By:  Mary Jo Almeida-Shore 

If Jeannie from the old I Dream of Jeannie series had an ornate little bar in that fabulous bottle of hers, we imagine it would resemble The Broken Shaker, the new pop-up bar at the quaint Indian Creek Hotel.  We are also fairly certain that she would never want to leave that bar, in fact, she would probably drag in Major Nelson, her evil brunette cousin and those nosy neighbors and they’d want to stay there too.  

The Broken Shaker is a collaborative effort between the Sydell Group’s Roy Alpert, formerly a consultant for the One Group and Ian Schrager’s Edition Brand, and Elad Svi and Gabriel Orta of the Bar Lab, who brought you masterfully created cocktails at the W South Beach Hotel’s Living Room. The trio physically created the Broken Shaker with their bare hands, designing and building the bar at back of the hotel.  Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Cohen, Erick Winnick, Joe Fava, Henry Richardson, A Keith Powell, Donanne Ramos, Franco Planegonda, Jennifer Post, Kiran Shiva Akal, DJ Hay, Clodagh, Chad Oppenheim, Iran Issa Kahn, & Alison Antrobus

By:   Mary Jo Almeida-Shore 

Innovations in design are just causes for celebration- at the forefront of these are the designers themselves.  Over the course of the past few weeks, we have crisscrossed Miami to fete great designers- from the traditional sense of the word, such as those spotlighted at the Stars of Design Awards at DCOTA; to masters at the art of designing a great deal- such as at the Gilt Insider’s event; to Breguet’s breakthroughs in watch making.  We were fortunate to raise a glass among those who make this town prettier, more stylish, more comfortable and overall a much more enjoyable place to live.  

DCOTA’s Stars of Design Awards 

On Wednesday, February 1, the Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) and Charles S. Cohen, Owner, CEO and President of Cohen Brothers Realty, hosted the Sixth Annual Stars of Design Awards, to highlight the work of some of the design industry’s leading professionals. For the first time, five young designers were recognized as “Stars on the Rise” for having already made a significant mark in the design world.  Read the rest of this entry »

by: Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

Seeing the Light:  Bianca the Delano

On Thursday night, the highly anticipated Italian restaurant, Bianca opened at the Delano Hotel to the delight of over a thousand guests who made their way across the eternal lobby into the restaurant and braved the limestone along the pool for the indoor/outdoor celebration.

While celebrities and VIPs dined inside the restaurant and on the terrace, partygoers enjoyed bites, libations and musical performances by Chris Botti and Little Louie Vega, (strange bedfellows indeed) out by the pool.  Vega’s dance tunes were abruptly halted by Botti’s intoxicating trumpet, which was accompanied by a gorgeous violinist who played in the pool, yes, IN the pool.  The music was captivating, especially when Botti played the theme from Cinema Paradiso, one of our favorite movies of all time.  The performance brought on a melancholy mood which was quickly interrupted by the site of a group of drunken models traipsing through the pool- there are just certain elements of this iconic hotel that will never change.  After which, Little Louie Vega took over again and was joined by Michelle Rodriguez for his second live set. Read the rest of this entry »

by: Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

St. Regis Bal Harbour Opens

The posh St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort & Residences officially opened on Thursday, January 19, with markedly less fanfare. In lieu of a splashy party, guests enjoyed a daytime ribbon cutting ceremony and champagne-sabering, a tradition of the St. Regis brand. The ritual dates back to the time of Napoleon – tres cool.

St. Regis Global brand leader, Paul James, CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership, Sergio Rivera and General Manager, Marco Selva were joined by notables including Bal Harbour Village Mayor, Jean Rosenfield, Christina Getty-Maercks, Susanne Birbragher, Executive Director of Tourism for Bal Harbour, Carolyn Travis, Lea Black and designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, who gathered for the unveiling of the 28th property in the St. Regis portfolio where butlers lined the grand entrance of the resort and residential property that soars above a 1,000 foot stretch of pristine shoreline as Mayor Rosenfield presented Selva with the Key to the Village. Read the rest of this entry »

Athina Marturet, Maestro Marturet, and Christian Meischel

The Adrienne Arsht Center was packed to the rafters on Saturday January 21 for the Miami Symphony Orchestra’s (MISO) annual gala concert, An Evening in Vienna, where more than 3,000 of Miami’s social elite gathered to witness an unprecedented occasion.  On this special evening, the House of Swarovski presented MISO’s Music Director and Conductor Eduardo Marturet, with a one-of-a-kind crystal baton.   Christian Meischel, Swarovski’s project manager, flew in from Austria especially for this momentous occasion, as the baton is the first-ever of its kind.   

Throughout the evening, the charismatic and energetic Marturet, wearing royal blue crystallized Donald Pliner loafers to match the stage lights, encouraged the audience to share in his enthusiasm, which even resulted in a broken baton! Fortunately, said baton was not the Swarovski baton, which had yet to be presented.  The crowd obliged, clapping to the Polka, and dancing to the upbeat tempos, and delighting to the waltzes, and great overtures.  Read the rest of this entry »

We fully expected to be smitten on Saturday night at the YoungArts “An Affair of the Arts” Gala, where one of our favorite actors of all-time, Robert Redford, was honored with the Arison Award.  What we didn’t expect was that we would have the honor of meeting the Sundance Kid and gushing, shamelessly, about the fact that we are lifelong, card-carrying members of the Robert Redford fan club.  The still-gorgeous-as-ever, septuagenarian actor, director, activist and founder of Sundance Institute+ Film Festival humbly listened and even indulged us in a photo- a privilege reserved to very few on that stellar evening.   

Prior to the gala, more than 800 A-list guests, including prominent artists, community leaders, philanthropists and celebrities, gathered for the performance and awards presentation at the historic Gusman Center for the Performing Arts where visual artist and 1986 YoungArts winner Doug Aitken was presented with the Alumni Award; and arts administrator Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, received the YoungArts Leadership Award. Read the rest of this entry »