This is the city in Florida where antiques have more life than many neighborhoods in Miami

Between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, there is a small town where time seems to have stood still, where the storefronts hold more stories than the skyscrapers of South Florida. It is called Dania Beach, and although many Cubans in Miami have never set foot there, this coastal corner is known as the capital of antiques in the south.

While new buildings rise every month along the avenues of Miami, the old treasures in Dania Beach continue to thrive. Century-old furniture, chandeliers, jewelry, watches, and portraits that seem to whisper forgotten names are displayed along US-1, near Dania Beach Boulevard. Each store is a time capsule, a quiet resistance to the haste and modern shine of South Florida.

The magazine Southern Living, in a recent article by Skye Sherman, describes this city, founded in 1904, as a coastal refuge with its own soul. “When even the locals consider it a hidden gem, you know you've found something special,” the journalist writes, reminiscing about how Dania Beach earned the title of capital of antiques in the 1940s, when tomato farming declined and merchants began filling the shops with objects from the past.

Today, that legacy remains alive in places like Akiba Antiques, Lone Ranger Antiques, or Kodner Galleries, where collectors and curious visitors get lost among showcases and memories. Many of these businesses are located in historic buildings—among them, the first cinema in Broward County—with Art Deco or Mediterranean Revival facades that enhance the charm of a city that refuses to be erased by time.

But Dania Beach is not just about antiques. It's also about the sea and memories. Just minutes away from the vintage shops, the fishing pier at dawn and the Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park offer a piece of unspoiled nature, where the sound of the waves replaces the noise of traffic, and tourists discover a more authentic Florida.

His restaurants are also part of the time travel experience. The classic Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant, open since 1956, retains that familiar atmosphere of old American diners, featuring giant ice creams, neon lights, and retro toys. "You feel like you’ve traveled back in time," says a local quoted by Southern Living. And there are those who stop by just to taste the pecan praline or to feel, for a moment, that they have returned to their childhood.

More recent but equally beloved, Lucky Fish, with its tiki cabins by the sea, has become the meeting point for those arriving from Fort Lauderdale Airport or the cruise port. A place where locals mingle with travelers and the air smells of salt, rum, and freedom.

For the Cubans in South Florida—accustomed to the hustle and bustle of Miami, the concrete, and the bright lights—Dania Beach might seem like an unlikely interlude: a piece of history that refuses to be demolished. In its streets, one can still feel a sense of community, of neighborhood, of conversations at the doorstep. A rarity in a region where the new often erases the old without looking back.

Perhaps that is why, in this city where ancient objects remain alive, a deeper idea also resonates: that memory, like the sea, always finds a way to return.

Frequently Asked Questions about Dania Beach and its Antique Market