Miami Glamour: The Architecture

Art Deco construction in South Beach

Classy and glassy

jazzy new parking lot in South Beach on Alden Road

Van Dyke Cafe on Lincoln Road; reclaimed by vines

Miami, Florida, is a fairly new city. It was established around 1900, with loads of landfill building it up from the swampy shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Because of hurricanes, non historic architecture is constantly being torn down, and rebuilt. Consequently, there are numerous new buildings of striking architectural styles from Art Deco to yesterday all over downtown and South Beach.

What is cool there? Everything but the weather. The famed Route One which is a mile from my house ends in Miami. And then shoots up north past Alexandria all the way up to Maine. That is one very long road!!

The most devastating hurricane to ever hit Miami in our lifetimes was Hurricane Andrew, which flattened Homestead, FL, just south of Miami, on the way to the Florida Keys. Hurricane Katrina did some serious damage to Miami before it made its more famous landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi.


Believe it or not, the Everglades, which are just to the west of Fort Lauderdale and Miami, are actually a river, albeit a slow moving one. When hurricanes are scarce, the Everglades  become dangerously dry, and there are brush fires every few years from the dry heat. Hurricanes and large tropical storms help flush the water from the wetlands and bring fresh nutrients.


More than you wanted to know!
Patsie