Mikey Likes It!
The Hotel Victor is my new favorite hotel on South Beach. It's surely not for everyone. Somewhere between the restrained, colorful winsomeness of Todd Oldham's The Hotel and the Sagamore's white gallery blitz -- balancing comfort, service, and all-out artsy assault, it's difficult to pin down. But it's not easy to forget.

Jellyfish Dance
A walk into the lobby reveals a center curtain seating area, and to the right the restaurant Vix, with a sumptuous aquatic ballet: jellyfish. In their aquarium, the jellies are sultry and indolent, incandescent at night, and mesmerizing.

Alone that would be a great detail. But the designer of this hotel, Jacques Garcia of Paris, has clearly used the jellies as muse. Many details, most notably the lighting fixtures throughout the hotel, take on a bulbous, tentacly shape, sometimes directly mimetic, othertimes, as in the wonderful spa downstairs, represented abstractly.

I believe the whole to be a striking beauty.

An Art Deco Restoration
The Victor opened two years ago after decades of abandoment. (How could we forget P. Diddy's PenguinGate?) It was the last Ocean Drive hotel to be renovated, and that seems to have played to its advantage. The original art deco building was restored, and a new wing was created. It's all set around a very attractive pool that looks like a direct rip of the Raleigh piscine.

Helpful and Hip Staff
I spent some time with members of the hotel staff, they were courteous and alert. The concierge was graceful and warm. And yet when it comes down to it, the experience will ultimately revolve around your experience of the design.

Room Dirt
Rooms, like those at the Mandarin Oriental Miami, have bathrooms with no closure walls; instead drapery and sliding mirrors allow you to control the environment. Rooms are fairly small. The deep tubs in the middle of the room creates intimacy and permeates the whole with a sense of comfort. Black bathrobes and slippers in the closet suggest, to me, profligacy, exotic comforts, and danger.

These rooms don't need any more shaking up, but every detail wakes you up. Long, beaded and tasseled lamps hang from the ceiling over the night tables, close approximations of the lobby jellyfish. Shower and bathroom are separated by frosted glass doors, with circular clear portholes, a nod to the portholes in the main art deco building. Ruddy oranges prevail in the sofa, cushions, and carpet and drapery detailing. Headboards are a rich red satin.

In the showers, the head is a wonderful rainfall in a marble chamber with a cute bench set in a niche -- one imagines an intimate friend patiently waiting their turn.

The rooms are on the small side. The balconies are just meant for standing, but these are wonderful, allowing views to the sea, to the pool, and to other rooms. The rooms in the original 1936 building don't have the balconies. Insist on them.

Party People
By the way, Thursday nights are wild here. Don't count on sleep till 2 a.m. The second floor bar areas fill with attractive people, dancing and shmoozing. Projections show video from the previous week's party, creating a necessary circle of see, be seen.

Clearly its important to the hotel to have buzz. I'm not sure if it needs it, but its interesting to see Ocean Drive back in the scene.

Perhaps, like the jellyfish that go round and round in the lobby, the best of the beach will eventually head back south down Ocean Drive. Unlikely, true, but The Victor is a huge shove of fun in that direction.

What's Next
The final stop: The Ritz Carlton South Beach