As Miami's so-called 'it' neighborhoods change as often as Kardashians spawn, there's one beachy keen consistency that is often overlooked, much to the delight of those in the know: North Beach. Long known by locals as Miami Beach's best kept secret of quietly hip serenity, North Beach puts the 'yes' in NoBe when it comes to beach towns with a boho edge subtle enough to not really need a cool, hip nickname. Stretching from 63rd Street to 87th Street and reaching west to Biscayne Bay, North Beach is a marvelous mash up of mid-century Miami Modern (MiMo), present-century Miami mod, and, as visionaries stake their claim to this unfettered fabulousness, a bit of futuristic Miami in terms of forthcoming bars, restaurants, and assorted cultural diversions blocks away from South Beach, but worlds away in terms of tone and vibe.
Rich in history, North Beach has always been a retro-fab destination, especially during the Miami Modern heyday of the 1950s when its Collins Avenue resorts--the Deauville, Carillon, and Casablanca, oozed in Miami's own tropical brand of mid-century glamour enough to attract the likes of the Beatles and the Rat Pack, who rang a dang danged down many a martini in these parts. And while Sinatra may have slept there, more importantly is the pristinely preserved architecture of these grand buildings, many of which have rightfully earned national historic status. Ah, if those walls could talk, but wait, they sort of do if you take an architectural tour of the district led by some of the world's preeminent experts on the cheese holes and people, places, and things you were able to see through those holes(http://www.mimoonthebeach.com/the_districs.htm).
And while MiMo mom and pop motels (or your grandparents' apartments) were once the only lodging options in the area, the boutiquey chic Oceanside Hotel fuses the charm of old school North Beach with modern day Miami amenities such as sleek, stylish cozy chic rooms, free Wi-Fi, complimentary nightly happy hours and a scenery oceanside hotspot, The Tavern, where the coffee's as potent as the cocktails. As Oceanside is the place of choice for the cozy chic set, developers Sandor Scher and Alex Blavatnik plan to put up a fancy Faena-esque resort in the coming year for those on expense account budgets looking for five stars luxe without the five-star luxe bustle of places further north or south.
From the iconic Americana of the MiMo district to the rich Latin American culture of the Collins Avenue corridor known as Little Buenos Aires, North Beach transports you into a Food Network-caliber frenzy of sights, sounds and smells of Argentine culture and cuisine where no passport is required, but a taste for some of the city's best empanadas and pastelitos is a must. And as Buenos Aires Bakery buzzes to a beat that would make Evita proud, nearby on 71st Street is an Argentine family's iconic homage to Italian cuisine--yep, this North Beach, where things aren't exactly what they seem on the surface--Cafe Prima Pasta, an intimate, yet buzzy bistro frequented by food fans from near and far including A-list celebs not in the mood to be caught with homemade spaghetti falling out of their mouths by paparazzi.
In keeping with the multi-culti mashup that has become a North Beach benchmark, there's Taquiza, which started as a hidden taco stand on South Beach until the secret got out, which now proudly sits oceanfront in the phenomenally facelifted historic Broadmoor Miami Beach Hotel where it serves up authentic tacos, street fare and bleu masa homemade gluten free tortilla and chips, Mexican and craft beer to a colorful crowd of cool kids and culinary influencers shaking off the concrete and dust from Wynwood to make room on their artfully tattered threads for the sands of North Beach.
About those sands. They're soft and crunchy under your feet and, unlike some of the city's other techno-beaten beaches, this one boasts solely the serene soundtrack of--wait for it--the ocean's wave with a few exceptions: between 80th and 81st Street is the Bark Beach where you can swim with your fluffy besties from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. every Friday through Sunday; and, on 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays when you may hear a symphony of 'ohmmms' during Nobe Yoga's free beachfront yoga classes at the North Shore Park Bandshell.
As for the bandshell, they don't make them like these anymore. Built in 1961, the open-air showspace of North Beach has served as the area's town center since the days of big bands and The Mike Douglas Show, which actually filmed there during winter months. Today, the shell is commanded by Miami's Rhythm Foundation, a non-profit cultural organization serving up some of the city's best, often free, concerts of varying genres from the experimental pop-folk of Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina to electronic music maestro Omar Suleiman. There are also movie nights, assorted family nights and all sorts of reasons to be outdoors. For those who don't want to cut it up at a concert, consider serving yourself a game of pick-up volleyball on the nearby Beach Bowl courts of the North Shore Open Space Park.
Speaking of movies, if South Beach is the big budget blockbuster, then North Beach would be the sleeper indie flick that surprises everyone when it sweeps the Oscars. You can even check out such kinds of films at the area's O Cinema, an arthouse theater which complements the bandshell as a leader in the area's booming arts and culture scene.
So, if North Beach is South Beach's more Netflix and chill kind of cousin, what is it to the city's current 'it' 'hood, Wynwood? A sandy satellite, perhaps? Come 2019, North Beach will be the home to the North Beach Yard, an oceanfront offshoot of the original gritty gathering spot of graffiti artists, DJs, hipsters, and pretty much the who's who of Miami's youth cultrate in Wynwood. Founder Della Heiman and biz partner Ken Lyon are setting up the yard on a public lot at 81st St. and Collins Ave., where sleek, repurposed shipping containers and food trucks will share space with a plethora of pop-up shops, a live performance stage, pavilion, organic food garden, community center with fitness studio and workshops dedicated to what should really be a North Beach theme: low-impact living, albeit with high impact hipster quotient.
"Everyone tells us this is a quiet area that needs activation," Lyons told the Miami Beach Planning Board, adding, "It goes beyond this idea of having a few food trucks to a much bigger concept."
Lyon is only partially correct. North Beach is, indeed, a quiet area that has been subtly activating for decades, only that activation is on North Beach time and to the beat of its own boho drum.
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