A detailed chronicling of the past and present, the famous and infamous, the glamourous and grotty of Miami's South Beach--America's Billion Dollar Sandbar.

Read, reminisce, review, and (if you're a Registered User) make changes to any article you wish.

Most important, as a Registered User, you can access the entire site, create your own entries and even edit the ones that are already posted, as we build the most comprehensive collection of South Beach lore to date. That means stories, photos, gossip, glamour ... South Beach through your lens. Sobepedia allows everybody to join in the discussion, from scholars on Art Deco architecture to drag queens who still have a bone to pick (show me one who doesn't!). If you don't like what someone wrote about you ... CHANGE IT!

It's not all here ... yet. But we're working on it, adding new material daily.

Questions or comments: use the "Contact" button upper right or send me an email directly: editor@sobepedia.com.

Andrew Delaplaine - Editor-in-Chief

GENESIS OF THE PROJECT: Over the years it's been suggested I write MY book on South Beach. After all, I lived through all the years of what's considered to be the "rebirth" of South Beach. I've read all the books others have written, from Brian Antoni's novel to Gwendolyn Cooper's roman a clef to Gerald Posner's excellent book to Steven Gaines's Fool's Paradise. Each in its own way has a narrow appeal, but each was lacking in, oh, a comprehensiveness that has not been captured. Their books were not meant to capiture the "whole story," of course, but no one else's has either. (You have to remember that most writers writing about South Beach missed all the good years--Antoni was certainly here, but few others.) 

The only two books I ever wanted to read about South Beach would have to be written by Tom Austin and Tara Solomon. But while I think they both are inordinately talented, my sense tells me he's not up to the task at hand, whether it be for a lack of stamina, discipline or guts, I'm not sure--it's entirely possible he'd simply find the whole sordid affair a crashing bore; Tara, on the other hand, can not be counted on to be honest. (How much would we have to read about The Forge in such a book?)  I don't think Tara could be persuaded to write a book if someone gave her a whole boatload of "non-domestic sparkling wine"! (Although, I must add ... wait till she tastes mine!)

So, what is one to do? After some years of thought, I decided that the great failing all the books written about South Beach shared in common was: they were told from such narrow perspectives. You can't come to South Beach, interview Louis Canales and Tara Solomon, and go back to New York and write a book about South Beach.  Half of what you write will be true. The other half of what you write will not necessarily be true, or it will be a quarter-true. (Don't forget that these people are publicists. Spin is their lifeblood.)

No, I decided it would be a good idea to create a safe harbor, a forum, a place where EVERYBODY who was there (as well as all the people who are here now) could throw in their two-cents' worth, whether a fancy New York writer interviews them or not. And Sobepedia will be available, abridged, in print (every six months a new edition) and as an ebook (updated every two months). 

EDITORIAL ACCURACY:  Now, I make no claim that what appears here will be any more accurate than anything that's appeared in other books about South Beach. That's why I'm insisting that all entries be attributed to whatever Source supplied the information to us originally. Also, the staffer who reviewed and uploaded the entry will be noted so we know who approved the information.  If someone comes along to challenge the veracity of any fact, we can easily make corrections. That's what this site is all about. 

THANKS TO JOHN HOOD, SUSAN GARFINKLE and CUBBY. With zero "funding," it's been an effort just to get the 150,000 words that we're starting with uploaded to launch the project. We have tons of video and pictures that have not gone up because of my limited funding. I can't afford right now to get the video edited, things like that.  (A few weeks, I even had to quit drinking a day or two so I could afford to pay the writers. Yikes!)

Anyway, it will get bigger, and it will get better, and whatever else Sobepedia becomes, it WILL BE the definitive history of South Beach then and now -- whether you want to find out about a party this week or a party at The Palace where Versace picked up a boy to hustle down the alley to his little mansion in 1996, we hope to have it here. All of it ... here. But we can't do it alone.

So help us!

We want you to share not only what happened in the past -- but what's happening this week and next.