What is a Florida Icon? Mickey Mouse? Naval oranges? Or our favorite bird—the pink flamingo? You don’t even have to cross the state line to know that these beloved symbols universally represent Florida. But for those of us who grow up here, raise our families here, go to college here, take our first jobs here, […]
The story behind Miami’s most famous mansion, now a boutique hotel for those who want to spend a night among its opulence
Sloane Stephens went to bed late at her New York City hotel on Sept. 7, 2017, dreaming of becoming a Grand Slam champion. The then 24-year-old tennis star, known for turning defense into offense faster than the ball speeds across the net, had defeated Venus Williams on the sport’s biggest stage earlier that day in […]
NORTH BOXWOOD & BIRCH PONTE VEDRA BEACH Bronze bookends, lamb wool throws from Ireland and oversized vases are just a few of the carefully curated items found at Boxwood & Birch, a new venture presented by Constance Riik, the owner of the design firm CSR Interiors. “When I started my design business, over 10 years […]
Think of St. Lucie and think about the smell of freshly cut grass, the warmth of sun on your face after months of unforgiving chill, the sharp crack of a bat connecting with a baseball and the roar from a crowd jumping to its feet as players from the New York Mets race around the […]
Editor’s Note: The Desert Inn Motel was hit by a tractor-trailer in December 2019. The Osceola County Historical Society is currently assessing the damages and reevaluating plans to restore it. I am a sucker for historic markers. Behold, those weighty plaques at roadsides trivializing notable events from a hazy past. To wit, this gem from a crossroads […]
Valentine’s Day, a day that is supposed to revolve around love and romance, now marks the one-year anniversary of one of the deadliest mass school shootings in modern history. On Feb. 14, 2018, 17 people died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a quiet city named one of the state’s safest only days before […]
HOLLY PARKER CURRYEco-Ripper Curry runs the 11 Florida branches of the Surfrider Foundation, an activist group that protects the world’s beaches. She has always loved the sea: growing up the daughter of a Coast Guardsman, she and her family lived near the coasts of Puerto Rico, Guam, Bolivia and Panama. Today, Curry has taken her love […]
Immigration. Drug busts. Gators. Elderly folks. Mar-a-Lago. Old-school theme parks. The list reads like a catalogue of “Florida’s greatest-hits” stereotypes immortalized today in pop culture, movies, books and Netflix series. But 37 years ago, these cultural monuments were just basic realities of life in the Sunshine State. Miami native and National Geographic photographer Nathan Benn […]
