Miami Flash

For this post, I will time travel to Spring Break 2009, which I spent in South Beach, Miami. My focus for this entry will be what I believe to be the best club in Miami: Nikki Beach.

Nikki Beach is an odd name for a club; anytime I've asked someone if they have been to Nikki, they reply with "you mean South Beach?" The thing is, they think Nikki Beach is actually a beach. Well, Nikki is nestled on the shore of South Beach; the back entrance of this posh club leads to a torch-lit patio with a tribal theme. This elevated patio overlooks South Beach, and in between the torches and the lapping waves of the beach, is this scene, the backyard on the beach:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/nikki%20beach%20miami/neil_higton/eScala/Alt_Lay20Day20at20Nikki20Beach20Clu.jpg

Back inside Nikki Beach, the upper-level Pearl Lounge, VIP:

http://www.southbeach-usa.com/interview/interview1/dupoux/pearl-420.jpg

And downstairs, underneath the patio but not quite on the beach yet, the Nikki Beach lower-level lounge:

http://futureofwebapps.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/nikkibeach2.jpg

So now you know the scene, and if these pictures did any justice to Nikki Beach, you know by now how great a club Nikki is. To put it frankly, I had the most extravagent and fun night of my life at Nikki, on Sunday March 8, 2009.

The night started off with a tad bit of uncertainty. There was 6 of us in Miami; another 6 were coming the next day, so we wanted to really enjoy this first night that we would have to ourselves. We had just gotten there and to our condo from Miami International Airport about 5 hours ago, the crisp South Beach breeze was enticing us; I had never felt such amazing weather in my life. The sunlight was perfect, the day was perfect, and little did I know, but the night that I was about to experience would be perfect, too.

In Miami, Sunday nights = Nikki Beach nights. South Beach has a bustling nightlife scene, with a plethora of clubs, bars, and lounges to choose from. Forget all that. Any Miami native, hell even any Miami tourist, will tell you that on Sunday nights, you go to Nikki Beach.

We were in the right spot, with the right crowd. Nikki is located right at the beginning of Ocean Drive, before the cross streets even hit 1st, 2nd, 3rd... etc. Arriving at Nikki was a bit intimidating at first; Miami in general can be intimidating to new-comers. At the door, the bouncers let us in without much of a hassle, because we were getting a table: two bottles of Grey Goose for $800, split between 6 friends; not bad at all by Miami standards, especially for a place like Nikki, and during Spring Break.

The euphoria of being in Miami prompted us to head out earlier than we would have liked. Arriving at a place like Nikki at 11 PM can be a bit disheartening. Aside from a group of 4 girls sitting opposite us, about 50 feet away, we were the only people in the club. A few shots later, it was midnight, and girls just started pouring out of the woodworks. It was phenomenal. The best night I've ever had, at any venue, anywhere.