Miami has its own writers, too. This is a city where crime pays. It's unsurprising, given the cocaine industry and the continuing tradition of senseless violence and murder (although rarely on the well-policed South Beach), that Miami has many thriller and noir writers such as former private eye Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Vicki Hendricks, Les Standiford and the reclusive lord of darkness, Thomas "Hannibal" Harris.

The biggest book fair in the US takes place in Miami. It has a thriving cultural life. In the '70s, it was a very sleepy retirement town. Now, it hosts the Art Basel fair every December, the largest contemporary art bash in the US, and this has produced an archipelago of art dealers throughout the city and an explosion of homegrown talent.

However, the Wynwood Art District (a very neat marketing trick) and the nearby Design District have lots of new buildings, either empty or eerily quiet. Waiting. Waiting for people and money. Will they come?

The current fiscal misery has iced Miami's growth. Its history is one of spectacular boom and bust, but the question is this: is the present stagnation just a hiccup? Will the city continue its recent prodigious enrichment to truly rival LA or New York, or will it sink into Monaco-dom, and just be an affluent, glitzy resort?

Either way, I find it ironic that Lincoln Road (which you might argue has also become the most popular haunt in all Miami) is the most European chunk of the city: an area where a car is a nuisance, where everything you want is just a stroll away.