What happened to South Beach? (Miami, Miami Beach: hotel, house, neighborhood)

[yrralis1]

Originally Posted by unclealbertt

When you're young and you make 10 bucks and hour, music festivals are normal things you can easily save up for. I used to do it all the time. The crazy thing about Ultra is the amount of young international travelers, that's no just a bunch of locals. Ultra and electronic music have become a generational thing, the music of it's time on every corner of the world.

Concerts didn't cost 400 bucks when I was young . Plus hotel rooms weren't 500+ a night (approx) , plus airfare , and car rental , food, etc ..

I realize they come as a group and share the cost but even still this can easily be a 5K vacation . It might even be a 10K vacation if one factors in renting an exotic car ,posting bond , court costs, legal fees etc .. only to make it even harder for the 22 year old to get a job paying more than 10 bucks after returning home from his "party weekend in Miami ".

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by mesa1974

I was on vacation down here last week and it has changed a lot. The restaurants are cheap and all the chic/unique boutiques are gone. I remember the days when South Beach was for the upscale crowd. South Beach is so ghetto now... Creepy homeless people walking around the beach...

I also noticed how certain neighborhoods have changed for the worse.

Ideally, it should be for the middle class (and a few upscale touches are fine). It goes too upscale and is now too ghetto, so it messed up twice. Don't you also have to take a congested 15 mile causeway from Miami to get there. It was probably over-hyped. Sorry to hear about your experience. Go to West Palm Beach instead.

[unclealbertt]

Originally Posted by yrralis1

Concerts didn't cost 400 bucks when I was young . Plus hotel rooms weren't 500+ a night (approx) , plus airfare , and car rental , food, etc ..

I realize they come as a group and share the cost but even still this can easily be a 5K vacation . It might even be a 10K vacation if one factors in renting an exotic car ,posting bond , court costs, legal fees etc .. only to make it even harder for the 22 year old to get a job paying more than 10 bucks after returning home from his "party weekend in Miami ".

Well that's the world we live in today. Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapolooza, SXSW, and Ultra. They're all huge and they're all expensive. Every year people make the pilgrimage wherever thy need to for their favorite artist, I don't see the need to knock them.

As for South Beach, anyone that thinks the area is remotely in decline is living in a fantasy world. The area has never been more expensive or luxurious.

This is South Beach in 1974, it was another world. It was a true ghetto. You guys abuse the hell out of that word btw, it's not right.

[tallrick]

Even with the old people and run down hotels, South Beach was far better than it is now, in my opinion. As a kid my parents would take me to the beach, which back then was easy to get to, you could feed the parking meter or on the street nearby, as few of the senior citizens had cars. My friend's grandmother lived in a run down hotel with wood floors. I remember the musty smell and 1920's details. If not for drug money having nowhere else to go I bet south beach would still be God's waiting room. The sad thing is that in the next economic downturn parts of Miami Beach will once again be pockets of poverty.

Great find on the video BTW!

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by chessgeek

Ideally, it should be for the middle class (and a few upscale touches are fine). It goes too upscale and is now too ghetto, so it messed up twice. Don't you also have to take a congested 15 mile causeway from Miami to get there. It was probably over-hyped. Sorry to hear about your experience. Go to West Palm Beach instead.

It is Ghetto and Upscale?
15 miles??? I think you need to look on google maps again. It is no where near 15 miles and unless there is a big event or accident there is usually not much traffic on the causeways either

[mesa1974]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

Some of the high end stuff has moved to the new spot to be the Design District.

I went to the Design District and I liked it much better than South Beach.

[mesa1974]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

Agrreed with all above. Again to the OP where in South Beach/Miami Beach did you go?

I stayed at a friend's house in the Design District.

[perry335654]

Originally Posted by mesa1974

I stayed at a friend's house in the Design District.

The last time I looked the Design District was north of Midtown Miami
and not in South Beach or Miami Beach.

[yrralis1]

Originally Posted by unclealbertt

Well that's the world we live in today. Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapolooza, SXSW, and Ultra. They're all huge and they're all expensive. Every year people make the pilgrimage wherever thy need to for their favorite artist, I don't see the need to knock them.

I am not "knocking" them . I do feel that they have no concept of the value of money because most of them are not paying for it .

As for South Beach .. I agree with you . It's not declining . On the contrary (as stated in my first post) I think business is flourishing.

[mesa1974]

Originally Posted by perry335654

The last time I looked the Design District was north of Midtown Miami
and not in South Beach or Miami Beach.

I hung out in South Beach for a day.