Architectural wonders and a good time in South Beach, Miami

I wanted to stay in a marina close to South Beach, so we chose Sunset Harbor Yacht Club, off 20^th St., and the Venetian Causeway.  It was a little pricey, and charged us a 40 foot minimum, but the location and attention was worth it.  We were right across the street from the most streamlined, hippest Publix I’ve ever seen, and we could catch the quarter bus—the South Beach Local there.  We could even bring a cart with groceries back into the marina to our boat.

 

Zincs were on Glen’s mind, so the first thing he wanted to do was to get a diver to check the zinc on our shaft.  The gals in the front office suggested Mark, who promptly appeared early the next morning and replaced the rapidly dissolving zinc.

Otherwise, Sevilla was in good shape.  She did look a little out of place among the 120 plus foot mega yachts.  We got to see a lot boats featured in the Miami Boat Show that ended the 22nd, since a lot of them had been displayed in the SHYC harbor area.  We watched them being trucked in from other venues and picked up with cranes to place in the water.  (Naturally I didn’t have my camera with me when all this occurred.)

There was much to see and we were new to South Beach.  We walked to Lincoln Road Mall the first day.  It was fairly close, and we had received good directions from a bartender we had met the previous night at B and B—Brew and Burgers—a local’s hangout close to the SHYC.  The main sport is people watching, for sure.  Lincoln Road is a pedestrian zone lined on both sides with restaurants and shops.  It runs from the bay to the ocean.  What a great place to walk, gawk, and have coffee or lunch.  We did all of that for two days.

  I wanted to see the New World Symphony Hall, the Gehry architectural wonder.  Tickets for guided tours are booked up through March so all I could do was look from the outside in.  There was a music event Friday night, but, alas, all sold out.  We did get a look at the “parking garage,” which is so fabulous that brides are booking it for their weddings and receptions.  I had read about it in the New York Times, I just had to have a look. 

 

South Beach is famous for Art Deco style building, so I wanted to learn more about it.  We joined an architecture/history tour led by Matt, an excellent guide.  We started from the Preservation Center and Museum on 10^th and Ocean Dr. for the evening tour, walked across the street to the park headquarters and learned why South Beach didn’t end up with wall to wall skyscraper beach hotels—hard work and generosity of concerned citizens. 

Matt told us that the early colors for art deco style were shades of white.  He said that the style was influenced by the sea and ships, and, of course, by the tourist business.  Portholes, tall buildings with ziggurat or multilevel irregular shapes, with a suggestion of flag towers on top, “eyebrows” in window design, and use of coral rock on exteriors, terrazzo floors in interiors, and lots of neon became the norm.  Much of the original art deco building was destroyed in a 1926 hurricane, and so lots of the early work was lost.  The preservation effort got a boost in the 1970s from a wealthy patron named Horowitz who raised citizen interest and got the state to support the purchase and preservation/ renovations of the properties according to the early to mid 20^th century architectural plans.  The best examples seem to be the beautiful boutique hotels along Ocean Ave.  Their interiors are exquisite, and their nice verandas, patios, and sidewalk seating are very inviting on warm February nights.  I’ve included photos of some of the facades and their neon signs.

The beaches are wide, sandy, and filled with vacationers.  There was a very expensive Miami Food and Wine Festival happening in big tents on the beach—with Rachel Ray, Emeril, et al.  But tickets for most events were sold out in October, and the price was way over our budget.

Overall, we had a good impression of South Beach.  Attractive, clean, full of good restaurants and charming hotels; good amenities for tourists and locals such as lovely beaches, nice walking paths, the “quarter bus.”  There was definitely a free spirited party atmosphere. 

The Publix grocery itself was an architectural wonder—kind of a “ship” design of a shiny metal color.  And two for one Cavit Pinot Noir was one fine sale now that the Double Dog Dare is almost gone.

After South Beach, we will head “outside” through Government Cut to Port Everglades and then deal with the many bridge openings we will have to endure on the way to Lake Boca where we will drop anchor Saturday night.

Heading home,

Maureen and Glen

February 26^th, 2011