Cafecito & Stories
Stories from the block.
Miami Beach culture, coffee knowledge, and neighborhood guides, written from the counter at 5101 Collins Ave.
Miami Beach StoriesThe Windmill on the Beach
For almost half a century there was a giant Dutch windmill on Collins Avenue, and it may never have pumped a drop.
Read the story · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesBottled Sunshine
The suntan lotion the whole country grew up with started on a kitchen stove right here in Miami Beach.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe Hotel That Glowed
The hotel that announced this city to the world stood on the bay, glowed like a lighthouse, and vanished without a trace.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesWhen a Casino Meant a Swim
The first businesses on this beach were called casinos, and not one of them dealt a single card.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe Two Weeks the Bay Turned Pink
For two weeks in May 1983, eleven islands in Biscayne Bay floated inside rings of bright pink fabric, and the whole city stopped to look.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe First Hotel on the Beach
The first hotel ever built on this beach is still standing at 112 Ocean Drive, and most people walk straight past it.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe cut that made an island: Government Cut, 1905.
The island you see across the water at South Pointe did not exist until somebody cut this beach in half.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe dogs of First Street: the racetrack at the tip of the beach.
For fifty years the loudest corner of this beach sat at the very bottom of Ocean Drive, and it ran on four legs.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe only building on this beach: the 1876 House of Refuge.
For decades there was exactly one building on this entire beach, and it was built for people who had lost their ships.
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Miami Beach StoriesCollins Avenue is named after a farmer who came for avocados.
The man this street is named after did not come here to build a city. He came to grow fruit.
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Miami Beach StoriesWolfie's: fifty years of cheesecake at 21st and Collins.
For half a century the most famous corner on Collins served sandwiches taller than the menu.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe candy-colored lifeguard towers were born from a hurricane.
Those cheerful candy-colored lifeguard towers came out of a catastrophe.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe Art Deco pastels are not original. They were painted in the 1980s.
The famous pastel colors of the Art Deco District are not from the 1930s. One man invented them with paint samples in the late 1970s.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe Beatles played their second Ed Sullivan show from Miami Beach.
The Beatles' second Ed Sullivan Show was not broadcast from a New York studio. It went out live from a hotel ballroom sixteen blocks up Collins from this corner.
Read · 2 min
Miami Beach StoriesThe Roney Plaza: forty years as the grandest address on the beach.
For forty years the most glamorous address on this beach was a hotel that no longer exists.
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Miami Beach StoriesLincoln Road: the road Carl Fisher built, then closed to cars.
The walking street everyone loves was one architect's rebellion against the automobile.
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Miami Beach StoriesEspañola Way: a Spanish village built in 1925 for a land boom.
There's a hidden slice of the Mediterranean two blocks off the ocean, and it has a wild past.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe 1926 hurricane ended the boom and rewrote this beach.
The storm that flattened this beach in 1926 is a big reason it looks the way it does today.
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Miami Beach StoriesWhen the country went dry, this beach got very wet.
When the whole country went dry in 1920, this beach quietly decided it would be the wettest town in America.
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Miami Beach StoriesRosie the elephant: the publicity stunt that sold Miami Beach.
The first celebrity influencer on this beach weighed about two tons and worked for peanuts.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe wide beach you love was pumped there by the Army Corps.
The wide beach you love? People built it.
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Miami Beach StoriesCasa Casuarina: the block Gianni Versace turned into a palace.
A designer turned one Ocean Drive block into a palace.
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Miami Beach StoriesA TV show in pastel suits rebranded this entire beach.
A TV show in pastel suits rebranded this whole beach.
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Miami Beach StoriesOne woman stood in front of the bulldozers and saved the Art Deco district.
One woman stood in front of the bulldozers and saved a square mile of Miami Beach.
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Miami Beach StoriesAl Capone bought a house on the water, right across the bay.
America's most wanted man bought a house on the water here.
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Miami Beach StoriesThe hotel feud that built a wall out of pure spite.
The hotel feud that built a wall out of pure spite, right here on Collins Ave.
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Off the ShelfPringles are not legally chips, and the shape comes from math.
Pringles aren't legally chips, and the shape is borrowed from math.
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Off the ShelfM&M's were built so chocolate could survive a war.
M&M's were built so soldiers could carry chocolate that wouldn't melt.
Read · 2 min
Off the ShelfHäagen-Dazs sounds Danish. It was invented in the Bronx.
Häagen-Dazs sounds Danish but it was invented in the Bronx.
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Miami Beach StoriesA mangrove swamp, three men, and a city on the sand.
A swamp full of mangroves, three men turned it into a city.
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Miami Beach StoriesJoe's Stone Crab: the crab nobody wanted, served on a porch.
The restaurant that put Miami Beach on the map opened as a tiny lunch counter.
Read · 2 min
This Corner TalksCoffee and breakfast near the Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, and Faena.
Big hotel, small cup. Where the Mid-Beach guests actually walk for a cortadito and a warm breakfast.
Read · 4 min
The Cachito FilesWhat is an empanada? The hand-held lunch the whole block agrees on.
Folded, filled, and gone in four bites. The empanada explained, and where to grab one on Collins.
Read · 3 min
Beach Day BasicsThe Mid-Beach beach-day list, and what you always forget.
Sunscreen, water, a cold drink, the charger you left behind. The Mid-Beach beach-day run, sorted.
Read · 3 min
Who Walked HereWho walked here: the golden age of Collins Avenue.
Lapidus curves, Rat Pack nights, a Bond movie by the pool. The block around 5101 Collins used to be the center of the world.
Read · 5 min
Tourists Don't KnowWhat tourists do not know about Mid-Beach.
The quiet beach, the free walk, the coffee locals actually order. Mid-Beach without the South Beach circus.
Read · 4 min
Closing Time StoriesClosing time: late nights and last cafecitos in Mid-Beach.
The night-shift cravings, the after-beach hunger, the last cafecito before the lights go. Mid-Beach after dark, handled.
Read · 3 min
Ask the CounterCortadito, cafecito, colada: Cuban coffee, explained.
Cortadito vs cortado, cafecito vs colada. The little cups that run this city, explained in plain English.
Read · 4 min
The Cachito FilesWhat is a cachito? The breakfast Miami keeps quiet.
Soft, golden, filled with ham and gone in four bites. The case for the cachito, argued daily at our counter.
Read · 3 min
This Corner TalksA local morning in Mid-Beach, from sand to cafecito.
Beach walkers, night shifters, first cafecitos. The block wakes up loud and we keep the receipts.
Read · 4 min
Ask the CounterGroceries and coffee, delivered across Mid-Beach.
Order on WhatsApp, we pack it, it shows up. Groceries, combos, and coffee without leaving the towel.
Read · 3 min
On Instagram
Miami Beach, slide by slide.
The history and the corners most people miss, straight from @greenmarketmiami.
Miami Beach history with a plot twist: for almost half a century there was a giant Dut…
Miami Beach history that touched every American summer: the suntan lotion the whole co…
Miami Beach history they don't put on the postcards: the hotel that announced this cit…
Miami Beach history nobody guesses right: the first businesses on this beach were call…
Miami Beach history you can barely believe happened: for two weeks in May 1983, eleven…
Miami Beach history hiding in plain sight: the first hotel ever built on this beach is…
Miami Beach history they don't put on the postcards: the island you see across the wat…
Miami Beach history they don't put on the postcards: for fifty years the loudest corne…
Miami Beach history you can win a bar bet with: in one single summer, this city hosted…
Miami Beach history, television edition: in 1964 one of the biggest shows in America p…
Miami Beach history that changed everything: in 1942 the hotels on Collins Avenue stop…
Miami Beach history hiding in plain sight: there is a building on Washington Avenue th…