For far too long, Downtown Miami has withered in the shadow of South Beach, its glamorous sibling on the other side of Biscayne Bay. Now all this has changed, thanks to the sunshine city’s renovated waterfront and vibrant, expanding art scene. Chris Coplans tells us more.
DOWNTOWN WAS ONCE A SOMEWHAT-COLD, faceless, corporate enclave of offices and high-rise condominiums with a run-down and forlorn waterfront. Now, I discovered, it has been transformed into a vibrant, throbbing city centre with two gorgeous waterfront parks, new museums and a lively entertainment district of alfresco cafés, bars and restaurants, particularly around Brickell and South Miami Avenues. In addition to the American Airways Arena, home of the Miami Heat basketball team, a marina and the Bayside Marketplace, the Biscayne Bay waterfront is as of last December the home of the stunning new Pérez Art Museum Miami.
As Miami is a cultural cross-road the collection reflects the artistic traditions of the United States, Caribbean and Latin America. Inside there is plenty of space for even the most extravagant installations of 20th-and 21st-century art, and from the museum’s café you can view the sailboats, motor boats and huge cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami. Next year, a second attraction, the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, will open in the 29-acre Museum Park,.
Just off the water on chic Biscayne Boulevard, the JW Marriott Marquis oozes Miami sleek. It’s also the hottest spot in town – packed with players, rappers, entourages and the attendant media circus – when there’s a game or live show at the nearby arena.
The city’s art scene is not limited to Downtown I discovered, as I roamed Miami’s neighbourhoods with knowledgeable Miami tourism executive Suzie Sponder. The Wynwood Arts District just north of Downtown is full of galleries, including the Rubell Family Collection on NW 29th Street and, my favourite, the Marguilies Collection at the Warehouse on NW 27th Street. Many of the old warehouses in the district are adorned with colourful murals – the Wynwood Walls on NW 2nd Avenue is an open-air graffiti fest featuring the work of some of the world’s greatest street artists.
The neighbourhood is also a major participant in the world-renowned December Art Basel extravaganza, which attracts thousands of art works from more than 250 international galleries. Based at the Miami Beach Convention Center, it inspires special exhibitions and satellite events held at museums and galleries around the city. One of the coolest places to browse and shop is in the Miami Design District, north of Wynwood. A former warehouse area, it has been transformed into a vibrant Art Deco-style arts and cultural, shopping, design and culinary destination.
From Downtown it’s also easy to visit other neighbourhoods by the Metromover and Metrorail public transport systems or taxi. It’s particularly worth taking a ride on the Metromover in the evening as it snakes its way through the towering, neon-lit futuristic Downtown skyline – pure Bladerunner, and it’s free.
MIAMI’S COLOURFUL NEIGHBOURHOODS
Colourful Little Havana is home to Miami’s largest – Cuban – immigrant community. Spanish is the predominant language, salsa is the music of choice, and the old men sitting in pavement cafés playing dominoes puff on rocket-launcher-sized cigars.
The heart of the neighbourhood, Calle Ocho (SW 8th St), is lined with Cuban shops, cafés and record and clothing stores. A great way to explore it is on an excellent Little Havana Food Tour.
A short Metrorail trip, or a 10-to-15-minute ride by car, takes you to Coral Gables, one of South Florida’s most affluent and appealing communities. The city (it’s not actually part of Miami) was the vision of George Merrick, who dreamt of a model community that felt ‘old’. Today, opulence and bougainvillea permeate the air in its quiet, tree-lined streets and De Soto Boulevard ‘s Venetian Pool remains one of the world’s most-beautiful swimming pools. The pool in the nearby grand, landmark Mediterranean Revivalist Biltmore Hotel, on the other hand, is not only the largest hotel pool in America but once had Tarzan film star Johnny Weissmuller as its swimming instructor.
The beautiful, public Venetian Pool is located in Coral Gables
Also in Coral Gables, Stanford Drive is the site of the Lowe Art Museum, which houses one of the USA’s best collections of Southwestern art among 6,000 works that range from European Renaissance and Baroque treasures to Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities.
Adjacent to Coral Gables, Coconut Grove may have lost some of its 70s bohemian cred in the eschewing commercialisation, but it’s still a fun place to hang out, particularly in and around the CocoWalk Shopping Center, which is packed with bars, restaurants and some fashion stores.
ON TO TRENDY SOUTH BEACH
In need of some sand and sea time, I headed across the MacArthur Causeway to America’s most-style-conscious, pastel-painted seaside community – South Beach. Blessed with the most beguiling Art Deco architecture as well as eclectic, neon-infused nightlife and miles of golden beaches, it’s no wonder it has become the ultimate cool urban beach destination.
However, SoBe, as it’s known to any self-respecting hipster, was not always the citadel of cool. When I first visited in the late 70s, it was a run-down and often-drug-infested no-go area, grafted on to the southern end of respectable Miami Beach.
Ironically, the TV series Miami Vice, set against a backdrop of these seedy decaying Deco buildings, alerted developers and style gurus to the potential of the area. In the late 80s, a renaissance gathered momentum and South Beach gradually morphed into SoBe.
Only a couple of blocks from my Collins Avenue beach-side hotel, the James Royal Palm, is Lincoln Road, a wide, pedestrian-only boulevard, choc-a-bloc with sidewalk cafés, galleries and designer boutiques. It’s the perfect place to sip on an Americano or a glass of Chablis, while watching the off-duty models toy with their no-cal salads.
South Beach at the tip of Miami Beach is known for its wealth of Art Deco architecture
South Beach is also one of the best places from which to observe the iconic Miami skyline, which you may have admired in Miami Vice, CSI Miami or countless other TV shows and films. For one of the best vantage points, head for the roof terrace of Ocean Drive’s Park Central Hotel around sunset and watch the sun go down as the neon comes on.
To really enjoy South Beach’s architectural heritage, join one of the Miami Design Preservation League’s Art Deco walking tours, which highlight the best of SoBe’s stunning architecture (it’s said to be the largest collection of Art Deco-style buildings in the world). The best time to enjoy it is during the Art Deco Weekend, usually held in January.
Although SoBe throbs to a distinctly Cuban and Latino pulse, it also has a large Jewish population, mainly from the northern East Coast of the USA. There is even a Cuban-Jewish congregation sited in the rather extraordinary Temple Beth Shmuel on North Michigan Avenue. Right around the corner is the haunting Holocaust Memorial, where Kenneth Treister’s exquisitely detailed Sculpture of Love & Anguish is one of the most moving memorials I’ve ever seen.
South Beach is not only a pedestrian delight but also extremely bike friendly with plenty of flat, quiet streets and a scenic bike path through Lummus Park between the beach and Ocean Drive. Renting one from Deco Bikes, I pedalled down to South Pointe Park on the southern tip of the island. Less crowded during the week than farther north, its beaches on weekends stage one big Latino beach party. A great place to end your stay in magical Miami.
