South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach in Florida, located due east of Miami city proper between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses all of the barrier islands of Miami Beach south of Indian Creek. This area was the first section of Miami Beach to be developed, starting in the 1910s, due to the development efforts of Carl G. Fisher, the Lummus Brothers, and John S. Collins, the latter of whose construction of the Collins Bridge provided the first vital land link between mainland Miami and the beaches. In both daytime and at nightfall, the South Beach section of Miami Beach is a major entertainment destination with hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants (among others, the internationally known Joe’s Stone Crab), boutiques and hotels. The area is popular with tourists from the Western world and Israel, with some having permanent or second homes.
South Beach is traversed by numerical streets which run east-west, starting with Biscayne Street, now popularly known as South Pointe Drive, one block south of First Street and the largely pedestrianized Lincoln Road (running parallel between 16th and 17th streets). It also has 13 principal Roads and Avenues running north-south, which, from the Biscayne Bay side, are Bay Road, West Avenue, Alton Road, Lenox Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Meridian Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Drexel Avenue, Washington Avenue, Collins Avenue (State Road A1A), and Ocean Drive. There are three smaller avenues (that do not run the entire length of South Beach) in the Collins Park area, named Park, Liberty, and James. Most locals agree that South Beach’s northern boundary runs along Dade Boulevard from Lincoln Road on the bay side of the island, and heads east-north-east until it connects with 23rd Street, which forms the northern boundary on the ocean side. Neighborhoods are Belle Isle, City Center, Di Lido Island, Flagler Monument Island, Flamingo/Lummus, Hibiscus Island, Palm Island, Rivo Alto Island, San Marino Island, Star Island, South Pointe, SoFi- South of Fifth and West Avenue Corridor.
After decades of economic and social decline, an influx of gay men and lesbians moving to South Beach in the late-1980s to mid-1990s helped contribute to Miami Beach’s revitalization. The newcomers purchased and restored dilapidated Art Deco hotels and clubs, started numerous businesses, and built political power in city and county government. As South Beach became more popular as a national and international tourist destination, there have been occasional clashes between cultures and disputes about whether South Beach is as “gay friendly” as it once was. While being a gay mecca of the 1980s and 1990s, Miami Beach never had a city-sanctioned Gay Pride Parade until April 2009. With strong support from Mayor Bower, Miami Beach had its first Gay Pride Festival in April 2009. It is now an annual event. The 2010 Pride drew tens of thousands of people.
South Beach, along with a handful of other neighborhoods in Greater Miami (such as Downtown and Brickell), is one of the areas where a car-free lifestyle is commonplace. Many South Beach residents get around by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, bus or by taxi, as the neighborhood is very urban, and pedestrian-friendly. Automobile congestion in the area is frequent, so getting around in South Beach by car can often prove more difficult than simply walking. Recently, Miami Beach has begun bicycle initiaves promoting city-wide bike parking and bike lanes, that have made bicycling much more popular for residents and tourists. The Venetian Causeway for example, is a popular bicycle commuter route that connects South Beach to Downtown. Lincoln Road, Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue, and Collins Avenue are popular shopping, eating, and entertainment streets for pedestrians. Lincoln Road is a pedestrian-only shopping street, and Collins Avenue around 5th Street, is mostly upscale retail. Española Way, which runs from Collins Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, was conceived by N.B.T. Roney (of Roney Plaza Hotel fame) in 1925 as “The Historic Spanish Village,” modeled after the romantic Mediterranean villages found in France and Spain. Today it consists of restaurants, bars, art galleries, and quirky shops.
