HELLO FROM FLORIDA!

After spending just two days running around Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale there is NO question in my mind that Florida is the ultimate destination for modernism! Woo-wee its EVERYWHERE you look. Miami Beach is STAGGERING! far more than I ever dreamed it would be. It’s truly a miracle that SO MANY 1930 and 50s hotel resorts were left intact over the decades and are now restored to reflect their former glamorous glory. I enjoyed lunch seaside at the famous EDEN ROC hotel designed in 1955 by legendary modernist (and kitsch master) Morris Lapidus, whose motto was “too much is never enough.”

I’m here doing a SPACE AGE TIKI SLIDE SHOW for a special event called the HUKIALU, which is a big giant weekend tiki party. Speaking of excess, Polynesian style excess that is, last night me and several other tiki devotees swigged down several tropical drinks at the world’s ULIMATE Polynesian restaurant, the MAI KAI www.maikai.com. which has been serving up mai tais and puu puu platters in Ft. Lauderdale in GRAND STYLE since 1956. Inside and out the place is unfathomable -like a dream – and my head is still spinning. THIS IS A MUST SEE DESTINATION LOCATION!

Then as fate would have it as I was driving to the DAIRY BELLE for one of their famous steamed hot dogs and SOFT SERVE CONES, I stumbled upon an enormous Florida souvenir shop called Alex’s Flamingo Groves, www.alexsflamingogroves.com. Alex has been pushing and peddling seashells, sea monkeys, blowfish, pink flamingos and just about everything else you can possibly imagine since 1957. And that brings us to this weeks slide: BEAUTIFUL TV LAMPS, FLORIDA, 1957.

Here’s to you and FLORIDA’S CLASSIC AND KITSCH!