MIAMI, FLORIDA:

THE ARTS AND ART DECO

By Lee Foster

If one had to select a single Miami attraction of nearly universal interest to the cultural traveler, it would be the Art Deco Architecture of Miami's South Beach, those 800 buildings from 1928-1942 that narrowly escaped the wrecker's ball roughly 25 years ago and are now splendidly restored.

However, the cultural traveler who wishes to look further will also find additional delights. Here are five of the best:

The highly accessible Design District allows a traveler to peruse the finest in home furnishing, an access usually allowed only to design professionals in other cities.

Pulsating club life could occupy a midnight-3 a.m. slot of the traveler's day, especially at Honey, Level, and Opium Garden, three of the hot current clubs. No place does "clubs" better than Miami Beach.

A selection of quality art from various eras and areas, whether Native American fabrics or Greco-Roman sculptures, can be seen at the Lowe Museum.

Creativity on the culinary cutting edge in Miami equals the offerings in New York or San Francisco at restaurants such as Sushi Samba and Azul.

An evening of classical symphonic music, played by the next generation stars in the American orchestral scene, can be savored at the New World Symphony, a special Miami institution that nurtures the best and brightest young symphonic musicians.

ART DECO SOUTH BEACH

The Art Deco District, a Miami area known as South Beach in Miami Beach, contains more than 800 buildings within a square mile, all built 1928-1942 and featuring a notable architectural style, Art Deco.

This is the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings on the Earth, though the style can be found from Morocco to New Zealand, and on both coasts of the United States.

Art Deco architectural style in Miami is characterized by human-scale buildings, constructed of masonry and stucco, characterized by geometric patterns, ornamented with ocean liner rounded motifs, and painted with white and pastel colors. The term arose after the 1925 Parisian Exposition International des Artes Decoratifs.

As with any district in an American city, South Beach has had its ups and downs over the years.

At one point South Beach was an old folks home for Jewish people from New York. It was called "God's Front Porch" or "The Sixth Borough," after the five in New York.

Most recently, in the 1990s, South Beach had a "fabulous" period characterized by the presence of designer Gianni Versace and the mega-model scene he encouraged. Gorgeous models seems to be hanging out at all hours at the News Café, where Versace had breakfast every day. Versace was shot to death by a deranged person, and his home is still a pilgrimage site for his appreciators, but it will eventually become an upscale boutique hotel.

When new buildings are constructed near the Art Deco treasures, as preservationist George Neary observes, they must be "in conversation with each other." Some construction companies have been allowed to put up new buildings if they agree to preserve and restore an older structure.

One of the best ways to experience the Art Deco architecture is via a 90-minute audio tape/walking tour that guides you through the area. Rent the tape ($10) at the Miami Design Preservation League's Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive. The history of these buildings comes alive through the insightful narration.

Travelers focused on Art Deco might especially like to visit here on the third weekend each January for the annual Art Deco Weekend, when all the amenities of architectural tours, food, drink, and music focus on this special heritage.

If you enjoy ocean beach sunning and swimming, South Beach is also a superlative destination. The sand is light-colored and is kept relatively clean by vigilant maintenance crews. The ocean has breakers of moderate size and there is a long flat shelf of land, safe for swimming and soaking. The sun is strong and the temperature remains congenial year-round. Beachgoers are not shy about going after an all over tan.

People Watching is a major sport here as you sit at an open-air bar on Ocean Drive. The parade of people going by is endlessly entertaining, especially from 4 p.m.-4 a.m. Gorgeous, slim men and women, straight and gay, of all racial and ethnic origins, pass before you. This is the world of the body beautiful, possibly tastefully pierced or tattooed. Celebrity sightings are frequent. You can rent inline skates or bikes to join the festivities. The total mix of the human family is thickly represented, ranging from retirees to the young, from French or Italian vacationers to local Latinos.

Besides Art Deco architecture and South Beach, here are five additional cultural pleasures that await a Miami visitor:

THE DESIGN DISTRICT

The Design District, sometimes dubbed "One Square Mile of Style," is unlike other home design districts in American cities. The difference is that the public, not merely design professionals, is invited directly into shops here. Furniture, home furnishings, art, and antiques are among the categories of shops.

Be sure to stop in at the property management company, called Dacra, 180 NE 40^th Street, to see one of the major sculptures of the district, an immense high heel shoe. The Italian sculptor Miralda envisioned his "Gondola Shoe" as appropriate footwear for the Statue of Liberty.

At Dacra you can get a map of the area, useful if you want to spend an afternoon strolling the neighborhood. Some shops to consider include Forecast (American Northeast wood furniture), Fontini (Italian flooring), and Leah's Gallery (antiques). There are also some intriguing art shops, such as The Living Room, which shows artists unaffiliated with any other area galleries.

This is one of the few Design Districts in American cities that presents itself as a visitor attraction for the layman.

NIGHTLIFE: THE CLUBS

The nightlife strengths of South Beach are the clubs used for dancing, drinking, and socializing. Peak hours at the clubs are midnight to 3 a.m. Three clubs to consider are Honey, Level, and The Opium Garden.

Honey is a lounge type of club where statuesque girls may be seen dancing on the tables when things get hot.

Level is a cavernous disco with a large central dance floor, awash with strobes and smoke for effect.

The Opium Garden is a multi-venue place for both dancing and fine dining. A large central room opens to the sky and amounts to a huge open-air disco. But there is also a Japanese techno-music club-within-a-club on the premises.

LOWE ART MUSEUM

This distinguished small art museum, located on the University of Miami campus in nearby Coral Gables, boasts strong collections from several eras, Greco-Roman to the present.

The Native America textile collection, especially the Navajo blankets, is superb. There is also a substantial African Art collection.

Some beguiling modern paintings are on display, such as "The Fox Games," which shows a middle-aged couple in a gray environment with red foxes running about.

Sculptor Duane Hanson's "Football Player" presents a realistic, almost life-like football player, at the moment of defeat.

Different subjects are covered in individual rooms. The 6000-piece holding is not large, but is select. Rooms are devoted to art and artifacts of the Italian Renaissance, the Baroque Era, the Pre-Columbian period, and the Old Spanish Masters times, among others.

CULINARY ARTISTRY

Miami restaurants have matured to the point where daring creations by innovative chefs are the norm. The Latin influence is strong, but with 158 different worldwide ethnic groups in the Miami-Dade County mix, the range of possible food tastes is extensive.

Sushisamba is a good example of the new Miami restaurants, blending Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian flavors under the guidance of chef Julian Medina. It takes confidence and talent to concoct these taste adventures, such as cornmeal-crusted calamari or seared yellowfin tuna marinated in sugarcane juice.

Chef Michelle Bernstein's performances at Azul, the stylish restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, are equally stunning. Consider her wild mushroom soup with sherry reduction, followed by her braised short ribs with Thai chilies.

Right in the Art Deco district, chef E. Michael Reidt, of the restaurant named Wish, wins awards for his French-Brazilian style. Try his appetizer of chilled avocado vichyssoise, with its smoked shrimp and sweet peppers, followed by his black trumpet dusted sea bass, served with garlic braised kale and flageolet beans.

For breakfast, consider sitting outdoors along Ocean Drive at a South Beach café facing Lummus Park, such as the Front Porch Café, where the omelets are a good choice. On the same street the News Café is a noted breakfast spot where Gianni Versace used to take his breakfast until his untimely demise. The News Café is the best people-watching breakfast site in the area.

Another breakfast suggestion, a few blocks inland, is the Big Pink, a diner-style café with metallic design motifs. The malted waffle with fruit is a specialty. The latte coffee servings are huge.

The new names suggested for Miami Cuisine innovations are bound to amuse the visitor. Should these chefs be called the Mango Mafia? Is their cuisine Floribbean? Or possibly Tropical Fusion? Or maybe Nuevo Latino? You be the judge. Whatever it is called, there is some delicious food artistry waiting here for the traveler.

MUSIC BY THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY

The New World Symphony is a brilliant institution for Miami to nurture. This organization, founded in 1987, brings together the best and the brightest of the young musicians who aspire to major symphony careers. Some 86 students, graduates of the better music schools, gather here for a three-year internship of music, which they live, eat, and sleep, putting on some 60 concerts during the September to May season.

A typical program might be a chamber music offering of clarinet pieces by Mozart and Bartok. The performances take place at the historic Art Deco treasure known as the Lincoln Theatre, 541 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. Spend some time before or after a performance strolling this major shopping/dining street, Lincoln Road, now a pedestrian mall.

LODGING IN MIAMI

For lodging in Miami, a visitor could choose one of the small South Beach Art Deco hotels, such as the stainless steel motif of the Marlin or the sea-view rooms at the Tides. There are also full-service luxury hotels north of the Art Deco district, such as the Loews and the Roney Palace. Both have large outdoor pools, beach access, and proximity to a 6.5-mile beach boardwalk ideal for walks. The most luxurious hotel in Miami is the relatively new Mandarin Oriental, with its notable design emphasis. Still another interesting lodging choice would be the lovely and historic period piece, the Biltmore Hotel in nearby Coral Gables, with its cathedral-like lobby and immense outdoor pool. The Biltmore Hotel, constructed in 1926 as a grand Roaring 20s statement of the finest in American hotel construction, later fell into lesser uses, but was restored in 1987 to its deserved hostelry role.

With each passing year the cultural/arts experience in Miami available to a traveler become richer.

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MIAMI: IF YOU GO

For area tourism information, contact the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, 701 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2700, Miami, FL 33131, 800/933-8448, www.tropicoolmiami.com.

The Miami Design Preservation League maintains an Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive, 305/672-2014. There you can obtain information on the area's special architectural legacy and rent the audiotape to acquaint you with the neighborhood.

This article was written by Lee Foster of Foster Travel Publishing. Contact him at his website www.fostertravel.com or via email at lee@fostertravel.com. Copyright Lee Foster.

Lee Foster's most recent travel guidebooks are Northern California History Weekends (Globe Pequot), which won a Lowell Thomas Award, and Adventure Guide to Northern California (Hunter Publishing).

Lee Foster's new literary book is Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time.

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