'Hoods With the Goods in Miami

By Necee Regis
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Ah, Miami: City of glitz and glamour, home of swaying palms and swiveling hips, the promised land of celebrity sightings and Celebrity cruises. At least that's the image of Miami in the popular imagination, and much of it is true.

There's also the other Miami, the one I like to explore. Away from the bright lights and hyperventilating crowds, in places where the casual tourist doesn't venture, is a dynamic mix of art, food and creativity. You won't need designer clothes or a VIP pass to navigate these up-and-coming neighborhoods. You will, however, need a car. Though some areas of Miami and Miami Beach are suitable for walking, these districts are spread over large areas that are hard to navigate by foot.

Wynwood

Six miles west of South Beach's trendy clubs and salty breezes, and a few blocks south of the well-groomed Design District, the neighborhood of Wynwood is a gritty hodgepodge of two-story warehouses, small apartment buildings and 1920s bungalow-style homes. The area has recently been christened the Wynwood Art District (referred to on its Web site as WAD, which may be appropriate, as a pile of greenbacks can be prerequisite to making a purchase).

Wynwood's lack of gentility hasn't kept well-heeled galleries, dealers, collectors and artists from flocking to its spacious warehouses, with new art venues multiplying faster than crack vials on broken sidewalks. At last count there were 68 venues spread over an approximate 60-block area (though half are clustered within 15 blocks), with "for rent" or "sale" signs on seemingly every other building boasting exhibition-space opportunities.

There's a festive atmosphere the second Saturday night of each month, when the community sponsors a gallery walk from 7 to 10 p.m. Otherwise, there's not a lot of foot traffic day or night, except for an occasional wandering homeless person -- although it's getting busier on Saturdays as word spreads about the burgeoning art scene.

A good place to begin your visit is the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse (591 NW 27th St., 305-576-1051, http://www.margulieswarehouse.com), a not-for-profit, 45,000-square-foot exhibition facility filled with photographs, sculpture and installation art drawn from the collection of Miami collector Martin Z. Margulies. It's currently closed for renovations but reopens in October. Look for vintage and contemporary photography and works by internationally recognized sculptors, as well as contemporary videos and installations.

From the Margulies Collection, drive east to NW Second Avenue and turn south. There are a number of galleries along this strip and on the streets east and west through NW 22nd Street.

"I think I live in Miami Noir," says Brook Dorsch, the first commercial gallery owner to move to the area. He's only half-joking. In 2000, he relocated Dorsch Gallery (151 NW 24th St., 305-576-1278, http://www.dorschgallery.com) from a 500-square-foot space downtown to a 7,000-square-foot warehouse on NW 24th Street, east of NW Second Avenue. "It was a little rough-and-tumble back then, but I could afford it," said Dorsch. "The neighborhood isn't as scary as it was. It's a destination now. Wynwood has become a critical mass. You see people on Saturdays with a map in hand looking for galleries. You didn't see that 10 years ago." Dorsch represents artists from South Florida whose work includes painting, sculpture, sound art and new media.

One pioneering art establishment opened its doors long before Dorsch arrived. The Bakehouse Art Complex (561 NW 32nd St., 305-576-2828, http://www.bakehouseartcomplex.org), a not-for-profit organization offering 70 cheap studio spaces, a gallery and classrooms for educational outreach programs, was founded in 1986.

"We found this old bakery that had been on the market for seven years. We had to renovate and retrofit it," said Helene Pancoast, one of the five founders. Today the Bakehouse is a flourishing enterprise, with paintings, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, photography and just about anything that artists can think of to use to make art, including eggshells and gummy bears. On a recent Sunday, the parking lot was full and cars lined both sides of the street as art lovers streamed inside for an anniversary exhibition.

Small restaurants and cafes are sprinkled across the district. Tikal (525 NW 29th St., 305-576-3756) is a great place to sample a banana or papaya batido (fruit and milk smoothie) and a churrasco steak. After spending hours perusing the Margulies collection, I ordered a cortadito (sweet espresso with a shot of hot milk) and relaxed on the outside patio, a decorative metal structure with wood ceiling and overhead fans. Across the street, under a searing sun and an azure sky, fanciful paintings of handbags adorned the north facade of the Mr. Pocketbook warehouse.

In the evenings, the bar scene at Circa 28 (2826 N. Miami Ave., 305-722-1858, http://www.circa28.com) brings together an eclectic mix of artists, collectors, architects, musicians and assorted hangers-on. The first floor is a casual lounge, while the funkier upstairs is a combination live-band venue, dance floor and gallery.

Biscayne Corridor

The stretch of Route 1 from 50th to 77th streets, called the Biscayne Corridor, passes through the neighborhoods of Edgewater, Morningside, Bayside and Belle Meade. Once the main artery between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where overnight travelers stayed at period motels, this strip, three miles north and east of Wynwood, more recently has been known for its streetwalkers, drug dealers and rent-by-the-hour rooms.

But an influx of new homeowners and a push toward preservation are slowly revitalizing the area, with restaurants, wine bars and shops blooming in once-abandoned properties. On the northern edge, at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 75th Street, Ver-Daddy's Taco Shop (7501 Biscayne Blvd., 305-303-9755) is easy to spot: Look for the six-foot-high graffiti lettering that reads "Taco Shop."

Ver-Daddy's (a play on the Spanish word for "truth") brings a new level of authenticity to Mexican food in Miami. Since it opened in January, word has spread about the oh-my-God quality of the crispy enchiladas with chipotle cream, tostadas with grilled steak, soft tacos with pork chili verde, grilled quesadillas and homemade guacamole and salsas. Located in a former KFC restaurant, Ver-Daddy's has fluorescent lighting, tables bolted to the floor and splashes of orange and brown paint to simulate a hacienda. But what it lacks in ambience it makes up for in flavor.

"I love this location," said chef and owner David Bass. "I watched this empty building for a while. I could see the potential. This is the bloodline of Miami."

Bass makes his beans the way his Mexican mother taught him, the same way her grandmother taught her. "I make everything from scratch. This is Mexican soul food," he said. Tacos run $2.95 to $8.50.

As you drive south, other places along this corridor worth seeking out are Dogma Grill (7030 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-3433), serving 22 variations of hot dogs; the Karma Car Wash and Cafe (7010 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-1392), where you can sip wine while having your car hand-washed; and Michy's (6927 Biscayne Blvd., 305-759-2001), Michelle Bernstein's newest addition to Miami's fine cuisine scene.

Little-Design-Haiti

From Biscayne Boulevard, a quick zigzag east and south onto NE Second Avenue will bring you to an area that's referred to as both the northern edge of the Design District and the southern end of Little Haiti. This is where you'll find A (4582 NE Second Ave., 305-572-9902), an organic French-Caribbean cafe that's been embraced by the neighborhood for its great food and low-key vibe.

Chef Marc Solomon and his wife, Blue, opened A in Miami a year ago. (They have another location on New York's Upper West Side.) "It's all about the food. We want to be organic," Marc said. He frequently leaves his post at the tiny kitchen's stove to chat with guests in the 30-seat dining room.

The menu is short and sweet, but the flavors linger in the mouth and in the imagination: grilled avocado with three-vegetable mousse and shiitake-sesame vinaigrette, roast duck in tamarind peppercorn and mango sauce. Entrees are $13 to $16.

Nearby, along NE Second Avenue between 45th and 47th streets, several shops add their own flavor to the landscape, offering handcrafted jewelry, African sculptures, crystals, soaps, cards and incense. (If you depleted your cache of patchouli oil in the 1970s, you can find more here.) Around the corner, a Prohibition-era-inspired bar, Amendment XXI (190 NE 45th St., 305-571-7200), stays open till 3 a.m.

Brickell/East Little Havana

Another area where district names blend is south of downtown Miami. Take Biscayne Boulevard past the new performing arts center and AmericanAirlines Arena, where the Miami Heat plays basketball. Cross Flagler Street, winding your way across the Miami River to the tall business and residential towers of Brickell. A turn west leads to a triangle of land crouching near the river in the shadow of the Metrorail and exit ramps from Interstate 95.

Here, near where cranes and high-rise condos rise like weeds across Miami's increasingly crowded skyline, are the live-music venue Tobacco Road (626 S. Miami Ave., 305-374-1198) and the white-tablecloth restaurant River Oyster Bar (650 S. Miami Ave., 305-530-1915), as well as an assortment of businesses including a Pilates studio and a photography lab.

In this mix you'll also find Transit Lounge (729 SW First Ave., 305-377-4628, http://www.transitlounge.us), an inauspicious barn of a place on SW First Avenue. This smoky, casual bar, with a concrete floor, red chandeliers, a pool table and mismatched cushiony armchairs, draws crowds of all types and ages to hear an eclectic mix of live blues, jazz, rock and Latin fusion bands, including Miami's own Suenalo Sound System and Locos Por Juana.

Yet the bourgeois as well as the glitzy are encroaching on Miami's liveliest funky enclaves. Within a few blocks of Transit Lounge, palm trees and lush, flowering ground cover surround the courts at the Brickell Tennis Club. Closer to the river, a new fortress of a nightclub called Bricks (66 SW Sixth St., 305-371-6950) has opened, where a just-past-teenage and hoping-to-be-cool crowd lines up behind velvet ropes along SW Sixth Street at midnight.

Which isn't to say all will soon be sanitized and upscale. In this part of town, the sidewalks -- where there are any -- dissolve into patches of bottle-strewn gravel, and on a recent Friday night it was possible to buy grilled pork skewers with fresh guacamole and potatoes from a street vendor at 1 in the morning.

It's at moments like that, standing near a chain-link fence within the swampy odor of the river on a sweaty night under a full moon, that it's easy to revel in the inventive, evolving, unpredictable and most definitely non-glamorous spirit of Miami.

To print out a map and get information about the art institutions, galleries and alternative spaces in Wynwood: http://www.wynwoodartdistrict.com. For more information on travel to Miami: Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, http://www.gmcvb.com/visitors.

Necee Regis is a freelance writer who divides her time between Boston and Miami Beach. Her novel "Glitterbox" is set in Miami.