I’ll start this from the top of a hotel, looking out onto a pool of sparkling turquoise water. You can see all the way to the bottom. It’s a hotel you’d see on the E! channel, something that can be found on Kourtney & Kim Take Miami with an uber exclusive roof deck.
I’m surrounded by white cushions and wicker chairs, with a long, polished bar at the center of the roof deck. A long legged blonde in an up to there skirt sweeps by us. She’s on the arm of an older man and they were headed to the back of the roof deck to lean in close and whisper secrets.
This is the place where sugar babies and sugar daddies go to party – where a culture that refers to people as “sugar” is accepted.
I take a shot of tequila at the bar, because I need one and no one drinks whiskey in Miami. I do have a shot at Macks Club Juice later, which is a dive bar used in Miami Vice episodes. South Beach dive bars are either the most beautiful women in the world or meth addicts.
People see South Beach as Miami big room clubs, when the scene is really moving into a more niche audience, hostels and is mostly word of mouth.
But Ocean Drive is different. I was lost in Miami, so wandering the beach was a good introduction.
It was all clear skies as I approached the front of the Clevelander, a hotel famous for it’s bottle service and Bachelor parties. Corona’s Electric Beach, the event of the day, was continuing the party following a stint at Miami’s Art Week. There wasn’t a mural this time, but there were DJs, a frozen beach theme and plenty of beer bottles passed around.
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I sat down at the hospitality table, and had a front row view of the DJ booth. Artists like Shade, Supernaute, Mas Inc., Merlyn and the headliner DJ Icey performed some 90’s throwback jams interspersed with hip modern beats, with plenty of 808's. They’re next to scantily dressed Go Go dancers keeping the energy alive. More people would join the VIP table soon, but there was already a bucket of beers waiting for us. I popped one open and began to drink it amongst the faux ice sculptures.
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Corona’s Electric Beach was tailor made for a Miami South Beach newcomer, and the event will hook you up with enough swag to clothe a third world country. The buckets kept coming as the DJs spun both beats and classics.
The announcer took the mic and said, “We’ll show you how we get down in South Beach Miami,” as the party off to the side of the stage puts up their hands.
"You've got to hold the bottle differently," a girl at our table says to me. "Present it."
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When night begins to fall, the smoke machines go off, puffs descending over the faux ice sculptures and a stage set up like the deck of a cruise ship. Revelers new to South Beach began to bounce across the stage for the headliner, DJ Icey.
"Miami get ready for DJ Icey," the announcer says, "At the world famous Clevelander."
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More and more people begin to join the stage as the front deck reaches capacity, die hard DJ Icey fans and Clevelander patrons mingling together on the front deck. The bright lights and flashing colors envelop the older and younger crowd as night falls.
There's a photo screen for Corona's Electric Beach set up in the corner as people at our table pose together, the perfect memento to a day of beach partying, complete with a print out. I slip my sunglasses on and hold up a beer bottle as the camera flashes.
The event brought club fun to the beach that was nothing but accessible for tourists, as well as bringing fun to people actually from Miami, many of whom were sitting with me at the table. Corona's Electric Beach is Ocean Drive, perfectly blending the elements that bring you to South Beach together for the newcomer.
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