Careers for History Buffs & Others Who Learn from the Past by Blythe Camenson

Author:Blythe Camenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2009-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

What It's Like to Be a Tour Guide in Miami Beach's Art Deco District

Many people used to think of Miami Beach as a place populated solely by retired folks. For a long time, Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive, packed with residential hotels and condominiums, did cater to the over-sixty set. But in recent years, the demographics, as well as the topography, have been changing.

Jeff Donnelly became a volunteer tour guide for the Miami Design Preservation League. He knew the area as well as anyone. Monday through Friday he taught history and political science at a local day school in Dade County. But on Saturday mornings, he donned his Panama hat and walking shoes and took groups on ninety-minute strolling tours through Miami Beach's restored Art Deco District.

"Miami Beach is an exciting place to live these days," Jeff explained. "Young professionals, artists, models, movie production people—they're all flocking here now. We've become very chic."

After cautioning the twenty or so people in his group—from New York, Texas, Colorado, and nearby Fort Lauderdale—about the strong Florida sun ("If anyone feels dehydrated, please raise your hand before you pass out"), he provided them with more than just a passing glimpse into Miami's colorful mystique.

"As elderly residents moved into nursing homes or passed away, investors and developers began buying up and renovating the rundown buildings," he said. "In the process, they uncovered the fantasy seaside resort that had first inspired the original boom back in the 1920s and 1930s.

"There were five major architects responsible for the district. Although they were commercial competitors, they were also coffee-klatch friends. If someone's building supplies hadn't arrived on time or if someone ran short, they lent materials back and forth. This, of course, explains the high level of style consistency throughout the district."

The old establishments, once painted white and only trimmed with powder blue, aquamarine, or the peaches and pinks of the local flamingos, now have received fresh face-lifts and glow with a brighter and more contemporary palette. Bands of lavender, blue, yellow, aqua, and a whole spectrum of pinks whimsically decorate oceanfront hotels, sidewalk cafés, model agencies, and apartment buildings.

Miami Beach can boast one of the largest concentrations of art deco buildings in the country: more than eight hundred structures contribute to the historic architectural nature of the city's Art Deco District. The result is an effervescent urban streetscape, with the promise of campy humor and fun.

"You'd almost expect to see flappers strolling arm in arm or Al Capone roaring up in his jalopy," observed one member of the tour group. Indeed, it's rumored that Al Capone often ate at the Park Central Hotel on Ocean Drive, with his bodyguards perched on the overhead balcony for protection. Whether that story is true or not, the gangster movie Scarface was filmed there.

Art deco combines elements of art moderne, cubism, futurism, and expressionism, in a bold and linear style that originated in Paris and became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. When it was built, Miami Beach's architecture was considered ultramodern; the goal was to be futuristic, to look ahead.

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