When Juan Ponce de León (ca. 1460-1521) heard the name Mayaimi, a Tequesta Indian word that could mean “sweet water,” he may have thought he had reached the island holding the Fountain of Youth. In fact, he had landed on a peninsula, and he would never realize his dream of eternal life. Nevertheless, that tantalizing Tequesta word became the name of Florida’s largest urban area. We call it Miami.

Miami-Dade County is a wonderfully cosmopolitan place with strong ties throughout the Caribbean. A majority (over 54%) of the county’s residents were born abroad, according to the 2020 Census, but over 58% of them have earned U.S. citizenship. Especially notable are Miami’s Cuban and Haitian communities.

As often happens when different cultures meet side by side or mix, Miami has become a great city for lovers of the arts and creativity. Here are some of the people and places that make it so amazing!

Ball & Chain (est. 1935), Bar and Live Music Venue

Founded after Prohibition (1920-1933), this watering hole at the southern end of historic Highway 41, which connected Chicago to Miami, began on the right side of the law. But that didn’t last long. The saloon became a gamblers’ den by the 1940s and passed into the hands of a burglar, smuggler, and their associates in the 1950s. It closed in 1958 after underpaying jazz legend Count Basie to the tune of $7900 – today worth approximately $90,000. He won a lawsuit!

Fortunately, more trustworthy patrons of the arts reopened the Ball & Chain in 2014, so the storied bar that hosted Billie Holiday, as well as Count Basie, serves once again as a venue for live music. The house band, the Ball & Chain Trio, performs every afternoon, but it also collaborates with local artists for evening shows. One frequent guest performer is Tal Cohen, a Grammy®-winning jazz pianist. At the modern Ball & Chain, you can not only sip a legal beverage but also relish the sounds of duly compensated local artists.

HistoryMiami Museum (est. 1940)

The Historical Association of Southern Florida founded a museum in 1940 and began publishing the academic journal Tequesta, named after indigenous people of Biscayne Bay, in 1941. The organization reached a major milestone around 2010-2011, when it celebrated its 70th anniversary, changed its name to HistoryMiami, and earned a Smithsonian affiliation. Besides hosting traveling exhibits, HistoryMiami has 30,000 objects and 2 million images in its own collection.

In Tropical Dreams: A People’s History of South Florida and other permanent exhibits, the museum shows relics of prehistoric people from 10,000 years ago, a Seminole canoe, historic photographs of Miami, and the groundbreaking underwater camera from The Sea Around Us, which won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary in 1953.  Occasionally, visitors can enjoy a lecture or guided tour by a regional expert, such as retired navy officer and psychology professor Marvin Dunn (b. 1940), author of A History of Florida Through Black Eyes and other works. HistoryMiami is an essential resource of a fascinating city!

Miami Design Preservation League (est. 1974), Architectural Society

The remarkable buildings of the Art Deco Historic District might not have survived but for the advocacy of Barbara Baer Capitum (1920-1990). As developers tore down architectural wonders in Miami Beach, Capitum founded the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL), gave Andy Warhol a personal tour, traveled the U.S. promoting interest in early twentieth-century architecture, and published Deco Delights: Preserving the Beauty and Joy of Miami Beach Architecture. In 2000, Capitum was honored as a Great Floridian alongside two of the architects whose work she helped to preserve, Henry Hohauser (1885-1963) and L. Murray Dixon (1901-1949). Check out the MDPL’s timeline here!

Honoring Capitum’s legacy, the MDPL continues to organize an annual Art Deco Weekend®, conducts walking tours of Miami Beach neighborhoods, and runs a museum on Ocean Drive. If you visit before November 1, 2025, you can see a special exhibit called Henry Hohauser: Designing Paradise. In the meantime, you can whet your appetite for tropical art deco by rewatching episodes of the Emmy®-winning series Miami Vice.

Books & Books (est. 1982), Independent Bookstore

This independent bookstore in Coral Gables was honored as the Publisher’s Weekly Bookstore of the Year in 2015. By that time, its founder and owner, Mitchell Kaplan, had expanded his business to locations across Miami, as well as the Cayman Islands. Subsequently, Mitchell created The Literary Life podcast and, with his wife, co-founded a company to produce film adaptations of books. Their films include The Man Who Invented Christmas, based on a book by local author Les Standiford.

Since Kaplan has done so much for Miami’s literary scene, book lovers won’t want to miss his store’s list of suggested titles about Miami. You can shop for them in the beautiful 1927 building that Books & Books has occupied since December 2000. Be prepared for a long and enjoyable visit, because the store has floor-to-ceiling shelves throughout 9,000 square feet of space! And don’t worry – if you get hungry while shopping, you can take a break for delicious food from an award-winning chef at the outdoor café!

Miami Film Festival (est. 1984)

Every April, around 45,000 people gather at the majestic Olympia Theater or other venues for the Miami Film Festival (MFF). Over many decades, the festival has awarded prizes worth over $1 million. The festival’s top prize, the MARIMBAS Award, is worth $15,000. The winner of the Made in MIA Feature Film Award gets free access to filmmaking equipment from Panavision, which would ordinarily cost $60,000 to rent.

Support for local filmmakers is growing as the MFF has received new funds for documentaries about South Florida. Called the Louies, the six new awards are worth a total of $100,000, half of which goes to a feature-length documentary. The inaugural winner of the $50,000 prize was Margaret Cardillo’s Jane Chastain: The Untold Story of the Nation’s First Female Sportscaster. Chastain worked for WTVJ in Miami from 1969 to 1977, during which time she was put in a dumpster by the Miami Dolphins, as she recalled in this interview. It’s a MUCH sweeter story than you might expect!

Pérez Art Museum Miami (est. 1984)

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is a beautiful, pavilion-like structure with narrow columns and hanging gardens downtown right beside Biscayne Bay. According to one of the museum’s former directors, its architects took inspiration from the mangroves of Florida’s Everglades. PAMM moved to its current location in 2013, opening a new chapter for Miami’s first museum for contemporary art.

The highlights of the permanent collection include paintings by Hulda Guzmán (b. 1984) and Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977), but PAMM is also a terrific place to learn about artists from Miami. It recently exhibited works by Miami-born artist José Parlá (b. 1973), known for his colorful abstract paintings. PAMM does not yet own any paintings by Alejandro Piñeiro Bello (b. 1990) or photographs by Josh Aronson (b. 1994), but we would bet it will someday feature these emerging local artists, if we were in the business of making predictions.

Miami Fashion Week (est. 1998)

Within the United States, Miami Fashion Week (MIAFW) is second only to New York’s. It takes place annually in the fall, when the temperature usually ranges between 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit. The high is certainly hot enough for beach attire, but the city’s main fashion event for swimwear takes place around June 1, when it tends be slightly warmer. At MIAFW, a variety of sophisticated styles are typically on display, and visitors can admire the creations of globally recognized designers and amazing local artists, as well as learning about sustainable practices in the fashion industry.

In November 2024, for example, the Venezuela-born, London-trained, and Miami-based designer Sigal Cohen Wolkwoiez exhibited for the first time. Remarking on her line Palm Chic, Wolkowiez said, “Miami is its muse.” Meanwhile, at a two-day conference held at the Miami Dade College Fashion Institute, Magali Mendez explained how her Miami-based company Tintte is fighting water pollution by replacing traditional dyes with bacteria-based alternatives. As you can see, the arts and sciences meet at Miami Fashion Week.

Wynwood Walls (est. 2009), Mural District

Do you want to see 35,000 square feet of murals by over 100 artists from 21 countries? If so, then you should join the three million visitors per year who tour Wynwood Walls. As online video footage helps to show, Miami’s mural initiative transformed an urban desert into “a living canvas and a beacon for bold creativity that continues to inspire generations.” It’s like the Cape Florida Lighthouse (est. 1825), Miami-Dade County’s oldest surviving building, but for creativity!

As the illuminated walls guide you through Miami’s streets, keep an eye out for the work of local artist Ernesto Maranje. He has murals by the airport, in North Miami, and near Books & Books in Coral Gables. His vibrantly colored murals depicting Florida’s plants and animals are too beautiful to miss – but they are also only a few of the awesome artworks on the walls of Miami.

That’s our roundup! We hope it got you excited about making a trip to Miami.

We’ll be back soon with another – unless we complete Ponce de León’s quest for the Fountain of Youth. In that case, we’ll retire from blogging and start selling microdoses of that sweet, sweet water. Comment now to lock in a special rate of $19.99!

Until next time, find some creativity wherever you can! #StandCreative