The Story Of South Beach

"Twenty years ago, South Beach was a tired seaside village best known for Scarface drug deals and flocks of retired people rocking on the front porches of decrepit hotels.

But a fight to save the old buildings helped fuel a renaissance. Preservationists, artists, photographers, designers, performers and other avant-garde types smitten with the promise of a forgotten but architecturally unique corner of America joined forces to turn the place around. By 1987, a handful of funky restaurants, clubs and refurbished hotels began to draw cool crowds.

Today, South Beach, the one square mile extending from Government Cut to 21st Street, has evolved from a Bohemian playground where one could have dinner and drinks for $7 to a world-class tourism hot spot where a Kobe burger costs $30 and a top-shelf cocktail is about $20.

The small-town edginess is history. But now the place boasts financial and cultural maturity. Money has brought more money. Fame more fame."