in November/December 2005
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Insiders Miami
By Andrew Nelson Photograph by Catherine Karnow
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Hotel exec Martin Krediet and his dog, Roxy, tool around Biscayne Bay. |
Like a bounty of exotic fruit, Miami has something for every taste. From fancy poolside soirees to authentic Cuban cuisine, locals tell us what they like best about their city.
 o Europe, Miami is a seaside paradise; to the United States, a pathway to Latin America; and to the Caribbean, a portal to the promised land. In short, Miami is America's Casablanca, our capital of the exotic, inhabited by a larger percentage of foreign born than any other city, according to the United Nations. • Miami is also the nation's youngest big city (founded only in 1896). Yet, many say, it has achieved a sophistication to rival Manhattan's. • If you're an outsider, this city of 380,000, with its Spanish-speaking majority, can seem mysterious. No need to worry. In this guide we reveal what Miamians themselves like best about their city, or rather, "cities." Miami-Dade County comprises a cluster of 30 different municipalities, including Miami Beach and Miami proper, aka, the "Mainland."
We cover the best Miami Beach hot spots to play and to stay, from the classic Art Deco District to the giddy exuberance of North Beach's Miami Modern, or MiMo, architecture.
In Miami itself, we take in everything from the business hub to Little Haiti and Little Havana, a vital Hispanic neighborhood with its vibrant Calle Ocho; Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, shaded by cool banyan tree canopies; downtown's Brickell Village, where condos grow faster than bamboo shoots; and, north of downtown, the Design District.
Miami's outdoors is truly remarkable, further setting it apart from most other U.S. cities. If the great "Sea of Grass" known as the Everglades is the city's backyard, then the ocean is its front porch. You can dive shipwrecks, photograph exotic flora and fauna, eat fresh tropical fruit. Watch the egrets fly over Chicken Key, and you might think, just for a moment, that the urban world has disappeared entirely. But Miami is always there: gaudy, gleaming, and glad of it.
"How sweet it is!" roared entertainer Jackie Gleason in his 1950s TV show. The Great One was speaking of life in general, but given his devotion to his favorite Atlantic playground, he could just as easily have meant Miami itself. "And," as Gleason would have put it, without further ado, "away we go. . . ."
29 Oh-So-Sweet Ways to Experience the Best of This City by the Sea 1. Tour art deco architecture
"Miami Beach is just so visually interesting," says Don Worth, who moved to the city 17 years ago after taking the Miami Design Preservation League tour of the Art Deco District (1001 Ocean Drive; +1 305 672 2014). "The tours sensitize you to art deco's repeating design patterns. Suddenly you see these patterns everywhere—and not just in South Beach—with the same flair, whimsy, and excitement. When so much of America is starting to look like 'Generica,' Miami's design exuberance is something to be proud of. To see what I mean, drive down Biscayne Boulevard to find the 1950s- and '60s-era motels. One of them, called the Vagabond [7301 Biscayne Blvd.; +1 305 757 4561], has been designated as historic."
2. See Miami by boat
"The river and the bay once functioned as the city's highway and lifeline," says historian Paul George, whose three-hour boat tours of the Miami River and Key Biscayne (various sites; +1 305 375 1621) take in the bay islands and a community called Stiltsville, where houses were built on stilts during the 1950s and '60s. "Miami is still focused on the water," he says.
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