Miami Beach today is home to a big contingent of Holocaust survivors and their families. The Holocaust memorial on the corner of Dade Boulevard and Meridian Avenue, across a visitors center, is a complex memorial. From a distance you can see only a huge hand raised to the sky. Up close you can see countless people climbing the arm . . . At night 10 blocks of Ocean Drive are the center of the big party in Miami.
Cafes are full, there are antique cars and neon lights.
In contrast, the area a few blocks away is less photogenic and many of the streets still have the scars of the '70s poor neighborhood. But if you stay in the center streets and be wise and careful, even in South Beach, it's not supposed to be too dangerous . . . Even if you try to relax in downtown Miami, the people are streaming down the small streets and they stop only for a snack and mango juice in a fast-food kiosk. Only a few American public buildings and policemen with whistles remind you that you are still in Florida and not in a main street of a major capital in Latin America . . . Freedom Tower was built in 1925, in the style of a Spanish bell tower and got its name because it was a center for Cuban refugees in the 1960s.