FONTANA103

South Beach, also known as SoBe or The Beach, is the southernmost part of Miami Beach, FL, the barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean from Miami's Biscayne Bay and creates the Intercoastal Waterway.

The area was the first to be developed on Miami Beach, first by coconut farmers in the late 19th century, then after the construction of the Collins Bridge in 1913, by developers envisioning an affordable beachfront community. But the wealthy had overtaken the island by the mid-20s and it had become a dream for high-society.

The Jazz Age was in full swing until the hurricane of 1926 destroyed much of the area by floods and heavy winds. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 further devastated financial confidence in The Beach and hopes for further recovery were dashed.

The high brow, frivolous life could no longer be sustained but the population and interest in Miami Beach continued to increase throughout the 1930s.

The architectural renaissance of the 1930s was a reaction to the needs of the new demands of tourists who replaced lavish property owners in Miami Beach. Hotels were needed, restaurants, beach clubs. The emphasis was now on efficiency and functionalism, rather than decoration. Art Deco and Streamline Modern architecture were breaks with the past styles, full of hope and optimism, blatantly connected to images of "the machine" and symbols of progress.

During WWII, the Army Air Corps installed itself in many of the beach hotels while troops trained on the beach for the war in the Pacific. Two hotels were converted into hospitals.

After the war, tourism changed dramatically with cheaper and easier air travel by jet. Developers began building high-rise hotels on the waterfront and could now offer air-conditioning for year-round operations. These new high-rise hotels were in the International style with lavish interiors featuring services rarely before seen in hotels: coffee shops, drug stores, rooftop ballrooms. They frequently were given evocative names to foster the fantasy of world travelling.

Tourism waned and crime and urban challenges increased during the 1960s and 70s. Miami Beach suffered. In 1979, a group of activists fighting against the forces of a declining economy and the pressures of urban renewal, helped establish the Miami Beach Architectural District, the largest Art Deco district in the world. Soon, fashionistas and scene-makers began flocking to the edgy, undiscovered oasis.

Today, SoBe is a major International destination, with many fabulous restaurants, nightclubs, boutiques and glittering hotels and spas. The area is popular with short-term and long-term tourists from Europe, Latin America, Canada and the US, many of whom maintain second homes in the town.

Lincoln Road is a pedestrian-zone shopping and dining area and on a breezy tropical night hosts thousands of happy visitors.

SoBe has earned a reputation for its active club and bar scene, most of which close at 5AM. The beach tolerates topless sunbathing. Ocean Drive, squeezed between Art Deco hotels and the beach, is the image most out-of-towners hold of Miami Beach: loud, crazy, colorful and full-of-life.

But Miami Beach is so much more than Ocean Drive. It has 12.1 km of amazing natural white sand Atlantic beach and warm turquoise water.

The town's population is approximately 88,000, more than half of whom are foreign born and only 33% of who consider English their first language. The climate is tropical, often humid. In the 1860s, the island was nearly untouched and was a tangle of palmetto and mangrove swamps.

Today, it is a sumptuous International beach getaway, relaxing and meditative for some; pulsing vibrant and hedonistic for others.

A Few Things about MIAMI (the city...not The Beach.)

• Winwood Arts District (4 mi from The Fontana)

• Downtown Miami (3 mi from The Fontana)
  

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• Miami Design District (5 mi from The Fontana)

• Coconut Grove

• Le Petit Haiti

• Little Havana

     South River Historic Drive--a drive-by tour of 9 historic buildings including the following addresses:

• 428 SW 1st St
• 438 SW 1st St
• 437 SW 2nd St
• 109 SW South River Dr
• 104 SW South River Dr
• 118 SW South River Dr

a few MIAMI LINKS

ART DECO

Miami Design Preservation League, MB
305 672-2014
See the Art Deco District via Walking tours, Self-guided tours, Private tours, Cellphone tours, Bike tours. 

Art Deco Education Center at Historic City Hall, 1130 Washington Ave, MB

Art Deco Gift Shop, 12th St west of Ocean Dr, MB
305 531-3484

Fontana103 is just one block south of Lincoln Road, in a quiet residential neighborhood, full of well-renovated Art Deco low-rise apartment buildings.