The Tides Hotel on Ocean Drive is the perfect spot to sip mojitos and kill an afternoon Miami style. You'll probably ignore the Continental Bentleys and Ferraris parked like rotisserie chicken shiny and roasting in the glaring sun. And then all of a sudden, a guy comes out of his car, he wears a shirt (probably from BASE), cropped shorts stylishly frayed, perfect smile and killer glasses. He opens the other door and a girl comes out - gorgeous, goddess-like Latina . And you know she's not a hooker because the tiny lines on her face indicate busy schedules and worry. Non-chalantly, she comes out bare feet but effortlessly chic.
It is the time of the year when New Yorkers flock to Miami to get a load of sun, spend their cash and escape the winter cold. When in doubt, many of them tend to go Schrager - that hotel with fantastic pool, cool crowd, wicked music and pricey drinks. So when the Delano is packed, you only have two choices left, you either book at the Shore Club or the Raleigh. Don't be surprised when you brush into Anna Wintour or that girl who is named after a fruit (rhymes with rum with a surname of Sykes, everyone hates her). The Shore Club is in the same league with about the same type of people but not too jaded.
The word actually in the lobby is glowing. You don't really shop in Scope fearing that you may wear the same clothing as the other girls at Mansion tonight. However, you insouciantly come there and choose the most flattering linen that will outline your behind perfectly despite the unfriendly staff. The Raleigh of course is rather discreet and private, and the best place to flaunt your Esterben Cortazar number. No need to show off, they know you ski in St Moritz , collect modern art, maintain a house in Aspen and do business deals in Roppongi Hills. Even the entrance which is in a quiet corner has that air of superiority away from anything that makes Miami commercial.
But Miami is not commercial. Miami is hot and sexy with a hint of Barcelona and that roughness that only Rio can offer. People have this idea that city is like the east coast sister airhead of Los Angeles with a killer body, tits to die for and a credit card in tow. Everything is, an airhead not. Surprisingly, Miami is very European in culture, very artsy and yes quite formal in certain places where money matters.
And when money and culture matter, Miami does not come last. Every year, Sam Keller, director and brainchild of Art Basel (the Dom Perignon of all art fairs), brings Art Basel to Miami Beach , its third year in a row. This of course has elevated the status of Miami in the art-world map and eventually has become a major player in the art scene. They figured that all the mega-rich buy and collect art have settled in Palm Beach so why not bring the fair closer to where home is and toss all the big fur coats. And bring it home he did.
The four-day fair attracts a younger crowd as well as the more typically mature collector. It's the best venue for a first-time collector as there are pieces that are very entry-level and affordable. In the Wynwood District last year, containers were set up for younger and more cutting-edge galleries to show their collections called Art Positions. During the fair proper, artists and dealers will be a dime a dozen. When the Shore Club pool is packed and when the only accents you hear are either icy or affected, then you know you're in the right place. Art comes secondary when after-parties become the focal point of the whole event. But who cares? When drinking champagne and Smirnoff includes dealing an Ed Ruscha painting, it's considered a done deal.
This time of year, the hottest tables can be a challenge to book and at times a daunting experience. Although it can be plagued by out-of-towners, the whole strip of Lincoln Road is hot and happening. At exactly six in the evening, bars frontline their most attractive boys as hosts to lure customers to come inside. Most of them are usually struggling models whose contracts probably have been inactive in IMG or waiting to be discovered. At Cafeteria, the scene is more Greenwich Village than Miami Beach .
The killer cocktails make up for the Carrie Bradshaw-wannabes who strut and toss their hair annoyingly. When you start to look flushed, feel a bit sloshed and before falling flat on your face, you suddenly realize you're in America - they take their martinis seriously. So you head down to take your chances at Da Leo , a no-none-sense Italian home-style cooking trattoria with a massive wine list, a Cuban host will probably whisk you to a table al fresco. Restaurants like these don't require any dress code but flip-flops cannot be forgiven as people tend to dress up sometimes to the nines and sometimes formal. Another restaurant called Joe's , an institution and famous for its stone crabs, know how to separate their guests from the well-heeled to the under-dressed.
To be a member in Casa Tua , you have to pay $1500 a year to allow unlimited access with all the perks at the second floor lounge. Before being admitted, a stringent screening is a must. So it's a bit pretentious like Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8, but the aim here is to mingle with people of your own breed and stature, and to an extent weed out the social climbers, cholas and thugs. It's better than going to a club when your chances of getting in are based on how big your entourage is - unless you prefer waiting and splitting your hair outside the velvet rope. This usually happens at Mynt , a club on Collins and 20 th . It's hard to get in but once inside it's worth it. And when the music is blaring at the Townhouse, everyone veers off to the rooftop lounge - always cool and will never disappoint. Just enough lighting you need to keep that glow and that beat that will make you want to get a room.
However the predictability of this area, South Beach definitely reigns supreme in showing off your goods. Parading your lustrous tan, your new set of implants and your botulin-enhanced forehead is an Ocean Drive signature. Despite of its naughty reputation as one big gay district, it's definitely where the action is. It's where La Lopez met her first husband Ojani Noa and where Versace's mansion sits overlooking the ocean guarded by beefy guys clad in black with matching headsets. You have a mixture of retirees, playboys with their low-riders and women with their slinky tank tops. Everyone talks wildly about how brilliant the weather is and you here such things as "I don't understand why people want to have a white Christmas? Bullshit, I want a barbecue!"
In Miami , it's not about your latest Prada, your new Hummer or your Campana brothers chair. Like a woman in a Rosa Chá ensemble, it needs to be taken seriously despite the flabs and the folds. Remember that Miami is still in the cusp of changing - art-wise and the people who are presently witnessing and making the change themselves. The Cubans who are the raison d'être of Miami comprise of almost half of the population, and sometimes their fate relies on how wet or dry they land on US soil. There are still emerging neighborhoods like the Design District that was once gritty and derelict but has now transformed itself into an artists' enclave and making all the noises. But above all these, Miami is just picking up what has been left from the stigma of the 80s. Currently, the city is experiencing a cultural renaissance and does not accept the image as one big Art Deco hollow. You wouldn't be stunned when all of a sudden a waif-thin like model (whom you thought as dull) blurts out a comment on Naomi Fisher's expressionist drawings or Hernan Bas's ouvre. The juxtaposition of such extremes gives Miami such edge. In that case, it's official - Miami is definitely hot again.
For the sidebar:
No time wasting in Miami , here's the list to do the city in style:
• The Rubell Family Collection is a must for edgy modern art fanatics.
• Base, on Lincoln Road , is where you snag a Terry Richardson photo book and that belt buckle with a Botticelli painting replica.
• Bond Street, at the basement of Townhouse, is the answer to Nobu's hard-to-get a reservation dilemma.
• Isozaki's take on the Bass Museum is worth a gander as well Diego Rivera's In Vinum Veritas - his painting of CZ Guest.
• Stuffing your face with Tasti D-Lite (soft dessrt for diet-conscious Miamians) on Lincoln is not a crime.
• Staying at the Sagamore is always a statement.
• The Wynwood and Design Districts are Miami 's answer to London 's Shoreditch and Clerkenwell.
• A night at the sleek and seductive Crobar is a guaranteed sexy experience.
• Planning your trip during the Winter Music Conference is a smart move.
• Buying a Britto painting is not overrated.
• A visit to the Damien B Art Center is almost considered a pilgrimage.
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