womantraveler

Gator 0, Python 0

Hurricanes aren't the only threat of the moment in South Florida. The Wall Street Journal's Evening Wrap reports today that an overzealous python should have considered bite-size portions before trying to gulp down that alligator. And we quote: "Meanwhile, in the Everglades, authorities found a 13-foot python that had burst open while trying to swallow a six-foot alligator whole. Released into the wild by bored pet owners, big pythons have proliferated in the area lately and are battling the alligators for supremacy. So far, that battle is a draw."

When you're skimming across the Everglades in those airboats, don't dangle your toes in the water.

The Fab Five Hotels in South Beach

South Beach Magazine in Miami Beach has declared the fab five top boutique hotels in its annual ratings by readers and staff. Focus on upscale, access to beach, and trendy decor. As the South Beach season begins after Thanksgiving when the hurricane threat is down, it's good to plan and book now (everyone else is) as the hot spots get taken very quickly.

Reinventing South Beach Art Deco

Miami Beach Art Deco hotels have been reinventing themselves since the 1920s, when they first captured the romance and sophistication of Depression Era indulgence. Big stars performed in uptown clubs, and color everywhere -- pastels outside and bright hues inside -- was the background for glamour. Now the latest hotel grand re-opening is The Victor. In 1980, the Victor's original restoration became a symbol of the potential for a revitalized Art Deco District that by the 1990s again became one of the hottest and most stylish tourism spots in the world.

Ocean Drive was thick with Yiddish and Spanish, decaying residential hotels, and boarded-up properties when entrepreneurs Margaret Doyle, Andrew Capitman, their artistic young friends, and historical preservation colleagues in Miami Beach began giving new life to the the Art Deco District in the late 1970s. Louis Miller built the Victor in 1937 and occupied the penthouse. Tenants were middle-class Jews, food was kosher, and an orchestra played for dinner -- at which women wore long dresses.