We just found the sexiest new street in South Florida. Take a look
The woman who founded the World Erotic Museum in South Beach now has her own street.
Erotic-art collector Naomi Wilzig, who died at age 80 in 2015, was honored Monday with a street naming ceremony. A portion of 12th Street between Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue, where the museum has been since 2005, will now be known as Naomi Wilzig Way.
Miami Beach Commissioner Laura Dominguez, who sponsored the naming measure, called Wilzig “a cultural force.”
“She dared to be different and her collection reflects not only her individuality, but also her perseverance to find a home for her unique collection,” Dominguez said in a statement.
Wilzig’s adults-only destination is believed to be the only museum in the United States solely dedicated to fine erotic art. The space houses more than 4,000 international pieces dating from 300 B.C., including racy trinkets, figurines and furniture.
The antiquarian admittedly didn’t have such an easy road to the opening in 2005. She explored other cities in the U.S. for a location, but concerned landlords reportedly balked at the homage to sex, thinking it was more about pornography than culture.
“I had already been turned down by many other locations,” said the New Jersey native in an interview with German videographer Helmut Schuster shortly before her death. “They were afraid I would bring something nasty and unsavory to their neighborhoods.”
Wilzig told the Miami Herald in a 2002 profile that intercourse and naked bodies were beautiful and natural, and no one should be embarrassed by talking about the topic.
“We in America get uptight at the thought of looking at a penis, particularly an erect penis,” said the bon vivant, who often proudly sported a necklace adorned with a phallus.
If only the widowed mother of three had been alive in November 2024. That’s when Miami got a sister location to NYC’s Museum of Sex in Allapattah, aka MoSex. The two-level 32,000-square-foot space is dedicated to all things X-rated, albeit done in a tasteful way, of course.
