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what's
Up
in
South
Beach
by Stephanie Wilson
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Whenever I have friends come into town it turns into a
whirlwind of pure debauchery complete with evening
dinners at my favorite neighborhood haunts followed by marathon
nights hopping between hotels and nightclubs proving
to these out-of-towners that Miami Beach
really is the best place to party.
This past weekend was no exception and I proved my point over and over
again very well.
Starting on Thursday night, my girls—in from
Boston for the weekend— and I hit up happy hour (which was
somewhat less than happy due to the constant
downpours) at Monty’s on the Bay. Being one of the two places in
South Beach where you can drink ON the water, it's
a local favorite. With 50 cent shrimp and oysters, and stone crabs for
$2.50 a claw in ADDITION to the half-priced drinks Monday-Friday from
4-8pm, you can’t really go wrong… unless you drink too much and fall in
the bay, which I'm sure has happened numerous times
over the years. The drinks are strong, the service is awesome,
and the atmosphere is festive. Whether you're
a local or a visitor, I recommend checking it out.
And check it out we did on Thursday, having our fill of 50 cent oysters
and cocktails galore, taking refuge under the tiki roof when the daily
tropical showers made their way through. After my girls jetted back to
their hotel for a quick costume change, we met up for delectable sushi
and fabulous Sake at
Doraku, the hidden little gem at 1104 Lincoln Road. Their pineapple
and mango infused sake martinis were a favorite amongst my visitors.
After dinner we did
cocktails at Michael Capponi’s Thursday night fiesta at
the
Hotel Victor. This week, it was host to
Home Magazine’s One-Year Anniversary Party, but alas,
cocktails were not on the house, which is always
sort of disappointing. I had spent the months
prior to my girls’ arrival telling them how “special” parties (such as
magazine’s one year anniversary parties) always have open bar, usually
being sponsored by Bacardi or Grey Goose, but there was no such luck
this Thursday.
At this point in the evening, details start to get
hazy, as did our judgment. I remember distinctly trying to tell these
girls that even though there WAS a pool, it
didn’t necessarily mean that was reason
for us to be IN the pool.
Due to
our rapidly approaching lack of judgment, I suggested heading out
for fresher territory, and we stumbled home
happy and buzzed after passing up
an offer of free
admission to
Mansion when we were leaving The Victor around 1am.
Come Friday, my girls were sleeping off their sake-induced hangovers
while I toiled away at work. When I was finally set free at 5:30, I was
ready to show them a weekend like no other. I strapped on my new
four-inch Jimmy Choo’s and told them to meet me at the
Delano for
some bubbly. We started at the
Rose
Bar, and then made our way out to the pool, where we grabbed the
last table complete with seats for four. Being that we were a group of
three, we had our fair share of male suitors pass by and try to win us
over. Sorry, boys, its too early in the night for that, but feel free to
buy us a cocktail and “Buh-bye now, nice to meet you! We’re off to
State
for
Gerry Kelly’s birthday bash.”
State was packed and the dancers were decked
out in the most elaborate costumes I've seen in a
while, but the under-age
vibe of the party seemed to
indicate this was just not going to be our
scene, so after one quick cocktail, we were
off to
Privé, in search of new thrills.
And good times we did find. The best part was watching the rain showers
roll through
Opium Garden below, and watching the crowd push to find shelter
under the roof on top of the dance floor. The Opium Group must be doing
something extremely right, because even on a night when the weather wasn't
cooperating, they still managed to pack the place.
The joint was jumping, and playboy model/DJ
Colleen Shannon was spinning some of the
hottest dance beats. We took it all in and leaned back until we couldn’t
stand any more, and then decided to call it a night…
But once we got in the cab, I remembered my oath to make sure every
one of my friends who makes their way to South
Beach knows this is the hottest place on earth
to party, so instead of sending Mr. Cab Driver
back to the hotel, I
shouted “NOCTURNAL!”
and the girls looked at me, eyes wide.
I answered their questioning stares with “We aren’t
going home yet. The sun’s not even up!” So across the causeway we went
to take part in the “Local Celebrity” gathering that takes place on the
Nocturnal rooftop at 4am every Friday Night (or Saturday morning,
depending on how you look at it). Lucky for us, this gathering seemed to
be made-up of all boys, and we didn’t pay for one cocktail… Not that we
could have handled much more at that point anyway.
We stayed until the sky started to
lighten, then ran back down the stairs and
hailed a cab back to Miami Beach. We walked
out on the sand and sat down to watch the sun
rise over the surf. It was one of those nights, and
we were “those girls” (you know, as in “oh my
God, look at those girls). I was
finally happy knowing my girl-friends
weren’t going home without knowing how we really do it in South Beach.
My head still hurts days later, but don’t tell my girls: They are back
in Boston thinking I roll like this every night
(...chuckle...). The great part of it is, being that this is
Miami Beach, I can roll like that
whenever I want to.
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