Miami Director's Blog

By Katie Walmsley, Director

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11 a.m.
A typical hot sunny Miami day. I meet my cameraman, Cameron, and we head down Miami Beach to Dacra -- the offices of Craig Robins.

Miami pre-Craig Robins was a very different place to today. Crime-ridden -- South Beach was basically a tawdry rundown area -- the existence of stylish hotels like the Delano or Shore Club was virtually unknown.

The city had a huge gun and drug crime problem -- in fact 1980s Miami is the inspiration for the Grand Theft Auto "Vice City" video game.

Craig began by buying Art Deco buildings that had gone out of fashion and were going to be demolished, renovating them and creating hotels and bars. Now the Art Deco district has become a unique and distinguishing area that has put Miami on the design and entertainment map of the world.

Dacra is based in the Design District of Miami; another area on the mainland that was previously rundown that Craig transformed into a district full of galleries, design shops and bars that is growing into a new entertainment district.

Craig pulls up in his Aston Martin and takes us to our first location -- an outside "garden lounge" designed by Enzo Enea -- which is meant to feel like you are sitting in a Japanese forest.

12 p.m.
We go into the Moore Space. This was one of the first buildings to be renovated in the Design District and is home to an art collection; much of which has been gathered by Robins. It is mostly contemporary and includes some amazing giant black and white photos of pre-Robins Miami -- glimpses of which you can still see if you know where (or where not) to drive.

Craig follows this by showing us around Dacra's offices which comprise of an art space with more pieces that he has collected. These include a woolly mammoth covered in cupcakes, a concave silver ping pong table and a kind of warped llama. He definitely has an eye for unique pieces.

1 p.m.
We carry on through some of the design shops in the area. This includes one of the most well known; Holly Hunt, which is a beautiful store from which I want pretty much everything.

2 p.m.
We get into Craig's Aston Martin (this involves me literally lying horizontally on the tiny shelf-like back seat) and drive across to South Beach. We stop and walk along the beachfront as Craig shows us South Beach's famous Ocean Drive buildings -- the original Art Deco area. One of the first Art Deco hotels along this strip to become well known was The Tides, part of Craig's development empire.

We walk through the streets of South Beach and reach The Marlin. This was the first hotel Craig bought and developed and he remembers when he first heard it was attracting interest from all around the world. It literally began a trend that has spawned the reputation of the entire area and is now only one of the smallest of the mega hotels that have sprung up.

3 p.m.
We reach Aqua, Craig's latest development - an island in the middle of the Intercoastal designed for your "ultimate lifestyle." It must be amazing to live on a tropical island in the middle of a big city -- this is where Craig's house is and we look around at more of the pieces he's collected. He must have the best and biggest collection of retro furniture in the world.

4 p.m.
We wrap with Craig after getting a pretty good impression of how much that distinguishes and defines Miami as a city today is down to his original desire to protect and develop its Art Deco heritage, and drive around the city a little more to get some of the more famous shots of its skyline from various angles, including a shot while driving over the bridge that has the most spectacular view of downtown.

5 p.m.
We wrap and sit in Miami's notorious rush hour traffic for the next hour -- which is wonderful. Craig later calls to say thanks for everything and gets a big gold star as the only Scene participant ever to say thank you to us!

Dutch to use full-body scans for U.S. flights The Netherlands said Wednesday it will begin using full body scanners on all passengers taking flights to the United States, following the attempted terrori ...

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