Miami, FL residents: I have some odd questions

[PunditLisa]

I have a few odd questions about Miami for a creative writing exercise. I didn't pick the setting and I don't have the cash to take a trip to Miami, so I appreciate your expertise.

a) What area/neighborhood in Miami is considered the "worst" area for a tourist to accidentally venture into because of drug activity/gangs? It would be the equivalent of Harlem in NYC. Opa Looka? Hialeah?

b) Are there any exits off a major road (such as I-95) where a driver would find herself in an industrial area (e.g. warehouses) that would be uninhabited on a weekend?

c) If you were walking along Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour at night, would you be able to hear/see the ocean?

d) Is Crandon Park a place where a person would go and hit the beach on a beautiful day? If not, what's a nice public beach within a half hour or so from Kendall?

I've actually spent quite a few hours researching Miami on the internet, but I couldn't find the answers to these questions. Frommers just doesn't hae a "crappy neighborhoods" section.

Thanks for your input.

[Nava]

Hialeah is bad to get lost in if you don't speak Spanish. And getting lost there is very easy.

Anyway, why would you want to go to Hialeah? Nothing to do there unless you want to go see the Jai-Alai (which gives the town its name, Hialeah is just an anglo's spelling of "Jai-Alai").

Miami is about as un-touristy a town as I've ever been in...

[UntouchedTakeaway]

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

I have a few odd questions about Miami for a creative writing exercise. I didn't pick the setting and I don't have the cash to take a trip to Miami, so I appreciate your expertise.

a) What area/neighborhood in Miami is considered the "worst" area for a tourist to accidentally venture into because of drug activity/gangs? It would be the equivalent of Harlem in NYC. Opa Looka? Hialeah?

b) Are there any exits off a major road (such as I-95) where a driver would find herself in an industrial area (e.g. warehouses) that would be uninhabited on a weekend?

c) If you were walking along Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour at night, would you be able to hear/see the ocean?

d) Is Crandon Park a place where a person would go and hit the beach on a beautiful day? If not, what's a nice public beach within a half hour or so from Kendall?

I've actually spent quite a few hours researching Miami on the internet, but I couldn't find the answers to these questions. Frommers just doesn't hae a "crappy neighborhoods" section.

Thanks for your input.

It's been a number of years (more than 10), but the "Liberty City" area of Miami is not exactly a bastion of tourist comfort. That's NW 8th Street (I think) exit off of I-95 - the Miami Arena exit. I clearly remember seeing a concert there & seeing off-duty police lining the exit.

Things may have changed.

VCNJ~

[BwanaBob]

Crandon Park was once a nude beach if memory serves (70's?)
Not sure about it today.

[Scruloose]

Originally Posted by Veuve_ClicquotNJ

It's been a number of years (more than 10), but the "Liberty City" area of Miami is not exactly a bastion of tourist comfort. That's NW 8th Street (I think) exit off of I-95 - the Miami Arena exit. I clearly remember seeing a concert there & seeing off-duty police lining the exit.

Things may have changed.

VCNJ~

I lived in a high-rise right next door to the Miami Arena from '97-'99, and that was not a nice place to be. Facing north from the 13th floor, we had a wonderful view of Overtown, and could watch the crack dealers and hookers do their thing night after night. It's also the only place where I've ever witnessed one of those wild police car chases. The chase, as I learned later on the news, ended with the police killing the suspect in a gunfight.

For the OP - here's a Google map of the area. The starting point is the high-rise I lived in, and the ending point is Overtown. You can see the Miami Arena just to the south. If you look at the satellite pic, you can get an idea of the exits in the area. http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=14...,0.019956&om=1

[BrainGlutton]

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

b) Are there any exits off a major road (such as I-95) where a driver would find herself in an industrial area (e.g. warehouses) that would be uninhabited on a weekend?

Yes, but none comes to mind (I haven't been living here very long). Several such exist off the Florida Turnpike, which runs north-south through the west part of the city.

[PunditLisa]

Thanks everyone for your input. Very helpful. Didn't know that Crandon used to be a nude beach. That'll help the creative juices.

BrainGlutton, can you be more specific as to where these areas are? Also, do you know of a nice public beach in Miami?

[John Carter of Mars]

It's been some years since I lived in Miami, as some of us natives had the good fortune to leave, but maybe I can help with a few things:

Originally Posted by Punditlisa

a) What area/neighborhood in Miami is considered the "worst" area for a tourist to accidentally venture into because of drug activity/gangs? It would be the equivalent of Harlem in NYC. Opa Looka? Hialeah?

The overtown area, complete with the maps provided by Scruloose, above, would be the ideal place to have your character wander off an interstate at the "WRONG EXIT". BTW, it's spelled Opa-Locka.

Originally Posted by Pundit lisa

[b) Are there any exits off a major road (such as I-95) where a driver would find herself in an industrial area (e.g. warehouses) that would be uninhabited on a weekend?

There's a large industrial area off of the Palmetto bypass, maybe near Hialeah

Originally Posted by Punditlisa

c) If you were walking along Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour at night, would you be able to hear/see the ocean?

Most certainly, in the spaces between the condos and hotels.

Originally Posted by Punditlisa

d) Is Crandon Park a place where a person would go and hit the beach on a beautiful day? If not, what's a nice public beach within a half hour or so from Kendall?

Great public beach. You might make it there from Kendall in 30 minutes, but don't have your character doing it during a rush hour. Maybe allow 45 minutes to be safe.
As for Crandon once being a nude beach, that was only to a limited extent; a certain part of Crandon Park. Crandon has always been the family weekend beach destination.
Virginia Beach, across Bear Cut from Biscayne Key, has a great history. In the days of racial segregation, Virginia Beach was the "Colored" beach. After that was over, people who favored bathing nude started using Virginia Beach and since they didn't bother anybody the PTB turned a blind eye to that practice for several years.
It was once also the Spot of Choice for teenage beer & pot parties, back in the day. (Not that I'd know much about that) Don't know what's going on at Virginia Beach these days, but if history's any indication, something is happening there.

[PunditLisa]

Thank you very much, John. If you ever want to know about Cincinnati, aka the cultural mecca of the barely restrained world, please let me know.

[John Carter of Mars]

PS: If you're looking for a public beach easily accessable from Kendall, Matheson Hammock is a couple of miles south of the causeway that leads to Crandon Park, and it's a very nice public beach with concession stands, picnic areas, etc.

[Huerta88]

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

I have a few odd questions about Miami for a creative writing exercise. I didn't pick the setting and I don't have the cash to take a trip to Miami, so I appreciate your expertise.

a) What area/neighborhood in Miami is considered the "worst" area for a tourist to accidentally venture into because of drug activity/gangs? It would be the equivalent of Harlem in NYC. Opa Looka? Hialeah?

Not even close.

Liberty City or Overtown.

b) Are there any exits off a major road (such as I-95) where a driver would find herself in an industrial area (e.g. warehouses) that would be uninhabited on a weekend?

I-95 runs reasonably close to Downtown Miami, which, North of the Miami River, is fairly deserted in itself at night or on a weekend. I would pick a warehouse or dockyard, on the North or South bank of the River (lots of tramp freighters dock there to take scrap to poor Caribbean nations) for a spooky, uninhabited location at night or on a Sunday.

If not, what's a nice public beach within a half hour or so from Kendall?

Miami Beach itself is not that much further from Kendall. Other than that -- Matheson Hammock might qualify, though it's more lagoon than oceanfront.