Miami – where Iggy Pop and other dreamers flock

Anthony Bourdain
By Anthony Bourdain, CNN
5 minute read
Updated 9:35 AM EDT, Sun May 3, 2015
Anthony Bourdain starts the day in west Miami with chef Michelle Bernstein at Islas Canarias Restaurant.
Anthony Bourdain starts the day in west Miami with chef Michelle Bernstein at Islas Canarias Restaurant.
David S. Holloway/CNN
For breakfast, they order a medianoche, which is a pressed sandwich of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and a little mustard. Bourdain washes it down with a cafe Cubano, which is much sweeter than traditional espresso.
For breakfast, they order a medianoche, which is a pressed sandwich of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and a little mustard. Bourdain washes it down with a cafe Cubano, which is much sweeter than traditional espresso.
David S. Holloway/CNN
Bourdain later sits down at at Captain Jim's Seafood Market with Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, the creators of "Cocaine Cowboys," to understand the once underground economic engine of Miami. During the discussion, they feast on stone crab claws, a South Florida specialty.<br />
Bourdain later sits down at at Captain Jim's Seafood Market with Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, the creators of "Cocaine Cowboys," to understand the once underground economic engine of Miami. During the discussion, they feast on stone crab claws, a South Florida specialty.
Zero Point Zero
A Miami resident walks out of B&M Market, a grocery store with a four-seat cafe in the city's Little Haiti neighborhood.
A Miami resident walks out of B&M Market, a grocery store with a four-seat cafe in the city's Little Haiti neighborhood.
David S. Holloway/CNN
Bourdain feasts on jerk chicken, curried goat and cow foot soup at B&M Market.
Bourdain feasts on jerk chicken, curried goat and cow foot soup at B&M Market.
Zero Point Zero
Members of Miami's enormous Afro-Caribbean community enjoy a game of dominoes outside.
Members of Miami's enormous Afro-Caribbean community enjoy a game of dominoes outside.
David S. Holloway/CNN
A resident of Miami break dances in the street.
A resident of Miami break dances in the street.
David S. Holloway/CNN
Bourdain enjoys fish and grits at MLK Restaurant with Luther Campbell, who is credited with pioneering the type of music that would later be called "Miami bass."
Bourdain enjoys fish and grits at MLK Restaurant with Luther Campbell, who is credited with pioneering the type of music that would later be called "Miami bass."
David S. Holloway/CNN
Other patrons enjoy breakfast at MLK Restaurant in Liberty City, a neighborhood in Miami.
Other patrons enjoy breakfast at MLK Restaurant in Liberty City, a neighborhood in Miami.
David S. Holloway/CNN
Finally, Bourdain visits with a few residents who live full-time on their boats on the Miami River. This type of living situation is becoming less common because of the city's economic boom.
Finally, Bourdain visits with a few residents who live full-time on their boats on the Miami River. This type of living situation is becoming less common because of the city's economic boom.
David S. Holloway/CNN
'Parts Unknown': Miami

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CNN  — 

Musically speaking, the years 1969 and 1970 were not good years for me. Raised on the Yardbirds, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Big Brother and Blue Cheer, I watched in mute horror as my friends and fellow enthusiasts melted away into the more melodic, thoughtful, easy listening arms of Poco, Gram Parsons and Steely Dan, as well as various monsters of prog rock.

Friends who, at age 16, could play “Purple Haze,” note for note – and well – were suddenly putting down their Telecasters and picking up pedal steel and dobro. It was a plague of tasteful arrangements and excessive musicianship. You could barely attend a musical event without enduring an extended bluegrass solo, or 35 minutes of some jerk in a cape noodling away on a Mellotron.

So, The Stooges’ first album, an antisocial masterpiece of do-it-yourself aggression and raw, nasty, dirty rock and roll, came as a welcome emetic. A friend played it for me at his house with the volume down, careful, as we both sensed this stuff was dangerous.

Miami: Insiders share their secrets with visitors

And in fact, in those dying days of the ’60s, when you showed up at school actually carrying a vinyl album under your arm – to advertise the fact that you thought the Allman Brothers were awesome (they weren’t), or that you knew every note of Flying Burrito Brothers, or that you had the good taste and discerning nature to appreciate the works of Fairport Convention – carrying a Stooges album set you apart. And not in good way.

Only speed freaks (not a high-prestige set in 1969) and guys who worked on their cars too much liked the Stooges. “Problem” kids. Tormented loners. Guys about whom there were terrible rumors. (“He went mental and beat up his mom.” “He shot somebody with a zip gun.”) That’s the kind of guy who appreciated songs like the sado-masochistic “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” the bleak “No Fun” (which pretty much summed up high school for me) and the psychotic “TV Eye.”