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A single low-budget Hollywood movie changed FORT LAUDERDALE from
a mild-mannered little town that happened to adjoin seven miles
of palm-shaded white sands into a byword for uninhibited beach life.
Following the 1960 teen-exploitation movie Where the Boys Are ,
Fort Lauderdale instantly became the number-one Spring Break venue
in the US, drawing hundreds of thousands of frenzied students each
year. Having fueled its economic boom on underage drinking and lascivious
excess, however, the city promptly turned its back on the revelers.
By the end of the 1980s, it had imposed enough restrictions on boozing
and wild behavior to put an end to the bacchanal, and Fort Lauderdale
has transformed itself into a thriving pleasure port, catering to
individual yacht-owners and major cruise liners alike, that's also
one of the fastest-growing residential areas in the country.
For visitors, Fort Lauderdale contains two main areas of interest.
Downtown focuses on a few blocks between E Broward and E Las Olas
boulevards, which cross US-1 a couple of miles east of I-95. Heavily
prettified with parks and promenades, it's a surprisingly pleasant
place for a stroll, especially if you follow the half-mile pedestrian
Riverwalk along the north shore of the New River. Las Olas Boulevard
itself, the main shopping district , remains busy day and night,
with boutiques, galleries, restaurants, bars and sidewalk cafés
in abundance. It's also home to the stimulating Museum of Art ,
1 E Las Olas Blvd (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Fri 10am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm;
$10; tel 954/525-5500). The largely modern collection features several
of the twentieth century's biggest names, but also celebrates 1960s
work by the CoBrA movement of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels
and Amsterdam. Not far west, the simulators and interactive displays
at the Museum of Discovery and Science , 401 SW 2nd St (Mon-Sat
10am-5pm, Sun noon-6pm; $12.50 including one IMAX film; tel 954/467-6637),
should pacify kids pining for Disney with a blockbuster 3D IMAX
theater (call for showtimes).
Most visitors, nonetheless, still come for the beach . Cross the
arching intracoastal waterway bridge, about two miles along Las
Olas Boulevard from downtown, and the mood changes appreciably.
Where Las Olas ends, beach-side Fort Lauderdale begins - T-shirt,
sunscreen and beachwear stores are suddenly everywhere. Along the
seafront, Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard once bore the brunt of
Spring Break partying, but only a few beachfront bars suggest the
carousing of the past, and the attractive new promenade draws an
altogether healthier crowd of joggers, in-line skaters and cyclists.
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