South Beach, Miami Attractions
Getting Around South Beach
First of all, when you are planning your day in South Beach Miami, you'll want to factor in a lot of walking. From the minute you arrive in town, you'll notice there are lots and lots of cars everywhere, and you'll be hard-pressed to see even one empty parking space on the street. That's because South Beach Miami is full of cars...very full for such a small area. You will see meter maids giving out tickets, tow trucks carting away vehicles, plenty of residential-only parking signs, and slow-moving cars searching out the rare street parking spot. Tow fees are very high, and meter maids are very attentive and give out tickets left and right. What this means is, leave your car in the garage, if you even brought one or rented one. There are a few public parking garages, like the one on 17th Street, or on 7th Street (this one fills up first, usually), or the public lot behind the Convention Center. Plan to walk and make use of the ubiquitous taxis.
What to See and Do
Buildings and Architecture of Note
Speaking of attractions in South Beach Miami, just walking around the city streets is one big attraction. Choose your delight: people watching, architecture walks, you name it. Here are some of the buildings in South Beach Miami which are known for their beauty, architecture, and style. The interiors as well as the exteriors are fabulous, so if you get the chance, go inside some of the more public buildings, such as hotels. Some are restaurants, so if you're planning lunch or dinner, you might as well dine in style, so check out some of these, like Tantra or Tap-Tap (read more below). Others, like private homes or condo buildings, well, you'll just have to wait for an invitation.
The Impala
The Impala was built in the 1930s as a hotel and continues today as a boutique hotel with a spa ambiance. The decor is Mediterranean Villa, with a garden courtyard entrance that will make you feel like royalty as you enter. For ultra-luxury, gry the Grand Suite with vaulted ceiling and private balcony. There are seventeen rooms, each with European linens and down pillows. You will feel a transcendent restfullness after staying here, subdued by soft colors and luxury at every juncture. The restaurant, Spiga, features Authentic Italian Cuisine and is frequented by famous people regularly.
Mirador
MIrador is not so public, so you may have to settle for just looking in the windows of the large lobby while security guards watch you, but whatever peeks you can get will be worth is because the lobby alone is worth the effort. Zyscovich, Inc. renovated this 1,200-unit luxury apartment building to full elegant polished luxury. Inside you'll find gleaming white columns with tile details and inset lighting with clean-lined modern furniture overlooking Biscayne Bay. The leasing office is make to make renters feel at home with elegant luxury, and indeed, as elegant and seemingly imposing as the decor of the Mirador appears, you can't help but feel wonderfully at home here. Perhaps it's the blend of airy recreational flavor which tones down the formal minimal furniture style. The decor is modern and stark but at the same time casual filled with light.
The Mermaid Guest House
The Mermaid Guest House is a small guest house that's big on charm and ambiance, as well as fanciful decor and romantic settings. This place is bursting with personality, from the Caribbean color scheme to the youthful artist and musician clientele, owners Ana and Gonzalo Torres have created a unique, wonderfully stylish cozy guest house in South Beach Miami. No TVs, so hang out in the bar and listen to live guitar music, or in the courtyard garden near the fountain and meet the other guests. The rooms have four-poster beds with mosquito netting, and the penthouse suite has french doors that open out onto a terrace. Just perfect!
Tantra
Tantra is a place to dine, but oh so much more than just a resaurant. It's part restaurant, part lounge, and part sensual dreamscape. The senses will come alive, and consciousness will heighten, just as the ancient Indian tantric arts promise, as you enter Tantra and partake of the evocative sensory immersion. Onwer Tim Hogle has designed the interior, flawlessly incorporating statuary from India and paintings by South American and Miami artists. The interior is dark, sexy, rich-hued and fantastically original. Cnadles, tapestries, dark wood, old beams, tantric art, brocade pillows, rich textures, exoticness everywhere.
Tap-Tap
Tap-Tap was opened in the early 1990s by a woman who adored Haitian culture. In Haiti, a tap-tap is a bus that's painted bright, original colors and which are really moving works of original art. The restaurant is Tap-Tap and the woman is Katherine Kean. The five-room restaurant is really a work of art as well, with each room filled to the gills with paintings, sculpture and other artifacts from Haitian culture and Haitian artists. The menu is authentic traditional Haitian cuisine like conch creole, fried pork (griyo), and wonderful presentation. Works by Daleus, Briere, Jude Papaloko, and various voodoo sculptures set in wall niches adorn this beautiful restaurant.
Pearl and Nikki Beach Club
Pearl is the restaurant, and Nikki is the beach club. They're both part of a six-acre complex created by owners Jack and Lucia Penrod and Tommy Puccio and Eric Omores. The whole area is a dream come true with Pearl's famous champagne lounge and the sandy beach just outside, called Nikki Beach Club. It's a sophisticated playground for adults, like entering a conch shell (the restaurant) and emerging happily in the sand (Nikki Beach Club) amidst tee pees and lounge chairs by the ocean. Pearl has special lighting that creates the iridescent glow that makes it seem like you're inside a conch shell
Lincoln Road Cinema, or Lincoln Center
Lincoln Road has been a showcase of shops and boutiques since the 1950s, when it became the "Fifth Avenue of the South". In the 1990s, it got a facelift, including the new gateway, Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center hold an 18-screen movie theater in a thoroughly modern building. It was designed by Bernard Zyscovich, who was already famous throughout southern Florida as chairman of the Miami Design Preservation League. As a leading preservationist in the South Beach Miami scene, he surprised everyone by designing such a strikingly modern, glass-and-metal gigantic theater. The irregular angles, colorful exterior and interior, and geometric patterns do fit in perfectly with South Beach style, but the theater has been controversial since its birth. In any case, whatever peoples' opinions of Lincoln Center, it is striking and now a part of Lincoln Road that we've all come to know and love. Movie-goers can go to the movies in grand style, drifting upwards on suspended escalators to the upper-level theaters, visiting the fabulous concession stands, becoming part of the "techno drama" embodied in this wonderful example of South Beach Miami architecture.
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