Quiet night on South Beach, as a new wave of tourists arrive ahead of weekend

A new wave of spring break tourists arrived in Miami Beach on Wednesday night looking for excitement ahead of another likely weekend of partying, as residents grow impatient to the city’s restrictions and images of the large crowds circulate in news outlets across the world.

On Ocean Drive, groups of people walked around, some drinking and smoking. The only unwelcome excitement came from the occasional teenagers popping wheelies on their bikes, getting close to pedestrians as they weaved their way through the small crowds.

The current curfew — which affects only the area between 5th and 16th streets, from Ocean Drive west to Pennsylvania Avenue — starts at 8 p.m. every night from Thursday to Sunday. On all other weekdays, it starts at midnight. Sidewalk cafes and restaurants with expanded outdoor seating will also be closed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Thursday to Sunday.

The iconic Clevelander South Beach opened back up Wednesday at noon after voluntarily closing its doors last week due to unruly patrons. During the early evening Wednesday, patrons trickled in and only a few people stood at the outside bar.

An employee who did not want to be named said the business would stay open Wednesday until the midnight curfew. On Thursday, it will close at 7 p.m. to comply with the earlier curfew. After that, he said, it’s a matter of wait and see, but the plan is to remain open.

“As far as we know,” he said. “Until it gets crazy again.”

Manny Sanz, 28, is a parking attendant at Z Ocean Hotel on Collins Avenue. He welcomed the quiet of early Wednesday evening after working almost nonstop since last week.

“It got to a point where everything got out of control. Everything got out of hand,” he said. “It wasn’t fun anymore.”

To avoid the mayhem caused by the sudden curfew last weekend, which left hundreds of drivers stuck in traffic for several hours on Saturday night, police announced on Tuesday a new plan to screen all eastbound traffic on the Julia Tuttle, Venetian and MacArthur causeways. They issued updated guidelines that set a later time of 10 p.m. for non-residents to access the Beach. Eastbound lanes will be closed starting at 10 p.m. through 6 a.m., where police will set up one lane for visitors and another lane for residents, public transportation, deliveries and employees of Miami Beach businesses.

There will be no checkpoint on the Tuttle causeway. Police are deploying license plate readers and cars won’t be stopped unless their license plate is alerted.

But even as employees are exhausted of the daily onslaught of rowdy customers, some people came to South Beach from the north looking for excitement after watching the news on TV and online.

Tom Inq, 23, who goes by the nickname “Toasty,” said he booked a flight from his hometown of Jamaica, Queens, New York, with about 15 friends a few days ago, and has not been disappointed so far during his two days on the beach.

“I see that Miami was such a crazy vibe. And, we see it online, and we see it every night, so we said, ‘Let’s book flights,’” Inq said. “It’s pretty lit. I’ve been having an exciting time. The energy is so different. It’s a whole different energy.”

Meanwhile, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said many of the spring breakers were actually older vacationers, some who were playing with guns, and risking people’s safety. Police said this week they’ve made over 1,000 arrests and have seized at least 102 guns throughout Miami Beach. Most of the people arrested are out-of-state residents who were in the city’s main entertainment corridor.

One Miami Beach police officer who did not want to be named said the scene was a lot calmer than what it had been last week. But as of 8:30 p.m., he said it was too early to predict if it would stay that way.

“We’ll see what happens in an hour or so,” he said, standing with other officers on the grass on the east side of Ocean Drive.

Other tourists say that, even during the occasional scenes of violence and out-of-control crowds last weekend, their vacation has been fun.

Rafael Rodriguez, 30, flew down from Hartford, Connecticut, with his girlfriend last week. He’s been enjoying himself and said he didn’t witness any of the chaos that made the news.

“I feel like, if you look for it, you’re going to find it,” Rodriguez said.

This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 9:22 PM.