If you go to school at FIU or spend any time around the Coral Way corridor, there's a good chance you've walked right past The Library and never known it. That's sort of the point. The Library is a 1920s prohibition-era speakeasy coming to Miami, and it hides in plain sight behind a bookcase inside specialTEA Lounge. If you've been searching for the library speakeasy fiu students keep whispering about, this is the one, and here's everything you need to know before the doors open.
Where The Library Actually Sits
The address is 10762 SW 24th St, Miami, FL 33165, right along the Coral Way corridor and just minutes from Florida International University. It's an easy trip from Sweetwater, Kendall, Doral, and Tamiami, so wherever you're coming from on this side of town, you're not going far. Most of Miami's nightlife piles into Wynwood, Brickell, and the Beach, but we wanted to plant a hidden speakeasy somewhere with real everyday character, and this stretch of Coral Way fit perfectly.
Parking, which anyone near FIU knows can make or break a night out, is genuinely easy here. There's free parking in the plaza lot directly in front of the building, plus street parking along SW 24th St. No garage, no valet line, no circling the block.
How to Find the Hidden Door
True to speakeasy tradition, The Library doesn't announce itself. There's no glowing sign pointing you in. Instead, you come to specialTEA Lounge at that same address, since the same team runs both spots, so the moment you step into the lounge you're already in the right place. Then you look for the bookcase.
Somewhere inside specialTEA there's a bookcase that blends right in with everything around it, and it hides our door. Take your time and look closely. Once you find the right one, it swings open into the speakeasy, and that's it. You've made it in. If you want the full walkthrough with a map before you come, our Find Us page lays out the directions and the neighborhood in detail.
What's Waiting on the Other Side
Step through the bookcase and you leave the ordinary behind. The room is all dim candlelight, Art Deco brass, worn leather, and the low hum of live jazz, which has gone hand in hand with speakeasy culture since the 1920s. The bar program is built on the classics: the Old Fashioned, the Sidecar, the Bee's Knees, and the Last Word, all drinks that came out of the Prohibition era and have been refined over a century since. Everything is made with good spirits, house-made syrups, and fresh ingredients.
Our bartenders also build original cocktails inspired by books and the writers who loved a good drink, from Hemingway to Fitzgerald to Dorothy Parker. It's a literary speakeasy, so those stories end up in the glass. If you're the type who appreciates a room with a little mischief to it, a hidden bar near FIU is a nice change from the usual crowded rooftops.
Getting In Before Everyone Else
The Library isn't open just yet, but it's coming soon, and the best way to be first through the door is to join the waitlist on our home page. Waitlist members get early access and invitations to opening night before we announce a public date. If bartending is more your speed than sitting on the other side of the bar, we're also hiring, and you can take a look at what we're after on our Careers page.
So next time someone brings up a secret speakeasy near Coral Way, you'll know exactly where to look. Come find the bookcase at The Library, and we'll see you on the other side.