SoBe Life
The nickname for Miami’s beautiful South Beach was inspired by Manhattan’s SoHo, and it’s become every bit as fashionable and hip as its New York counterpart. Now the “American Riviera� is an ebullient mix of beach life, club-crawling, lounge-lizarding, and alternative chic, attracting devotees from around the globe. Yet, SoBe’s modern posh character is also nicely blended with just the right amount of tacky kitsch and downright sleaze.
Strolling, skating, or biking along this beachfront strip is the way the locals do it. From about 6th Street and north, take in the toned, tanned athletes, the abundant, ice-cream-colored Art Deco architecture (see Deco District), and the people-watching cafés.
This swath of busy park and 300-ft (90-m) wide beach stretches for ten blocks, from 5th St north. Much of the immaculate sand was imported.
The café-restaurant at 800 Ocean Drive continues to be action central for SoBe social life. Sit and read the morning paper, available in several languages, over a full breakfast – or just watch the action.
1114 Ocean Drive (not open to the public) was bought by fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1993 for $3.7 million. He was gunned down on its steps in 1997. The Mediterranean-Revival style building was formerly called Amsterdam Palace.
The sparkling hotel at 1200 Collins Avenue sports one of SoBe’s best places to while away the time with locals. The décor is the apotheosis of the chrome aesthetic – everything seems to be made of curving aluminum.
These scruffier, funkier cousins of Ocean Drive offer kinky shops and top nightclubs, but also some fine Art Deco buildings of their own, including the Miami Beach Post Office.
The 1920s Mediterranean-Revival, buff-colored tower is a distinctive South Beach landmark. Its red-tile roof can be seen for blocks around. The building is now a courthouse.
Between 14th and 15th streets, and Washington and Drexel avenues, Española Way is a Mediterranean-Revival enclave that is all salmon-colored stucco, stripy awnings, and red-tile roofs. It now houses boutiques and offbeat art galleries. Built in 1922–5, it was meant to be an artists’ colony but instead became an infamous red-light district at one stage of its history.
Built in the 1920s as an upscale shopping district, it became one of the country’s first pedestrian malls in the ‘60s. Its current incarnation with art studios and galleries is the brainchild of the South Florida Art Center.
Most of South Beach’s top clubs are located on Washington and Collins avenues, between 5th and 16th streets. Few get going until at least midnight. Choose between straight, gay and mixed venues.
South Beach is now world famous as a top gay vacation destination. It is estimated that up to half of the Deco District apartments are gay-occupied. Rainbow flags are everywhere you look, indicating gay-friendly businesses. Gay festivals attract thousands from around the world, flocking to the all-night raves and beach parties. A culture of the Body Beautiful thrives here, which, combined with the constant ebb and flow of revelers, makes the area a vast playground for the sexually various. Gay people now enjoy considerable political clout, both locally and statewide.
