fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 day agoA tale of three historic Miami theatres in disrepair
The Coconut Grove Playhouse, designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel, opened on New Year's Day 1927 with the luxuries of air-conditioning and the largest Wurlitzer organ in the US. Like many opulent venues at the time, the playhouse followed local Jim Crow laws and only welcomed white customers. A few blocks to the west, the much more modest Ace Theatre opened for Black audiences in the early 1930s in an area known as Little Bahamas, where many of Miami's Caribbean founders lived. In the 1950s, the Ace was the only movie theatre in the neighbourhood serving the Black community.
Miami