Gonzalo Barr

Forbes published their list of the ten most expensive cities in the US and Miami came in sixth.  The study used a “basket of goods” to measure the cost of living in each city.  The basket included rent, the cost of groceries and eating out at a variety of restaurants, as well as others.

The complete list of the ten most expensive cities in the US, in order of most to least expensive, is (1) New York, (2) Los Angeles, (3) White Plains, NY, (4) San Francisco, (5) Honolulu, (6) Miami, (7) Chicago, (8) Boston, (9) Houston, and (10) Washington.

Photo:  Gonzalo Barr, Two Old Men on Calle Ocho; Source: “America’s Most Expensive Cities,” forbes.com (Oct. 7, 2009)

Today is the first day of autumn. Some people claim that Miami has only two seasons — an extended summer and a few days of very mild winter. This is not true. We have all four seasons, at least that’s what the calendars say.  You can see for yourself.

Here’s Lincoln Road on South Beach in the winter (I especially like the space heaters for when it dips below seventy degrees in the evenings) –

and Calle Ocho in the spring –

Here’s Key Biscayne in the summer –

and Lincoln Road, once again, in autumn –

See?  All four seasons.

Told you.

All photos:  Gonzalo Barr 2006-2008

Someone once told me that Miami has the greatest number of Royal Poincianas (Delonix regia) in the world. I have not been able to verify that fact, though they do seem to be everywhere. And now that it is June, they have bloomed in beautiful reds.

I couldn’t post about poincianas without giving you two versions of the eponymous song. Here are The Four Freshman in a 1952 rendition of “Poinciana,” followed by a jazzier rendition by Dominican pianist, Michel Camilo, and his trio live in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico.

Photos: Gonzalo Barr, article on Royal Poincianas, Wikipedia

No “other” Miami exists, of course. There are many Miamis besides South Beach and Brickell, and the Grove. My friend, Manny Meland, writing for the local ezine, Miami Art Zine, covers Jimbo’s Fishing Camp on Virginia Key in the bay.

Jimbo’s is dubbed a “camp,” but it is more accurately an open-air bar and cantina, a throwback to the 1950s, when the city depended on tourism from the north during the winter months and pretty much went to sleep the rest of the year. It was a time when people did not lock their doors, a time when Miami was una aldea con luz (an electrified hamlet) as older Cubans called it after they first arrived in the late 1950s, early 1960s. It was also a time of counterculture types who lived on their boats or on one of the many still undeveloped keys and islets in the bay, even if they lived without electrical power. I can remember the settlements — mostly beached boats and tents — on Fisher Island in the 1960s. Now, you can’t find a studio on the Island for under a million dollars.

Jimbo’s may be a throwback, but that doesn’t mean the octogenarian owner does not have his own website with musical soundtrack. According to the website, Jimbo’s has several film and photography credits –

The lagoon next to Jimbo’s was the site of filming for Sixties-era television shows Flipper and Gentle Ben.

Jimbo’s movie credits include scenes from True Lies, a 1994 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; and Blood and Wine, a 1997 film starring Jack Nicholson. The film crew for 1983s Porky’s II built a riverboat in the lagoon behind Jimbo’s.

Jimbo’s has been the site of countless fashion and music video shoots. Mariah Carey shot her first album cover there.

I’ve never been to Jimbo’s. I didn’t even know it existed until Manny told me about it over dinner recently. But before it disappears, my fiancée and I will be meeting the Melands next Sunday at Jimbo’s. I understand there is nowhere to sit (you don’t want to sit on the sofa) and if you want a drink (i.e. beer), you reach into a barrel with ice and pick a can. That’s as far removed culturally from nearby vodka-martini-swilling South Beach as you can get.

Photo: Manny Meland with harmonica and pianist Billy Georgette ready to hootenanny, Chris Meland, Miami Art Zine; Source: miamiartzine.com, kafka-franz.com

This morning, we awoke to find our city shrouded in fog.  Fog is an unusual sight here, something akin to seeing an eclipse.  Here are some pictures I took early this morning:

At the Coconut Grove marina –

On I-395 toward South Beach –

On Watson Island, facing west, toward Downtown –

“The Republic” is what I call Miami.  It is where I was born, where I grew up, and where I live.  It is an affectionate term that I use to underline the fact that Miami is a unique place, unlike any other in the world, beautiful too.

Photos:  Gonzalo Barr