South Beach


South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard.
This area was the first section of Miami Beach to be developed, starting in the 1910s, due to the development efforts of Carl G. Fisher, the Lummus Brothers, and John S. Collins, the latter of whose construction of the Collins Bridge provided the first vital land link between mainland Miami and the beaches.
The area has gone through numerous artificial and natural changes over the years, including a booming regional economy, increased tourism, and the 1926 hurricane, which destroyed much of the area. As of 2010, 39,186 people lived in South Beach.

History

South Beach started as farmland. In 1870, Henry and Charles Lum purchased for coconut farming. Charles Lum built the first house on the beach in 1886. In 1894, the Lum brothers left the island, leaving control of the plantation to John Collins, who came to South Beach two years later to survey the land. He used the land for farming purposes, discovering fresh water and extending his parcel from 14th Street to 67th in 1907.
In 1912, Miami businessmen the Lummus Brothers acquired of Collins' land in an effort to build an oceanfront city of modest single family residences. In 1913, Collins started construction of a bridge from Miami to Miami Beach. Although some local residents invested in the bridge, Collins ran short of money before he could complete it.
Carl G. Fisher, a successful entrepreneur who made millions in 1909 after selling a business to Union Carbide, came to the beach in 1913. His vision was to establish South Beach as a successful city independent of Miami. This was the same year that the restaurant Joe's Stone Crab opened. Fisher loaned $50,000 to Collins for his bridge, which was completed in June, 1913. The Collins Bridge was later replaced by the Venetian Causeway.
On March 26, 1915, Collins, Lummus, and Fisher consolidated their efforts and incorporated the Town of Miami Beach. In 1920, the County Causeway was completed. The Lummus brothers sold their oceanfront property, between 6th and 14th Streets, to the city. To this day, this area is known as Lummus Park.
In 1920, the Miami Beach land boom began. South Beach's main streets were all suitable for automobile traffic. The population was growing in the 1920s, and several millionaires such as Harvey Firestone, J.C. Penney, Harry C. Stutz, Albert Champion, Frank Seiberling, and Rockwell LaGorce built homes on Miami Beach. President Warren G. Harding stayed at the Flamingo Hotel during this time, increasing interest in the area.
Until the mid-1920s, antisemitic covenants were used in South Beach to exclude Jews from living or staying in neighborhoods north of Fifth Street. Explicit and covert policies targeted Jewish property owners, tourists, and tenants through racial covenants in property deeds and hotel policies.
In the 1930s, an architectural revolution came to South Beach, bringing Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and Nautical Moderne architecture to the Beach. South Beach claims to be the world's largest collection of Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture. Napier, New Zealand, another notable Art Deco city, is architecturally comparable to Miami Beach as it was rebuilt in the Ziggurat Art Deco style after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1931.
By 1940, the beach had a population of 28,000. After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army Air Corps took command over Miami Beach. That year, tourism brought almost two million people to South Beach.
In 1964, South Beach became even more famous when Jackie Gleason brought his weekly variety series, The Jackie Gleason Show to the area for taping, a rarity in the industry. Beginning in the mid 1960s and continuing through the 1980s, South Beach was used as a retirement community with most of its ocean-front hotels and apartment buildings filled with elderly people living on small, fixed incomes. This period also saw the introduction of the "cocaine cowboys," drug dealers who used the area as a base for their illicit drug activities. Scarface, released in 1983, typifies this activity. In addition, television show Miami Vice used South Beach as a backdrop for much of its filming. A somewhat recurring theme of early Miami Vice episodes was thugs and drug addicts barricading themselves in run-down or empty buildings. Only minor alterations had to be made for these scenes because some buildings in South Beach were in poor condition at the time.
While many of the unique Art Deco buildings, such as the New Yorker Hotel, were lost to developers in the years before 1980, the area was saved as a cohesive unit by Barbara Baer Capitman and a group of activists who spearheaded the movement to place almost one square mile of South Beach on the National Register of Historic Places. The Miami Beach Architectural District was designated in 1979.
Before the days of Miami Vice, South Beach was considered a very poor area with a very high rate of crime. Today, it is considered one of the wealthiest and most prosperous commercial areas on the beach. Despite this, poverty and crime still exist in some isolated places surrounding the area.
In 2009, Natalie O'Neill of the Miami New Times said, "Until the 1980s, Miami Beach was a peculiar mix of criminals, Cubans, and little old ladies. Then the beautiful people moved in." In the late 1980s, a renaissance began in South Beach, with an influx of fashion industry professionals moving into the area. In 1989, Irene Marie purchased the Sun Ray Apartments located on Ocean Drive and opened Irene Marie Models.
Thomas Kramer is credited with starting the construction boom in South Beach, driving the gentrification of the area. It is now a popular living destination for the wealthy. Condominium units in the upscale high rises sell for millions. There are a number of vocal critics of the developments. The high-rise and high-density buildings are derided as a "concrete jungle". However, even critics concede that the development has changed the area into a pedestrian friendly, low-crime neighborhood.

Today

In both daytime and at nightfall, the South Beach section of Miami Beach is a major entertainment destination with hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants, boutiques and hotels. The area is popular with tourists from Canada, Europe, Israel and the entire Western Hemisphere, with some having permanent or second homes there.
South Beach's residents' varied backgrounds are evident in the many languages spoken. In 2000, 55% of residents of the city of Miami Beach spoke Spanish as a first language, while English was the first language for 33% of the population. Portuguese was spoken by 3% of residents, while French was spoken by 2%, and German by 1%. Italian, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew were all spoken by less than 1%.
Another unique aesthetic attribute of South Beach is the presence of several colorful and unique stands used by Miami Beach's lifeguards on South Beach. After Hurricane Andrew, Architect William Lane donated his design services to the city and added new stops on design tours in the form of lifeguard towers. His towers instantly became symbols of the revived City of Miami Beach.

LGBT Community

South Beach is considered a hub of LGBT lifestyle. In the 80s and 90s, South Beach was the center of Florida's gay life and nightlife. It is home to many hotels, clubs, and nightlife that caters to the LGBT community. Ocean Drive is a hotspot to socialize and there is LGBT friendly shopping and cocktailing on Lincoln Road. The World Erotic Art Museum on South Beach is considered a local favorite to visit.
South Beach is also the location of the Pride Parade and Pride Festival events during Pride Week of the annual Miami Beach Pride celebration. Both of the events run through Ocean Drive from Fifth to 15th Streets. First started in 2009, Miami Beach Pride now draws over 130,000 people to South Beach every year.

Geography

South Beach is traversed by numerical streets which run east–west, starting with Biscayne Street, now popularly known as South Pointe Drive, one block south of First Street and the largely pedestrianized Lincoln Road. It also has 13 principal roads and avenues running north–south, which, from the Biscayne Bay side, are Bay Road, West Avenue, Alton Road, Lenox Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Meridian Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Drexel Avenue, Washington Avenue, Collins Avenue, and Ocean Drive. There are three smaller avenues in the Collins Park area, named Park, Liberty, and James. Most locals agree that South Beach's northern boundary runs along Dade Boulevard from Lincoln Road on the bay side of the island, and heads east-north-east until it connects with 24th Street, which forms the northern boundary on the ocean side.

Neighborhoods and islands

classifies its climate as tropical monsoon.
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Parks

  • Collins Park - Collins Ave and 21st St
  • Flamingo Park- In between Michigan Ave and Meridian Av from 11th St to Española Way
  • Lummus Park - Ocean Drive from 5th St to 14th St
  • Maurice Gibb Park - Purdy Ave and Dade Blvd
  • Miami Beach Golf Club - Alton Road and W 23rd St
  • South Pointe Park - Washington Ave and South Pointe Dr
  • Washington Park - Washington Ave and 2nd St

    Transportation

South Beach, along with a handful of other neighborhoods in Greater Miami, is one of the areas where a car-free lifestyle is commonplace. Many South Beach residents get around by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, trolley, bus, or taxi as the neighborhood is very urban and pedestrian-friendly. Lincoln Road, Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue, and Collins Avenue are popular shopping, eating, and entertainment streets for pedestrians. Lincoln Road is a pedestrian-only shopping street, and Collins Avenue around 5th Street is mostly upscale retail.
Automobile congestion in the area is frequent, so getting around in South Beach by car can often prove more difficult than simply walking or bicycling. Recently, Miami Beach has begun bicycle initiatives promoting citywide bike parking and bike lanes that have made bicycling much more popular for residents and tourists. The Venetian Causeway, for example, is a popular bicycle commuter route that connects South Beach to Downtown.
Public transportation in South Beach, along with Downtown Miami and Brickell, is heavily used, and is a vital part of South Beach life. Although South Beach has no direct Metrorail stations, numerous Metrobus lines, connect to Downtown Miami and Metrorail. The Miami International Airport can be reached quickly from several bus stops in South Beach via the Airport-Beach Express. That ride costs $2.35 and runs every 30 minutes from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. seven days a week.
Various City of Miami Beach-operated trolley routes provide free rides throughout South Beach and connect it to the other major areas of Miami Beach: South Beach Loop travels throughout South Beach, Middle Beach Loop connects South Beach to Mid-Beach's main street via State Road A1A and along 41st Street, and Collins Express connects South Beach to Mid-Beach and North Beach via State Road A1A. Using Collins Express to connect to the North Beach Loop allows free travel from South Beach to several areas of North Beach. All four trolley lines operate from 8 a.m. to midnight on Sunday and from 6 a.m. to midnight the rest of the week.