DK Travel : Miami : History & Culture

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Laroche, Orchid Thief

In 1997, Laroche was fined for poaching with the aid of Native American Seminoles, who are exempt from the law.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas

The first of Florida’s environmentalists, who single-handedly saved the Everglades. She died in 1998, at the age of 108.
Miss Cleo, TV-Telephone Psychic

2002 saw the collapse of the psychic hotline that didn’t employ “genuine” psychics.
Mrs. Jeb Bush

The Florida governor’s wife was caught with $19,000 of undeclared couture in 1999.
Nancy’s Secret Garden, Key West

Imagine entering a timeless world, full of humor and a funky, indefinable Key West aura (see Nancy’s Secret Garden).
Opa-Locka

Despite the rather seamy area it inhabits, “The Baghdad of Dade County” is worth visiting for its 90 or so Moorish-style buildings. They were built here by Glenn Curtiss during the 1920s boom.
Opa-Locka

Another delightful example of the quirky fantasy architecture dreamed up in the 1920s. Unfortunately, the run-down area around is anything but a dream.
Perky’s Bat Tower, Sugarloaf Key

In 1929 one Richter C. Perky, a property speculator, built this awkward structure, designed to be every bat’s dream-home; in exchange, the bats were supposed to rid the area of its voracious mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the bats he imported instantly flew away, while the mosquitoes thrived.
Presidential Election Debacle

Florida became the epicenter of the election in 2000, with the result anything but clear.
Rosie O’Donnell

In 2002, the talk-show hostess came out as a lesbian and championed gay adoptions in the only state to ban them.