We need to get the bridge and tunnel crowd
All the talk lately is about the big travel agent Pow Wow coming to the Grove on May 18. And while the tourists are great, how about the locals?
One goal of the Grove should be to promote ourselves to locals. Why not have a families come from Kendall on weekends or have visitors from Coral Gables? Those are maybe the ones we need to reach out to.
These people are called the "bridge and tunnel" crowd in New York. They commute to Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and the other boroughs. Right now, Kendall and Brickell and even Coral Gables and South Miami are the bridge and tunnel crowd here, going to South Beach to party. It would be great if we could offer all of these people something closer to home. They would not have to travel to South Beach all the time for their fun and entertainment, they could and should visit the Grove for that on occasion.
How do we get them here? That is the magic question. We're trying to get people from all over the world to visit Coconut Grove and we can't even get locals to stop by for dinner or a drink.
One goal of the Grove should be to promote ourselves to locals. Why not have a families come from Kendall on weekends or have visitors from Coral Gables? Those are maybe the ones we need to reach out to.
These people are called the "bridge and tunnel" crowd in New York. They commute to Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and the other boroughs. Right now, Kendall and Brickell and even Coral Gables and South Miami are the bridge and tunnel crowd here, going to South Beach to party. It would be great if we could offer all of these people something closer to home. They would not have to travel to South Beach all the time for their fun and entertainment, they could and should visit the Grove for that on occasion.
How do we get them here? That is the magic question. We're trying to get people from all over the world to visit Coconut Grove and we can't even get locals to stop by for dinner or a drink.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:00 AM
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13 Comments:
We need a movie theater that shows arty and foreign films. That would go so nicely with the arty vibe here. Lincoln Rd. and Bill Cosford seem to be the only places in the city showing non-blockbuster movies.
You know, maybe that Sobe crowd would come over for a "33139" discount.
I think we already get some of the "bridge and tunnel". I think a big issue is we dont have tgif, outback etc. I think thats the best thing about Miami. Its not suburbia.
Also there are a lot of other places to eat right outside the grove that offer a bit better food.
One of the best things (in my opinion) that the commission did was to let in more office buildings here in the grove. I used to work in one of the buidlings in brickell but have since moved to the Grove. Close enough to walk to the coco-walk area. And now I eat EVERY lunch at the grove at a different restaurant everyday. The Grove has a niche. I dont think it should be more like Brickell, or Coral Gables.
I DO think the grapevine is a necessity because it opens the eyes to people outside of the grove. I do not live in the grove. But I love the Grove, and I have passed on the new places to my friends and family.
The Bridge and Tunnel crowd have a subway to arrive into the city.
We have NO PARKING!
Sarnoff has been working to keep them to come here since he was elected. That has been one of his main goals. He's had some significant success. We had this crowd to a lot greater extent just a few years ago.
Thanks Commish Sarnoff! and thanks to the naysaying, noise-complaining, sleepy village wanting crotchety old grove-killers who support his efforts to make this a boarded up ghost town.
If you want an idea of what to do, go for dinner in the Design District. If you can get a table. I especially recommend Grass or Senora Martinez. The atmosphere there is unique and appealing to the young and affluent crowd that has already declared SoBe to be yesterday's news.
The center Grove, on the other hand, has all the appeal of a typical Florida tourist trap. Or a shopping mall. I'm hard-pressed to think of anything that's unique about it.
Most people travel to South Beach to party, go to the beach, or eat.
Grove Partying: The casual crowd, college kids, etc. love us. No one wants to pay for Nikki's, Cielo, Christabelle's and all the other "high-end" spots that failed here. Have the Chart House start doing Brickell-style (more upscale) happy hours on the water for less than $8 a drink and you'll snag a few Gables/Brickell professionals.
Beach: We don't have one.
Food: Our restaurants are great, but treasures like George's, Anhoka, and Cita's are little known to the outside world... I live here and they only reason I know about them is Grape. We need better marketing.
All that said... shutting down the partying at 2 am and harassing business owners with code violations, parking issues, and noise complaints will continue to make the Grove Miami's red-headed stepchild (which might be just fine to some of us).
The Bridge and Tunnel people are really those that come in from New Jersey. And they are really bad City Drivers to boot.
SWLIP (Strange Women Lying In Ponds) is right.
Again.
I may have been a little harsh with that last comment, as there are always exceptions. But I stand by it in the general sense.
Swlip - if that's how you feel, move, and stop reading a blog about a tourist trap strip mall. If that's what you see in the grove(aside from cocowalk, which is precisely that) you're truly blind.
Anon 9:58,
Wrong, but thanks for playing.
I have friends in the Gables that drive down to eat dinner in the Grove fairly regularly, weekdays and weekends. There's always parking for them within one or 2 blocks. I can't say the same about Miracle Mile, and definitely not SOBE on a Friday night.
Now, if you're talking about there being no "free parking" - hehe yeah good luck with that.
Best thing I've seen as a parking incentive is the get your ticket stamped with a dinner/movie purchase sort of thing at Cocowalk. I guess that works for the privately owned lots at least.
first thing we have to do is put the grove real estate agents in front of a firing squad, after they are dead we can start to rebuild this beautiful artist community into what it once was a very popular attraction for all age and income groups. tearing down the cookie cutter town homes and evicting the tenants from the area couldn't hurt either
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