Community Spotlight on … Hot and Spicy MIAMI BEACH

By admin on Aug. 13, 2008.

Miami Beach, incorporated in 1915, has been one of America’s famous beach resorts for almost a century. The year-round, near-perfect weather, and gorgeous, wide, white-sand beach are a big part of the allure, but the growth of South Beach, nicknamed ‘SoBe‘, the area of Miami Beach where the largest concentration of shopping and dining and nightlife is, is the jewel in the crown of where to see and be seen.

Encompassing 23 blocks starting with 1st Street, South Beach is Miami’s most-used location for fashion shoots. SoBe is also a major entertainment mecca with nightclubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, apartments, shops, and boutiques that attract movie stars and celebrities, the rich and famous, and tourists from all over the world, making this area the hottest spot on the planet! Considered even cooler than SoBe is ‘SoFi‘, a microcosm of South Beach, which stands for ‘South of Fifth (Street)’, the southernmost part of Miami Beach.  Aside from Ocean Drive, the picturesque and pedestrian Lincoln Road Mall, located between 16th and 17th Streets is the place to people watch.

Along Ocean Drive, up to 12th Street, is the most famous area of  South Beach’s Art Deco District, a row of pastel hotels and condos that face the beach, and which has been featured prominently in many movies, including “Scarface” and “The Birdcage”. In 1979, the Art Deco District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ocean Drive + Deco District created the nickname “Deco Drive”.

Ocean Drive has many prominent restaurants and hot spots including the News Café where the models hang out, Mango’s, and The Clevelander, as well as condos, apartments, and hotels. The most famous of these is undoubtedly 1116 Ocean Drive, “Casa Casuarina“, Gianni Versace’s former mansion, which is now a private hotel/club. Versace’s contribution in bringing retail growth and world-wide attention to the area cannot be underestimated. His unfortunate death in 1997, contributed even more to the lore and the lure of an already famous locale.

Another attraction in South Beach is Española Way, which runs from Collins to Pennsylvania Avenue. Conceived in 1925 as “The Historic Spanish Village” and modeled after the romantic Mediterranean villages found in Spain and France, it consists of art galleries, restaurants, and quirky shops.

Dining on Miami Beach at the many upscale bars and well-known restaurants, you can enjoy the finest of the required, like seafood . . . try Joe’s Stone Crab (closed in the summer), or steak . . . at Smith & Wollensky’s, the famous . . . like Mark’s South Beach or Emeril’s (just to name a few). There’s Mexican, Cuban, Indian/Vegetarian, Italian, or maybe comfort food like American fare at the 11th Street Diner—You can find almost every cuisine from Haitian to Argentinian, Ethiopian to Peruvian, including the area’s own cuisine “New World” (a fusion of Caribbean, Latin, American, and Asian). The area is big on fusion cuisine: try Floribbean, Asian/Mexican, or Asian/Latin, you’re sure to find a new and exciting meal that’s big on flavor.

Miami Beach has been setting the bar for ‘cool’ for decades by being the playground for the elite. For sun worshippers, art enthusiasts, socialites, shopaholics, and tourists from every country, Miami Beach has it all. Collins Avenue, the main thoroughfare is the site of the famous names in Miami Beach vacationers’ history:  among them The Fontainebleau, and the Eden Roc, more recently, The Delano, and The Hotel, and is a prestigious address for many who come just in the season, or live here year round. And what a place to live it is!  From the breathtaking view of cruise ships coming and going through Government Cut, with Fisher Island just beyond at the the sound end of Miami Beach, to the Intracoastal lifestyle offering everything from houseboats to mansions, the home of your dreams has never come in so many forms. ‘The’ place to play is definitely a great place to live.