Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
great deal of tolerance for alternative lifestyles. Maybe because just choosing to live out
here is an alternative lifestyle decision.
The search for an alternative lifestyle, plus geographic isolation, led many gay people to
Key West. Richard Heyman, who was mayor of the city from 1983-85 and 1987-89, was
one of the first openly gay mayors of an American city. The
Key West Citizen
has even ar-
gued that, in regards to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual) politics, Key West is
essentially post-sexual identity. Anything has gone for so long that nothing (between con-
senting adults) is off limits.
Florida's Division of Cultural Affairs (
www.florida-arts.org
) is a great resource for statewide
arts organizations and agencies. Their Florida Artists Hall of Fame memorializes the Sun-
shine State's creative legacy.
The Arts in South Florida
Art, music and literature permeate South Florida's daily life. Because this region has a
pretty face, many people think it has a correspondingly shallow mind. The stereotype isn't
fair. Because what makes South Florida beautiful, from the bodies on the beach to the
structure of the skyline, is diversity. The energies of the Western Hemisphere have been
channeled into this Gateway to the Americas, and a lot of that drive is rooted in creativity
and a search for self-expression.
This artistic impulse tends to derive from the immigrant experience - which this region
has in spades - and the pain of exile. Living in a country where you can't be arrested for
public expression helps too, as does the flush of financial success and the frustration of be-
ing shut out of the often callous American dream. Miami's greatest quality, her inborn tol-
erance for eccentricity, is at the root of such public innovations as the Arab fantasy-land
architecture of Opa Locka, the modernistic design of the Art Deco Historic District and the
condominium-lined skyscraper corridors of Brickell.
In addition, there is always a sense of the possible coupled with the fantasy of excess.
Plenty of people dismiss Coral Gables and the Vizcaya as gauche and tacky, and through
modern eyes they may appear as such. But they were revolutionary for their time. During
the early 20th century, concepts such as a Mediterranean revival village that served as a
bulwark against sprawl, or an Italianate villa carved out of the seashore, would not have
flown in the aesthetically conservative Northeast, but they found legs here.
