Shine at the Shelborne Hotel
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who's been around the South Beach
nightlife scene for any appreciable amount of time knows that absolutely nothing shakes-up this
sensual little island like the opening of a hot new nightclub. And it
appears that the next big shake-up is coming this
November with the opening of "Shine," a hip
new venue at the ocean-front Shelborne Hotel
on Collins Avenue.
New clubs pop up in Miami Beach
all the time,
but what makes this particular club opening so
newsworthy is that the two principals behind this new venue bring with
them hefty reputations for quality nightlife entertainment.
Gerry Kelly is known throughout clubland as a nightlife innovator who not only rose through the ranks of
clubs such as Ibiza's Pacha, Bash, Liquid, Shadow Lounge, and Bar Room,
but who also produced one of the most creative clubs in Miami Beach
history—Level. His Studio 54-style parties and theatrical tilt melded a
cross section of cultures that produce a glamorous vibe rarely seen
since the famous "big room" days of early 1950s Miami Beach.
Jon Cowan of Bliss Productions,
who, along with his family and Shelborne Associates owns the Shelborne hotel, brings with him a rich
entertainment legacy that began with his position as musical director of
Greg and Nicole Brier's sexy Groovejet, a club that
is generally
regarded as being the pinnacle of musical purity for South Beach
aficionados. Jon promises to bring in top talent on a regular basis
from all musical genre's, "and most importantly, top DJ's on a state of
the art Steve Dash-designed sound system."
 The physical layout of the club
will be an indoor/outdoor environment unique to Miami Beach encompassing
not only the hotel's beautiful ocean-front pool deck area
(which was
used in the early 1990s as a backdrop for numerous Playboy Magazine
photo/video shoots), but also the hotel's three-tier theatre-style
ballroom. If you recall the nightclub scenes in the 1933 Fred Astaire & Ginger
Rogers
movie "Flying Down to Rio," then you have a good idea of the ballroom's
layout. (Having once seen the space myself some twenty years ago in its
original pre-renovation condition, I can tell you that the physical
layout of the room is truly striking, a lasting testament to architect
Igor Polevitsky's 1940 Bauhaus-Modernist design.)
While the outdoor area will have
hammocks and day-bed style seating for lounging, and
ambient music
filling the open-air pool deck
area, make no mistake about it, the main focus of the
club will be solid dance music in the hotel's main ballroom, which,
by the way is
slated use some
of the original components from the Arc system in New York as designed
for Danny Tenaglia.
Nightclubs in South Beach come and go each
season, but every once in a while a club comes along
that holds special promise...we have a feeling Shine is one of those
clubs.
Shine at the Shelborne Hotel
(opening November 11th, 2005)
1801 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
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