South Beach bouncing back

Recession? Unemployment? Stock market plunging? Worldwide crisis?

You'd never know it on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach's main shopping street.

Business seems to be booming -- in 16 years, I've never seen the street more crowded, never seen so many chi-chi shops.

The art busines seem to be booming there, too, with several interesting new galleries open. But my sentimental favorite is the decades-old Art Center South Florida, two buildings of artists' studios.

Originally the buildings were small department stores during the Art Deco era -- they were remodeled into inexpensive studios for artists, starting in 1984 under the leadership of potter Ellie Schneiderman, but many Art Deco details remain like these sleekly graceful, modernist stair railings.