Forgive what WILL sound like prejudice...it’s not. I was 13, got my drivers license at 14 and lived like Gilligan on the island. There were snazzy hotels like The Castaways, The Doral and The Fountainbleu....South Beach was a beach...the fear of getting shot because you pissed off some drug dealer was near zero. And there are areas where it’s a challenge. There are huge houses on the water that were $80,000 in 1970 and are 7-10 million today. And, this guys a doctor, this guys a big shot executive, that neighbor is a drug runner, this neighbor is a drug dealer, the guy across the bay is a drug dealer...boats litter the bottom of biscayne bay that we’re used to run cocaine deals and then sunk to avoid any traces. Jimmy Carter’s mariel boat lift in the 70’s introduced a different lifestyle to south Florida that took decades to normalize. I speak Spanish as it was a necessity after a while. I speak Italian as well but that was drilled into us as kids so it was easy to learn
Currently, Miami is a very cool place with really diverse culture and fun loving people. But like any major city, you’ve got to know your place and watch who you bump into accidentally. In the 60’s it was just us rednecks...Like the movie Porky’s. today Florida rednecks are gone. We would go to Key West like going to McDonalds... even though it was almost 3 hours to get there. There are so many great areas to stop, swim, sun, or fish with no one around. I have family there but have not gone back in the last 10 yrs. Now that I’m older, I don’t see THAT kind of fun anymore. I’m willing to try but would have trouble keeping up. I think CSI: Miami has it pretty close