South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Beginners guide to the area
Congratulations, you made it!
There are many reasons for the ongoing influx of newcomers to South Florida, but we like to think your decision was not based solely on more liberal pandemic politics, tax advantages and the ability to wear flip-flops in December.
US News & World Report recently ranked us one of the Top 10 “Best States in the U.S.” The South Florida tech scene is on the rise. And you’ll also find your new home will surprise you with unique outdoor experiences (yes, a clothing optional beach), world-class performing arts venues and some of the most inventive chefs in the country.
Whether you are a typical transplant from New York and neighboring
states in the Northeast or part of the “mass migration” to Florida from California, as one escapee told the San Francisco Business Times this week, we’re happy to have you.
Here are some things to know and places to go to quickly immerse yourself in the local culture and feel at home in South Florida.
The water’s fine
That Atlantic Ocean water you see off to the east is 75 degrees, give or take. Jump on in. The water this week off Main Beach in East Hampton, N.Y., is less than 40 degrees. Near Los Angeles, at Newport Beach, the Pacific Ocean is barely 60. Just saying.
Bare all
Your next question, inevitably: Where is the nude beach? The sand at Haulover Park, 10800 Collins Ave., just north of Bal Harbour, is family-friendly, dog friendly and clothing optional, a status sanctioned by the county. Visit MiamiDade.gov/parks.
Surfing Florida
As a matter of fact, we do have surfing in Florida. Famed professional Kelly Slater learned to surf off Cocoa Beach, a two-hour drive from West Palm Beach. Bracketed as we are by the Bahamas, big waves can be few and far between in South Florida, especially outside of the late summer-fall storm season. But there are popular breaks at Haulover Inlet on Miami Beach ,at the Pompano Beach Pier, Boynton Beach Inlet and Jupiter Inlet, with updates on conditions posted at Surfline.com. Perhaps also of interest is the Florida Surf Museum at FloridaSurfMuseum.org.
A great drive
There is no disputing the beauty of the drive between the mountains and ocean on California State Road 1 through Big Sur — or any road leading out of New Jersey. But a ride on Florida’s U.S. 1 through the Florida Keys also presents distinctively memorable views, especially the passage over great expanses of aqua-shaded water on the Seven Mile Bridge. The trip between Fort Lauderdale and Key West is around four hours, roughly the same time it takes to get from Monterey to San Luis Obispo on Big Sur Coast Highway, with the notable difference that at the end you’re in Key West instead. Among the recommended places to stop for a meal, a drink and a view: Shuck ‘N Dive, with oceanfront tables on the sand at Mile Marker 83.5 in Islamorada (Shuck-n-Dive.com) and the similarly laidback Lorelei Restaurant, two miles south on the bay side (LoreleiCabanaBar.com).
Worst traffic
The 2020 report from the annual TomTom Traffic Index (an exhaustively detailed examination of urban traffic based on navigation devices, in-dash systems and smartphones around the world) includes in its top 10 worst U.S. cities for traffic congestion Los Angeles (1), New York (2), Miami (3) and San Francisco (4). But when you consider the list also included San Francisco’s neighbor San Jose (6) and Riverside, near L.A. (10), it feels like you’re much better off in South Florida. No matter what you think while sitting at the Golden Glades.
3 places to relax
Hustling and bustling New Yorkers didn’t come down here for more of the same. True South Florida is best lived outdoors at a slower pace. Three places to check out: Broken Shaker on Miami Beach, routinely on the list of the best bars in the U.S. (BrokenShaker. com); Park and Ocean ,a bar and restaurant located in an old boathouse under sea grape trees inside Hugh Taylor Birch State Park on Fort Lauderdale beach (ParkAndOcean.com); and Dada, an artsy, inventive restaurant in Delray Beach with service under an extraordinary banyan tree in front of a nearly 100-yearold historic home (Sub-culture.org/dada).
Cafecito time
One of the most civilized new traditions in South Florida is 3:05 Cafecito, a pause in the day at 3:05 p.m. (Miami’s area code) for a brain-tickling shot of Cuban coffee, which draws its power as much from a thick muddle of sugar as the Cuban espresso. It’s tricky, and the novice might want to have an expert make it the first time. The Versailles on Miami’s famed Calle Ocho may be the best known Cuban spot in South Florida. The inventor of 3:05 Cafecito, JennyLee Molina, recently posted a cup on Instagram from Kush Wynwood. Good enough for me. Visit Facebook.com/ 305Cafecito, Facebook.com/ KushWynwood.
Walk on the beach
It’s not Coney Island or Venice Beach, but we do have an oceanfront boardwalk, right by the sand, which we call the Hollywood Broadwalk (yes, Broadwalk). Ocean Alley is a friendly spot to stop for a drink and the view. Visit FloridasHollywood.org.
Golf capital of America
Florida leads No. 2 California and the nation with more than 1,200 golf courses, over 200 of them in South Florida. They feature some famous names, including the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, home to the Honda Classic (Palm Beach County’s 160+ courses are more than any other county); Heron Bay in Coral Springs (former home of the Honda Classic); and the famed Blue Monster at Trump National Doral in Miami. PGA National is open to guests only and Heron Bay is closed — but you can play the Blue Monster for $375 during the week, $495 on weekends. Visit TrumpGolfDoral.com.
The biggest boats
The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show stakes a claim to being the largest boat show in the world, in a non-pandemic year stretching nearly 1 million square feet with about $4 billion worth of boats, superyachts and related products on display. The 2021 show is set for Oct. 27-31. Visit FLIBS. com. Similarly, the Palm Beach International Boat Show comes to downtown West Palm Beach March 25-28. Visit PBBoatShow.com. Also keep an eye out for another show: Filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s 282-foot superyacht “Seven Seas” has been known to make extended stays in Fort Lauderdale.
’Tis the season
You may come from a place with several seasons. In South Florida we have two: Hurricane season, which is June 1-Nov. 30, and not hurricane season. Sun Sentinel staffers keep track of everything South Florida residents need to know to prepare for the storms at SunSentinel.com/hurricane.
The other season
Fort Lauderdale invented Spring Break, its history stretching back to a visit by a horde of college swimmers from the Northeast in 1938. A little more than 20 years later, Connie Francis (who lives in Parkland) and George Hamilton (once of West Palm Beach) filmed “Where the Boys Are” on Fort Lauderdale beach, and that was that. As you may have noticed, the kids are back this month, COVID or no COVID.
Yes, a Guitar Hotel
Does Atlantic City or Las Vegas have a hotel shaped like a guitar? They do not. We do. The 450-foot,
36-story Guitar Hotel was the centerpiece of the
$1.5 billion makeover at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood unveiled in late 2019. With a façade clad in more than
2 million LED lights and lasers shooting thousands of feet in the air from the roof, you can’t miss it. The stateof-the-art, 7,000-seat Hard Rock Live concert venue has already hosted Maroon
5, Billy Joel and Alicia Keys (with Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the audience). Visit SeminoleHardrockHollywood. com.
Playing the horses
South Florida also is home to world-class thoroughbred horse racing at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, annual host of the nationally televised Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series. The facility is also worth a visit for its casino and a variety of drinking, dining and shopping options in the Village of Gulfstream Park. Visit GulfstreamPark.com.
An arts center
There are three large South Florida performing arts venues no more than an hour’s drive of each other — the recently renovated
in
Kravis Center West Palm Beach, the Broward Center Fort Lauderdale
Arsht Center
in and the in Miami — so when the next big Broadway tour hits the road, someday, you’ll be able to see it three times.
Best bookstore
You may think that when it comes to books, we just lay around on the sand all year reading trashy romance novels (not far off ). But when editors at the literate travel publication Afar last year compiled a list of 20 best independent bookstores in the U.S., Books & Books in Coral Gables was on it. No surprise. Visit BooksAndBooks.com.
Papa was here
What’s more, Ernest Hemingway wrote parts of several novels and stories while living in Key West, including “A Farewell to Arms,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Death in the Afternoon,” “The Green Hills of Africa.” “To Have and Have Not” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” For more, check out the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, with its famous six-toed cats (HemingwayHome.com), and the book “Hemingway’s Key West,” by historian and longtime Sun Sentinel contributor Stuart B. McIver.
Thomas Keller is here
If you are concerned about being so far from preeminent Chef Thomas Keller’s iconic Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry or his New York destination, Per Se, fear not. Keller, who discovered his food jones as a teenager living in South Florida (he graduated from Lake Worth High School), opened the Surf Club Restaurant in Surfside ( just north of Miami Beach) in 2018 to suitably enthusiastic reviews. Visit SurfClubRestaurant.com.
More top chefs
Because you’re new here, we want to point out that there are a range of other Michelin-starred, James Beard-blessed chefs working all over South Florida. Daniel Boulud has Café Boulud in Palm Beach (CafeBoulud.com) and Boulud Sud in downtown Miami (BouludSud. com). Marcus Samuelsson recently opened Red Rooster in Miami’s historic Overtown (RedRoosterOvertown.com). José Mendín of Pubbelly Sushi fame recently unveiled Casa Isola Osteria in the former Pubbelly space in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour (CasaIsolaMiami.com), after opening Rivertail on the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale in late 2019 (RivertailFTL.com). Kosushi opened about 14 months ago in Miami, the first U.S. outpost of Brazilian Chef George Yuji Koshoji’s Michelin-starred Sao Paulo restaurant (KosushiMiami. com). Others include Pao by Paul Qui, the “Top Chef ” star’s spot at the luxe Faena Hotel on Miami Beach (Faena.com); Chef Michael Schwartz ’s perennial favorite Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District (MichaelsGenuine. com); and two-time James Beard Award semifinalist Timon Balloo’s new Mrs. Balloo pop-up at the Wharf in downtown Fort Lauderdale (TimonBalloo.com).
Gator meet
South Florida is home to an unusual menagerie of wildlife, including the rolypoly manatee, massive iguanas (a buddy recently took down a 6-footer), even more massive pythons (which we’ve started hunting with dogs) and, of course, alligators. You can get as close as you dare to a free-roaming alligator on the walking and bike trails in Shark Valley in Everglades National Park. Visit NPS.gov/ever.
Gators, Canes, Noles
For much of the year, your new co-workers or backyard-barbecue friends likely will be divided into people who obsess over football played by the University of Florida (Gators), the University of Miami (Hurricanes) and Florida State University (Seminoles). Pick one. It just makes things easier.
Other cities to see
Out-of-towners know all about Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, but locals will point you to smaller cities for fun.
Delray Beach has a popular nightlife scene (dinner recommendation: Elisabetta’s), while a funky otherness can be found in Lake Worth (see Lilo’s Street Food & Bar and Mathew’s Brewing Co.) and Hollywood (from the chic Monkitail at the Diplomat Resort to the opposite-of-chic Le Tub Saloon, where the burger was once ranked best in the U.S. by GQ magazine).
What’s on that tree?
You may see trees in South Florida looped by orange ribbons, which many in the community still maintain in honor of Jaime Guttenberg, a 14-year-old resident of Parkland who was killed three years ago in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The ribbons raise awareness and money for gun-safety initiatives and causes and educational pursuits that were important to her. Visit OrangeRibbonsForJaime.org.
Controversial New Yorker
South Florida is home to arguably the most famous former New Yorker, both revered and reviled for a long list of contentious actions he’s taken in the last few years, thumbing his nose at conventional wisdom and tradition. The jury is still out, but the controversial moves made by Miami Marlins co-owner Derek Jeter seem to be working. The Marlins’ home opener at Marlins Park is April 1 (keep the jokes to yourself ) against the Tampa Bay Rays. Visit MLB.com/marlins.
An exclusive club
Former President Donald Trump also lives here, at the private Mar-aLago Club, on the ocean in Palm Beach. Built nearly 100 years ago by socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post, the national historic landmark sits on the far east end of Southern Boulevard and is a special place, even from the outside on a drive-by. You can check
on memberships, reportedly north of $200,000, at MaraLagoClub.com. A T-shirt with the club crest superimposed on Trump’s name costs $36.
Heat, Knicks, Lakers
Miami, New York and Los Angeles are, of course, inextricably linked by some of the biggest names in recent NBA basketball history. Current Heat president Pat Riley orchestrated four championships in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Lakers before leaving to coach the New York Knicks, whose inability to win him a trophy caused Riley to make a controversial jump to the rival Miami Heat, who gave him his fifth title after he brought Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal to South Florida to join Dwayne Wade, who later teamed up with LeBron James on two more rings for Riley before James left, ultimately landing in Los Angeles, where James won his fourth championship last season by beating Riley’s Miami Heat. We still hate the Knicks.