Miami Beach Favorites

Favorite thing: Miami Beach City Hall was constructed in the 1930s in the Mediterranean Revival architectural style. Located on Washington Avenue, this historic structure was renovated in 2006. The building stands nine stories tall and is part of the National Historic District. The building houses government offices and a County courtroom. The real estate developer who created this facility was also part of the group that created the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Old City Hall is located at 1130 Washington Ave. City Hall was moved to another location in the 1970s.

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Favorite thing: Freedom Tower was built in 1925 as memorial to Cubans that had immigrated to the US. The tower stands 255 feet above the city streets; was designed after the Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain; and was originally the headquarters of The Miami News. After the newspaper sold the property in 1957, the US government used the site to process hundreds of thousands of refugees from Cuba. The federal government sold the tower in 1974, and year later, in 1997, the tower was converted to a museum and renamed to Freedom Tower. In 2005 developers donated the Freedom Tower to Miami Dade College.

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Favorite thing: The Miami Beach Police Department has lost seven officers since its inception. The 1980s was the worst decade with four deaths.

The Miami Beach police department in South Beach has a memorial dedicated to these seven officers, as well as a deceased police dog. It's really an impressive monument and right beside our hotel.

1100 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139

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Favorite thing: Art Deco, from the French words "Arts Décoratifs," simply means decorative art, and it began in Europe in the 1910s. It peaked there in the 1920s, but stayed in high fashion in the US until the 1930s. Art Deco describes not just architecture, but also painting, the graphic arts and film. It is said that art deco saw its popularity grow after World War I, due to the end of the wartime conservation and austerity. Art deco is typically based on geometric shapes and patterns , and it eventually spawned other related artistic styles such as cubism and futurism.

Many countries around the world, and many cities in the US has surviving examples of art deco such as Havana, Cuba; Copacabana, Brazil; Valencia, Spain; Mumbai, India; Bandung, Indonesia; Napier, New Zealand;

Miami Beach, with some thirty blocks of hotels and apartment houses dating from the 1923 to 1943, is said to have the largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world. The Art Deco Historic District here was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and has since been well restored and maintained.

The Art Deco Gift Shop is operated by the Miami Design Preservation League and has information on tours of the area.

Art Deco Gift Shop
1001 Ocean Drive
10 Street and Ocean Drive
Miami Beach, FL
Phone: 305-531-3484

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Favorite thing: If you need a beach for people-watching and partying, then visit South Beach, on the lowest third of Miami Beach, the island between the Atlantic and Biscayne Bay.
Action is non-stop on the wide, 16-kilometre beach, starting with early morning fashion shoots for catalogs, commercials.
Sunbathers - some topless - spread out towels; seniors carry in folding chairs and umbrellas; couples stroll hand-in-hand; teens play volleyball; children frolic in the gentle surf as boats and jet-skiers ply the blue water.
Breezes are salty and sultry. South Beach temperatures hover around 20 degrees C. in winter and 27 degrees C. in summer.
Across a grassy meridian, studded with palm trees, rollerbladers share a pink sidewalk with joggers, dog-walkers and parents pushing strollers. Bordering it is Ocean Drive, packed with limos, Harleys, rental cars and Hummers. But there's no need to drive. Everything in South Beach is within walking distance.

Fondest memory: To the west, are the hotels, restaurants and shops of the Art Deco Historic District. Buildings, the color of strawberry, pistachio and vanilla ice cream, boast portholes, palm tree bas-reliefs and jutting 'eyebrows' that block the sun.
Interspersed with the Art Deco architecture are red-roofed Mediterranean Revival buildings. Many resemble European villas. It's not surprising that South Beach is called “America's Riviera.”
It is only 15 minutes from Miami International Airport.

Favorite thing: Miami Beach like many other cities throughout the country has become such a dog friendly city that everywhere you look you'll can find these stands with the disposible doggie bags to help you clean up after your pooch.

One thing I noticed though was that this particular dispenser was all out of baggies..

Favorite thing: Miam Beach is lined with building after wonderful building of Art Deco designs. I read that Miami Beach has the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the country, quite impressive.

Many of the art deco buildings are in use as hotels.

Favorite thing: Yes, we all hate parking in South Beach, but I've been finding great spots lately even in the afternoon and evenings on the weekends.... my latest find is a garage on the 1000 block of Collins, on the East side of the street. I came in after a Marlins game on a Friday night and found plenty of spaces.... and the price was $15 flat, MUCH cheaper than valet!!!!! I was so happy after getting the car out 3 days later that I took a pic of the garage. Valet wouldve hit me for about $25 a day plus tips.

Fondest memory: Just little tips like this make Hotspots that much better. Save a few hundered on your flight, save 50 or so on parking, maybe 50 more on your room, next thing you know you've got maybe $500 extra to spend on a VIP bottle service, or a meal in S & W or Joes, or some shopping. We're still in the George Bush economy, you have to be smart with your money these days!