Versace's Paradise

Versace's ParadiseThe Normandy Plaza Hotel has the sad pretension of a faded beauty whose best days are only a memory. It lies at the wrong end of Miami Beach, at Collins Avenue and 69th Street. The chic art deco hotels are a few miles south, on South Beach. The Normandy is garishly made up with a hot-pink exterior, purple trim and green awnings.The lobby of the Normandy, with its peeling linoleum floor, is barren except for two soda machines, a deserted metal bar that hasn't served a martini or...