How diverse is Miami really? (Coral Gables: restaurants, area, business)

[JacobMAX]

Not really wanting to take the thread away from its main focus (nor to offend anyone - I appreciate the opinions/posts in this thread), but why does that kind of subject really matter? Have we forgotten the words of the Reverend King?

[karl_hemingway]

Miami is a pretty racist place. Just one of many examples:

1) At a hotel bar, a latin door guard refused 2 AA guys in line in front of me, then let me and another white guy go right in. I saw them do that to every AA person in line as though it was policy or something. My jaw dropped when I saw what was going on.

2) A born and bred Latin coworker loudly refused to go to a bar b/c there were AA people there. He was a bit drunk, but he was very vocal about it like what he was saying was normal. I won't be hanging out with him again.

[doggiebus]

Let's stay on topic.

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by redlotus333

Fly Mia,
That is all well and good; but when I go to NYC, I typically hear a dozen or so languages in a day. When I go to Miami, it's Spanish and they usually assume you speak it or are bilingual. I actually live in South Florida. So it comes down to perception and ratio. With such a large city do the amounts of other ethnic groups that you write about amount to a drop in a bucket?

Also, I've never seen Miami on any recent diversity list.

I have to agree here. Yes, nations in Central/South America do have very distinctive differences. They also all speak the same language (with a few exceptions) and have many other cultural/historical crossovers. By the same token, I don't consider Americans, Australians, British, and Canadians to be terribly different for the same reasons. I think it is a point worth bringing up here because it has practical effects. For example, I don't think we have too much variety when it comes to authentic cuisine from certain parts of the world (namely Asia and India) compared to other major cities.

[FlyMIA]

Is Miami NYC or LA? NO

Is Miami more diverse than 98% of the cities out there? YES

Miami has a huge and other fairly large populations of people from every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. A large French Canadian population, French, Italians and Russians. A growing African population along with a growing Asian population. No one here is saying Miami is NYC or LA. But Miami is more diverse than Seattle, Boston or Atlanta.

[meiguogubaren]

The diversity of Miami really depends on where you go. If you stay in greater Miami than chances are you will find more Hispanics on the streets then any other ethnic group, in Coral Gables, you will find a good number of Europeans, Asians, and even some Africans from many countries, because it is a business district, and there are many Mediterranean restaurants. In the Downtown area and the NE parts, you will find mainly Haitians, and African Americans, with sprinkles of Brazilians and other Hispanics who have business around those parts. Everywhere else in Miami is pretty Latinized and whats funny is that many other Hispanics from other countries are blending/mixing in with the already dominant Cuban-Miamian culture, and the younger generations seem to all be either raegguetoners or ghetto thugs, which in my opinion, has nothing to do with their own cultures.

p.s. I didn't mention SoBe because I think its clear that its the hot spot for most the country and the world

[looking4answers12]

Originally Posted by der titan

When I visited Miami, I couldn't notice much diversity in terms of cultures. The only 3 languages I heard being spoken was Spanish, Taxi drivers who speak French Creole and barely English. When I went to the grocery store everyone also spoke Spanish and people were wondering why I couldnt speak Spanish because for some reason they thought I was of latin american origin.

When I read the 'diversity or no diversity' thread, I see that most of my claims are backed by statistics which show that while Miami may have a different diversity of LATIN AMERICANS, they lack diversity in other groups.

Are my experiences correct? How diverse is Miami of OTHER cultures besides the Latin American cultures?

First, you aren't realizing that all Spanish is not the same. Cuban's are different from South Americans, are different from Brazilians are different from Venesuellans are different from Panamanians are different from Argentinians. There may be some similiarities but there are differences as well.

There are actually some Anglo's here still as well. There are even a few Southern people.

There is every shade of person from black to white, to Native American. There are mexicans. Hatians, Dominicans. Some Asians, There are some Europeans also.

Maybe you just didn't get around enough while you were here.

[joeandmich]

Originally Posted by looking4answers12

First, you aren't realizing that all Spanish is not the same. Cuban's are different from South Americans, are different from Brazilians are different from Venesuellans are different from Panamanians are different from Argentinians. There may be some similiarities but there are differences as well.

There are actually some Anglo's here still as well. There are even a few Southern people.

There is every shade of person from black to white, to Native American. There are mexicans. Hatians, Dominicans. Some Asians, There are some Europeans also.

Maybe you just didn't get around enough while you were here.

All we are missing are eskimos

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

Is Miami NYC or LA? NO

Is Miami more diverse than 98% of the cities out there? YES

Miami has a huge and other fairly large populations of people from every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. A large French Canadian population, French, Italians and Russians. A growing African population along with a growing Asian population. No one here is saying Miami is NYC or LA. But Miami is more diverse than Seattle, Boston or Atlanta.

When you say Miami, do you mean South Florida? It didn't seem like Miami or Miami-Dade county outside of SoBe had much in the number of French Canadian, French, Italians, Russians, or Asians.

[jmusmc_85]

I notice a lot of Europeans and Canadians in the Miami area, you just have to know where to look. When checking ID's of some of my customers I notice that maybe 10-15% of the ID's are from Canada or some European country. ID's from Latin America make up about 25%. It may not seem like much, but it certainly is more than many other cities. And what it good is that most seem very well to do. So it's not only the recent immigrant types that populate Miami...

BTW, I recently moved to Miami from DC!!! This is my first of what is hopefully many more :-)