City Life Guru

01/06/2025

Things to do in Miami. January, Part 2

Through Feb. 9. Head to the Hampton House, a Green book hotel in the Jim Crow era, where guests included Martin Luther King, Jr., Josephine Baker and Muhammad Ali. Originally named the Booker Terrace Motel, this two-story, 50-room Miami Modern-style inn is the perfect location for the art exhibit Invisible Luggage that explores themes of displacement and freedom through the lens of 50 contemporary artists such as Marina Abramovic, Ming Smith, Suzanne Jackson, Cecilia Vicuña, Hugo McCloud, and Frank Bowling.

Guru Tip: Great spot to bring visitors. The rooms are decorated as though frozen in time, and the gorgeous Rubell Museum is 5 minutes away.

📍4240 NW 27th Ave.
Historichamptonhouse.org

January 18-19. Head to Fairchild Tropical Garden for a Weekend of Chocolate with tastings, a Spice Seminar and 21+ Chocolate & Spirits pairings like a mini chocolate cocktail flight with bourbon.
Guru tip: That week Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus align so it is the perfect place to stay after hours and star gaze.

📍10901 Old Cutler Road
Fairchildgarden.org

January 22nd. A night at the museum exclusively for adults (21+) nightLAB is launching at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Downtown Miami. How old were you the last time you had hands-on science interactions?

📍1101 Biscayne Blvd.
Frostscience.org

January 24th. Head to La Bibliothèque for a French Wine Night where you can choose from 12 wines selected by our favorite Sommelier Nevin Kumar. We love this concept where you learn about every wine but only are charged for those you choose. Price per pour starts at $4.

📍1295 Coral Way
Resy.com

January 25th. For a Dry January alternative head to a “Nightcap at JoJo Tea”. Miami-born JoJo Tea hosts a Nightcap session every last Saturday of the month. Enjoy 10 pours from all over the world plus snacks like dumplings while enjoying music from artists Madlib and MF Doom.

📍620 NE 76th Street

01/04/2025

Things to do in Miami, January

January is the start of the Polo Season at the National Polo Center in Wellington. Tickets start at $35 and you can see matches on January 5, 12, 19, 26 and throughout February. Go to nationalpolocenter.com for more information. The Winter Equestrian Festival runs through March and you can get tickets at wellingtoninternational.com

Guru Tip: Make a reservation at A La Cruz Argentine restaurant in Wellington. The owner is from Tucuman and makes the best empanadas and lomito sandwiches in Florida.

Lincoln Road Hustle, literally takes place up and down the iconic road. This immersive theater experience, brought to life by writers Billy Corben and Harley Elias, takes the performances across restaurants, shops and public spaces, inviting the audience to engage with dynamic characters in real time. This homage to Miami involves high-stakes real estate deals, daring art heists and an unexpected love story.

Guru Tip: If you are going with friends purchase the tickets together as the audience will be divided into small groups. Make reservations around the corner at Paya, the restaurant everyone is talking about owned by Chef Niven Patel the owner of Ghee and Erba.
📍Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road
Miaminewdrama.org

Jan 5. Start the new year at the gorgeous Patch of Heaven Sanctuary in Homestead. Experience in nature this four-hour retreat where you will create your own Sankalpa or intentional year ahead by taking part in the Earth Sky Body Scan and Yoga Nidra a deep yogic sleep for deep spiritual connection. Tickets start at $111
📍21900 SW 157th Ave
Eventbrite.com

January 15th. The Faena Theater Jazz Series 2025 brings six extraordinary evenings of live music to the intimate and glamorous Faena Theater. Produced and curated by GRAMMY®-nominated record producer Rachel Faro, this year’s lineup celebrates a diverse range of jazz talent from across the globe. The series opens with a historic collaboration between GRAMMY®-winning saxophonist and composer Paquito D’Rivera and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
📍Faena Theatre
Faena.com





🎬 .fiorentino

01/04/2025

Things to do in Miami, January

January is the start of the Polo Season at the National Polo Center in Wellington. Tickets start at $35 and you can see matches on January 5, 12, 19, 26 and throughout February. Go to nationalpolocenter.com for more information. The Winter Equestrian Festival runs through March and you can get tickets at wellingtoninternational.com

Guru Tip: Make a reservation at A La Cruz Argentine restaurant in Wellington. The owner is from Tucuman and makes the best empanadas and lomito sandwiches in Florida.

Lincoln Road Hustle, literally takes place up and down the iconic road. This immersive theater experience, brought to life by writers Billy Corben and Harley Elias, takes the performances across restaurants, shops and public spaces, inviting the audience to engage with dynamic characters in real time. This homage to Miami involves high-stakes real estate deals, daring art heists and an unexpected love story.
Guru Tip: If you are going with friends purchase the tickets together as the audience will be divided into small groups. Make reservations around the corner at Paya, the restaurant everyone is talking about owned by Chef Niven Patel the owner of Ghee and Erba.
📍Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road
Miaminewdrama.org

Jan 5. Start the new year at the gorgeous Patch of Heaven Sanctuary in Homestead. Experience in nature this four-hour retreat where you will create your own Sankalpa or intentional year ahead by taking part in the Earth Sky Body Scan and Yoga Nidra a deep yogic sleep for deep spiritual connection. Tickets start at $111
📍21900 SW 157th Ave
Eventbrite.com

January 15th. The Faena Theater Jazz Series 2025 brings six extraordinary evenings of live music to the intimate and glamorous Faena Theater. Produced and curated by GRAMMY®-nominated record producer Rachel Faro, this year’s lineup celebrates a diverse range of jazz talent from across the globe. The series opens with a historic collaboration between GRAMMY® -winning saxophonist and composer Paquito D’Rivera and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music
📍Faena Theatre
Faena.com

12/18/2024

Last week George Neary led our tour of MiMo historically designated buildings in Miami Beach’s North Shore. Attendees learned about the origins of MiMo architecture and what details to look out for in identifying these buildings.

George is an encyclopedia of Miami history and architecture having served as Executive Director of the Miami Design Preservation League and later as Associate VP of Cultural Tourism at the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. He enthusiastically continues to promote the city as President & CEO of Tours “r” Us, focusing on tours of historic communities: the historic Art Deco District, MiMo resort architecture, Wynwood, Miami Design District, Little Havana, Little Haiti, Downtown Miami and Overtown.

Go to citylifeguru.com to see our interview and learn what it was like to be part of the team that created Miami Beach Pride. Discover how Art Basel started developing their art fair in our city and how Miami became America’s vacation destination.

12/18/2024

Within the first few minutes of meeting George we knew we were in for a treat. No one knows “Miama” like George Neary. He has been integral in preserving and promoting Miami institutions for decades. Currently serving on the Board of the Ancient Spanish Monastery, we were lucky to meet him at this gorgeous building for our interview.

For seven years he served as Executive Director of the Miami Design Preservation League and then spent twenty years as Associate VP of Cultural Tourism at the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. He enthusiastically continues to promote the city as President & CEO of Tours “r” Us, focusing on tours of historic communities: the historic Art Deco District, MiMo resort architecture, Wynwood, Miami Design District, Little Havana, Little Haiti, Downtown Miami and Overtown.

See our complete interview and learn what it was like to be part of the team that created Miami Beach Pride. Discover how Art Basel started developing their art fair in our city and what Miami was like in the 70s and 80s before it became glitzy destination.

Join us on Saturday when George will be leading a walking tour of MiMo buildings on the North Shore of Miami Beach. Go to the link above to purchase tickets or go to Eventbrite.com. All proceeds will go to Ayuda Miami a nonprofit that has been helping at-risk families in South Florida for over 40 years.

12/07/2024

Miami Art Week is usually associated with the rich and famous, but there are many free events that have equally impressive exhibits. Every year presents a series of award winning public works but this year families have been congregating at sunset to enjoy three amazing installations that change if you see them by day or at night.

On the beach behind the hotel you will find the sails of a buried Spanish galleon “Seletega” crafted by Alaskan artist Nicholas Galanin of Alaska. His great-grandfather was a totem carver, his father a jewelry maker, he was raised in a native community of traditional artists.

Steps away is the installation created by our beloved art Guru Carlos Betancourt in collaboration with Alberto Latorre and the Miami Reef Line. “The Miami Reef Star, Star Compass” is a cluster of illuminated prototypes forming a giant star shape that highlights the relationship between the cosmos and the oceans. This is a model of the natural reef project that will be built on the ocean floor from South Beach to Bal Harbour creating one of the largest reefs in the world. At night it lights up on like stars in the sky and it is truly magical.

Just 100 yards north you will find a migrating herd of 100 life-size elephants. Crafted in the Nigiri hills of Southern India, each elephant is made with Lantana w**d and is a faithful replica of a real elephant known by name and personality by their indigenous creators.

12/06/2024

The world’s leading galleries present the highest quality of paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, digital works and more. Thanks to our membership, we were fortunate to have an invitation to the vernissage of Art Basel where we explored 286 galleries, spanning 38 countries and territories in the first edition of the show under director Bridget Finn.
This year’s trends include works that tackle issues of the day: social history and identity, gender and oppression. It was impossible to name a favorite, but the thrill of strolling through the aisles of masterpieces was only matched by the people watching. This season’s Art Basel was epic. But that was not all….
We then took our shoes off and walked 10 blocks on the beach to the exhibits behind the Faena. Stay tuned for our next post.

12/05/2024

Where else in the world can you walk on the sand and arrive at a gorgeous art fair with beautiful views of the ocean? Untitled is the quintessential contemporary art fair with interesting artists from around the world.

Originally from Poland and now living in Miami, Justyna Kisielewicz’s work at la cometa booth sold out in a few hours. Don’t miss her grand colorful depictions of colonialism and nature combined in magical settings.

No Man’s Art Gallery from Amsterdam represented Alan Hernandez from Oaxaca and his dreamlike gigantic sculptures of moths and butterflies alongside beautiful paintings from Sam Samiee from Iran.

Fountainhead Art alumnae Dach&Zephir originally from Guadaloupe and Paris had an elegant installation composed by baskets and seeds depicting the heritage of the French West Indies.

And finally we all wish we could own one of the “natural” desert landscapes by Sol Summers, an L.A. based artist debuting his first solo show this week at Untitled.

12/04/2024

Every year we look forward to visiting Design Miami and discovering award-winning objects and exhibitors. This year under Glenn Adamson’s curatorial theme, Blue Sky, the fair offers a truly global forum of design and is a celebration of imagination.
We loved the intricate tapestries at Mindy Solomon’s space and the vases at the Southern Guild from South Africa.

Guru Tip: There is a free trolley that goes around Miami Beach. You will walk enough at the fair.

12/04/2024

Art Miami is one of longest running contemporary art fairs. Over the years the galleries here have gotten less serious and more glitzy and so have the attendees, so put on your walking shoes get ready for some of the best people watching in town.

Guru tip: the building is on the waterfront so head to the back and find the outdoor bar with gorgeous views over the water.

12/04/2024

12/03/2024

We loved last night’s opening of Invisible Luggage at the Historic Hampton House. Curated by
Beth Rudin DeWoody,
Maynard Monrow, Laura Dvorkin, Zoe Lukov and Auttrianna Ward with work from over fifty artists.

If you haven’t been to the Historic Hampton House this week is the perfect opportunity. Featured in the movie One Night in Miami, segregation laws would prevent people of color from staying in Miami Beach so they would travel “over-town” to Brownsville where they were welcome. In 1964, Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston and claimed his first heavyweight title. You can see the room he stayed in that night and explore this modernist style inn. What a way to begin Miami Art Week.

At City Life Guru we go first, so you know that if we recommend these events they are worth your time and money. For more ideas and recommendations go to citylifeguru.com

11/30/2024

Welcome to Little River, the best kept secret in Miami. Here you will find a gorgeous vintage furniture store two blocks away from a swanky steakhouse with an outdoor bar under a Banyan tree. Or choose a vegetarian restaurant where grandmothers do the cooking. Shop at the most organized thrift store with its own vinyl lounge. Visit a colorful Brazilian clothing store, a store that works with a women’s cooperative in Mexico and a store that carries small brands from Latin America. Choose Vietnamese, Mexican or Argentine food for lunch and end the day at a wine bar decorated with vintage furniture while you enjoy charcuterie and cheese plates. Follow the link or go to citylifeguru.com to read our Guru Guide Little River and discover our guides to other unique neighborhoods in South Florida: Little Haiti, Upper East Side, Miami Shores, Bay Harbor Island’s, SoSo in Palm Beach and Islamorada. Our interviews with local experts give you tips to unique local finds.

11/24/2024

Downtown Miami was energized this weekend with the magic of stories. The Miami Book Fair has something for everyone. For the next six days join the fun downtown and attend panels by your favorite authors. The Stephen King talk was packed yesterday so you may want to get your tickets beforehand at miamibookfair.com

11/23/2024

Could we have better weather for the Miami Book Fair happening downtown this weekend? In Miami our book fair is actually fun and full of activities for the whole family.

This month we introduced you to Asha Elias who wrote this summer’s must read book: Pink Glass Houses. This humorous and surprisingly suspenseful “only in Miami” story reveals what it is like to climb today’s social ladder.

You can attend her panel Ladies Who Live, Love & Laugh along with Lauren Appelbaum and Zibby Owens on Nov 23 at 11 AM. Room 8201 (Building 8, 2nd Floor) 300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132

We will be attending her second panel along with Andrew
Boryga and Melissa Mogollon entitled Debuts From New Miami Stars on Nov 24 at 11 AM. The Pavilion, NE Second Ave. at NE Third St. FL 33132

You can see Asha’s complete interview at citylifeguru.com where you will also find great neighborhood guides to discover new places. Get out there and enjoy the weather.


HarperCollins
Miami New Times

🎬 .fiorentino (IG)

11/21/2024

This week we introduced you to Asha Elias who wrote this summer’s must read book: Pink Glass Houses. This humorous and surprisingly suspenseful “only in Miami” story reveals what it is like to climb today’s social ladder.

We interviewed Asha and learned she graduated in print journalism from University of Miami and is a columnist for New Times. Her literary agent sold her debut novel to HarperCollins in one day because she knew people across the country would be fascinated by this voyeuristic look at the over the top antics of its characters.

Watch our interview to learn why Asha will be part of the Miami Book Fair starting this week. Learn about her new book The Namaste Club that follows a cast of characters at a yoga retreat in Central Florida. And finally, find out Asha’s recommendations for restaurants and shops in her favorite neighborhood Sunset Harbour.

HarperCollins Miami New Times

11/17/2024

Asha Elias wrote this summer's must read book: Pink Glass Houses. In this social satire, mean moms fiercely compete with couture outfits, jewels, cars, parties and donations to see who will become PTA President at Sunset Academy. This humorous and surprisingly suspenseful "only in Miami" story reveals what it is like to climb today's social ladder.

Her debut novel, set in an ultra wealthy neighborhood in Miami Beach, kept everyone guessing if characters were based on reality.
It’s a fun and eerily familiar tale for anyone who has raised kids in South Florida - Newcomer Melody‘s continuous attempts at fitting into the Miami jet-set environment of the PTA crowd at her children's new school.

We interviewed Asha at her house in Miami Beach and learned she graduated in print journalism from University of Miami and is a columnist for New Times, but only began her first novel during Covid. "The spark that led to the characters in Pink Glass Houses was inspired by being a mother to young children. I started noticing that we were getting unnecessarily upset about things like Halloween decorations and bake sales because we were putting all of our efforts that used to be focused on careers and sales into things like the kindergarten Christmas party". We have all attended over the top children's birthday parties in Miami, but her literary agent sold the novel to HarperCollins in one day because she knew people across the country would be fascinated by this satirical, voyeuristic look at the over the top antics of the characters.

Watch our interview to learn why Asha will be part of the Miami Book Fair at the end of November. Learn about her new book The Namaste Club that follows a cast of characters at a yoga retreat in Central Florida. And finally, find out Asha's recommendations for restaurants and shops in her favorite neighborhood Sunset Harbour.

HarperCollins
Miami New Times