South Beach

If you're looking for something away from the VIP/Celeb scene or just something a little out of the ordinary, try the Chat Noir party at Dream Nightclub on a Monday night. Chat Noir is a bohemian cabaret show that features a variety of visual entertainment including song and dance laced with comedy, contortionists, fire acts and even dramatic theatre set to music. It gets going early compared to most other South Beach clubs, so plan to show up right at 10pm, so you won't miss anything interesting.

For some inexplicable reason, Tuesday night revelers in South Beach have always craved the unusual. And that's exactly what they've found at Automatic Slim's on Washington Avenue. The tiny one-room affair is a cross between an I-40 truck-stop and Motel 6, complete with buxom bartenders pole-dancing away, and big neon signs that say something you'll be too drunk to decipher. Double-Wide Tuesday is one of those parties dedicated to the trailer-trash/JerrySpringer/shitkicker in all of us, but for some unknown reason, it's usually filled with the model-set. People in Prada are shot on sight, so throw on some jeans and head down to Automatic Slim's for Double-Wide Tuesday, an evening of "cheap drinks and fat beats."  And, yes, that's Lynyrd Skynyrd the DJ is playing...

Wednesday night parties at the Delano offers a glimpse at how the other half lives. Centering in the Delano's Rose Bar, but often spilling out to the dimly lit pool area and beyond, neo-Warholian hipsters, South Beach party monsters and the occasional celeb assemble to discuss everything from Nietzsche to the Sex Pistols in a dramatic cocktail setting. The Delano's impossibly high ceilings, diaphanous white linen drapes and warm ocean breezes that pour through the enormous corridor spanning the length of the hotel complement the sultry atmosphere.

The newly crowned king of fun-and-games among South Beach's gay brigade is Edison Farrow with his elegantly innovative traveling Martini party. Initially conceived as simple gathering of friends, Edison's Traveling Tuesday party has grown to stratospheric, club-filling proportions. The party is held at a different location each week and covers the complete spectrum of South Beach clubs, restaurants, hotel lobbies, rooftops and more. The best way to keep track of this roving party's weekly location change is on Edison's web site at www.sobesocialclub.com.

Michael Capponi's long-running Wednesday night party at BED which achieved legendary status over its multi-year history, now has a new home at Shareef Malnik's newly opened Glass nightclub in the former Jimmy'z space adjacent to The Forge. Capponi's arrival at Glass brings with it a tight velvet rope policy, an A-list of partiers from all over the world, and a roster of the most alluring party girls in Miami, all of which produces a vibe not to be missed. The legend continues...

Thursday nights all roads lead to yet another Michael Capponi production, this time at the beautiful Hotel Victor on Ocean Drive. Up on the hotel's second level the party heats up around midnight, and with numerous outdoor areas (and interesting people) to explore, the Victor's Thursday night ocean-front soiree is rapidly becoming South Beach's top party event.

If you're looking for something a little more edgy, try Money Shot at The Vagabond in downtown Miami. The Vag is the brainchild of Carmel Ophir, DJ John Digweed and Rodney Mayo, and is rapidly becoming a hipster haven away from the velvet rope scene on South Beach.

Follow the boys upstairs via the back entrance of Buck 15 Lounge to Edison Farrow's Thursday night soiree, "The Simple Life." Chyna handles Door Goddess duty while Daisy D spins Hip-Hop in this intimate New York style lounge above Miss Yip Chinese Cafe just off Lincoln Road.

International nightlife star Michael Capponi teams up with Eric Milon's Opium Group to create one of South Beach's hallmark clubs—Set which offers a chic Euro-lounge setting where the elite come to party. Even though entry to Set is more of an art than a science—and by no means guaranteed—those that do make it in will find themselves surrounded by South Beach's hippest crowd.

The constantly changing South Beach scene has taken yet another turn in recent times toward a more lounge-centric view of the world. And the place to be on Saturday night (and any night, for that matter) is SkyBar Miami Beach at the Shore Club hotel. Ian Schrager, the supreme commander of all that is hip, and owner of the Delano, Mondrian, Royalton, Paramount, and Hudson hotels (to name a few) has assumed creative control of the Shore Club and hipsters throughout the world have heeded his clarion-call to this chic little hot-spot on Collins Avenue. The scene begins in Nobu's lounge area and spills out onto the area surrounding the pool and beyond. The drinks are rather steep, but the music is so soft and sexy you'll never feel the pain.

Miami Beach nightlife visionary Eric Milon, who previously established the Living Room as a glamorous tropical waypoint for east-coast A-listers and European jet-setters in the early '90s, now present us with a nightclub that has become the prime weekend destination for the hippest crowd in South Florida. Set in the massive 1235 Washington Avenue space that was originally built as the French Casino in 1936, and has housed such legendary nightclubs as Glam Slam, Club Z and Paragon, Mansion projects sensual and intimate vibe throughout its multi-level area. With six bars on two levels and a main-room stage that will host fashion shows and live performances, we predict Mansion will rewrite South Beach nightlife history for years to come.