Las Olas When the Drawbridge Holds You Hostage

Las Olas When the Drawbridge Holds You Hostage

Las Olas Boulevard begins at the edge of downtown Fort Lauderdale and runs east toward the beach, crossing canals where yachts idle with the patience of very expensive cats. I love it most when the drawbridge goes up at Southeast 15th Avenue and everything stops — cars, pedestrians, conversation — while a sailboat slides through the gap with a slowness that feels like a philosophical statement.

Gran Forno Presto is my anchor on the boulevard — an Italian bakery-cafe where the focaccia is baked in a wood oven and arrives at your table still warm enough to fog your sunglasses. I order the prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich and eat it at the sidewalk counter, watching the parade of Fort Lauderdale humanity: couples with shopping bags, retirees with small dogs that cost more than my car, and the occasional yacht captain in deck shoes buying a cortado like a regular person.

The galleries along Las Olas reward a slow walk. Peter Feldstein Gallery shows contemporary work that makes you think, and the smaller spaces between boutiques rotate exhibits often enough that the street never quite looks the same twice. The banyan trees that line the boulevard have trunks like melted candles, their aerial roots reaching for the sidewalk, and in the afternoon they throw shade patterns that make the whole street feel like it's wearing lace.

Insider tip: Walk south one block to the Riverwalk and follow it toward Stranahan House. You'll trade the shopping crowds for water views and pelicans, and the light on the New River at five o'clock will make you forgive Fort Lauderdale for every spring break it ever hosted.