They are turning into Coconut Grove
I wrote about Sebastian and Leslie opening a couple of new restaurants in Little Havana. Over the past few years, Little Havana has been transforming. There are a lot of restaurants and art galleries. A few years ago, I was driving through on a Friday night with a friend who was visiting. We were eating dinner in Coral Gables and the subject of Little Havana came up. He mentioned how bad the neighborhood was. I told him that wasn't so and we drove down SW 8th Street so I could show him, it was about 9:30 or 10 pm.
As we approached the main area maybe 22nd Avenue or 17th Avenue, we saw people, lots of people, some places had velvet ropes with lots of people waiting to get in. We were flabbergasted. I knew Little Havana wasn't bad like he said, but I didn't know it was great! We parked on a side street, didn't pay to park, and just walked over to the main drag. It was incredible. There was so much going on, there were galleries and live music and even real cigar rolling. It was their monthly Viernes Culturalas, which I heard about, but had never attended.
Anyway, the point if this is that I realized that all these neighborhoods are turning into Coconut Grove, while Coconut Grove is turning into Brickell.
South Miami, Wynwood, Midtown, South Beach, Little Havana - are all what the Grove used to be - artsy with live music and lots of visitors and things to do.
In Coconut Grove now, we are turning mostly into offices with a few condos thrown in.
Ironically, I am being courted by these condos and office buildings. They want press.
I remember when I would go to a Gallery Walk once a month in Coconut Grove, and get maybe 10 stories out of the one night to spread over a week. Now you have to go to Wynwood or Little Havana for that.
As we approached the main area maybe 22nd Avenue or 17th Avenue, we saw people, lots of people, some places had velvet ropes with lots of people waiting to get in. We were flabbergasted. I knew Little Havana wasn't bad like he said, but I didn't know it was great! We parked on a side street, didn't pay to park, and just walked over to the main drag. It was incredible. There was so much going on, there were galleries and live music and even real cigar rolling. It was their monthly Viernes Culturalas, which I heard about, but had never attended.
Anyway, the point if this is that I realized that all these neighborhoods are turning into Coconut Grove, while Coconut Grove is turning into Brickell.
South Miami, Wynwood, Midtown, South Beach, Little Havana - are all what the Grove used to be - artsy with live music and lots of visitors and things to do.
In Coconut Grove now, we are turning mostly into offices with a few condos thrown in.
Ironically, I am being courted by these condos and office buildings. They want press.
I remember when I would go to a Gallery Walk once a month in Coconut Grove, and get maybe 10 stories out of the one night to spread over a week. Now you have to go to Wynwood or Little Havana for that.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:00 AM
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