Collins Avenue, Miami

Lined with palm trees and styled like a “millionaires' thoroughfare,” just a block away from Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue is a major artery of Miami Beach, running parallel to the beachfront. It was named after John S. Collins (1837–1928), who built the first bridge over Biscayne Bay, connecting Miami Beach to the mainland, with the financial assistance of Carl Graham Fisher.

The avenue houses a unique variety of retailers, luxury resorts and famous historic boutique hotels like The Wyndham Miami Beach Resort, the Eden Roc and the Fontainebleau Hotel. The latter, designed by Morris Lapidus in the curvy, flamboyant Neo-baroque fashion that defined the 1950s "Miami Beach" resort style, provided setting for some of the scenes from the Hollywood blockbuster movie “The BodyGuard” starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

Along with the hotels, Collins is also home to a number of nightclubs to the north, including Rokbar (est. 1905) and Mynt (est. 1921).

If you're a shopping addict, Collins Avenue may keep you going for hours, especially early in the morning, when you can leisurely call the line of local outlets, such as Steve Madden, Victoria’s Secret, Guess, Urban Outfitters, Surf Style, Arden B, Walgreens and many other US brands, to have some really good deals along with the wonderfully friendly service. The stretch of Collins Avenue between 5th and 9th Street is occupied by the likes of Barney’s New York, Armani Exchange and the new location of the Kardashian-owned Dash Boutique.

Many of these stores are conveniently located inside historic Art Deco buildings, which makes shopping here twice as fun. And with the traffic crawling at the maximum speed of 25 mph, you can see without effort all the posers and fancy cars along the way, while strolling with a cool shopping bag in your hand, or just chilling on the sidewalk with a coffee or beer.