When Madonna loved South Beach
South Beach had it. Then it lost it. Now, after an extended crying session over the decampment of the modeling industry, the retreat of the jet set and the infiltration of a second-string party crowd, the city is rejoicing in a rebirth of the cool.
”The quality of the nightclub people is coming back,” said Ingrid Casares, the club diva of the ’90s who lured Madonna and her friends to frolic in VIP rooms at Liquid and Bar Room. Then business partner Chris Paciello pleaded guilty to robbery, racketeering and murder in 2000, vanishing into the witness protection program. And in many ways, the South Beach party was over.
”When I got out of Joia and Bar Room, the Beach just wasn’t as chic anymore,” said Casares, who with longtime club figures Tommy Pooch and Alan Roth is promoting a poolside party Sundays at the Raleigh Hotel.
The scene started fizzling in the late 1990s, when the modeling industry pulled out and headed for cheaper, fresher backdrops. Gianni Versace’s murder in 1997 didn’t help. Neither did the subsequent departure of celebs such as Madonna and Sly Stallone.
What saved the place from losing its vibe to the khaki-and-golf-shirt convention crowd was hip-hop — celebs like P. Diddy, Missy Elliott and Lil’ Kim, who kept the Ferraris rolling and the Cristal pouring.
Now, observers say, the scene is exploding.
”There are more and more hip-hop artists buying homes here and opening recording studios. That is a key shift, because culturally, hip-hop is what rules now,” said Eugene Rodriguez, owner of Big Time Productions, which through the 1990s housed photo shoots for everything from Naomi Campbell’s fashion campaigns to Madonna‘s CD covers. Lately, Big Time has been more about hip-hop shoots.
”We want it to be what it was when Madonna was here,” said clubmeister Gerry Kelly, who with partners recently opened State in the space that was the fabled Bar Room.
Kelly was marketing director for Liquid and Bar Room back in the heyday. But when he left to open Level, he became a page in South Beach history. His boss Paciello started talking about getting him whacked. Cops got it on tape.
Kelly doesn’t dwell. So what if State doesn’t have the jammed VIP room that Bar Room did?
“Madonna was here 10 years ago. She was a single woman, and she partied. Now she’s a married woman who lives in England and doesn’t party. But the glamour, I’d say that’s definitely back.”
Madonna and friend Ingrid Casares partying in the 90’s
Extracts from an article by Lydia Martin
Source: Herald.com
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