Show up half-wasted at 2 a.m. and you might miss Poprox entirely. Reason being, the Beach's newest rock bar belongs to a breed of boutique clubs that puts a premium on being small, exclusive, and difficult to locate.
In fact, the advertised street address (2701 Collins Ave.) is no more than an approximation. Your inebriated ass could wander this dead stretch for fifteen minutes and never find the place, unless--while dodging the feral cats and aging burnouts that stalk the sidewalks--you mistakenly stumble down the service side of the Triton Tower block. Only there, near the end of 27th Street--beside a condo trash dock and bathed in a fuchsia haze--will you discover the club's back alley entrance.
But note: the whole clandestine thing's just an underground front. Inside Poprox reveals itself to be an expensive aboveground enterprise, drenched in 80s gloss rock appeal. There's a massive mirror-encircled bar, accented with candy-colored light boxes, and 14-foot ceilings done up in faux-vintage tin panels, and gratuitous chunks of chainlink fencing. Then, you've got the glo-paint graffiti murals by Crome, punctuated with the faces of random pop icons like Sid Vicious, Wacko Jacko, Bowie, and Madonna--but no Darby Crash. And so, despite the main cave being a long narrow space focused on a small stage pinned to the back wall, this club is no gritty garage joint.
Poprox is open 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., seven days per week. Drinks start at seven dollars and domestic beers are four bucks. Weekly events include Battle of the Bands on Mondays, and Industria Sundays. For more, visit poproxmiami.com.
