Built in l938 just a block from the white sand beaches, the Essex House Hotel is a landmark amid the hot and hopping South Beach clubs, cafes and designer boutiques synonymous with Miami Beach glitz and glitter and sensuality. Beach shops will outfit beachgoers from the Essex with Jet Skis, volleyballs, and chairs. Flamingo Park, three blocks away on the beach, features tennis and basketball courts. Golf aficionados will delight that they are so close to Miami Beach and Haulover Beach Park golf clubs.

Back at the hotel, the intimate lobby is stylized with Art-Deco furniture, carpet and tile, and people-watchers can loll in an outdoor verandah with ceiling fans. To pamper guests, the hotel offers in-room massage and spa services, outdoor-jetted splash pool surrounded by a garden courtyard with bubbling fountain, and complimentary continental breakfasts and happy hours.

Guestrooms are festooned with custom Deco-styled furnishings with russet upholstered chairs, oval mahogany entertainment units and matching mahogany desks. The rooms include complimentary premium channels, refrigerators, minibars, marble baths, pedestal sinks, bathrobes, and fancy Gilchrist and Soames toiletries.

With advanced notice as early in the day as possible, staff members at the front desk, who are walking encyclopedias of everything South Beach, can arrange VIP access for Essex House patrons to popular area clubs, such as Prive, Pearl and Crobar, especially in the September-March peak season. So guests should be nice to them. Otherwise, they stand about as much of a chance as a snowball's chance on the beach of getting into the clubs on their own.