Well before high-profile fashion designers and the TV series of the same name, I called Florida's then-kitschy South Beach "home." This was in the latter part of the '90s, during the early stages of its current revival, when a number of the classic art deco hotels on Ocean Drive still were dilapidated and the area south of 5th Street (South Point) claimed more than a few crack houses. Well, things have certainly changed!

I visited my old stomping grounds this past July and found that South Point is now one of the most expensive neighborhoods in town, and that all the old hotels have been brought back to new life.

November 2008