Heads in a Vice

"Where am i?"
"Miami"

I'm an unabashed fan of the TV series Burn Notice. Its frank and irreverent take on the spying profession is hilarious, but its setting in Miami is also something that is captivating. 

Miami is a shock to the system, it is brashness, with pastel the order of the south. It is Napoleonic palaces in Neapolitan pastiches and skin is in more than ample supply. As a fan of Burn Notice, I had thought that the scene setting jump cuts of bikini clad women and shirtless men were artificial "glamour" for the show. Not so. From South Beach inland to Collins Avenue, or further, and along Lincoln Road, it is perfectly acceptable to be scantily dressed - even the norm.

Stephen Fry, in his series in America noted that Miami is full of the beautiful people, who, as a consequence of being beautiful at the same time look hideously ugly, and I see his point, if only in the abstract. Along Miami Beach, the essential bikini uniform somehow makes the unideal body shape look appealing. But of course this is America, and the extreme is the norm. Unideal is healthy in comparison to the obese, still obvious in this most body conscious of cities.

Almost destroyed by consecutive hurricanes during the 1920s, Miami Beach is a homage to the Art Deco period, almost suffocatingly so. There are strict building codes enforced on any building that maintains an Art Deco facade and, as such, much modern development has been constrained. In the Miami Vice days, this meant that Miami Beach was a ghetto, with few people able to afford the vast amounts needed to make the buildings habitable while maintaining this stringent code. More recently, however, the rich set have moved in, led by the New York snowbirds who flutter down during the winter to avoid the cold.

Consequently, Miami Beach is expensive. From Spring Break onwards, South Beach is the domain of the locals, and the occasional traveller, but there is no mistaking that this is a tourist town. Lincoln Avenue cafes and grills, will shower you with drinks and burgers, at tourist prices, and the three Starbucks for every city block will make sure that you have the caffeine induced energy to paint the town pastel pink.

But there is a lot of charm to Miami Beach, and her people. Polite to a fault and helpful to the last man, woman and child, this is a snapshot of modern America. Consumerism is king here and where there is a buck to be made, someone is making it. But they are nice about it, and will help you in any way they can - provided it can be written off as a business expense.

It is easy to spend a day on the beach, baking in the hot, yet surprisingly gentle, sun. It is even easier to escape the humidity in the cafes or designer stores on Lincoln Road. But it is far more worthwhile to brave both the sun and humidity in search of Miami Beach's deco past and it's all evident rich past.