The Great Life

"South Beach never sleeps," says Miami Film Festival director Nat Chediak about the historic Art Deco district with its '20s and '30s architectural treasures. The pink and blue, yellow and green facades are highlighted by the warm Florida sunshine, and not only South Beach but its community of Miami Beach is jammed with celebrities and visitors attending Super Bowl XXXIII. And launching -- at the same time -- his Art Deco enterprise, The Hotel (formerly the Tiffany) on Collins Avenue, New York preservationist entrepreneur Tony Goldman, daughter Jessica, director of The Hotel, and wife Janet invited 300-plus Miamians and pals for a lollapalooza soiree at the hotel, with the crowd checking out the terrace, lobby, Wish restaurant and the rooftop swimming pool with its vista of the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean, a relaxing spot for worldly sybarites that invites meditation. Tony, also quite the crooner (having recorded a CD of romantic ballads), is a master at developing worthy areas in need of attention -- Manhattan's West Side, SoHo, Wall Street, in Philadelphia and Miami Beach. "We buy critical mass," informs Tony, a longtime champion of urban renewal, "and restore the buildings with respect that bring in leasees for shops and other venues, with taxes from these properties going to the community for continued betterment." Tony hired Todd Oldham to redesign the 1939 Art Deco hotel, with Todd bringing tropical-inspired touches to the decor. Custom sofas and chairs furnish the 52 accommodations, with Tony Goldman looking upon The Hotel, built by Art Deco architect Murray Dixon, as the "crown jewel" of his South Beach empire. Savvy Tony found the property and surrounding buildings 13 years ago, and Miami Beach mayor Neisen Kasdin praises the "lift" that Tony's given the community. Daniele Lomoriello, previously with hotels in Capri, is The Hotel's general manager.



Co-hosting the party with Tony and Jessica, Todd Oldham invited his favorite deejay from New York to spin music between the live sets by Roberto Perreira's combo that featured South American rhythms. Kristin Scott-Thomas joined the revelers -- she's filming "Random Harvest" in Miami, Washington and New York with Harrison Ford under Sydney Pollack's direction. "I can't fault working with Sydney, he's simply wonderful," she beams, adding that the film's about the two characters played by her and Harrison whose spouses lose their lives in a plane crash. "Soon enough we find out that they've been carrying on an affair." Cookbook author Chris Idone came by and chatted about his forthcoming tome on Amazon cookery for Stewart, Tabori and Chang publishers, as models galore poured into the party (they say between 2,000 and 3,000 models live or come and go to Miami Beach). Bill Talbert of the Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau was on hand, along with Todd Oldham's psychic, the world-traveled Maria Trevise, who sparkled