1674-7 Ian Schrager DELANO
(continued from page 165) your children. Room service arrives with buttermilk- to go out for a while,promenade down .
You do not have to specify an"alto- banana waffles. the avenues, cover a little ground.
holic"daiquiri. The rain lets up, and I wander Venturing beyond the hedges onto
You look better with a baby here. among the cabanas to find the perfect Collins Avenue,you become aware of
While your children are splashing hammock.Swaying between creaking the Delano's rather fringy location,
it up at Camp Delano, you'll have palms,I remind myself how most hotel alongside the melancholy ghosts of an
plenty of opportunity to soak up the pool terraces,when empty, carry the earlier Miami Beach: hotels with
deliciously murky lobby,trying out all sad air of a failed party.Not this one. names like Sans Souci and Surf's Up;
its hidden nooks. And the kids will The Delano is that rare setting wherein the bank clock flashing 5:97; a few
A have lots to amuse them beyond the both a bal masque and a game of soli- cut-rate sandal shops. There's not
playpen.Like the way the bellhops,in taire can seem utterly natural.In chat- much just outside the Delano, but
white jackets,T-shirts,and shorts,ap- happy South Beach, the meditative that's irrelevant;you're really not sup-
pear to have forgotten their pants. moment is a rare treasure. posed to leave. Lincoln Road Mall
Walking through the courtyard is is nearby,however,and,just to keep
BY SUNDOWN EVERYONE HAS GATHERED like stepping into one of those all those crazy amoeba chairs in
at Brian McNally's marvelous Blue Magritte paintings in which indoors their place, Wolfie's delicatessen
Door, the hotel's formal dining stands guard up the street.
room aria surely South Beach's After a swing through the
newest coveted booking. Should shops at Bal Harbour and an
they be available,you must start espresso on Ocean Drive, you'll
with the frogs' legs, in a garlic start to miss the Delano's foggy
broth with artichokes and shiitake 4 calm,and will want to hurry back.
and portobello mushrooms. Sea- ` :. .. t Maybe a workout at the David
food figures prominently among _" w.. Barton gym;perhaps aromather-
the entrees,though your best bet is • t apy at the women-only rooftop
the duck breast accompanied bybathhouse. Certainly a slice of
poached figs. For dessert? Your �"' °,' `V- quiche from the kitchen.
basic root beer float,served with .
a mint sprig in a martini glass. ,':x`` AT CHECKOUT TIME I'M RELUCTANT .
When I return to the lobby some- . #, - to leave my room's polished shell.
one is actually sitting in that French ;� ° My eyes have finally adjusted
horn chair,she's wearing an electric ,4- -, '� nicely.Just another hour,I say,to
I magenta dress and white platforms /'a�; 4.;,-,,,,V no one in particular.
and doesn't seem the least bit un- � s',�� • ° �;4•4.,
...,:,,-;_t • Arriving as I'm walking out: a
comfortable. The room is roaring ,i . s`�, six-foot Christy Turlington double
now,and cool English soul warbles >•4 r�41; ���:�,oa <� in vinyl mini;a family in flip-flops
from above (Sade recordings are hlimp �a �Qd � • i' ;,, ;, . with two Mighty Morphin pre-
part of the decor). . tis i . E '''';',..i.,'0:,.• "' 'ti \:''' ::• schoolers and a teenage son trying
I escape to the'Beach Bar, Children are to be seen and heard. not to gawk;and current MTV fa-
where torches flicker and only a vorits Live, in for a concert at
few couples have settled in.The turn- and out are jumbled;heavy furniture Miami Arena. During summer's calm
bling surf, the soft lamplight on the is scattered about the lawn as if before the storm, precocious scouts
lanais,the Deco hotel towers cresting washed ashore from a yacht.A dining from Seventh Avenue,Stockholm,and
down South Beach:plus fa change. . . room set,complete with candelabra, Cedar Rapids are quietly sizing up the
Sometime after 11 an Antonio sits under a palm; a brass bed, ma- Delano,glancing at those lawn mirrors. .
Banderas look-alike leads his groggy hogany-framed mirror,and floor lamps They are all part of the strange
two-year-old daughter up to bed, are arranged at odd angles nearby. Schrager formula,and they will all be
pausing to air-kiss someone who might there this month when the season re-
in fact be Sade. THE POOL IS A QUIET TRIUMPH. NO- ally kicks off.
where more than five feet deep,with You,too,I would hope,before any-
I WAKE UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING TO cafe chairs set out in a cool ankle- thing gets scuffed.
one of those thrilling south Florida shallow terrace at one end, it's a
downpours that rattle the windows, model of serenity. The lyrical mood The Delano 1685 Collins Ave., Miami
sky and sea reflected in my room's continues as you wade,with classical Beach;800/555-5001 or 305/672-2000,
white and pearl-gray two-tone.Below, music piped in underwater. (Guess fax 305/532-0099; doubles $175-$375,
t the white canvas beach umbrellas are what's playing.) $130-$275 in summer; poolside duplex
22 folded up, like bishops all in a row. But at some point you'll be tempted bungalows$450,$350 in summer.
October 1995 • Travel & Leisure 185
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the bellhop wonders aloud.He's sizing up my
white shirt,which somehow seems less than
radiant against the room's bright pearl.That
Manhattan patina,you know.He adjusts the
air-conditioning and raises the blinds. I
squint out on what might be the pool. d*'v'm,,,,,it_ l, f a ilk ,_
I'm nervous as I watch him set my heavy *..+–t;
brown suitcase down, for fear it will scuff °111 4 v,' T
something.The floor is so polished it looks ^--• " i i
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I look around for the luggage rack, but r4 m r.'
there isn't one.There isn't much of anything. �,�" ' ' " a +im. '
No tropical beach watercolors, thankfully. 1 t ,' ,i bar ■ 1
Nothing on the stucco walls but an apple bal- F t r' ,0
anced on asideways-mounted coat hook. A �`'� ```
bed with'a surface smooth as frosted glass. I i� i '" a – ' L
A glaring white armchair.A smart and sim- I
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ivory television set and a matching stereo 1 ' ' _ .
with CD player. All is bleached out except Ililts,- �11 -4 '�
for the daisy stems and the console's pista- �{. .
chio interior, which matches the surf 200 l e
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yards from my window. rl' i, .
The 238-room ,,room Delano,which opened in �Y
June,is something of a departure for hotelier *, '_`
ir
Ian Schrager.In this 1947 South Beach land- .= � '"'�"I'rli'' 1
mark he is trying to fuse the family resorts of
old Miami Beach with the sophisticated bou-
tique hotels he invented in New York. :7` :
Schrager the provocateur calls his new hotel .
"undesigned"—"less to see,more to feel"—but of course ally discovered).A teenager wonders if that twisted French
everything is meant to be looked at. Designer Philippe horn of a chair is safe for sitting. And can you really eat
Starck,who helped take Schrager's Royalton and Paramount those cookies glistening on the kitchen table?
hotels to the edge, has furnished the public areas like a Depending on your mood, the Delano is either refresh-
Whitman's sampler:a Charles Eames plastic amoeba seat ing or confounding,whimsical or awkward,not unlike those
stares down a wicker end table;a leather wing chair sidles rotary-dial phones in the lobby.At times you'll be grateful
up to a faux-fur-draped chaise. for something unstyled and uncomplicated,like an after-
You'll also find,just inside the lobby, a bright eat-in noon at the beach,which looks and operates exactly like
kitchen,where a long communal table is laden with fruit any other beach. (Chaise longues,gratis.Jet Skis,$55 an
bowls and surrounded by high stools.Jars of raisins and hour.)When the steamy midday persuades you,return to
pastas pose cleverly on the shelves,along with baskets of your room to write postcards on a chilly marble desktop.
bread,a toaster here,a juicer there.This could be a dio-
rama of suburban American life.Someone is usually around I NOTICE THE SIGNIFICANT CHILDREN'S SECTION IN THE GUEST
to fix you lunch. The idea is, you're supposed to sort of directory.The small cinema downstairs offers G-rated clas-
spontaneously drop in, whenever you feel like it, like : sics nightly.Greg,the youthful concierge,speaks eagerly of
maybe you can't wait till dinner,and you casually pull up starting up some song-and-dance or craft programs for the
a stool,and you order,say,rock shrimp tempura. kids this season,and reminds me of the playpen beside the
Things here need a bit of translation. Beach Bar,the supervised pool games,the televisions wired
"This is the gift shop,"explains the cashier to a befud- for Disney.He points to a Foosball table,although at the mo-
died guest who has stumbled upon the museumlike display, ment a couple of male models are hogging the fun.
also just off the lobby.Taschen art books with titles like Watching a three-wheeled stroller glide across the
Fetish Girls sit prettily on the racks next to Czech&Speake curtained portico, I think,How refreshing it is to find an
colognes—not a Crichton novel or Tums packet in sight. adult resort that accommodates children—as opposed to
A photographer in the men's room spends a few mo- a family hotel that makes room for adults. Nothing here
ments trying to turn on the faucet(a foot pedal is eventu- is shrill. No goofy faces are made at(continued on page 185)
October 1995 • Travel & Leisure 165
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Wear somethinc simple and accessorize •
with a child at the Delano, Ian Schracer's S OXy
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new family i
e a y resort in V am I Beach
By Peter Jon Lindberg
Photographed by Michael Mundy
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