A complete and well illustrated book detailing the story of Coral Gables. Archival photographs provide excellent historical detail about the City Beautiful.

The story of developers selling off the Sunshine State is as old as the first railroad tracks laid across the peninsula. But seldom do we hear about the men who actually built a better Florida. In George Merrick, Son of the South Wind, South Florida historian Arva Moore Parks recounts George Merrick's quest to distinguish himself from the legions of developers who sought only profit. Helping to create the land boom of the 1920s, Merrick transformed his family's citrus grove just outside of Miami into one of the finest planned communities: the "master suburb" of Coral Gables. With a team of architects and city planners, he built homes for the growing middle class in the Mediterranean Style using local stone, and he invested in public infrastructure by designing and building parks and pools, trolley lines and waterways. He pledged land for a library and the university that would become the University of Miami. Hailed in national publications as a visionary, Merrick was green before green, a New Urbanist before the movement even had a name. As Coral Gables and Merrick prospered, he reinvested in education, affordable housing, and other progressive causes. But the Great Depression ravaged Miami, and Merrick's idealism cost him his fortune. He died with an estate worth less than $400. With unprecedented access to the Merrick family and mining a treasure trove of Merrick’s personal letters, documents, speeches, and manuscripts, Parks presents the remarkable story of George Merrick and the development of one of the nation’s most iconic planned cities.

It's 1991, and Nick, 32, is living in Washington, D.C., just scraping by. One evening, Nick runs into Rachael, a beautiful and successful former business associate. Sparks fly and the two begin a whirlwind romance. Rachael introduces Nick to the unusual circle of friends over which she presides: A-list gay men at the forefront of the burgeoning circuit party scene. Beguiled by the heady life style and the ultra-worldly Rachael, straight-guy-Nick becomes immersed in the most exotically gay scene on earth. Nick fears that he's playing hopelessly out of his league, but the prospect of reverting back to the grey normalcy of his previous life terrifies him. Nick decides that since he can't be gay, he'll become the next best thing: the gayest straight man in America. He and Rachael become a major subculture. Minor celebrities the straight couple who party just as hearty with the boys. As the excesses of the circuit catch up to them, Nick feels trapped beneath the glittery facade of his life. In order to save himself, Nick is going to have to find his way out of his decade-long relationship with Rachael, which has blown Nick's world wide open and apart.

Coral Gables: Miami Riviera was the original title for the many publicity and informational brochures published by the Coral Gables Corporation. These brochures revealed, to a winter-weary nation, the intentions, achievements, and progress of George E. Merrick's grand vision for "America's Most Beautiful Suburb," created during the Florida land boom of 1921-26. This book is specifically designed as a history and a pocket guide to showcase the many unique architectural features and places of this premier "boom time" city, from its beginnings until the present. The guide is organized into three sections. The first is an essay that compares the concept of the city with the influences of American 19th- and 20th-century city planning. The second section illustrates the patterns of Coral Gables development with original maps and the many grandiose planning functions for the "Master Suburb" that became a city. The third section offers six self-guided tours by sectors and themes of the city, featuring more than 90 sites and landmarks. These are illustrated with more than 120 archival and contemporary photos and the original advertisement drawings of Merrick's grand vision. Aristides J. Millas is associate professor of architecture at the University of Miami. Ellen J. Uguccioni is director of the Historic Preservation Division, City of Coral Gables.