1674-16 Tony Goldman FRIENDS OF ART DECO LOOK BACK, LOOK AHEAD 01/12/1995
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1995, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 1 LENGTH: 105 lines
ILLUSTRATION: color photo: Postcards shown in front of Art Deco hotel
(a) ; photo: Marlin Hotel (a) , losellev Casteneda prepares for
Art Deco Weekend (a) , Art Deco Weekend poster (a)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: LYNN CARRILLO and RAFAEL LORENTE Herald Staff Writers
JEFFERY A. SALTER / Herald Staff CHUCK FADELY / Herald Staff
MEMO: COVER STORY See FESTIVAL PARKING box at end of text
FRIENDS OF ART DECO LOOK BACK, LOOK AHEAD
Once a row of unnoticed and crumbling old buildings, Ocean Drive is now
the center for vogue and tourism. The strip has hosted two international
parties in the past year and is gearing up for another big celebration this
weekend.
The 18th Annual Art Deco Weekend festival between Fifth and 15th streets
starts Friday and continues through Sunday against a backdrop of renovated
1930s hotels.
The festival has changed, along with the buildings and lifestyle it
celebrates. In 1977, a few early members of the Miami Design Preservation
League held the first festival to attract attention to the crumbling
architecture of South Beach. Attendance was low.
By 1986, attendance broke 100,000, and signs of renewed life were
cropping up around South Beach, and particularly Ocean Drive. By 1992 the
festival had grown to include lectures and films and a crowd of more than
400,000 people as Ocean Drive and the rest of South Beach were booming.
Over the past year, the boom was heard internationally with delegates to
two major events descending on the strip.
Delegates to Pow-Wow, a convention last May of international tour
operators and travel agents, were wined and dined at upscale restaurants. In
December, media from around the hemisphere partied there during the Summit of
the Americas.
On the heels of this weekend's Art Deco Weekend is a concert Jan. 22 on
the beach by famed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
"Some years are more productive in terms of construction and some in
terms of productivity," said Tony Goldman, chairman of the Ocean Drive
Association and proprietor of the Park Central Hotel, 640 Ocean Dr. "This has
been a very good year overall."
Construction on Ocean Drive, although slower than previous years, has had
significant accomplishments with the opening of three hotels and five
restaurants.
"Ocean Drive is like a beautiful smile," Goldman said. "When we first
started the teeth were decayed, now we are nearing a pearly-white smile. "
The Netherlands condominium, built at 1330 Ocean Dr. in 1935 as one of
the largest hotels on Ocean Drive, reopened last year and houses a designer
clothing boutique, the Island Trading Post and The Lab.
"The Gianni Versace palace, which is near completion, stands as a real
example of quality restoration, " Goldman said of the 1930 Mediterranean-style
Amsterdam Hotel at 11th Street and Ocean Drive. Versace, the Italian designer,
converted the building into his Casa Casuarina estate.
Upcoming Ocean Drive developments include construction of a
20,000-square-foot retail complex and condominium at Ocean Drive and 15th
Street and the beautification of Lummus Park, Goldman said.
Meanwhile, merchants are primping for Art Deco Weekend, which attracts
hundreds of thousands of people from all over South Florida and the world.
This year's festival celebrates that diversity with a Latin
American theme, which includes such performers as Cuban singer Celia Cruz and
Israel "Cachao" Lopez. .
The festival also will feature films and lectures highlighting Art Deco
architecture from countries such as Brazil and Argentina.
"We didn't understand that Art Deco existed in all these countries until
recently, " said Mike Kinerk, co-chairman of the Art Deco Weekend Committee.
"This is information that's only come to light recently because nobody really
cared about Art Deco."
Among the many exhibitors will be Jim Morrison, who is bringing 3,000
vintage postcards of Art Deco hotels to the 10th Street Auditorium, 1001 Ocean
Dr.
Morrison fell in love with South Beach's architecture 20 years ago during
a postcard show in Melbourne. He drove to Miami Beach right after the show and
was amazed by the dilapidated hotels full of retirees. Over the years, he
watched the city change during frequent visits from his home in Maryland.
"I'd come down every three years or so and then one year the neon was
up, " Morrison said. "It just blew my mind."
This will be Morrison's third year at the show. His visits in 1993 and
1994 were soggy ones, and Art Deco Weekend promoters are hoping for better
luck this year. They've even bought rain gear to sell, just in case.
Parking, as usual, will be a headache. Park and ride from Watson Island
in Miami will not be available, so festivalgoers will have to rely on scarce
street parking and a shuttle service
from various city lots.
The food available this weekend also will be different. For years,
restaurateurs on Ocean Drive complained about the food vendors at the festival
hurting their business. This year, there will be about half as many vendors
and they'll be located in areas where there are few or no restaurants.
The street's restaurants will take the vendors' place, offering pizza,
sandwiches and special menus from which people can eat in a hurry. Many of the
longtime vendors worry they will eventually be phased out altogether.
"Every year they go to less and less vendors," said Bob Kasselakis, of
Greek Flame Food. Kasselakis will be at 11th Street and Ocean Drive this
weekend hoping to make up for the last two years when rain cut his business in
half. "They have a problem with the restaurants, " he said. "I don't think it's
fair. Everybody's got to make a living."
CUTLINES:
TRETTY AS A PICTURE: Some of the 3,000 vintage postcards of Art Deco
hotels that will be on display at the 10th Street Auditorium, 1001 Ocean Dr. ,
are compared to the real buildings along the fabled street.
DOLD IMAGES: The poster for this year's festival.
GETTING READY: At the Art Deco Welcome Center at 10th Street and Ocean
Drive, Miami Design Preservation League intern Iosellev Casteneda unpacks
goods to be offered for sale at Art Deco Weekend Friday through Sunday.
LOOKING BACK: The Marlin, at 12th Street and Collins Avenue, is among the
many restored area buildings.
TAG: 9501030505
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mh A LONGER OCEAN DRIVE WINS FAVOR ON BEACH 09/20/1992