I Need a Colada

An outlier of the Miami Design District, Dalé Zine is unapologetically twee with a street edge. Early in 2024, this longstanding, beloved indie bookshop and exhibition space relocated (yet again), moving to the heart of the city’s conspicuous consumption, up the street from Maison Margiela and Saint Laurent. Upon entering, right away, Dalé’s yellow-and-red checkerboard linoleum floors signal funk and zest. These checkerboard floors are the store’s signature. They’ve had them at two previous locations, according to bookseller-on-duty Roy Hunter. He’s spinning vinyl behind the counter with pastel purple hair wearing a big grin and a bright yellow tee—the tunes are 1970s Spanish pop by La Pequeña Compañía following some boogie-synth yacht rock by the Miami band Psychic Mirrors. Off to the side from the sales counter, there’s a grimy xerox machine mostly being used as a shelf—it’s décor that screams “ZINES!” Nearby there are some cardboard boxes with shipments of more printed matter and some folding chairs leaning against a wall of windows letting in a lot of Florida sunshine. It’s a casual and cheerful ambience that matches the curation of artist books and goods—street photography by skaters, a magazine called Sandwich, hot sauce, candles, bumper stickers, plushie tits, and puzzles.

A Snoopy car freshener seduces Maya Martinez, my Miami companion. I buy a print by Alain Levitt, Danielle Levitt’s brother and also the owner of La Bacaro restaurant, which I haunt regularly back in Manhattan. His book has two cover options: my favorite is a busted up crushed front of a New York police car. It’s on display next to a photo book by Kate Sterlin. I’m pretty sure this is Zsela’s mom. It’s confirmed for me, flipping through there are many black-and-white images of  the singer young. Next to that book there’s another by Jerry Hsu called The Beautiful Flower is the World (great title). Inside I flip to a woman having her pregnant belly autographed. Sterlin and Hsu’s books are both by Anthology Editions, a Brooklyn press I have a passing familiarity with but now vow to pay more attention to. Another book’s bright orange cover catches my eye: Ventanitas: A window into Miami’s Coffee Culture by Daniela Perez Miron and from Gesi Schilling. Inside an order is printed like a poem: “A colada please / And don’t forget / The pastelito de guayaba cuba / en mi sangre / — Monica Santana.” I need a colada.

The back third of Dalé Zine is an art gallery, and the exhibition they’ve chosen for the Miami Basel influx of out of towners is Break Glass: In Case of Creative Crisis by Gabino Azuela & Jackie Crespo. Roy tells me this pair have a bookstore in CDMX: “basically the Dalé Zine of Mexico City.” Their work is a naive art brut vision of air brush paintings: a candelabra, a butterfly, a hand clutching the handle of a shopping bag printed with the words “endless royalties.” 

Outside we sit in the sun at a picnic table reading a zine Maya purchased, which documents the author’s trip to a Dungeons N Dragons convention. It’s dedicated to “My Moon & Rain / Love MY GIRLzz!!! / You Can Do Anything! / MAGIC.” Later we take the Dalé News newspaper to the beach.