(91 posts)

Meet Club New Tropic member Alissa Jean Schafer

📸 Photo courtesy of Alissa Jean Schafer Hey there, Alissa! Who are you and what do you do down here? I’m an energy policy wonk, power company watchdog, communications consultant, swamp hiker, volunteer, single mom… it all depends on who you ask and which hat I’m wearing at the moment! I run my own political […]

Locals to Know / May 30, 2023

Meet musician Vincent Raffard

📸 Photo provided by Vincent Raffard Hi, Vincent! Tell us a bit about your talents. I am a multi-instrumentalist, with a penchant for the cornet, trumpet, and guitar. I’m also a composer, singer/songwriter, and the founder of the French Horn Collective — a protean gypsy-jazz/world-music outfit. Born in Paris, I’ve been living in Miami since 2007, and […]

Locals to Know / May 22, 2023

Meet NAMI Miami-Dade’s Kate Edelson

📸 Photography by Taylor Fu Howdy, Kate! Who are you? What do you do? I am a passionate advocate for mental health education and accessible programming. For over five years, I’ve worn many hats at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), the largest peer-led mental health nonprofit organization in the U.S. This includes being a presenter and […]

Locals to Know / May 15, 2023

Meet Chef Samantha Cruz

📷 Photo courtesy of Sodexo Live! Hey there, Samantha! What do you do here in town? I’m Sodexo Live!’s Executive Chef for the newly-opened Rum Room and Venu on the Miami Beach Convention Center campus. How does Miami help you do what you do or influence your work? Miami is a melting pot. The diversity […]

Locals to Know / May 8, 2023

Meet Alex Van Mecl, founder of Discover Opa-locka

📷 Photo courtesy of Alex Van Mecl Hi Alex! Let’s start with the basics: who are you? What do you do? I’m a public and community relations pro, a citizen preservationist, and an eco warrior. What neighborhood(s) are you reppin’? Opa-locka. How does Miami help you do what you do or influence your work? The […]

Locals to Know / May 1, 2023

Choose your own adventure in North Miami

☕️ Start the day with a morning buzz… at Café Crème. The European feel of the French bakery and bistro extends to the outdoors with seating on the MOCA Plaza. …or Alaska Coffee Roasting Co. which, as the name might suggest, started with a sister shop in Fairbanks. Their coffee is roasted, ground and brewed […]

Neighborhoods / April 28, 2023

The Time of the Trolley, Part III

By Seth H. Bramson For the past two issues, this column has given brief histories of the Miami and Coral Gables streetcar systems. This week, the focus turns to Miami Beach, where from December 8, 1920 until October 17, 1939 trolleys operated to and from Miami and on several lines in that city. Edward Ridolph’s […]

History / April 26, 2023

The Time of the Trolley, Part II

By Seth H. Bramson Although almost all of what I pen for The New Tropic deals with a special moment in Greater Miami’s history, it is possible that the era of the street and electric railways in Greater Miami — the time of the trolley — may indeed have been the most special time of […]

History / April 24, 2023

Meet actor and playwright Robby Ramos

📷 Photography by Jonny Marlow Hi Robby! Tell us a bit about the work you do. I’m an actor and playwright, born and raised in Miami. I play Cuban wrestler Diego Cottonmouth on Heels, the Starz TV series about professional wrestling. I wrote and produced my first play, The Walls Have Ears, about political prisoners in Cuba […]

Locals to Know / April 24, 2023

The Time Of The Trolley, Part I

By Seth H. Bramson To paraphrase a wonderful New York Globe editorial from the very early years of the 20th century, “Yes, totteleh, there were trolley cars in Miami! And Coral Gables! And Miami Beach!” Indeed, for some 35 glorious years, streetcars or trolley cars — today returning to cities throughout America under the updated […]

History / April 18, 2023