Three Things About Miami
A South Beach dinner, the Versace Mansion, and Books & Books.
Originally published on CreatingThisLife.com on May 28, 2024.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that we were in Miami Beach earlier this month. We’ve been to Miami Beach twice now, and can I just say that I really love it there? I am all about the art deco buildings, the iconic lifeguard towers, and the interesting, international vibe of the place.
Here are three things that stood out to me about our most recent trip.
ONE | A Fish Called Avalon
We had an amazing dinner at A Fish Called Avalon at the Avalon Hotel in South Beach. Our meal was so good, from the appetizer (Bang Bang Shrimp) to dessert (Key Lime Pie, which was a national award winner a few years back). For dinner, Tom got clam chowder and crab-crusted grouper, and I had the chopped salad and macadamia-crusted snapper. We spent almost the whole meal talking about just how good it all was.
We ate outside on the terraced “front porch,” which had tables with white tablecloths and a live band playing. It was all very fancy, but you’re also sitting right on the street in South Beach, which is very…lively. We enjoyed the contrast (dinner and a show!), although by the end of dinner, we were happy to head back north to our hotel, where things were a bit quieter.
TWO | Versace’s Mansion
On the way to dinner, we drove down Ocean Drive and past Versace’s mansion, which is right on the street in the middle of everything. This was the mansion where Versace was tragically murdered on the front steps in 1997 (how has it been 27 years already?) and is now a hotel, restaurant, and event space. Lindsey told me that since I’m interested in the story, I need to watch the American Crime Story series on the Versace murder. Have you seen it? Here’s the trailer in case you’re interested. Apparently, much of the series was filmed at the actual mansion.
THREE | Books and Books
With a late flight out and a rental car at our disposal, we decided to leave Miami Beach and see some other areas of Miami. We drove through Little Havana where we got a glimpse of the men playing dominoes in the park (surrounded by tourists taking pictures of them — so funny). We drove around Coral Gables, where we saw peacocks wandering the streets (it’s a thing and apparently something of a problem). And we stopped to have lunch in Coconut Grove, Miami’s oldest neighborhood.
After lunch (and before gelato), we browsed the Coconut Grove location of Books and Books, which I discovered later is one of the country’s most well-known independent bookstores and a Miami institution. It was started in a 500-square-foot space in 1982 and now has several Miami locations, as well as a location in Key West that’s a partnership with Judy Blume(!). The founder, Mitchell Kaplan, also helped start the Miami Book Festival and now has a literary foundation. As for me, I couldn’t resist buying a copy of Joan Didion’s Miami to take home.