Rick Guerre performing at Las Rosas.
Photo by Amanda Gesto
Imagine sipping your first cup of coffee of the day while catching up on the news. You open the New York Times app and find a piece that stands out on how to spend 36 hours in Miami and make the best out of it. The article highlights popular restaurants, ventanitas, and museums, all curated with the guidance of local journalist Carlos Frías. These picks feel like solid options for travelers who want to experience the city through a local lens. But what’s unexpected, and refreshing, is seeing beloved local dive bar and venue Las Rosas featured as a must-visit destination for fans of rock, metal, and gritty Miami subculture.
Frías calls Las Rosas “a slice of Miami subculture,” and he’s not wrong. Recently reopened in Allapattah, on the corner of NW Seventh Avenue and 29th Street, it’s a short walk from Wynwood — perfect if you’re counting steps or working on preventive beer-belly strategies. Las Rosas shut down during the pandemic in 2022 but reopened its doors this past August. Frías gives a well-deserved shoutout to local band Boas, which can be seen performing on the venue’s back-room stage. Live music is a weekly staple, with Miami-based and touring acts performing under the red neon lights and between graffiti-covered concrete walls. Happy hour brings affordable beers and well drinks, and the gritty ambiance offers a welcome escape from beach days and Brickell babes.
It is worth mentioning that Las Rosas is also throwing one of Miami’s most anticipated free Halloween events for rock and metalheads, featured in our Best Halloween Parties in Miami roundup. Expect local bands doing one-of-a-kind tribute sets: Las Nubes as the Go-Go’s, Creature Cage as Black Sabbath, and Moni Musique channeling Patti Smith, among others.
Also making Frías’ list is Dante’s Hi-Fi, the popular Wynwood listening room that becomes the arts district epicenter for crate-diggers and dance heads after 10 p.m. If you are planning on swinging by this weekend, you can catch selectors Rum & Coke on Sunday, October 26, playing the best tropical sounds from across the world on wax.
But we’re not here to spoil it all, if you’re planning a jam-packed 36 hours in Miami, bookmark Frías’ piece. It’s a hand-picked blend of local flavor, culture, and music that hits just right.