Fort Lauderdale
As recently as the late 1980s, the sand in Fort Lauderdale was sticky
with beer and the streets ran wild with pimpled youths storming
about in celebration of that American university rite of passage,
Spring Break. Locals would look on in horror as their city was overtaken
by yahoos, and they finally decided to do something about it. They
renovated, groomed and trimmed the whole place, turning Fort Lauderdale
into more of an international yachting center than an intercollegiate
multi-kegger.
That's not to say that it's not a party town - it decidedly is.
These days, you can carouse at dozens of clubs, pubs and beach nightspots,
as long as you dress respectably (meaning in clothes of some sort)
and behave yourself. And for those visitors who insist on getting
out in the daylight, Fort Lauderdale has a surprising number of
cultural and historical sites...for a beach town.
Events
Bikini contests, volleyball tournaments and drinking events abound
during Spring Break, the annual college student pilgrimage to Fort
Lauderdale that occurs each year in late March or early April. Locals
take over partying duties in early May for the Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish
Festival, a celebration marked by great Cajun seafood and the best
of Louisiana music. The culturati will appreciate the city's International
Film Festival in late October.
Public
Holidays:
1 January - New Year's Day
Third Monday in January - Martin Luther King Jr Day
Third Monday in February - Presidents' Day
Late March or April - Easter
Last Monday in May - Memorial Day
4 July - Independence Day
First Monday in September - Labor Day
Second Monday in October - Columbus Day
11 November - Veterans' Day
Fourth Thursday in November - Thanksgiving
25 December - Christmas Day
Getting There & Away
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is home to
some three dozen airlines, including a few with nonstop flights
from Europe. Miami International, a much larger but less 'friendly'
airport, is about 30 miles south of Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale's Greyhound bus station is on NE 3rd St at Federal
Hwy, just north of downtown. There are frequent buses to Miami,
from where you can catch buses to most parts of the US.
Tri-Rail trains run between Miami and Palm Beach with stops in Fort
Lauderdale. They provide transportation to the Miami Arena for basketball
and hockey games, to Joe Robbie Stadium (for Miami Dolphins and
Florida Marlins games) and to several other tourist attractions.
The station is on SW 21st Terrace, east of central Fort Lauderdale,
west of I-95.
Florida's Turnpike, the state's main toll road, runs north and south,
from Miami to Longwood, a few miles east of town. I-595, the major
east-west artery, connects the western suburbs with Port Everglades,
the airport and downtown Fort Lauderdale. It also connects with
I-95, Florida's Turnpike and the Sawgrass Expressway. The Sawgrass
Expressway, a north-south toll expressway, links western suburbs
and ties into I-95, the Turnpike and I-75. I-75 runs to Florida's
west coast.
Port Everglades Authority runs the city's enormous cruise port,
the second busiest in the world after Miami. If you're arriving
in your own boat, head for the Bahia Mar Yachting Center.
Getting Around
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport is about 10 miles
(16km) south of downtown. Shuttles, buses and taxis are always around
for rides between the airport and downtown, or you can pick up a
rental car upon arrival.
Frequent Broward County Transit (BCT) buses run between downtown
and the beach, Port Everglades and surrounding towns and beaches,
leaving from Broward Central Terminal, right in the heart of town.
BCT's free Downtown Trolley loops through downtown, while the Wave
Trolley Company's trolley service travels between downtown, Port
Everglades and the beach.
Having a car is the easiest way to go, though parking is especially
tight during Spring Break and you usually have to pay for it. Speed
limits are enforced to such an extent that you may wonder if the
local cops get a commission. Driving is on the right.
Fort Lauderdale's flatness makes it a great place to get around
by bike or inline skates, and plenty of places rent them out. Water
taxis are a full-fledged transportation option in the canals and
waterways of Fort Lauderdale. You can call from any place with a
dock, and they'll swing by and pick you up.
Attractions
Museum of Art
Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art is one of Florida's best. Reopened
in 1985 in brand new (and architecturally impressive) digs just
off the New River, the museum's permanent collection includes works
by the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Dali and Warhol. Equally impressive
are the growing collections of Cuban and ethnographic art, including
large African and South American exhibits. You can't ever really
know what you're going to see on a particular visit, as the enormity
of the collection far outpaces the available space. If you're visiting
in the fall, keep an eye out for the Hortt Memorial Exhibition &
Competition, which showcases the best of area artists. The museum
is centrally located in downtown Fort Lauderdale, north of the New
River.
Museum of Discovery &
Science
Fronted by the Great Gravity Clock, Florida's largest kinetic energy
sculpture, the Museum of Discovery & Science is one of the best
environmentally oriented museums in the state. Exhibits reveal the
mysteries of computers, ecology, energy, health, sound and space.
The Florida Ecoscapes exhibit introduces visitors to Florida's 10
different ecosystems: you pass through a series of forests, swamps
and sloughs - petting friendly sting rays, observing a fascinating
synthetic beehive - all the while surrounded by appropriate animal
noises. The museum also raises many endangered species, and several
times a day the baby crocodile and sea turtle hatchlings are brought
out for inspection.
Also on hand, the Manned Maneuvering Unit simulates weightlessness;
you sit in a high-tech NASA chair and use air jets to launch up
to a satellite and aim it correctly at earth - and then get scored
in how you do. The Blockbuster IMAX 3-D theater in house offers
virtual-reality-type helmets and goggles (no more red and blue plastic
glasses!) to compound the amazement of watching their five-story
movie screen.
The Discovery museum is in northwestern downtown Fort Lauderdale,
north of the New River.
Stranahan
House
One of Florida's oldest residences and now a registered historic
landmark, the Stranahan House is on the New River in the southeastern
section of town. It was constructed as the home and store for Ohio
transplant Frank Stranahan, a trader who built up a small empire
through dealings with the Seminole Indians. Eventually, Stranahan
became despondent over losses in the land and stock market busts
of the late 1920s and over the collapse of his Fort Lauderdale Bank,
and he committed suicide by jumping into the New River. The house,
originally constructed in 1901 and expanded several times over the
years, is a perfect example of Florida frontier design. Constructed
from local pine, the house features wide porches, exceptionally
tall windows and a Victorian parlor, as well as tropical gardens.
Bonnet House
Another of Fort Lauderdale's historic residences, the Bonnet House
is a beautiful estate filled with native southern Florida and imported
tropical plants, including an extensive orchid collection. To see
the house and grounds you have to be on one of the tours, which
are offered twice a day Wednesday through Sunday and last a little
over an hour. The house is in northern Fort Lauderdale, between
the beach and the Intracoastal Waterway, an easy walk from downtown.
International Swimming Hall of Fame
Quick: How many gallons of water does it take to fill a competition
pool? If you said 573,000, you're enough of a swimming wonk to really
enjoy the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum. There are
thousands of photographs, medals, uniforms (including those embarrassing
USA warm-up suits from the 1984 Olympics), paintings, sculptures
(a great one of Johnny 'Tarzan' Weissmuller with anatomically accurate
hands designed by a prosthetic corporation) - the list goes on.
An automated theater shows footage of swimming films, including
old newsreels, on a huge TV - it's worth the ticket price in itself. |
|
