Española Way, an easy stroll from Art Basel Miami Beach
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, October 8, 2024


Española Way, an easy stroll from Art Basel Miami Beach
Patrons wave white towels at Hosteria Romana, where waiters sing birthday songs in Italian, on Española Way in Miami Beach, Fla., Nov. 16, 2019. Española Way — a block-long promenade with sidewalk cafes and salsa, samba, jazz and techno rhythms that often inspire dancing in the streets — is now a historic district and a short walk from the headquarters of Art Basel Miami Beach. Angel Valentin/The New York Times.

by Joseph B. Treaster



MIAMI (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Back in the 1920s, when Miami Beach was still mostly mangrove swamp and mosquitoes, two real estate developers decided to build a place that would look like a Spanish village to help bring in winter visitors.

It came to be known as Española Way — a blocklong promenade with sidewalk cafes and salsa, samba, jazz and techno rhythms that often inspire dancing in the streets — and it is now a historic district, a short walk from the headquarters of Art Basel Miami Beach.

It hums with table talk. The palm trees and lamp posts are wrapped in strings of white lights. Waiters at Hosteria Romana sing happy birthday in Italian.

“It feels like Little Italy in New York,” said Joseph Jabs, 26, an electrician from Manhattan, drinking a strawberry daiquiri at the Havana 1957 restaurant and celebrating the 28th birthday of his girlfriend, Leslie Seda, a nurse from New Milford, New Jersey. She was having a mojito with a dash of guava juice.

The low-rising peach-colored buildings with Moorish arches are trimmed with contrasting white stonework and wrought iron. “It looks very similar to parts of Madrid, Barcelona and Seville,” said Lia Bustamante, a photographer from Buenos Aires.

Española Way has a colorful history of boom and bust, illegal gambling parlors, bookies and sex workers, small-time drug dealers and years as a haven for artists. It declined in the 1970s along with the rest of South Beach. Part of the Clay Hotel — now being upgraded — became a youth hostel. Artists worked in subsidized lofts at the Española Art Center before it gave way to the El Paseo Hotel.

The camera loves Española Way. Miami Vice, the 1980s television series of flash and bang Miami, showed the street in a dozen episodes. Robin Williams shot parts of “The Birdcage” on Española Way and John Travolta was filmed there in “Chains of Gold.” Elton John sang “A Word in Spanish” in a music video on Española Way, and rapper Pitbull shot a music video that has been viewed more than 16 million times.

In February, for the second year, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival cordoned off Española Way for a midnight tasting. Rev Run, the rapper and DJ, worked a turntable with booming speakers across from the red umbrellas of Hosteria Romana. Earlier, Microsoft and the United States Conference of Mayors took over Española Way for private parties.

On evenings like that, brothers Mario and Vincent Tarricone, transplants from the Bronx, hire a recent arrival from Cuba’s cigar-making industry and set him up at a table in front of their humidor, bar and restaurant, Española Cigar, where you can buy an $8 Scotch or a $600 bottle of Champagne or a $1,600 bottle of cognac.

For some, Española Way is a bit too animated. But A La Folie is a quiet bistro off to one side. And the owner, Olivier Corre, from Paris, said most of his customers live nearby. “We don’t get that many tourists,” he said.

The walk to Española Way from Art Basel headquarters at the Convention Center is its own art and culinary tour. It takes you past the Frank Geary-designed New World Center symphony hall and, heading south on Drexel Avenue, across Lincoln Road, an art deco walking street with manicured palm trees and sidewalk restaurants. Thirteen Botero sculptures are being displayed for Art Basel. At Drexel Avenue and Lincoln Road, you see Yuca, a Cuban restaurant, and Paul, a French Bakery and cafe.

Toward the ocean on Lincoln Road, the limestone office building at 420 is a well-preserved example of the streamline moderne style of art deco. Near the ceiling of the lobby is a ribbonlike, 1945 mural by Russian American artist Leo Birchansky. On the third floor is the David Castillo Gallery of contemporary art.

The oldest church on Miami Beach, the Miami Beach Community Church, built in 1921, is on Drexel Avenue at Lincoln Road. Its stained-glass triptych looks across the avenue at one of Miami Beach’s newest businesses, the Time Out Market Miami, a dazzling nearly blocklong, high-ceilinged food hall with hip lighting, pulsating music, three bars, 18 places to eat, many with a Latin accent, and an industrial, stainless-steel exterior.

The last two blocks along Drexel to Española Way are lined with modest art deco and Mediterranean revival-style apartment buildings and bungalows, palm trees and shrubs.

One afternoon in November, 40 Polish tourists were checking out of the El Paseo Hotel. Fernando Rodriguez, 32, and Rosa Rodriguez, 23, of Madison, Wisconsin, were on their honeymoon and six exotic dancers from St. Louis — traveling in their work clothes — were drinking kiwi margaritas at a table outside the Oh! Mexico restaurant.

Rosa Rodriguez, an assistant to an optometrist in Madison, said she loved the energy. “The atmosphere is great,” she said. “It’s nice to be here in the center of everything.”

© 2019 The New York Times Company










Today's News

December 6, 2019

An exceptional Gravettian "Venus," some 23,000-years-old, was discovered by Inrap

Egyptian archaeologist Hawass sees role as 'custodian' of antiquities

Exhibition explores nineteenth-century travel imagery

What's the point of the Turner Prize, anyway?

Was this 18,000-year-old Siberian puppy a dog or a wolf?

Historic Gold Rush-era shipwreck reveals rare San Francisco coin

Sprüth Magers exhibits Gilbert & George's PARADISICAL PICTURES in Los Angeles

Small galleries assess the benefits of big art fairs

Exhibition of seminal works by Richard Tuttle on view at Pace Gallery

Christie's Paris Post-War and Contemporary Art department achieves €79M in 2019

Rare objects in Argent Haché acquired by Nationalmuseum

For Faith Ringgold, the past is present

Questions arise over Black Art in a new show

Artists cash in on China's online sticker craze

Royal gift up for auction at Cheffins in December

Toledo Museum of Art installs two new works by artist Joseph Kosuth

Española Way, an easy stroll from Art Basel Miami Beach

Final phase of major transformation at Mingei International Museum

Mr Doodle invades Sotheby's

Exhibition explores Scotland's role in the fight to eliminate tropical diseases

The MMFA creates a fund for the acquisition of works by artists underrepresented in its collection

Richard D'Abate named Interim Executive Director of Ogunquit Museum of American Art

The Winnipeg Art Gallery welcomes Riva Symkoand and Julia Lafreniere

Julio Valdez's work currently exhibited at the June Kelly Gallery

Touchstone Gallery opens an exhibition that features over 150 works by DC area artists

Rolex watches presented to balloon flight pioneer Julian Nott offered at Heritage Auctions

Some of the most unique auction items that truly were unique

How Photogrammetry Is Used In The Gaming Industry




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful