Choosing Chicago Part 4

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 4

Reluctantly I left Philadelphia. Our next train stop was a layover in D.C. The station was easily the most magnificent of any train depot in the country, located as part of the Washington National Mall. We walked past Congress and various museums to visit the National Gallery of Art and Monuments.

D.C. has a lot to recommend it. Still, the day was unusually hot, I didn’t feel like walking around, and was generally grumpy.

Perhaps I was mourning the separation from my beloved Rittenhouse Square in Philly. D.C. never made my final list of favorite cities. While technically neutral on the North versus South question, I consider the city it firmly located in the Old South, due to the miserable summer weather, lack of real winter, and an overall reliance on driving.

We set off on the last leg of our train ride to arrive in Miami. I was excited to view for myself the redevelopment of their downtown I’d been reading about in urban planning articles. While many people consider Florida to be south of the “real” South, due to the influx of Northern retirees, the city architecture is firmly Modernist.

To say the Miami Amtrak station is a dump is an understatement. I’ve seen more inviting Greyhound bus depots. Located in a warehouse district, simply walking a few blocks to catch a bus seemed like a bad idea at dusk. In Miami’s defense, they understand the problem. By summer of 2016 they hope to have Amtrak relocated to an intermodal hub that will link directly with their subways, downtown People Mover, and commuter trains. The only other station equally uninviting on our trip was our own in Albuquerque, not coincidentally located in the South.

Miami is working to become a model for retrofitting twentieth century suburban-style car planning into twenty-first century urbanism. Shedding its image as a retirement village, Miami is a hot spot for young downtown professionals, particularly Latinos.

Since it was pouring rain when we arrived in Miami I relented on my insistence to use public transportation and called a cab to head to South Beach. I enjoyed the restored old Art Deco hotels. It’s the neighborhood I would pick to move to, if I were able to stand living among the constant throngs of tourists.

Could I deal with the rest of the city of Miami?

Leaving South Beach we rented a car to spend a week in Key West. I’d always heard it called the Santa Fe of the East. Not really. It’s more like an eternal spring break, complete with unbridled constant drinking, located in a picturesque town. We never considered the location as it’s too far from a major airport anyway. I suspect Earnest Hemmingway was the only inhabitant of Key West who was ever productive professionally.

Part 5 (Last stop is downtown Miami and thinking about what makes a city desirable.)