Today was mostly about art and architecture. After a nice American breakfast at the Pelican Hotel, we headed to the Art Deco Welcome Center on Ocean Drive.
https://mdpl.org/welcome-center/art-deco-museum/
The Art Deco Welcome Center gave us a good insight into the history of the Art Deco District of Miami. It tells the story of how the district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 mainly through the efforts of Barbara Baer Capitman, founder of the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL). There are 800 important buildings in one square mile of the Art Deco district.
https://mdpl.org/welcome-center/art-deco-museum/
The museum is not very big so it didn’t take long to get round. Once we’d left, we decided to walk the length of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, to take in as many of the Art Deco buildings that we could. There are some pretty amazing buildings which are worth viewing.
On our walk we found the Rainbow Crosswalk on Ocean Drive and 12th Street. This area celebrates Miami Beach’s LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer +) community.
It is close to the popular gay beach area, and 12th Street was also home to The Palace for decades, a gay bar that was hugely famous for its drag queen performers.
The crosswalk was designed using the pastel color palette that Leonard Horowitz, the co-founder of the Miami Design Preservation League and an openly gay man, created for the Art Deco District.
http://savinomiller.com/projects/ocean-drive-lgbt-crosswalk/
Walking the full 1.3 miles of Ocean Drive made us hungry so we ended up at Oh! Mexico, a restaurant that provided typical Mexican cuisine including tacos. I went for fish tacos that came with five different sauces that were graded from 1-5 on how spicy they were. I only ended up with a sauce that was rated 2.
https://www.ohmexicorestaurant.com/taco-shop-ocean-drive/
The next plan was to visit Wynwood Walls, which is a very very long walk from SoBe to the art district. Getting an Uber was a far easier option.
Wynwood Walls was right up my street. The area was invested in by Tony Goldman, a rich business owner of Goldman Properties. His aim was to regenerate the area, and make it into an area of culture. Wynwood Walls was opened in 2009 with murals on view that have changed over the years, as artistic inspiration comes and goes. Tickets for the museum were $12 plus sales tax. The art is not limited to the Wynwood Walls, the cultural hub extends beyond with street art at every turn, including the pavements. This hippest of areas also boasts some of the coolest restaurants and bars in Miami.
https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/things-to-do/art-and-culture/explore-the-wynwood-walls-in-miami
We picked up another Uber to get back and decided to go to Wet Willies for a drink. I was amused not just by the name, but by their slogan which is “support global cooling”. Some friends had set up the business in the late 80s with an aim to create a drinking experience that was cool and casual. The frozen daiquiri was their drink of choice and is sold alongside burgers, nachos, salads and wraps. We just went for a daiquiri and enjoyed the people watching from the first floor balcony.
We headed back to the hotel passing lots of people on Muscle Beach at Lummus Park, who were demonstrating their athletic prowess: there were men doing poses on a metal pole, others using other gym bars to practice on, or lifting weights. Definitely a poser’s paradise and great for people watching.
After getting showered and changed, we headed back out. SoBe was so busy because the Superbowl was on, the American football equivalent of the FA Cup. This made us decide to stay at the hotel restaurant, Havana 1957.
https://www.havana1957.com/south-beach/
This is a small restaurant chain with other locations in South Beach. They offer Cuban cuisine and drinks such as classic mojitos. We went for the signature dish, the roasted chicken, described as “A Cuban family recipe of roasted chicken marinated in-house in a delicious Cuban gravy that delivers a delightful citric and Caribbean spices notes. Served with white rice, black beans, roasted premium potatoes and sweet plantains”. It arrived quickly and I felt like one dish could have fed two people. We ate what we could manage whilst watching the Superbowl. Rihanna was also on at half time to give a great performance. The mojitos went down well but we decided to head back to the room to watch the end of the game, where the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. It was a final three point field goal that gave KCC the victory with only seconds remaining. Another great day over.
jctraveller 
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