Photo Essay

With notations on history, Downtown Miami, civilization, sandals, beards, and love.

The city of Miami was born one hot summer afternoon the year 1896. Just months earlier, said those who were there, the place was an impenetrable wilderness reigned by reptiles and mosquitos determined to keep humans out. As if by magic, almost overnight, a city emerged, the city of Miami — our Downtown neighborhood.

The Miami Metropolis was Miami’s first Newspaper, May 1896. From HistoryMiami Museum, as published by the book Downtown Miami History.

Downtown Miami residents and stakeholders came together to organize a commemorative Salon, 125 Years of Miami History. Salons are spaces to exchange ideas on art, science and society. Salons are the places where civilizations are made and celebrated. We tend t associate civilizations to epochal movements, empires, traditions like the Judeo-Christian, but the unit of every civilization is the city, and cities are a collage of neighborhoods. The etymology of civilization is civitas, Greek for city and citizen.

SE 2nd Avenue, three buildings dating back to the 1920s. At the time, a developer had dreams of making 2nd Ave. a subtropical version of New York’s 5th Avenue.

History of a Micro Civilization

Part of Miami’s birthday commemoration was the launching of Downtown’s first history, DOWNTON MIAMI HISTORY: Chronicling 125 Years, 1896–2021. Some of our most distinguished public intellectuals, including historian Paul George, architect Allan Shulman, Commissioner Eileen Higgins, and preservationist Christine Rupp contributed, as did journalist Andres Viglucci, biographer George Hurchalla, the legendary newspaperman Howard Kleinberg, business reporter Matilda Kalaveshi, educator Beatriz Gonzalez, and Steve Dutton, Glenda Puente, Islara Souto and Rita Cause.

The book chronicles the evolution of Downtown, which is the evolution of Miami, through its legal system, architecture, through memoirs of people and places, and case studies like one on Bayside Marketplace, and the story of the Pedro Pan Operation, and a incisive investigative report on African Americans in Miami.

Chronicling

For more information and buying the book: dassmiami.com

I found myself with all these elements floating around my desk like isolated stars in search of an orbit. To put them together, I set out to chronicle 125 years of history interspersing all the works contributed. First, I approached incipient Miami through the coverage of the Metropolis, Miami’s first newspaper, and real estate transactions (what can be more Miami, right?) And surveyed the history of our leading cultural institutions, the Arsht Center, PAMM, Frost Science, HistoryMiami, Miami Dade College, adding candid conversations with their leaders.

DOWNTOWN MIAMI HISTORY is not an academic book, but a cultural montage accessible to all.

Beginnings and Ends

The book starts on a remote and humid day in July 1896, as reported by The Miami Metropolis, but it lacked an adequate ending. Serendipity entered the book-making process. I came across the poem Another Beautiful Day in Miami by Campbell McGrath, the celebrated American poet, recipient of the most prestigious awards in American letters, including the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award.” I reached out to Campbell. The poem had not been published, he said, so I was at liberty to publish it. Here is an excerpt to understand why the book had to end this way, and also the Salon — magisterially declaimed by DASS’ own Islara Souto:

“come back, Ponce de Leon, we cannot make you young again, but you might find a good plastic surgeon and a nice condo on Bal Harbor,

come back, young Fernando de Escalate Fontaneda, come back and enroll in our nationally recognized School of Hospitality Management, and you will never have to eat another reptile,

come back, Henry Flagler and Julia Tuttle and Carl Fisher, come back all you builders and hucksters and immigrant believers,

come back to the intoxicatingly beautiful and complex metropolis you dreamed into being, because tomorrow is sure to be another beautiful day in Miami.”

The Salon 125 Years of History was held at Miami Dade College, the Wolfson Campus. Panelists: distinguished historian, Dr. Paul George, HistoryMiami Resident Historian; Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, Dade Heritage Trust’s Executive Director Christine Rupp; and the noted architect and University of Miami Professor Allan Shulman. Moderators: left, TV reporter, Local News Channel 10, Christina Vazquez, and right, Dr. Beatriz Gonzalez, President Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. And a wonderful audience filled the no less lovely MDC Live Arts Miami Theater.

They discussed Julia Tuttle, the businesswoman. Being a pioneer is never easy, and it was not easy for the mother of Miami, and Commissioner Higgins reminded us how difficult sometimes it can be for women to move ahead. Julia Tuttle died only two years after the foundation of Miami, sunken in debt. They discussed the evolution of the judiciary, and the similarities between the population explosions between 1900 and the 1920s and between 2020 and the 2020s, the causes and effects. They discussed the constructed identity and and layered architectural traditions in early Miami, and the importance of preserving historic buildings. They discussed the contributions of women.

Scenes from a Reception

Salons flourished in Europe, especially in Paris of the Enlightenment. Both Benjamin Franklin and President Jefferson were avid attendees while in Paris. Upon returning, Franklin founded a Salon in Philadelphia that was a veritable school for democracy. What Benjamin Franklin liked the best about Salons was the quality of the conversation in a relaxed environment: intellectual fencing allied to the pleasures of life, food, wine, elegance, and a little flirting — the word derives from the French word fleur; flirting is positing flowers on one another.

The Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami

Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, a multi-million, first-of-its-kind Waldorf Astoria Experiential Sales Gallery. At an expansive 11,000 square feet, this is among the largest sales galleries in South Florida, and one of the most technologically advanced. “The space is designed to evoke the essence of an immersive museum, showcasing the world’s most iconic hospitality brand and its commitment to personalized service and best-in-class experiences,” I overheard. “Created to promote the city of Miami, the downtown urban core and life inside the residences, seven activations were designed exclusively for the sales gallery that share an overall message of a new era coming to Miami filled with innovation, elegance and growth.”

The reception took place in this Gallery overlooking Biscayne Bay.

This is the view. No wonder Ponce de Leon wanted to live forever after experiencing the beauty of Biscayne Bay.

The extraordinary history of the Waldorf Astoria as exhibited in this state-of-the-art Gallery.

Some of the storied guests, President Herbert Hoover. Right, Prince Rainer of Monaco and Grace Kelly.

The future tower, the future of Downtown Miami. It will be the tallest tower south of New York.

Three pillars of Miami’s society: business, politics and the media. Left to right, Matthew Martinez; Director, Property Markets Group, Waldorf Astoria; Commissioner Eileen Higgins; TV Reporter, ABC Local News Channel 10, Christina Vazquez; and Diana Quinceno, Vice President of Sales, Waldorf Astoria Residences, Miami.

After the enlightening Salon at Miami Dade College, champagne. A young man, Daniil McLaughlin, and two very intelligent ladies, Elena Bondarenko and Eileen Higgins.

The art of conversation. And the art of photographing and texting.

Eileen Higgins is the Miami-Dade County Commissioner, District 5, which includes Downtown. She is the only elected official from Downtown. Eileen was one of the Salon’s panelists. As always, a learning experience.

The great jazz violinist Federico Britos, winner of multiple Grammy awards. His trio interpreted the entirety of the 20th Century in Jazz.

See Less

This is how Downtown Miami looks like any given day. The Panama hat gentleman is Steve Dutton, a neighborhood leader determined to turn Avenue 3, a historic short street, into a pedestrian culinary destination. On the right end is my sister Ximena, who flew from the North East to join the Salon (that, too, is characteristic of Downtown, visitors, lots of them. They used to come for the beach, now they come for Downtown’s culture. Downtown is South Florida’s cultural epicenter, with world-class museums, a performing arts center second to none, and small and distinctly local organizations such as the Downtown Arts + Science Salon DASSMIAMI.COM) To my left is my my partner at DASS, my beautiful wife Aurea.

Of flowers, purses, dresses, blazers, and smiles.

I am a writer, can’t help inventing thoughts, what used to be called streams of consciousness. Were they thinking? 1. “Beards do add profundity to one’s personality...“ 2. ”She who can’t carry herself graciously in sandals should not drink champagne.” 3. “I can’t think of anything right now, it’s all experiencing. Am I becoming a hedonist?”

“I want to live here, I mean it. I want to live here.”

Touching Moment!

Art, architecture, history, elegance, what an intoxicating cocktail. “Yes, and look at my nails!”

It’s ten. Time to walk back home. Walkability is one of Downtown’ enchantments. Tomorrow is a working day. That could be a good definition of Downtown Miami’s civilization: Work hard and play hard. “But,” she asks, “how do you define playing?” He replied: “Tonight is the perfect example. Intelligent conversation and a little drink, and a little flirting…”

As they walk home, as they enter the night, she recalls a great line by writer Joyce Carol Oates: “In love there are two things — bodies and words.”

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