deucers.com ~ miami ~ miami beach

Playboy ranks the Deuce bar as one of America’s Greatest Bars.

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Here’s the text:

MAC’S CLUB DEUCE
Miami Beach
Some dive bars transcend the designation, rising to must-visit status. The Deuce, a neon-wrapped cocktail lounge off South Beach’s Thong Alley, is one of them. From eight a.m. until whenever, it draws in every element possible, including newspapermen and drag queens, socialites and drug addicts, white collar and teal collar, unofficial mayors and bona fide politicos. Call it a subtropical democracy (with two-for-one from morn till balmy eve).

My father taught me to be a Hemingway long before he began to look like Hemingway. Inspired by his books, I’ve run with the bulls in Pamplona (twice) and wandered around the streets of the left bank looking for literary inspiration. Closer to home, I’ve been going down to Key West for Hemingway Days for well over a decade, since before Sloppy Joe’s had air conditioning. My father, George Burley, won the the Hemingway Lookalike contest in 1992, since then he has been on the panel of judges. Of course I think my father is the most handsome of all the lookalikes – here he is with Bob Anderson Papa ‘90:

Imagine wearing those heavy sweaters in Key West in July.

Each year over 150 men vie for the title. Here’s a view of the judges table:

Here’s Jeanne with Papa ‘92:

Walking around town with 150 or so men who look like my father, drives one to drink…We love to hang out at the Green Parrot, or The Bull with bartender Debbie, especially when Yankee Jack is  NOT playing, and at Captain Tony’s.

My friends and I always stay at the same B&B where all the former look alike winners/judges stay, the beautiful, historic, and conveniently located Cypress House. Happy hours and breakfasts with Hemingways every way you look. Good times.

Happy Birthday, Hemingway.

Happy Birthday, Papa.

One of my favorite deucers, Glen, sends chilly greetings from Alaska:  

And word to the wise care of Bill Bagg’s State Park, as if you hadn’t noticed:

Thomas, Alex and I headed over to the Miami Beach Marina this morning to board the Won Reward from the Reward Fishing Fleet:

Hot and sunny, perfect weather for bananafishing:

Alex caught the first fish and the biggest fish- a king fish:

Three hours later, Sherman (not the toilet paper, the tank) expertly fileted the fish:

We took the filets to Monty’s and they grilled them up for the freshest lunch:

Another day in paradise.

My parents popped in last week for a quick visit. Fun fun.

Lovely to spend an afternoon in their company:

My mom and I went for a walk with Lucy in Morningside Park; I showed her my favorite banyan trees:

We drove home under canopies of Royal Poincianas bursting with orange:

Bonbonbon.

After a delicious lunch at the cozy White Lion Cafe: we went to visit the Buddhist Temple, Wat Buddharangsi:

A Thai monk guided us around: and in the temple we saw his teacher in the corner on a computer: In another corner was a huge gong to call the monks and people to prayer: As our guide escorted us to the Siddhartha garden, under the Bodhi Tree that tells the life of Siddhartha, he reminded me to “feel your feet.” Be in the moment. He said in India a Bodhi tree would be stripped bare of leaves, and I asked if I could take one, he replied, if you need one, take one.

My summer project is going to be to visit Miami places I’ve missed over the years. Any recommendations?

Went on a fieldtrip to Homestead last week and visited two interesting “houses.” The first was Coral Castle. I like a house that comes with a warning: Although the seating arrangements don’t look overly comfortable, they’re not bad, and there are lots of options depending on your mood:

My favorite spot of the Coral Castle was the Repentance Corner. Time out way ahead of its time. Lovely to have a dedicated space to experience penance and remorse and then leave it there:

And finally never hurts to have a model nearby for aesthetic purposes:

Stopped by the Hill to celebrate bartender extraordinaire, Nicky Bowe’s, birthday…and lo and behold, stumbled upon Churchill’s newest night of fun.

Of course there’s always good jazz Mondays and accousticish/ curry Wednesdays but now at least one Tuesday per month, Churchill’s is sponsoring a “talent” show. Think David Lynch meets jagermeister meets the gong show – without the gong or the hook.

This hilarious show features people’s mothers singing, juggling, a strange zither-like electric instrument with a vhs accompaniment, unamusing comedians, beat box, a few decent performers, and many dubious ones, just when you thought it couldn’t get worse than the ukelele player…..wait a while, after the way too long poetry recitations, we came to appreciate the simplicity of the ukeThere’s a panel of judges who award real trophies.

The hip crowd cheers and jeers, and the undaunted put it out there. . Bravo.

And after you can ride home on your boombike:

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Good times.