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A swank new hotel in Miami's fashionable South Beach neighborhood is taking a page or two from Los Angeles.

At the all-suite Regent South Beach, which was to have opened last week, diners sit down at a satellite of Table 8, Govind Armstrong's trendy Melrose Avenue take on California cuisine.

Penthouse guests and other VIPs get the Hollywood treatment. Using mini cellphones, dubbed Regent Pocket Butlers, they can summon butlers, chauffeurs and other hotel staff without leaving their beach chairs or from just about anywhere in Miami.

Other luxuries at the five-story, 80-room hotel: balconies with all rooms, marble-and-granite baths and a glass-panel pool with waterfalls. The 27 penthouse suites come with hot tubs and private terraces.

A spa is expected to open next summer; meanwhile, guests can get spa treatments in their rooms.

Introductory rates, good through Jan. 25, begin at $425 per night. The hotel is at 1458 Ocean Drive; (800) 545-4000, http://www.regenthotels.com .

— Jane Engle

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Quake claims Hawaii hotel

THE earthquake that rattled the Hawaiian Islands on Oct. 15 has claimed a major casualty: The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island's Kohala Coast has closed indefinitely.

The 41-year-old luxury property, operated by Prince Resorts Hawaii, had closed about 100 of its 310 rooms — including badly damaged beachfront wing lanais — immediately after the earthquake as a precaution while damage was being assessed.

But consulting engineers found a "significant safety hazard" from damage to the roof of the main building, Donn Takahashi, Prince Resorts president, said in a Dec. 1 statement. It may take "many months" to repair and restore the property, he said.

The hotel is not accepting new reservations. Guests staying at the Mauna Kea were transferred to Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, a sister property. Guests holding future reservations are being contacted, and the hotel is making efforts to find accommodation for them.

Mauna Kea's golf course and clubhouse remain open.

Although Dec. 15 through Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year, and hotels typically sell out, Marsha Wienert, tourism liaison for the state, said last week that she is confident the Big Island — with 11,351 units in hotels and condos in Kona and across the island in Hilo — can accommodate visitors.

— Beverly Beyette

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Illuminating an ancient art

SEQUELS sometimes take a while — but 500 years? That's about how long it's been since illuminated Bibles were widely produced. The invention of printing spelled the end of the hand-lettered, hand-painted Bible, painstakingly produced by laboring monks.

But a new Bible, developed at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota, reminds us of the intense devotion of those ancient scribes and how beautiful the printed word can be.

Parts of the St. John's Bible, projected for completion in 2008, are now on view at Washington, D.C.'s Library of Congress.

The vellum (calfskin) pages, about 16 by 24 inches, were hand lettered by calligraphers in a Welsh "scriptorium," using traditional goose, swan or turkey quills and hand-ground inks. The (New Revised Standard Version) text is in English, with only a few verses per page.

The rest is adorned by hand-painted illustrations or decorations, their vivid paints mixed with egg yolk, following an old recipe.

But not everything in the Bible's creation was traditional: Computers were used to coordinate the layout and division of labor among the various artists.

The St. John's Bible will be on display at the Library of Congress until Dec. 23. It will move to Naples, Fla., from Jan. 26 to April 6 and then be on display in Phoenix from Dec. 9, 2007, to March 7, 2008. Info: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org .

Jerry V. Haines

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Briefly

Grand Canyon