BEST LEATHER 2004 | Leather World | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Miami | Miami New Times
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BEST LEATHER

Leather World

Bright blue or yellow leather purses, slim brown leather wallets, cavernous leather luggage, silver-tipped leather belts, and leathery ostrich-skin ashtrays: These and more can be purchased at Leather World. The colors and sleek shapes attract the eye first, but the divine smell draws you farther into the store. A cool professional sales staff and leathers from all over the world and prices that make you ask: Why are the insides of cattle so cheap and their outsides so expensive?

BEST NEWSSTAND

Worldwide News

Yes, you've heard it before: Worldwide News is the best newspaper and magazine shop in the county. But before you cover your eyes, consider this: Where else are you going to get Sunday editions of the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle on a Wednesday? What other store is bold enough to offer National Geographic, the Advocate, and Taboo? What place can both educate you with the Nation (or, for the conservatively inclined, the National Review), feed you with a selection of ice cream novelties, then help you get rich with an impressive offering of scratch-off lottery and Lotto tickets? Worldwide News has got it all, man.

BEST NEWSSTAND

Worldwide News

Yes, you've heard it before: Worldwide News is the best newspaper and magazine shop in the county. But before you cover your eyes, consider this: Where else are you going to get Sunday editions of the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle on a Wednesday? What other store is bold enough to offer National Geographic, the Advocate, and Taboo? What place can both educate you with the Nation (or, for the conservatively inclined, the National Review), feed you with a selection of ice cream novelties, then help you get rich with an impressive offering of scratch-off lottery and Lotto tickets? Worldwide News has got it all, man.

BEST PLACE TO GET A USED BIKE

Community Family Thrift Store

You never know what you'll find at the back of this thrift store on Washington Avenue in the heart of South Beach. One day it's a well-worn 24-inch Huffy, the next it's a vintage model so solid it looks like it came straight from the set of The Bicycle Thief, complete with leather satchel under the seat. And the store's resident mechanic tweaks each bike to make sure tires, brakes, and gears all run just so. From classic Schwinns to road bikes to balloon tire beach cruisers, the stock is varied but never large (only a few on hand at a time); if you pass on a bike today it won't be there tomorrow.

BEST PLACE TO GET A USED BIKE

Community Family Thrift Store

You never know what you'll find at the back of this thrift store on Washington Avenue in the heart of South Beach. One day it's a well-worn 24-inch Huffy, the next it's a vintage model so solid it looks like it came straight from the set of The Bicycle Thief, complete with leather satchel under the seat. And the store's resident mechanic tweaks each bike to make sure tires, brakes, and gears all run just so. From classic Schwinns to road bikes to balloon tire beach cruisers, the stock is varied but never large (only a few on hand at a time); if you pass on a bike today it won't be there tomorrow.

BEST REASON NOT TO GO TO COCOWALK

Los Mojónes

Mojónes is Spanish slang for "little shits." Who are the mojónes? They are those little underage turds who litter the streets of the Mayfair and crowd the sidewalk by Wet Willie's, trying and failing to get in. They plant themselves on the fountain trying to inhale the Russian spray-paint artist's fumes, their only hope of intoxication, sans fake ID. They are a plague, so pheromone-sick with teenage love they keep that guy with the bowtie selling roses in business. Poor little hornballs, damned to ride the rickshaws with no place to go till they turn 21 (except for Club Life's all-ages Sunday night).

BEST REASON NOT TO GO TO COCOWALK

Los Mojónes

Mojónes is Spanish slang for "little shits." Who are the mojónes? They are those little underage turds who litter the streets of the Mayfair and crowd the sidewalk by Wet Willie's, trying and failing to get in. They plant themselves on the fountain trying to inhale the Russian spray-paint artist's fumes, their only hope of intoxication, sans fake ID. They are a plague, so pheromone-sick with teenage love they keep that guy with the bowtie selling roses in business. Poor little hornballs, damned to ride the rickshaws with no place to go till they turn 21 (except for Club Life's all-ages Sunday night).

BEST DIVE SHOP

Aquaknots Dive Center

The attitude of the owners of Aquaknots toward their dive classes is indicative of why they do so well: They just want everybody to join them and get wet. They run their scuba certification classes at cost; $200 buys you the two-week course (two nights a week), including equipment use and two open water dives. "We don't consider the classes as a source of revenue," says co-owner Mario Ginoris, who has been working for the company since he was twelve years old. "We just look at it as a way of making new customers." Instructors at his shop come highly recommended. Ginoris and staff trained Latin crooner Marc Anthony and wife in Tommy Mottola's Miami Beach mansion pool. In addition to carrying a full range of scuba gear, the shop specializes in custom-made spearfishing equipment. Aquaknots is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

BEST DIVE SHOP

Aquaknots Dive Center

The attitude of the owners of Aquaknots toward their dive classes is indicative of why they do so well: They just want everybody to join them and get wet. They run their scuba certification classes at cost; $200 buys you the two-week course (two nights a week), including equipment use and two open water dives. "We don't consider the classes as a source of revenue," says co-owner Mario Ginoris, who has been working for the company since he was twelve years old. "We just look at it as a way of making new customers." Instructors at his shop come highly recommended. Ginoris and staff trained Latin crooner Marc Anthony and wife in Tommy Mottola's Miami Beach mansion pool. In addition to carrying a full range of scuba gear, the shop specializes in custom-made spearfishing equipment. Aquaknots is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

BEST CAR WASH

Sun Glo Car Wash

This is one of those old washes in Westchester where your car changes hands between rag-wielding immigrants stationed on either side of a tunnel, where the lathering takes place. The quality of the wash is top-notch, as it should be for a business that's been operating continuously for 30 years. The basic scrub plus a thorough vacuum is just $8.95; a full-throttle wash, wax, and interior deodorizing is a steal at $17. But Sun Glo's real value is the entertainment. It's neat to watch your ride pushed along a track through what seems a menacing, dark vortex. But if the mysterious mechanisms of a car wash don't hold your interest, those wacky wash guys also spend the day ragging on each other with hilarious jokes. If you understand Spanish, listen for the ones about Argentines. The last couple of years has seen an unprecedented number of them hired at Sun Glo, to the smirking amusement of the other Latin employees.

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®

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