Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
305-673-3373;
www.pelicanhotel.com
; 826 Ocean Dr; r $165-425, ste
$295-555; )
When the owners of Diesel jeans purchased the Pelican in 1999, they started scouring gar-
age sales for just the right ingredients to fuel a mad experiment: 30 themed rooms that
come off like a fantasy-suite hotel dipped in hip. From the cowboy-hipster chic of 'High
Corral, OK Chaparral' to the jungly electric tiger stripes of 'Me Tarzan, You Vain,' all the
rooms are completely different (although all have beautiful recycled-oak floors), fun and
even come with their own 'suggested soundtrack.'
Sense South Beach
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
305-538-5529;
www.sensesobe.com
;
400 Ocean Dr; r $300;
)
The Sense is fantastically atmospheric - smooth white walls disappearing behind melting
blue views of South Beach, wooden paneling arranged around lovely sharp angles that feel
inviting, rather than imposing, and rooms that contrast whites and dark grays into straight
duochromatic cool. Pop art hangings and slender furnishings round out the MacBook-
esque air.
Mondrian South Beach
RESORT
305-514-1500;
www.mondrian-miami.com
;
1100 West Ave; r/ste from
$329/430; )
Morgan Hotel Group hired Dutch design star Marcel Wanders to basically crank it up to 11
at the Mondrian. The theme is inspired by
Alice in Wonderland
(if it had been penned by
Crockett from
Miami Vice
) - columns carved like giant table legs, chandelier shower-
heads, imported Delft tiles with beach scenes instead of windmills, and magic walls with
morphing celebrity faces (perhaps because the morphing nature of celebrity is what fuels
South Beach's glamour?). Oh, and there's a private island (naturally).
Hotel Victor
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
from $335/505; )
The Victor wins - the 'hot design' stakes, that is. And the 'fishtanks full of jellyfish' com-
petition. And the 'damn that room is fly' pageant too. Designed by L Murray Dixon in
