Up until a few years ago, if you were looking for a raucous time in Florida, this Broward County city of 150,000, about an hour north of Miami, was the place to go. During Spring Break, Fort Lauderdale was ground zero for the collegiate set, who came to party along the gorgeous 7-mi stretch of beach. It's a completely different story today. Upscale shops and restaurants now line the beachfront, where there were once T-shirt shops and fast food stands. Downtown Fort Lauderdale has been developed as more than a place for office-workers to trudge in and dash out. The tourists are now much more likely to be affluent families with children than partying students. If you ask the folks in Fort Lauderdale, no one seems to mind the change.

The first known white settler in the area, Charles Lewis, established a plantation along the New River in 1793, but it was the fort built by Major William Lauderdale at the river's mouth in 1838 that gave the town its name. Even after the Seminole wars, Fort Lauderdale was a sleepy place. Things began looking up in 1896 when the Florida East Coast Railroad reached the New River, and Fort Lauderdale was finally incorporated in 1911, with only 175 residents. But growth was still sluggish between the World Wars as a result of devastating hurricanes and the Great Depression.

The city's economic base has been largely rooted in tourism during the second half of the 20th century. Its fastest growth spurt came between the 1960s and 1980s, when Fort Lauderdale was popular as a spring break spot for vacationing college students. Although vacationers are still important to the economy, it has also become more diverse since the late 1980s due to the establishment of more manufacturing and international businesses in or near Las Olas Boulevard and the downtown area.

The town has been nicknamed the Venice of America for its 260-mi honeycomb of navigable waterways. It's almost as easy to get around here by boat as by car, and water taxis are popular with sightseers and bar-hoppers alike. A sizeable percentage of locals are boat owners. The Riverwalk, a pedestrian walkway bordering the New River, is charmed with restaurants, shops, and movie theaters. Tennis courts and golf courses abound, and jogging paths ribbon the many city parks. Stylish Las Olas Boulevard, the Galleria Mall, and the Coral Ridge Mall draw shoppers.