Turning up the heat with ‘Miami style’ look

Bar goers at ICE Lounge drink in the bar's Miami style. (Credit: Doug McSchooler / Metromix)

Bienvenido a Miami … in Indianapolis?

In a city known for its sports pubs and pork tenderloins, more bars are trying to imitate the style and ambience of one of the world’s sexiest cities.

Owner Ivan Duncan said he opened Oxygen Lounge earlier this year with the hopes of becoming a “Miami-style bar.”

ICE Lounge advertises itself as a “Miami-style” hookah bar, complete with beds for lounging.

Blu, too, embraces a “Miami-style” feel, mixing tropic chic (loungey furniture, mood lighting, clean, modern lines) with down-home Midwestern fashion sense.

“I think that Miami was the first sort of club scene,” lounge bar manager Katelin Reeves said. “When we sorta opened the whole ultra lounge notion, I think Indy didn’t have its own niche yet.”

And why wouldn’t we want to bring this famed party city to the Midwest? Playboy magazine recently named the University of Miami the top party school (“bikini” being one of the official criteria.)

“We’re looking to them to be the trendsetters, but as time goes on, I think Indy is getting its own personality,” she said, but added: “I don’t know if Indy is ever going to be a major trend-starting city.”