SoBe Modeling Industry Fragment of the Past

Any local can tell you that South Beach has definitely changed since its heyday in the 1990s.

Back then, it would cost no more than five bucks to get into the hippest clubs, if there was even a cover charge.

And the only parking attendants were usually the homeless guys who would ask for a couple of dollars to “watch your car.”

And the models?

They were everywhere, turning South Beach into the glamour capital of the world after years of blight.

You couldn’t pick up a fashion magazine without recognizing some South Beach landmark in its photos.

But those days are gone, possibly forever, according to Hilary Lehman of The Associated Press.

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Now that South Beach has matured into a legitimate money-hungry tourist trap where it could cost anywhere up to $50 to enter a nightclub, not including the required $300 bottle service charge for two people, it has become too costly to operate a modeling agency down here.

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And post-911 airline regulations made it difficult to transport trunks of clothing and photography equipment.

So now the model industry has returned to its roots in Los Angeles and New York.

Things got so bad that one of the most successful model agencies in the world, Irene Marie Models, was forced to shut down in February.

And South Beach will focus on what it does best. Preying on the naïve tourist.