Founded on the concept of facade and populated with people who have more to offer sexually than conversationally, Miami was destined to become

America's make-out capital. And at the moment, there is no place where that's more evident than Nikki Beach Club's Sunday-afternoon party. The setting is an ocean-side encampment at the tip of Miami Beach, where hammocks stretch between coconut palms and white canvas teepees pitched in the sand can create spontaneous tableaux for deep contemplation and more. The music is trippy, the vibe extremely chill. This is Barbarella meets Moon Doggie for a full-on, nearly-nude necking extravaganza under the brightest sun for the closest inspection by all.
Are these extras for an MTV shoot or is it the Playboy Channel? Shockingly beautiful kids whose good looks earned them social scholarships migrate to Miami, where an agent will pluck them from this Real World playground and ship them north, west or far, far east to harems in Arabia (it happens). These are Nikki Beach make-out champions, a little slow on the pickup, but excellent when posed alongside their toy props, like guitars, skateboards, scooters and sometimes iguanas.
South Beach is one big wacko lab experiment in progress, and plenty of times that's an $8,000 nose and chin job nuzzling a $9,000 chest and calf implant. But Darwin is dead and such genetic interventions go unchecked. On one fateful afternoon not too long ago, a famous model couple — she known mostly for her over-inflated lip and he for his over-inflated ego — was going at it in a Nikki hammock. When they emerged from their long performance, instead of suffering the typical smeared lipstick, her clay-like lip had been remolded into the shape of a clamshell. This is rare, and can only be blamed on the particular over-zealousness of this notorious couple. Not everything can be blamed on the Miami heat.

Nikki Beach Club
One Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
(305) 538-1111
Recommended drink: Miami Vice — equal parts Piña Colada and Rum Runner
(Photograph by Laurent Levy)

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