A few months ago, I ventured back down to Miami to visit again after a little over a year from living there. In that year, the Miami Beach shopping experience changed quite a bit. Funny how things work that way. Anyway, onto onto the review.
I suppose the best place to start would have to be Lincoln Road. I’m not sure how long it is, but it takes up about 5 to 6 blocks of shopping on both sides with the middle as a common area of sculptures, palm trees, and seating areas. Littered among the many shops are also restaurants and a few bars. The best place to start on Lincoln is on the western most side working your way east toward the beach. The strip is full of the normal shops you would expect to see such as French Connection, Penguin, Gap, Banana Republic, and so on. I’m going to give a short overview of the unique shops, restaurants, and hotels to make sure you don’t miss.
1. Basic - This is a store that I frequented a lot while I lived in South Florida. At the time, it carried much more of a T-shirt street culture kind of aesthetic with a few unique pieces thrown in. On the left side of the store is a long rack of shirts, jackets, and pants that included Varvatos, Y.M.C., Surface 2 Air, and many others. The middle of the store is a few large tables scattered with the enough coffee table books on art, photography, fashion, and bio’s to make your head hurt. The right side of the store is full of shoes, accesories, and a listening station for music. The back of the store is probably the best part, espicially if you’re into Japanese toys in the vein of Kid Robot, Kaws, etc.
2. What’s great about Basic is the fact that right next to it are another two great stops. One being a fantastic book store/cafe called Books & Books that houses the best of the best in worldly literature and periodicals. The food and drink isn’t bad either, a great place to read and relax.
3. The third spot right next to Basic and Books & Books is an authentic German bar and restaurant called Hofbrau Munchen. You can drink out of a 32oz glass mug while eating a healthy dose of sauerkraut and brats all afternoon. I never did eat the food, but I’ve heard it’s great for the one with a German heart.
4. Moving on to something either I never noticed before while living in the area, or it just opened in the last year. As I walked upon it and saw it, I swear it must of looked like Christmas to a young child for me. Napapijiri, the premier scadinavian outdoors company that makes me weak in the knees. Their fall and winter lines are fantastic and some of the best manufactured textiles I’ve seen and worn. Of course, a store in Miami had quite a different feel than I’m used to, but nontheless they had great articles with a nice store outlay.
5. Finishing off the best of Lincoln Road brings us to the South Florida Art Institute which I would liked to stay quite a bit longer, and maybe next time I can get a actual tour. It’s a great place that displays artists work spaces to show projects in the making. There’s a lot of great things to be seen depending on what you enjoy. Personally, it was a breath of fresh air from the tourism, humidity, and inflated prices in Miami.
6. Now as your approach the end of Lincoln Road’s shopping district, you’ll notice the quality of places of interest start to dwindle. Once you reach Washington Avenue, go ahead and pass it for the time being and keep walking straight toward the beach. This line of hotels are some of the best of the larger ones on Miami Beach. While I could give a quick run down of a few notable ones, I figured I’d show my personal favorite just because of the unique style. I’m talking about Madonna’s Delano, a classic piece of art deco real estate with a relaxing vibe. Upon entering you will notice a long corridor with flowing white curtains on either side draping over pool tables, cut away bars, chess tables, and many seating areas dimly lit. While exiting through the back of the lobby, you come upon an outdoor restaurant which is actually very good the time that I had it. Continuing down the stairs and into the courtyard, you will find a pool different than the rest housed with chairs bolted down to be able to sit in the pool. On either side of the pool are little bungalows to be rented with tv’s and couch. On the other side of the fench, is the famous Miami Beach. I would of taken a lot of great photos, but I understand if you’re actually staying there…someone walking around taking pictures of you trying to relax is not the most favorable thing. I ran into this problem quite a bit, which is understandable.
That ends today’s overview of west Miami Beach, someday soon I will continue the look down the rest of Miami Beach with the do’s, dont’s, and must-see’s of the area.
do you live in Miami now?
no, I lived there in 2006. It’s nice to visit, but living there was too much for me.
I imagine its like Chicago to some degree, third world city. At least it has decent weather.
well, it was incredible weather if you were at the beach, pool, or any other outdoor activity. However, the humidity and heat together would ruin any basic task throughout your day.