2 Best Sights in Miami and Miami Beach, Florida

Lincoln Road has some of Miami's best people-watching. The eclectic interiors of myriad fabulous restaurants, colorful boutiques, art galleries, lounges, and cafés are often upstaged by the bustling outdoor scene. It's here, amid many alfresco dining enclaves, that you can pass the hours easily. Indeed, Lincoln Road is fun, lively, and friendly for everyone—old, young, gay, and straight—and their dogs. A few of the shops are owner-operated boutiques with a smart variety of clothing, furnishings, jewelry, and decorative elements, but more often you'll find typical chain stores.

Two landmarks worth checking out at the eastern end of Lincoln Road are the massive 1940s keystone building at No. 420, which has a 1945 Leo Birchansky mural in the lobby, and the 1921 mission-style Miami Beach Community Church at Drexel Avenue. The Lincoln Theatre ( 541–545 Lincoln Road, at Pennsylvania Avenue) is a classical four-story art deco gem with friezes that now houses an H&M.

There's a bohemian feel to this street lined with Mediterranean-revival buildings constructed in 1925 and inspired by New York's Greenwich Village. Al Capone's gambling syndicate ran its operations upstairs at what is now The Clay Hotel, a value-conscious boutique hotel. At a nightclub here in the 1930s, future bandleader Desi Arnaz strapped on a conga drum and started beating out a rumba rhythm. Visit this quaint pedestrian-only way nowadays and find a number of personality-driven restaurants and bars. Weekly programming includes the likes of salsa dancing, flamenco dancing, and opera performances.