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INTRODUCTION
In mid-January, my husband and I took a
2-night trip from the Fort Myers/Naples area
of Florida to South Beach. This trip
was initiated by our desire to see
our Chicago Bulls play the Miami Heat at the
American Airlines Arena. As Chicago
transplants, we appreciated the chance to
see our favorite basketball team without
making a trip to the frigid winter weather
of our hometown. We were treated to a
Chicago win, though I must admit it was a
bit anti-climactic considering Miami had at
that time lost 12 games in a row!
We had never before been to South Beach, so
our itinerary was open. As it worked out,
our trip included:
See Map of Miami Beach
locations at bottom of page.
BEACON HOTEL
We booked our stay at the Beacon Hotel,
located at 720 Ocean Drive in the heart of
South Beach. We arrived at Miami Beach via
the MacArthur Causeway, which becomes 5th
Street and ends at Ocean Drive. The west
side of Ocean Drive is lined with
architecturally significant hotels and
several restaurants. On the east side of the
street, Lummus Park runs parallel to Ocean
Drive and the Atlantic Ocean. This South
Beach strip allows for no hotel parking and
offers very limited metered street parking.
We gratefully left our car with the hotel’s
valet and checked into our room.
The
Beacon Hotel is quite old, built in
1937, but renovations have kept it
contemporary. Our room on the fourth of five
floors faced the ocean, which would have
provided a beautiful view of the Atlantic,
except that the tops of the palm trees were
at about eye level (still prettier than
looking at other buildings). The room was
small and the bathroom was tiny, but the
comfort of the king-sized bed with fabulous
linens compensated for the room size and we
appreciated Beacon’s efforts to update the
furnishings, including a flat-screen LCD TV.
A couple minor flaws - the lighting in the
bathroom was insufficient and, due to the
contemporary vessel style sink, there was
very little counter space for toiletries.
All in all, we found the hotel to be
comfortable and perfectly located, with
friendly staff.
OCEAN DRIVE / LUMMUS
PARK
After settling in at the hotel, we went for
a walk up Ocean Drive to find a place for
lunch. When you walk on the sidewalk on the
west side of Ocean Drive in South Beach, you
are actually walking through the primary
seating section of restaurant after
restaurant. These restaurants comprise a
portion of the lower level of the hotels,
though they are not necessarily affiliated
with the hotels. We were inundated with
hostesses offering to show us the
restaurant’s menu and many offered a 50%
discount, which I assume was available only
at lunchtime. We decided to eat at Prime
Time and were perfectly satisfied with our
barbecued chicken pizza and cheeseburger.
After lunch we continued sightseeing north
on Ocean Drive, which ends at 15th Street.
Lummus Park also ends here and a slight jog
takes you to Collins Avenue, which becomes
the main drag parallel to the beach. At this
point, we crossed Ocean Drive and headed
back south partially on the sidewalk and
partially on the beach. The beach here is
great - very wide with soft sand. The day
was quite windy, so only the most
adventurous were spending the day at the
beach.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
ARENA
Our hotel’s front desk clerk advised us that
a cab ride from the hotel to
American Airlines Arena would run about
$15, so we decided to cab over rather than
having the valet get our car and then have
to look for parking at the stadium. It was
quite an easy ride, back over the MacArthur
Causeway to the mainland, then slightly
south on Biscayne Boulevard. The arena is
located next to Bayside Marketplace. It is a
somewhat new arena (opened on December 31,
1999). Not only is it home to the Miami
Heat, but it also hosts big-name concerts.
This facility can accommodate almost 20,000
spectators.
Once inside, the arena is much like any
other modern sports stadium. They sell the
typical concessions, such as hotdogs, pizza,
chicken sandwiches, soda, beer and other
alcoholic options. You’ll find a large store
selling Miami Heat clothing and souvenirs on
the mezzanine level, as well as smaller
souvenir counters mixed within the
concessions. Of course we couldn’t purchase
any Chicago Bulls souvenirs, but they may
want to consider adding an “away team” shop,
as we saw many spectators wearing Chicago
Bulls garb.
The seating inside the stadium includes
three levels. We sat in the front row of the
second level. The seats weren’t too bad. I’m
just glad we weren’t in the third section
(talk about nose bleed!). The arena was far
from sold out. I guess that goes back to the
12 straight losses dilemma. They have the
usual stadium entertainment, such as
flinging t-shirts into the crowd and
basketball shooting contests.
After the game we walked across the street
to
Bayside Marketplace, which is a nice
open-air shopping mall with dining and
entertainment. Unfortunately, by the time
the basketball game let out, most of the
stores were closed. However, the restaurants
were open and, near the marina, there was a
stage that features free live entertainment.
On the night we were there, a mediocre
salsa-type band was playing. (Think aging
woman doing Gloria Estefan karaoke.) Bayside
Marketplace is a nice place, but has a lot
of the same stores and restaurants you will
find in any city (stores such as Gap, Bath &
Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, and Sharper
Image, restaurants such as Chili’s, Bubba
Gump Shrimp, Hardrock Café, and of course a
Starbucks.) Though there are many other
unique shops and restaurants as well, so if
you’re looking to shop on your trip, it may
be worth a look.
THE FRONT PORCH CAFE
The next day, we left our hotel and walked
north on Ocean Drive to the
Front Porch Café
at the Penguin Hotel. The Front Porch Café
serves all-day breakfast, as well as lunch
and dinner. It’s a great spot for
people-watching or just reading the
newspaper. Breakfast was very tasty and the
service was good.
DUCK TOURS MIAMI
Next we headed to Washington Avenue to
embark on our
Duck Tour of Miami Beach. A side note
here: Previously, I was vehemently opposed
to going on one of those silly looking
duck-mobiles. However, after reading online
reviews I decided I would give it a try.
The tour started out near the Duck Tours
office at 1665 Washington Avenue. After
boarding the “duck-mobile”, we headed south
on Washington Avenue and, along the way, the
tour guide pointed out Lincoln Road Mall and
Espanola Way for shopping. He also
identified one or two unremarkable buildings
on Washington Avenue. We headed west on 5th
Street and traveled over the MacArthur
Causeway to Watson Island, where the
amphibious “duck-mobile” left dry land for
the waters of Biscayne Bay. The “boat”
powered among the various small islands and
the guide pointed out the homes of several
celebrities. It wasn’t long before we were
headed back onto Watson Island for a
continuation of the road tour. We traveled
back over the MacArthur Causeway to Miami
Beach, then up Ocean Drive. Even though our
hotel was on Ocean Drive, we saw it from a
different vantage point and learned a bit
about the buildings, such as the fact that
the front of the club featured in the movie
“The Birdcage” was actually the Carlyle
Hotel. After the short trek up Ocean Drive
and a quick jog on Collins Avenue, the
90-minute tour was over.
I was somewhat disappointed in the tour. I
didn’t find the tour highlights to be very
exciting and, at $32 per person, I expected
more substance in the tour. I’ve mentally
noted, for our next trip to Miami Beach, to
try one of the tours that highlights the
diverse neighborhoods of Miami, such as
Little Havana, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables,
etc.
LINCOLN ROAD MALL /
ESPANOLA WAY
After disembarking the tour vehicle, we
walked south down Washington Avenue to
Lincoln Road Mall, which is an outdoor
pedestrian mall. (In the mall area of
several blocks between Washington Avenue and
Alton Road, Lincoln Road is not accessible
by cars). Here we found a number of
restaurants offering an abundance of outdoor
dining, many shops, galleries, a Regal
Cinemas movie theater and lots of
opportunity for people watching. Check the
website for a mall directory.
Next, we headed three blocks south on
Washington Avenue to Espanola Way. Here,
your surroundings will make you think you’ve
entered an authentic Spanish village.
Espanola Way is smaller and more quaint than
Lincoln Road Mall. It is similar, in that
you’ll find shops, galleries, restaurants
and ambiance, but unique, in that it’s a bit
edgier, and doesn’t offer the “chain” stores
found at Lincoln Road Mall.
JOE’S STONE CRAB
For dinner that evening, we chose
Joe’s Stone Crab. We had heard rave
reviews and figured we should give it a try.
The restaurant is located 11 Washington
Avenue, at the south end of Miami Beach. We
cabbed over around 7pm and, since they do
not take reservations, we had about an hour
wait for a table and, luckily, we had
arrived just before a bus let out a tourist
group.
The main menu items are of course stone
crabs, but there are many other choices.
There is a variety of fish offerings, as
well as lobster, shrimp, scallops and
oysters. Non-seafood items range from a
prime bone-in filet mignon to a turkey
burger (though the turkey burger is hardly
characteristic of the rest of the menu). I
decided on the chopped salad (which is quite
unique and delicious) and the fried shrimp
(which was perfectly satisfactory). My
husband had the seafood bisque soup, which
he commented could have been hotter, but he
was very pleased with his salmon, which was
seasoned with ginger. Take note that the
side items are quite generous; definitely
enough to share. Our baked potato could have
been split by four! Considering the
excellent quality of the food, I’m sorry to
report that the wait staff was a bit
“stuffy” and indifferent, certainly not the
most friendly atmosphere.
CONCLUSION
Our short trip to South Beach was deemed a
good one and we’re looking forward to our
next stay. This is an area of much
diversity, certainly one where anyone can
fit in. We know that our next visit will
include a tour of the Miami neighborhoods,
checking out some of the museums in the
area, and maybe even swimming with the
dolphins at the Miami Seaquarium. Stay
tuned…
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