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

Brad Pitt!!!

Funded by Brad Pitt

Dear Imaginary Friends,

How nice is Brad Pitt? REALLY nice. He built this and many other modern new homes in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged area of New Orleans, the lower ninth ward.

The house is sustainable and has solar panels, to keep costs down for the local working poor. Tulane University School of Architecture was in on the deal, designing the most energy efficient houses, while staying above possible future flood levels.

You are so dreamy, Brad Pitt!

Your Imaginary Friend,

Patsie

Tulane University, Scott Cowen, and Eric Holder

Dear Imaginary Friends,

I had the pleasure of going to the Newseum this week to attend a Tulane Alumni event. In attendance was Walter Isaacson. Mr. Isaacson, who graduated from Harvard and Oxford, was a writer for Time magazine, CEO of CNN, and is now the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a think tank. He introduced Scott Cowen, Tulane's brave president who brought Tulane through a really tenuous time, post Hurricane Katrina. He mentioned that we all have no idea how staggering the costs of rebuilding were, and that Tulane almost ceased to exist. 

Because of President Cowen's ingenuity, Tulane has not only recovered, but thrived. Tulane now has to beat applicants away with a stick. Two years ago, Tulane had more applicants than any other university in the country. To quell the throngs, the administration decided to add an extra essay to discourage those who were not serious about attending. It helped, a little. So this year, Tulane was only number 2 in the nation for applications.

What drives this phenomena, you may ask? I feel that is is the inherent idealism of young people, who care about helping others. Tulane now has a community service program in which all four years, undergraduates must perform community service. Even the medical students work in community clinics. After Tulane Medical School was flooded out, two med students and a cardboard sign posted out on Tulane Avenue, near the demolished Charity Hospital, to serve as an ad hoc clinic for indigents. They dispensed medical exams and advice right there on the street. That takes dedication. Tulane today has 92 small community centers serving indigents all over the city.

It is this kind of spirit of philanthropy that really moves me. And it apparently moves many others. In attendance at the Tulane event, was Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General. He was there with his lovely daughter Maya, who is a rising Freshman journalism major at Tulane. I had the privilege of discussing New Orleans and Tulane with them both.

I hope that your college experience was as good as mine, in beautiful New Orleans, learning and living my youth at Tulane University.

Your imaginary friend,

Patsie