Washington Beach

The slightly quieter southern stretch of Vice Beach, where Art Deco gives way to mid-century motels and the drug deals happen in the alley behind the laundromat.

Washington Beach is the part of Vice Beach where the volume gets dialed down just enough that you can hear yourself make a bad decision. South of the main Ocean Drive circus, the architecture shifts from restored Art Deco to neglected mid-century motels with kidney-shaped pools and neon signs advertising hourly rates. The blocks inland are quiet — stucco bungalows with coconut palms and window AC units, grandmothers on folding chairs, and kids riding bikes in the street. But Washington Beach has never been entirely innocent; it was the original stomping ground for certain Vice City enterprises, and the neighborhood still keeps its old rhythms. The dive bars serve the same regulars they served in 1986, the laundromat is open all night for reasons that have nothing to do with laundry, and the alleys see things the main strip never would.