entry ritual, which is less than most people brace for. Pick a night, pick your half hour, put on the thing you've been waiting for an excuse to wear, and reserve your time at The Library. Then keep the address to yourself, if you can help it.