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George Merrick was one of the visionaries who made Florida into what it is; this lavish hotel stands as a monument to his taste and grand ideas. Herculean pillars line the grand lobby, and from the terrace you can survey the largest hotel swimming pool in the country. JohnnyWeismuller, the first movie Tarzan, used to teach swimming here, and the likes of Al Capone, Judy Garland, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came in its heyday. Weekly tours of the hotel and grounds depart from the front desk (see Biltmore Hotel & Biltmore Hotel).

One of the loveliest and most evocative of Merrick’s additions to his exotic vision for Coral Gables. The pool is fed by springs and was the site of at least one movie starring Esther Williams, the 1940s water-ballet beauty (see also Venetian Pool & Venetian Pool).

Merrick’s architectural flights of fancy still add a special grace note to beautiful, upscale Coral Gables. All are private homes, but you can drive by and take in their unique charms (see Merrick’s Coral Gables Fantasies).

In 1940, a developer hyped the town’s main shopping street by naming it Miracle Mile (a mile if you walk up one side and down the other). Colorful canopies adorn shops as prim and proper as their clientele. Buildings of note are Merrick’s Colonnade Building, at 169, with its splendid rotunda; the Doc Dammers’ Saloon, with great photos of old Coral Gables; and, on nearby Salzedo Street at Aragon Avenue, the Old Police and Fire Station, 1939, with square-jawed sculpted firemen.

Greater Miami’s finest art museum boasts solid collections of ancient and modern world art.

This compact, two-story center is the heart of Coconut Grove Village, and features some good shopping, dining, and entertainment. The atmosphere is, in fact, that of a village. People are hanging out, zipping by on in-line skates and bikes, checking each other out. Often live music is happening right in the middle of it all. The main attraction in the evening is probably the multiplex cinema.

One of the most historic and beautiful places in the Greater Miami area; this icon of the city’s cultural life is not to be missed.

Hidden from the highway by a tropical hardwood hammock (mound), this is Dade County’s oldest home. It was designed and built in 1891 by Commodore Ralph Munroe, who made his living as a boat builder and a wrecker (salvager). In fact, wood from shipwrecks was used to build the house, and it was inventively laid out to allow the circulation of air, all-important in those days before air-conditioning. Rooms are stuffed with old family heirlooms, old tools, and wonderful early appliances.

In the 1960s, this was where the Grove hippies grooved, and on weekends now and when there’s a festival, some of the old magic gets temporarily resurrected. The park is named after Charles and Isabella Peacock, who built the area’s first hotel, the Peacock Inn, which at the time was the only hotel between Palm Beach and Key West. The park is now largely a baseball field, and there’s also a rustic Chamber of Commerce building.

The name derives from the early days when settlers had picnics here. In the 1930s, Pan American Airways transformed Dinner Key into the busiest seaplane base in the US. It was also the departure point for Amelia Earhart’s doomed roundthe-world flight in 1937. The airline’s sleek Streamline Moderne terminal houses the Miami City Hall, and the hangars are now mostly boatyards, though one is the famous Monty’s Stone Crab Seafood House and Raw Bar. The marina here is now the most prestigious in Miami, so walk along and enjoy inspecting the yachts berthed here.