A Quick Tour of Fort Lauderdale

Despite not being a prime candidate to host one of the country's major gay ghettos, Fort Lauderdale is a nice town in some ways. The beach is lined with gigantic hotels that look like beached cruise ships, unlike the Art Deco gems of South Beach, but the beach itself is nice (if more than a bit cold the day I was there, not even 60 degrees):


Behind these huge beach hotels are a cluster of midcentury modern motels, some of which have been made over into nice-looking gay guesthouses (unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures of any). And just inland from there are the famous canals; as in Venice they were basically built from sandbars in the lagoon behind a barrier beach:


Further inland is Las Olas Boulevard, a nice walkable shopping strip although the goods on offer seemed to be mainly desserts and women's clothing:


In the area I visited there was really only one discordant note, evidence that the real estate crash is not yet over in this part of the world:


The one drawback to Fort Lauderdale as a tourist destination is that it's more spread out than Miami and there's less public transportation. The beach area where the hotels are is about a 40-minute walk to Las Olas -- doable if you're a New Yorker and it's not too hot out -- but to get to Wilton Manors is a 20-minute drive or $20+ cab ride, and the best restaurants are spread out even further around the area.

Oh well; welcome to the United States of America.