The last 18 months brought a lot of things into focus about Miami. The traffic is still awful—we’re home to one of the most stressful highways in America. And our beaches remain stunningly beautiful: South Beach topped the list of the country’s most photogenic shorelines. Our biggest learning? There’s no city that parties harder than we do.
According to Time Out’s annual City Index survey—where we poll people from all over the world about where they live to come up with our ‘Best Cities’ ranking—Miami has the best nightlife in the United States. Approximately 83-percent of respondents ranked us as their favorite place to go out, earning us the top spot in the country and third place in the rest of the world—behind Manchester and Buenos Aires. Nearly three-quarters of respondents, 72-percent, said Miami was fun. Well, sure!
Over the last year, South Beach has turned into a seaside Las Vegas of sorts as clubs returned with 2019 intensity. Not only did our nightlife venues reopen before anyone else’s (even under a curfew!), but they did so with aplomb—welcoming major headliners for performances and parties like we’d never seen before. Below, a look at some of the events and headlines that helped our nightlife soar.
E11EVEN finally closes—reopens better than before
Some of the changes we saw over the last year were unprecedented. Take 24/7 megaclub E11EVEN, which opened in 2014 and closed for the very first time on March 12, 2020, after operating for 55,000 consecutive hours. During its brief hiatus, the club introduced its own line of vodka (get lit at home!) and underwent a $1 million renovation, debuting a modernized, state-of-the-art space with more performance areas and installations. And if that wasn’t enough, E11EVEN became the first nightclub in the U.S. to accept Bitcoin as payment. Welcome to the future, party people.
Supper clubs had everyone dancing in their seats
The supper club scene exploded in Miami. We welcomed a slew of dance-centric dining establishments where the entertainment became just as important as what’s for dinner. Menus and music worked in concert at newcomers like CH’I in Brickell, putting forth Chino-Latino dishes to a reggaeton soundtrack. While out-of-town pop-ups, such as NYC’s burlesque experience OMAR’S/La Plage, had crowds pushing their chairs out of the way as soon as the last plate was cleared.
LIV roars back into existence
Miami Beach’s biggest nightclub reopened this spring with headliners you’d expect to find on the Vegas strip, not Collins Avenue. Alesso kicked off the festivities opening weekend, but the talent continued to pour in all season long. This summer, Verzuz co-founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland held their first live match (a rematch for the two) at the club. While celebrities from the Kardashians to Justin Timberlake partied there at some point this year. And last month–a true sign of the times—LIV partnered with the City of Miami Beach to offer free vaccines to patrons. Whatever it takes, right?