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Miami Beach Real Estate Home Page > Miami Beach Community > Guidebooks > Miami City Overview

Miami City Overview

Miami is no longer the brash, drug-ridden crime capital of America, made famous in the 1980s television series, Miami Vice. Today’s sprawling metropolis has since been dubbed ‘America’s Casablanca’, the ‘Magic City’ and, more recently, the ‘America of the Millennium’. The third most popular city in the United States for international visitors (after Los Angeles and New York), it is also the most un-American city.

Miami is a place of refuge and dreams for those fleeing South America or the Caribbean, looking for a new start in the land of the free. Over a third of the population does not speak English and, in some areas, only Spanish is spoken. Take a taxi and the radio will typically be playing salsa – the driver will be Colombian, Chilean, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Nicaraguan, Honduran, Haitian… anything but American. As the saying goes: ‘One of the nicest things about Miami… is how close it is to the USA.’

Miami had surprisingly humble beginnings. Located on the far south coast of Florida, perched between a mangrove swamp and a barrier reef, Miami was founded a hundred years ago, when a tycoon called Henry Flagler extended his railroad to carry citrus fruits from the frost-free south. Development was slow until the Florida land boom in the 1920s. During Prohibition years, Al Capone came here when the heat was on in Chicago. After World War II, the Mafia moved in and later, once Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, waves of Cuban refugees arrived. Before long, they had established Miami as the Latin capital of the USA.

Today, Miami is the second largest city in Florida (after Jacksonville) but easily its most exciting, exotic and cosmopolitan. It covers a number of islands and mainland communities collectively known as Greater Miami and the Beaches. Much of Miami’s appeal is due to its diverse neighbourhoods, which range from the big-city, towering skyscrapers of downtown Miami – the commercial heart of the city – to the small-town neighbourhood of trendy South Beach. South Beach is probably most recognisably ‘Miami’ – with its candy-coloured Art Deco buildings set against a pure South Florida backdrop of cloudless skies, dazzling blue ocean, pale sandy beaches and swaying palm trees. However, near the Port of Miami – the largest cruise ship port in the world, which handles more than three million passengers a year – there is also another face of Miami – Little Havana, where the Cuban community still holds sway.

Greater Miami is also an international crossroads of commerce, finance, culture, sports, entertainment, transportation and tourism. Its main source of income is derived from tourism, with Miami Beach world-renowned for its ‘gold coast’ hotel strip, palatial properties and recreational facilities. Its subtropical climate ensures warm weather all year round, with plenty of sunshine.

The city’s real genius, however, is the fact that, in recent years, it has successfully absorbed the different cultures of its multiethnic population and been influenced by them all. The result? Miami is considered the model community for the 21st century and a compelling example of America’s changing face. It is undeniably one of the most exhilarating cities in the country – a peaceful, confident, multicultural metropolis with vibrancy and savoir faire – a fascinating, albeit challenging, ‘City of the Future’ for those who strive to understand its diverse personality.