The Wolfsonian Museum, Miami Beach

Window Grille from the Norris Theatre, Norristown, Pennsylvania 1929

A few blocks inland from the bustle of Ocean Drive lies one of Miami Beach's quiet gems. Housed in a pink layer cake Mediterranean Revival building, the The Wolfsonian Museum is an impeccably curated collection of Modernist art and design that captures the heady days of dirigibles, fedoras and candlestick telephones.

Founded in 1986 by Mitchell "Micky" Wolfson Jr., the colorful heir to a movie theater fortune, the museum now operates under the auspices of Florida International University. While the complete collection comprises more than 120,000 items dating from the Industrial Revolution to the advent of World War II, the handful of public exhibits is easily browsed in a couple of hours. A $7 admission buys a fascinating trip back through time. The permanent collection is a cabinet of early 20th-century wonders featuring Bakelite radios, vintage turnstiles and a striking art deco fountain. A massive Lloyd Morgan painting, "The Completed Buildings of Schultze and Weaver, Architects, 1921-1936" could best be described as "The Last Supper" of early 20th-century architectural design. A remarkable stained-glass window commissioned to represent Ireland in the League of Nations building seems like a collaboration between W.B. Yeats and Louis Comfort Tiffany. The museum's Dynamo Museum Shop & Café, which feels like the private library of an eccentric inventor, features hundreds of colorful books and playful curios inspired by the museum's collection. After a refreshment here, we recommend a stroll through the art deco district to Flamingo Park, another underrated Miami Beach treasure.

The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Avenue (corner of 10th Street), Miami Beach FL 33139. Admission: $7 for adults; $5 for seniors, students and children 6-12. Gallery hours: Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, noon-6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, noon-9 p.m.; closed Wednesday. Guided exhibition tours every Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. Free gallery admission on Fridays from 6-9 p.m.