Place and Purpose

The Bank of Coconut Grove

3430 Main Highway

In this spot sat the former building for the Bank of Coconut Grove which was designed by Walter DeGarmo in 1923. It later became the home of the John C. Lilly Research Institute for Interspecies Communication between Humans and Dolphins, until it was eventually demolished. During the Great Depression, the Bank became a saving grace for the University of Miami, who, without the funds to maintain their assets, were ready to sell to the University of Florida, which planned to turn them into a sister college named Pan-American University. The bank stopped this from happening by purchasing UM’s assets and creating a long-term buy back plan. The Bank was also at the forefront of loans for small businesses. 

The Grove Bookworm, 3025 Fuller Street

Opened in 1980 by Coconut Grove local, Sterling Grace, The Grove Bookworm was one of three local bookstores in Coconut Grove. In addition to the current titles of the time, this bookstore also carried a large collection of books on arts, culture, and local history, as well as a collection of second-hand books which they sold for extremely low prices.

Gaslight South

2990 Grand Avenue

The Gaslight South was opened in 1965 by Sam Hood and his wife, singer Alix Dobkin. A southern version of Cook’s legendary Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village, Gaslight South was located one block from Biscayne Bay and smelled of jasmine and ocean breezes. The walls of the performance space were painted pale blue and lined with cork for the very best acoustics. Psychedelic posters covered the walls of the front tuning room for musicians. In its earliest days, performers such as Joni Mitchell, Odetta, Jose Feliciano and Jimmy Buffet graced the stage. Mitchell was discovered there in 1967 by folksinger David Crosby who lived on his sailboat in Dinner Key. He fell madly in love with her and took her away to California, where he produced her first record album Song to a Seagull in 1968 with Reprise Records. 

Biscayne Baby

3336 Virginia Street

Biscayne Baby was a 1970s disco popular with Grovites and University of Miami students. Later, the nightclub became Bedrock Bar, a rock music venue featuring local alternative bands. Throughout the 1980s, the night life scene in Coconut Grove was vibrant and eclectic.

The Country Store Restaurant

2880 Florida Avenue

Opened in the 1960s, this restaurant was a popular place to grab an inexpensive meal. The restaurant was known for its country rustic theme, described in The New York Times in 1977 as a “cleverly contrived romp through Grandma's attic. The lace tablecloths, posters and photos, sideboards, chairs and tables right out of a 1900 Grand Rapids furniture showroom… to complete the mood.”

The Sign of the Sandpiper, 2927 Florida Avenue

A prominent local sculptor, Mary Grabill began making pottery by building a kiln in the chicken coop on her parent’s property in Ohio. She eventually moved to Martha’s Vineyard and sold her wares there. During the 1950s, she settled in Coconut Grove and ran Sandpiper Studio for decades. Her popular pottery typically incorporated earth tones. Nancy Beth Jackson published an article on May 16, 1976 in The New York Times about things to do when it rains in Miami. Highlighting the cultural offerings of Coconut Grove, she wrote, “Pottery lovers should not miss Mary Grabill's Sandpiper in Coconut Grove, but it is necessary to call ahead for an appointment to visit her workshop, which is full of kilns and cats.”

Oak Feed Store

2911 Grand Avenue

Sandy Pukel, who you might recognize as the nude, flower child interviewed in the 1970 documentary Woodstock, opened the Oak Feed Store. The store became so popular that it expanded in the mid-90s with a larger location and attracted such famous celebrities and musicians as Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson. According to Pukel, who was quoted in the Miami Herald in 2017, the store’s mission of selling all natural, plant-based, and health foods was to “help people get back into nature.”

Faces in the Grove

3390 Mary Street, 1979 - 1986

Opened in 1979, Faces in the Grove was an upscale dance club once located on the fourth level of the Mayfair in the Grove, one of Miami’s premiere shopping malls. This club required a strict dress code and played disco and new wave dance music. The club closed in 1986. 

27 Birds

2988 SW 27th Avenue

27 Birds was an early 1980’s rock club that played everything from new wave bands like Blue Monday to soft rock bands, including the Eagles. Originally, the building that housed 27 Birds was a Big Daddy’s Liquor Store, an iconic South Florida business started by Flanigan’s restaurant chain founder Joe Flanigan. After the club closed in the 90s, Big Daddy’s, once again, took up residence. 

Candlelight Club

2689 SW 27th Avenue

An exclusive members-only restaurant and lounge operating throughout the 1970’s, the Candlelight Club attracted luminaries such as Roy Cohn and Barry Manilow. In 1976 the club hosted early meetings of the Dade County Coalition for the Humanistic Rights of Gays. 

The Old Grove Pub, 2824 SW 27th Avenue

Opened in 1980 by prominent Coconut Grove artist and community leader, Penny Praig, the Old Grove Pub was a popular place for drinks and live folk music. An indoor pub with an outdoor music venue, the stage and patio were built out of wood reclaimed from a sunken Haitian refugee boat off the shore of the now demolished Dupont Plaza Hotel in downtown Miami. Many well-known musical acts played at the Old Grove Pub during its heyday in the 80’s, including Decatur Jones, Jeff Kirk from the band Pure Prairie League, and Fred Neil, who played his last public performance at the pub in 1981 before he retired.

Scotty’s Landing

3381 Pan American Drive

Like a trip to the Keys minus the mileage, Scotty’s Landing offered Biscayne Bay views and casual waterfront dining at the piers in Grove Key Marina. As one blogger fondly reminisced, “Located in the shadow of Miami City Hall, getting there requires a short stroll through a boatyard, keeping a keen eye out for the occasional forklift or boat-pull.”

The iconic eatery, which closed in 2012, represented the relaxed and open-minded philosophy of the Grove from the 1960’s through the 1980’s. The site was often referred to as Coconut Grove’s version of Cheers, the bar of the much beloved TV show. A Facebook page Save Scotty’s Landing is devoted to preserving the community’s local color and document memories of Scotty’s.

Grove House School of Arts and Crafts

3496 Main Highway

Established in 1960 in the old Martin House behind the Grove Playhouse, the Grove House was a space for established artists and craftsman as well as emerging talent. It also served as a marketplace for the sale of artworks and an art school offering classes for children and adults. 

The goal of the organization was to promote all aspects of arts and crafts for the enrichment of culture in the community. Many members had never exhibited their talents to a buying public and the school launched artistic careers. As quoted in one of their brochures, “Craftsmanship is a communicable quality that can add greatly to our appreciation and understanding of life.”

Coconut Grove Playhouse

3514-3518 Main Highway

This iconic landmark has been a venue for some of the most famous theatrical events in South Florida. The Playhouse was built in 1927 as a movie house, was bought by George Engle in 1954, and converted into a theater in 1955   Officially opening in 1956, it featured the first American production of Waiting for Godot, and as Carol Cohan writes in her book, Broadway by the Bay, “If Coconut Grove had been a sleepy village til then, it certainly woke up on Jan 3, 1956.” A long list of Broadway and Hollywood stars graced the Playhouse stage; audiences came from all walks of life to sold-out shows such as Irma la Duce, Gypsy, Porgy and Bess, and The Tenth Man.

In 2005, the City of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board approved historic status for the Coconut Grove Playhouse site. The Playhouse closed its doors in 2006. Today, the Playhouse Foundation stands ready to return this local cultural treasure to its past glory.

Charles Avenue 

In the late 1800’s, a group of Bahamians immigrated to Florida to work at the Peacock Inn and settled in this area of Coconut Grove. They brought with them their knowledge of building practices and also learned on the job about materials specific to South Florida. They proceeded to construct many private homes and community structures such as Old Fellows Hall, Macedonia Baptist, home of the oldest black congregation in the area, and A.M.E. Methodist, which housed the community’s first school.

In 2012 the City of Miami designated Charles Avenue—also known as Evangelist Street because of the number of churches—an Historic Roadway. The epicenter of the West Grove’s Bahamian community, the Charles Avenue features shotgun houses, a vernacular architectural style of narrow, rectangular one-story structures. Many built by the same community of Bahamian immigrants who have lived in Coconut Grove since its inception, over 140 years ago. 

EWF Stirrup House

3248 Charles Avenue

This modest dwelling is one of the last 19th-century wood frame houses still standing in Miami-Dade County. Bahamian immigrant Ebenezer Woodbury Franklin Stirrup built more than 100 homes for African Americans in the region and provided many Black residents with opportunities to rent and later purchase their first homes. 

Colored Library (Odd Fellows Hall)

3288 Charles Avenue 

Built in 1896, this was the first library to serve the Black community of Coconut Grove. It became a home to many of the local societies, like women’s clubs and sports teams, as well as such events as dances and dinners. The first floor comprised the library and the community space, while the second floor was exclusively used for meetings of the secretive Odd Fellows society, whose mission was to help those in need. The Odd Fellows Hall was also home to several secret Civil Rights meetings during the 1960s.

Charlotte Jane Memorial Cemetery, 3391 Charles Avenue

Originally called Coconut Grove Bahamian Cemetery, this site began its use as a graveyard for the Bahamian community in the late 1850’s. It was officially incorporated in 1913 and was renamed as a dedication the E.W.F. Stirrup’s wife. The cemetery is known for its above ground caskets, which are a popular form of burial in the Bahamas and the Caribbean where lands are prone to flooding. In popular culture, this cemetery was the inspiration for Michael Jackson’s music video for “Thriller”. According to the director of the video, John Landis, part of the cemetery was used as a guide for the soundstage reproduction they shot in Los Angeles.

Mariah Brown House

3298 Charles Avenue

In 1880, one of Coconut Grove’s first African-Bahamian residents built this one-and-one-half story Frame Vernacular house was constructed. It is thought to be one of the first houses with a black owner, Mariah Brown, who worked at the Peacock Inn. She purchased a piece of land from pioneer Joseph Frow for 50 dollars and built this house within walking distance of the hotel. The house is built from Dade County Pine, wood that is impervious to termites and able to endure the heat of South. The Mariah Brown House was designated an Historical Site by the City of Miami in 1995 and is listed on the Florida Black Heritage Trail, part of the Charles Avenue Historic District.

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

3374 S Douglas Road

Originally, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was called the Fifty-Six Baptist Church, a group of 56 members of Coconut Grove’s Black community who were looking to build a church that celebrated the traditions of their African ancestors. Their first meeting took place in 1895 at the house of Mrs. Edith Albury on Williams Avenue. Eventually a chapel was built in 1903 on Charles Avenue, but in 1948, the church relocated to its final location on Douglas Road. The Fifty-Six Baptist Church was the first Black church in Miami-Dade County. 

Ace Theatre

3664 Grand Avenue

In the 1930s, the Wolfson-Meyer Theater Company constructed a building in the Art Deco style. Ace was one of the only movie theaters in Coconut Grove to serve the Black community during the time of racial segregation. In 1979 Black local businessman Harvey Wallace purchased the Ace. His family still owns the theater (now closed) and had it designated as a historical landmark by the National Park Service in 2014.

Kroma Gallery

3670 Grand Avenue

KROMA was a collective art space located on Grand Avenue in the heart of Coconut Grove, comprising 18 artists’ studios and a communal gallery space. In 2012, the gallery participated in Art Week during Art Basel with the following announcement: “Art Week Miami & Art Basel Miami Beach expands to Historic Coconut Grove with Celebrity Art Series II from December 3rd – 8th at KROMA, featuring modern art by African American, Haitian, and African artists.” Robert McKnight, a former member of the Miami Black Arts Workshop, was one of several artists with a studio at KROMA.

Ike’s Food Center

3374 S Douglas Road

Ike’s Food Center is not only a grocery store but a community gathering place in the heart of West Coconut Grove. Originally called Phil’s Food Center, it has been in operation for 52 years and counting. In 1970, Isaac Pope, who managed the store, purchased it from the white owner. Pope joined a rarefied group: Black business owners in Miami. The center has a welcoming, brightly colored stucco façade, reminiscent of the Bahamian islands’ aesthetic.

The Miami Black Arts Workshop

3743 Grand Avenue

The Miami Black Arts Workshop was founded on the campus of the University of Miami. During a campus visit, the dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909 –2006) urged administrators to introduce her to Black students. At this meeting, Dunham encouraged these promising students not only to develop their careers but to engage with Black communities. The idea for a workshop run by and devoted to Black artists originated at this meeting. The group eventually rented a space in West Coconut Grove, a historically Black neighborhood. The Miami Black Arts Workshop became a space for exhibitions, art-making, and teaching. Member Dinizulu Gene Tinnie recalls that exhibitions would typically last for ten days. Early members of the Miami Black Arts Workshop include Woods, Walter Dennis, as well as Donald and Robert McKnight.

The Barnyard

3870 Washington Avenue

The Barnyard is a neighborhood community center in the heart of West Coconut Grove. As the website states, it is “a magical place for children to learn, to play, to connect and to share.” The Barnyard is part of Coconut Grove Cares, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building a better community for the children and families of West Coconut Grove. Partnered with Children’s Survival Network, the center offers weekly sessions providing the parenting tools and support for maintaining close parent/child relationships. The center is a place devoted to an understanding of each child’s individuality and her ability to learn and thrive at one’s own pace. An anecdote to the “cookie cutter” expectations of overcrowded public educational institutions, the Barnyard provides the personalized attention parents and children deserve.

George Washington Carver Senior High School

4901 Lincoln Drive

Opened in the mid-1920s, George Washington Carver Senior High School was one of the few schools to serve the Black community in Dade County. Under the leadership of Francis S. Tucker, a graduate of Tuskegee University and a friend of Carver, the high school became a shining beacon in Coconut Grove’s Black community. When schools began integrating under Government mandate in the 1960s, George Washington Carver Senior High School, became what is now George Washington Carver Middle School. 

El Jardin

3747 Main Highway

El Jardin was built in 1917 as an elaborate estate along Biscayne Bay. It is one of the earliest and best-preserved examples of Mediterranean Revival architecture in South Florida. The architect was Richard Kiehnel of the firm of Kiehnel & Elliott, who went on to design Miami Senior High School, Seybold Building and the Coconut Grove Playhouse in a similar style. The estate was originally built as a winter home for northern industrialists escaping the winter weather. It was later used as a corporate retreat for Citgo Corp. and was finally the campus of the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, starting in 1961. The Carrollton School is committed to the preservation of El Jardin as an important historical landmark. 

Ransom School

3575 Main Highway

Paul C. Ransom brought students from an eastern prep school to this site in 1896 for a winter term away from the northern climate. Called the Adirondack—Florida School, it was the first of its kind, split between a logging camp in upstate New York and Pine Knot Camp on Biscayne Bay. In 1949, the school established a permanent home and was renamed the Ransom School for Boys. A philosophy of self-reliance, public service and intellectual investigation characterizes the school, fostering a relationship between students and the natural environment. The Everglades School for Girls was established in 1955 on a site very close to the Ransom School. In 1974, the two merged to form Ransom Everglades School. As quoted on the school’s web site: “(A) pre-eminent independent day school evolving with—and often ahead of—developments in education, technology and culture, (with) values characterized by environmental stewardship, public service and community involvement.”