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WHAT’S GOOD MIAMI: 11.10.26
The past is a great memory and a terrible business plan.
This week, Miami’s past is up for sale. The Cameo is coming back as a supper club with a 5 a.m. license, and I go back to the nights when Romain Zago was a bottle host at Mynt. Playboy is buying the Freehand and turning the most democratic hotel on the beach into a club you have to apply to. Rockstar is throwing Vice City a real party in Wynwood, with Travis Scott and Cardi B on the bill. And no, Jensen Huang isn’t moving here. But would you really be surprised?
Meanwhile, the future is going up fast. Aman and Novak Djokovic just unveiled a 1,049 foot tower on Brickell Bay that sells longevity instead of nightlife. ICA Miami is doubling its space in the Design District and still charging nothing at the door. Miami Dade will now take Bitcoin for property taxes, just never touch it. An Edgewater lot went up four times in seven years without a building on it. And a Michigan car dealer just sold his Palm Beach compound for nearly $100 million, which is 1,600 Tahoes, if you’re counting the way I am.
The bigger theme: Stop trying to recreate what worked. Create what comes next.
On My Mind: Stop Trying to Recreate What Worked. Create What Comes Next.
The past is the past, and it’s not coming back.
I love talking about good memories. I lived a lot of them. I helped build some of them. Miami in the 80s, the 90s, and the 2000s was great.
But it’s not the Miami of the future.
The Delano is a different Delano. China Grill is not what it once was. And the Cameo is going to have a lot of problems if it tries to be Mynt or CroBar.
Hanging on to the past is a trap. It feels safe because it already worked. But it worked for a city that doesn’t exist anymore, with people who’ve moved on, at prices nobody pays now.
Nostalgia is a great memory and a terrible business plan. Honor the past. Build what comes next.
BEACH BUSINESS
Jensen Huang to Miami.
In light of recent developments Jensen Huang has decided to relocate to Miami. JK, but would you really be surprised?
The Cameo Is Back. Just Don’t Call It a Nightclub.
I remember a long, long time ago when Mynt was the best club in the world, and Romain Zago was the bottle host.
Those were some of the best nights out of my life. They were legendary. It was the European coast brought to Miami Beach with a futurist point of view and excess we could hardly comprehend. It was the height of the Shore Club and Ed Hardy (kind of embrassing, the Ed Hardy part).
Then Roberto moved on and Romain took over. He ran it successfully for a long time. He got reality TV famous, and things got a little less cool. He had his run.
Now he’s going to try to rekindle the flame. But this is a different town, and he’s doing it a different way.
I’m ready to cheer him on as he rolls the dice in a very very big way.
The Cameo Theater has been dark since 2019. On November 3, the Miami Beach Planning Board voted 7 to 0 to let it go late again, with service until 5 a.m.
But read the application closely. This isn’t the Cameo coming back. It’s the Cameo growing up.
The Plan
The applicant is Mainro Miami Holdings, led by Zago. He sold Mynt in 2024 and went west to open MainRo, a club and restaurant in Hollywood, California. MainRo is the template. Real estate investor Michael Konig appears to be a partner, according to the filing.
