Reasons to Visit North Beach
While a visit to North Beach holds plenty of allure for tourists, an unusually high number of Miami-Dade County residents are also attracted to the numerous pleasures it offers. Throughout the past ten years the emerging communities that have settled in the area — Hispanics from every Spanish-speaking country, Europeans, Asians, and Middle Easterners — have brought a new dynamic that has influenced its commercial life. For example, North Beach offers an array of eateries to please the most varied and demanding tastes. Supermarkets, bakeries, bistros, and even ethnic fast food restaurants feature food and drink from all over the world. Everything from delicious churrasco to empanadas, gnocchi, gelato, pad Thai, sushi, and burritos, are all readily available within close proximity. A smattering of retail stores, with more higher-end boutiques expected in the near future, peddle fashions, accessories, and even souvenirs. A significant number of stores and boutiques also sell fashions for every taste .
As if all of this weren’t enough, the beach beckons with its warm blanket of beige sand. Often described as a “hidden treasure,” these beaches are a little less crowded than the ones further south. Opportunities for recreation are numerous via volleyball on the sand at Bandshell Park or from several lushly landscaped community parks with fine tennis and basketball courts and plenty of open areas where anyone can toss a Frisbee without fear of hitting an unsuspecting target. Visitors can enjoy North Shore Open Space Park where before or after taking a swim under the famous Florida sunshine, they can also partake of the plentiful BBQ grills and pavilions, and picnic tables while kiddies play in the, tot lots. Or they can simply jog , walk or ride their bicycles along the cement path beachwalk that stretches from Allison Park to the south side of North Shore Open Space Park. Restrooms and shower facilities are also conveniently available in the Park.
Over the years North Beach has been a preferred spot of not only everyday tourists but also of celebrities. A significant number of hotels, namely in the North Shore Historic Resort District, offer from modest to the most luxurious accommodations for vacationers. It is well-known that in the 1960’s performers such as the Beatles and Frank Sinatra took the stage at the Deauville. And Jackie Gleason, the great American comedian who brought new life to Miami Beach, also during the 1960’s, when he began originating his popular television shows from South Beach, often made the “north end of town” his preferred quarters. Gleason might just have been referring to North Beach when he would utter his trademark saying: “How sweet it is!” In the 1970’s, talk-show host Mike Douglas did a series of broadcasts from Miami Beach, using the North Beach Bandshell as a base for some of the shows.
Reasons to Live in North Beach
North Beach surely possesses marvelous attractions for tourists but they are not its only assets. Other than a visitor’s paradise, North Beach has shown tremendous appeal to the many families who have chosen it because it truly is an ideal environment to raise children, offering the bonus of numerous parks and well-regarded public and private schools. Also, people of many age categories, different socio-economic levels, and multiple ethnicities have made the decision to call North Beach home and avail themselves of the variety of single-family dwellings, rental apartments, and condominiums in every price range.
Still, it seems that no one planning on spending warm winters and sunny summers in South Florida will be forced to select living quarters only from the ample older structures in North Beach. The area has long been targeted by an outstanding group of developers who intend to bring back the glory days when millionaires, celebrities, and members of the upper middle-class not only visited but endeavored to own a primary or secondary home on North Beach. From luxury waterfront town home developments to luxury oceanfront condos, North Beach offers a variety of living options.
Some very high-end buildings have already been constructed and others are on the boards. Numerous capital improvement projects undertaken by the City of Miami Beach are ensuring that infrastructure that has long needed a makeover, such as drainage, gets it. Most interestingly, a number of structures (and infrastructure) that could use a makeover are undergoing an energetic surge of renovation. This push toward progress of all kinds is a positive step that will result in a healthy mix of socio-economic groups that will again populate the kid- and family-friendly sidewalks, gardens and shores of North Beach.
The new development plan encompasses hotels, apartment and condo buildings, single-family dwellings, shops, and public areas like parks and streets. Along the most of the beachfront development heights are low-rise, limited to five or stories or less, so no shadows will be cast upon the sand. Its only in the North Shore Resort District where you will find high rises on the oceanfront and recent zoning changes by the City of Miami will limit future development project to 10 stories along all oceanfront historic districts . What promises to be the perfect blend of progress and history will no doubt appeal to anyone seeking a more graceful, distinctive quality of life.