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WHAT’S GOOD MIAMI: 8.24.26
This Week’s Issue
Today’s newsletter includes, why panic week hits this city like clockwork every single August and why we need to stop falling for it, 4 Charles Miami gets confirmed with a surprise second room called The Flamingo Room and we’re the ones who called it first, Amendment 3 lands on your November ballot and we’re telling you exactly why we’re voting yes, Klay Thompson signs with the Heat for a discount because he wants one more ring next to Giannis, and we head below the Townhouse Hotel where four James Beard and World’s 50 Best résumés just landed on one address called Zebra Club.
On My Mind: It’s Panic Week, again.
Every year, right around this point, roughly 90 days out from Art Basel, the entire city loses its mind. Restaurant owners start whispering that nobody’s coming back this winter. Real estate people start talking like the whole market just evaporated overnight. It happens like clockwork, right when we’re far enough from season that everyone forgets what high season actually looks like, and close enough to it that the fear has nowhere to go but up.
I’ve watched this happen every single year I’ve been building here. How many times does this cycle have to repeat before people stop treating it like news?
Miami is strong in the summer and Miami is strong in the winter. That’s not optimism, that’s a decade of data. A few restaurants close every August. They always have. It doesn’t mean the city is broken. It means the weak ones got weeded out.
For this city to become what it’s actually capable of becoming, one of the truly dominant metropolises in the world, we have to stop forgetting who we are every single August and remembering it every November. We can’t build a legacy brand on a seasonal panic attack. Real cities, real category leaders, don’t flinch every time the calendar gets quiet. They use the quiet to get sharper.
So let’s stop being a victim city. Start being a victorious one. One that sets the tone instead of waiting to be set.
Gordon Gekko said it better than most business books ever will: “Most of these Harvard M.B.A. types, they don’t add up to dog shit. Give me guys that are poor, smart, and hungry, and no feelings. You win a few, you lose a few, but you keep on fighting. And if you need a friend, get a dog. It’s trench warfare out there, pal.”
That’s the mentality this month requires. Not panic. Trench warfare energy, and the discipline to keep fighting through the quiet stretch instead of announcing the end is near.
This happens every year, and every year we make it through stronger than we did the year before.
BEACH BUSINESS
Update on 4 Charles Miami: It’s Coming With a Flamingo Room
Miami streets don’t lie. Back in December we told you 4 Charles was coming to the old Swan space in the Design District. Now, with the help of Infatuation Miami and writer Virginia Otazo, who made the trip to New York and got it confirmed straight from a 4 Charles server, we can give you some real details.
