Coral Gables
Tree-lined boulevards, winding roadways and green spaces give Coral Gables, Florida its identity as “The City Beautiful.” Shoppers flock to fine boutiques and specialty stores along Coral Gables’ Miracle Mile to find the hottest new styles.
Founded at the height of the Florida land boom, Coral Gables is a noted planned city, with tree-lined boulevards and Mediterranean-style buildings. Originally heavily residential, it now houses many inter-American, in particular Latin American, offices of large corporations; its proximity to Miami International Airport has aided the city’s development and promoted tourism.
Coral Gables is best known as home to the University of Miami, a globally-recognized university that is ranked academically among the top tier of U.S.-based colleges and universities.
The university also is known nationally for its highly successful collegiate football and “baseball”http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mifl-m-basebl-body.html teams, both of which have won repeated Division I national championships over the past two decades. UM has graduated two Heisman Trophy winners, and three of its former football players went on, following highly successful National Football League careers, to be admitted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the highest honor awarded a former NFL player.
Coral Gables is an extremely affluent city. Its residents include upper class businesspeople and professionals.
Tree-lined boulevards, winding roadways and green spaces give Coral Gables, Florida its identity as “The City Beautiful.” Shoppers flock to fine boutiques and specialty stores along Coral Gables’ Miracle Mile to find the hottest new styles. Coral Gables restaurants appear on the culinary map for a variety of cuisines. Their elegant ambience and exacting service are taken for granted in Coral Gables, Florida – a city dedicated to fine living.
Coral Gables was one of the first planned communities, and prefigured the development of the gated community and the homeowners association. It was at one point notorious for its aesthetic regulations, but they pale compared to those currently practiced by homeowners associations. The city was developed by George Merrick in the 1920s. The city’s architecture is almost entirely Mediterranean Merrick designed the downtown commercial district to be only four blocks wide and more than two miles long. The area was once serviced by a free trolley system that ran down Ponce de Leon Boulevard, the main artery disecting the business district. Merrick could boast that every business in Coral Gables was less than a two block walk. The old trolley system was replaced by the popularity of modern automobiles until a new free trolley system was initiated in November, 2003. Now, Coral Gables is known as a pedestrian-friendly destination. Located only four miles from Miami International Airport, the “City Beautiful” boasts more than 140 dining establishments and gourmet shops, plus many notable international retailers