Miami's cultural makeover |
| The sun-drenched city of Miami has become one of America's most exciting cultural hot spots |
| New Yorkers used to joke that you couldn't stay in
Miami for longer than a weekend or you would give yourself brain damage because
there was nothing, culturally, to do. Now, if all you manage on your Miami
holiday is to loll on the beach, shop and party, the locals will probably think
you are a rube. Miami is fast becoming one of the most exciting cultural cities in the United States. Among the many projects in development, the most dazzling will surely be the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Miami Art Museum, which will be situated in the middle of a new 29-acre museum park. Also hotly anticipated is Frank Gehry's building for the New World Symphony, due to open at the end of next year, and the Gwathmey Siegel expansion of MOCA (the Museum of Contemporary Art), one of the most exciting museums in America, which anchors the NoMi |
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| (North Miami) arts district. The refrain around town is that "Wynwood
is the new Chelsea" (a comparison to New York's gallery district). When I
walked around Wynwood recently the streets looked deserted and, except for lots
of interesting murals, I didn't see much worth visiting. Then I popped into Joeys, a new restaurant, and met the owner, Thea Goldman, who took me on a quick tour of eight nearby galleries - on the very same streets I had been walking on before. |
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The lack of windows and often
haphazard signage make it hard to navigate Wynwood without a list of addresses.
But it turns out to be well worth the effort, and at night the streets are
abuzz with edgy clubs and parties. Five minutes' drive from Wynwood is the Design District, an area of glamorously refurbished buildings and glossy stores such as Marni, Moooi and Driade. Savvy locals and visiting New Yorkers like to dine here at restaurants run by chefs such as Michael Schwartz (Michael's Genuine Food and Drink) and Michelle Bernstein (Sra Martinez) because, as Gerald Posner, author of Miami Babylon (a hair-raising new book about Miami's wild past), puts it, beach prices can feel like extortion. The other vibrant area, NoMi, is around MOCA, which shares a large part of its collection with the Tate in London. In recent years, MOCA has acted like a magnet, attracting high-end design and antiques stores to the same street. Now all that remains is for some upmarket cafés and restaurants to move in. |
| Why the sudden cultural activity? Tony Goldman, who is one of America's
premier real-estate investors and is known for his ability to predict the next
hot spot (he was one of the first to believe in the renaissance of SoHo, New
York, and South Beach, Miami and is now heavily invested in Wynwood) says:
"Miami is at the crossroads between three fabulous cultures -
Central/South America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America - so it is
ideally located to bring together the best of those cultures. "This geographical advantage is why the international festival Art Basel chose South Beach, Miami as its satellite venue in 2002." For the past seven years, more than 250 international galleries and more than 30,000 art buyers have descended on the city every December for the Art Basel Miami event. But long before the fair came to town, artists were flocking to the city for its low rents and wealthy collectors and the light. |
Guide to cultural districts |
| Four for culture vultures WYNWOOD |
| Artists began colonising the deserted fashion warehouses here in the early Nineties. The area gained momentum in 1996 with the opening of the Rubell Family Collection (the American equivalent of the Saatchi Gallery) in a former Drug Enforcement Agency centre. Now there are nearly 50 galleries in this 10-block area (20 minutes' drive from South Beach). Most galleries are open Tuesday to Saturday afternoons and for Art Walk, held on the second Saturday of every month from 7pm until 10pm. See www.artcircuits.com for updates on openings. |
| Visit
Rubell Family Collection, 95 NW 29th St, Wynwood (305 573 6090; www.rfc.museum). A 28-gallery space dedicated to A-list contemporary artists. Admission $10. The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, 591 NW 27th St, Wynwood (305 576 1051; www.margulieswarehouse.com). 4,500 works of 20th- and 21st-century art, from Miro to Olafur Eliasson. Admission $10. Pick of the galleries World Class Boxing, 170 NW 23rd St, Wynwood (305 438 9908; www.worldclassboxing.org) |
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| Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, 194 NW 30th St (305 573 2130;
www.galerieperrotin.com) Dorsch 151 NW 24th St, (305 576
1278; www.dorschgallery.com) Dorsch 151 NW 24th St, (305 576 1278); www.dorschgallery.com Eat Joeys 2506 NW 2nd Ave - at NW 25th St (305 438 0488; www.joeyswynwood.com) The canteen "where billionaire art collectors sit next to mohawked artists". Specialises in handmade pasta and pizza. Entrees from $10. THE DESIGN DISTRICT The Design District, 10 blocks north of Wynwood, is a lively mixture of stylish fashion and design stores and great restaurants. The area also participates in Art Walk on the second Saturday of the month from 7pm to 10pm. Check www.miamidesigndistrict.net for updates. Shop Tomas Maier 170 NE 40th St (305 576 8383, www.tomasmaier.com). Bottega Veneta's creative director, Tomas Maier, curates this 6,000 sq ft gallery/store filled with the latest clothes, accessories, books and art. Genius Jones, 49 NE 39th St (305 571 2000, www.geniusjones.com). Everything for the style-conscious child - from a gold throw cushion to Marc Jacobs clothes. Eat Michael's Genuine Food and Drink 130 NE 40th St (305 573 5550; www.michaelsgenuine.com). Michael Schwartz has a celebrity following (Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Aniston) for mouthwatering dishes such as wood-roasted sweet onion stuffed with ground lamb and apricots. Entrees from $18. Fratelli Lyon, 4141 NE2nd (305 572 2901; www.fratellilyon.com). Delicious antipasti, handcrafted pastas and cured meats. Entrees from $16. Buena Vista Bistro, 4582 NE 2nd Avenue - at NE46th St (305 456 5909; www.buenavistabistro.com). The chef, Claude Postel, won best late-night restaurant for this little French bistro. Entrees from $10. Open until Midnight. NoMI NoMi (short for North Miami) is a vibrant new arts district with more than a dozen new antique and design stores opposite MOCA on NE 125th St. See Gustavo Olivieri at No 750, Vermillion at No 765, Stripe at No 799, Thomas Brillet at No 817 and 819 and Gary Rubenstein at No 859. Visit |
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MOCA, 770 NE 125th St, North
Miami (305 893 6211; www.mocanomi.org). A small but idiosyncratic museum with a
world-class modern art collection. A renovation costing $18 million will triple
the gallery space in the next 18 months. Free outdoor jazz, 8pm (rain or shine)
the last Friday of every month. Eat Captain Jim's, 1295 West Dixie Hwy, North Miami (305 892 2812; www.captainjimsseafood.com). "You'll see Rolls-Royces and you'll see me here," says MOCA's director, Bonnie Clearwater. No-frills décor but the best fresh fish in Miami. Entrees from $8.99. Good To Go! 793 NE 125th St, North Miami (877 803 0218; www.goodtogotakeout.com). Caribbean takeout (vegetable stew with beef and slow-roasted pork) at incredible prices. Entrees $2.99 and pastries 99 cents. |
| SoBE (South Beach) "The American Riviera" may be thronged with tourists, but it retains its charm. Check out the new $22 million South Pointe Park (accessible from Washington Ave at 1st St), the Wolfsonian Museum and the New World Symphony, a virtuoso orchestral academy headed by Michael Tilson Thomas. Visit Wolfsonian, 1001 Washington Ave at 10th St, SoBe (305 531 1001; www.wolfsonian.org). A collection of American and European decorative arts and design from 1885 to 1945 - everything from art nouveau chairs to television commercials for dishwashers. Entrance $7. New World Symphony, 541 Lincoln Road, SoBe (305 673 3331; www.nws.edu). Michael Tilson Thomas's New World Symphony will move from its current deco building to a Frank Gehry-designed building in 2011. Concerts in the new space will envelop the audience in video images. Shop The Webster, 1220 Collins Ave (at 12th St), SoBe (305 674 7899; www.thewebstermiami.com). Three floors of avant-garde fashion and accessories picked by Milan Vukmirovic, one of the founders of Colette in Paris. Caviar Kaspia, on the ground floor, is the perfect lunch spot. Eat Mr Chow's, W South Beach Hotel, 2201 Collins Ave, SoBe (305 695 1695; www.mrchow.com). SoBe's most glamorous new restaurant, with its 123ft gold leaf Swarovski chandelier and Mr Chow's sophisticated Beijing cuisine. Try the squab with lettuce and gambler's duck. Entrees from $19. Joe's Stone Crab, 11 Washington Ave, SoBe (305 673 0365; www.joesstonecrab.com). A 90-year-old institution famed for its stone crab, key lime pie and power- broker clientele. Avoid the long queues by visiting the takeout/café next door. Stone crabs from $22. The Café @ Books & Books, 927 Lincoln Rd, SoBe (305 532 3222; www.booksandbooks.com). A charming outdoor café on Lincoln Mall. Specialises in healthy salads and comfort food. Entrees from $10. Nightlife Liv 4441 Collins Ave (at 44th St), Miami Beach (305 674 4780; www.fontainebleau.com). Hollywood A-listers such as George Clooney and Gwyneth Paltrow flock to Liv, an 18,000 sq ft club in the Fountainebleau Hotel featuring a planetarium-style ceiling and groovy pink banquettes. Open 11pm until dawn. The bar and courtyard at The Setai 2001 Collins Ave, SoBe, (305 520 6000; www.setai.com). A Zen haven where the seating "floats" above a pool of water. White Room 1306 N Miami Ave (at NW 13th St), downtown Miami; (305 995 5050; www.whiteroomshows.com). Ten blocks from Wynwood, this is where the indie/artist crowd party. Getting around Taxis With little public transport available, taxis are the only way to reach Wynwood and the Design District. A taxi from the airport to South Beach costs $32. Supershuttle (305 871 200) runs vans from the airport, which usually take double the 20- to 30-minute taxi time. The fare to South Beach is about $22. Buses To reach NoMi from South Beach take the G from Collins Avenue (stops every couple of blocks are marked by green posts). It's a 45-minute ride (heading north up the beach) and $2 each way. Telephone 305 770 3131 for trip planning. Bicycles and scooters are popular SoBe runarounds. Cycling is not recommended for trips across the causeway to Wynwood and the Design District. Rent from any number of locations, including the Miami Beach Bicycle Centre, 601 Fifth St, SoBe (305 674 0150; www.bikemiamibeach.com; $24 a day, $80 a week). |
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