Being that my mom is Cuban, it goes without saying that I have a lot of relatives in Miami & that I'd visited them several times while growing up. I always had a great time there since my relatives are a warm & boisterous crew always trying to fatten me up with amazing, homemade Cuban food. But the Miami of my childhood waas gonna prove to be a fry cry from the Miami Iwould get to know as a model....the Miami of the fashion world.
Whereas all of my relatives live in "mainland" Miami and its surrounding areas, all of the agencies, photoshoots, castings, clubs, and basically everything that is anything exciting takes place on South Beach. South Beach is an island of sorts that is connected by a series of bridges to downtown. It is small, and fully walkable in every direction, full of beautiful Art Deco buildings, a great strip of beach, & entertainment opportunites for all. It's a playground for the fabulous & the wannabe fabulous, plain & simple.
Since my nearest relative lives about a 30 minute drive from South Beach and I wouldn't have access to a car while there, I accepted my agency's offer of a model's apartment along with their December through March contract. The agency was in the penthouse of a building on Lincoln Road, and my apartment would be 2 blocks away from it. I would have everything I needed right at my fingertips, and I could still spend the holidays with my relatives. Perfect!
Now, unlike NY, Milan, Paris, etc., Miami is not considered a market. It is a location. There are very few clients that are actually based there, rather most of the clients come from all over the world to shoot in Miami's summery winter, the beaches, Everglades, and Art Deco splendor. January is the month that sees the majority of the clients start to migrate to South Beach along with hordes of models both new and seasoned. In subsequent trips, I'd fly into town in September to enjoy a quieter yet just as lucrative pre-season & then stay on until the busy months were over. Miami is not a place that you readily want to leave....it's just too much fun.
So, December rolled around, I said my good-byes to Portland once more and was off to Miami. Upon my arrival, my booker took me to my apartment which was a double studio that I would be sharing with 4 other models and pile upon pile of trash...literally. These roomies were sweet, but very young and unpracticed in the arts of hygiene, so it was a matter of days before I scoped out the apartment next door which was also owned by Karin Model Management and which was smaller but only housed two girls. As soon as one of the girls moved out I was in without wasting any time. My new roomate was a sweet Australian girl, who took me under her wing and showed me all around town, where to buy food, etc. The only thing about her was that she had this odd habit of always hanging out naked when she was home as if it were the most normal thing in the world. This made for awkward conversations, let me tell you, and even more awkward roach killings.
I had walked to McDonald's one night and was on my way back when I could hear screaming coming from my apartment, and I mean bloodcurdling screaming. I ran in only to see her in her birthday suit swinging around a broom at an enormous flying cockroach. All the windows and doors were open, the lights were on and the neighbors across the way were hanging out of their windows watching this naked girl chase around a bug. Have mercy, that was embarrasing.
After three weeks, my naked roomie was off to NY & a new girl moved in. I walked in from a casting one day and she was there and I loved her instantly. First of all, she had really short hair and mine was pretty short....anomalies in a market and field where stick straight looooooong hair was the norm. She also had this great layed-back energy and was just plain genuine. We became instant best friends.
Kari and I shared our apartment in peace. We were both as clean & organized as the other. Yay! We hung out and people watched while drinking coffee, shopped, baked on the beach, went to castings together and eventually someone decided to introduce us to South Beach's notorious fashion/nightclub scene & we were accepted into it with open arms and open velvet ropes. I guess you can say that was the end of our so-called innocence.
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