Murder in the Grove

Sad to say a tourist from Chicago was murdered in the Grove over the weekend, while apparently asking for directions. Police are asking for help in finding the freaks who did this. There were witnesses, but no one has come forward.

Anyone with information on the murder of Ronald Gentile should call homicide detectives at 305-579-6530, or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS

Grapevine archives

I guess The Herald mention will bring lots of new readers to this blog, so I would like to remind people that all the past posts are here in the archives: The Grove Arts Festival, Taste of the Grove, complaints about local restaurants, zoning issues, the King Mango Strut -- basically all the news, views, opinion and gossip. Here is the listing of all past posts from our first in May 2005 to present. You can find the archives daily right below to the right, you'll also see lots of other local blogs you may care to visit.

May 2005 - June 2005 - July 2005 - August 2005
September 2005 - October 2005 -November 2005
December 2005 - January 2006 - February 2006
March 2006 - April 2006 - May 2006 - June 2006 - July 2006

We're mentioned in today's Herald!

Thanks, Glenn!

We have a mention in Glenn Terry's column today in The Herald's Neighbors section.

Glenn and I worked on a monthly newspaper called "The Coconut Grove Grapevine" way back in the day. I can't remember the name of the publisher, but she was a typical Grove hippie type, really sweet and very into the newspaper and the Grove.

I was in high school and worked at Community Newspapers for Ron Miller and this was one of the clients whose job they created and printed. I would work on the art end, doing the typesetting and layout and things like that.

I don't think the little newspaper lasted too long, she was trying to fashion it after "The Daily Planet," which was a Grove paper, I think in the '60s. (Before my time). :)

I can remember the nameplate had a winding grapevine and was always printed in purple and black, the grapes of course being in purple. I know I have copies somewhere, I would save all the jobs I worked on. I'll have to search my parents' house one day and see what I come up with. It would be fun to post some photos of the pages here to see what the news and ads were back then (I think it was either 1979 or 1980, maybe even 1981).

Free Vizcaya Sunday

Entrance into Vizcaya is free tomorrow, July 30, 2006.

From 9:30 am to 4:30 pm a series of lectures, tours and events will be held. Bring the family.

For more information, contact Vizcaya Museum and Gardens at 305-250-9133 or visit www.vizcayamuseum.org for a schedule of Sunday's events.

Worth seeing

Here are a couple of documentaries worth seeing:

SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2006 2-3:00 p.m. at the Colony Theater, (1040 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach - Phone: 305.674.1040) -- "WEST GROVE: A SENSE OF PLACE" (Marlon Johnson and Chad Tingle, 2006, 40 mins.) FREE

The film chronicles the dramatic changes one small community undergoes when big development and rising real estate prices threaten to displace and forever change the face of this historically Bahamian immigrant neighborhood. Wooded shotgun homes, mom-and-pop markets and island-themed architecture quickly find themselves in the shadows of high-rise condos and chain retail stores. The residents struggle to cope with the gentrification taking place while attempting to maintain West Grove as one of the historically oriented strongholds for African-Americans in the City of Miami. Marlon Johnson and Chad Tingle will discuss their documentary following the screening.

* * * * * * *
Now airing on Coral Gables Television is "Visions From The Past: Preserving the Heritage of the MacFarlane Housing District," an original 30-minute documentary about this historic Coral Gables neighborhood located on the corner of U.S. 1 and Grand Avenue, east of LeJeune Road. Many consider this the Grove, but either way, it is an interesting documentary.

The program showcases Flora MacFarlane, a settler who claimed her 160-acre homestead in 1892 in what is today the City of Coral Gables, and contains interviews with current residents, historian Arva Moore Parks McCabe and preservation architect Mike Steffans. This interesting documentary will show how current City Beautiful residents are trying to hold on to Coral Gables history by making housing restoration a top priority.

Comcast subscribers can watch Coral Gables Television at Channel 77 and Adelphia customers can view it on Channel 97. For more information, contact Coral Gables Television at 305-460-5521 for air times.

'Don't Box Me In' wins award

"Don't Box Me In," won first place as Best Documentary in the 2006 DIGit Exposition festival in Sullivan County, New York.

The documentary was commissioned by The Grove First. It's about Home Depot's bullying tactics to get a store in Coconut Grove.

The great part about the award is that it now gives the film more exposure and more people will learn about Home Depot's nasty tactics.

Variance meeting

Just a reminder that tonight is the informal variance meeting for the Mercy Hospital land.

It's at 7:30 pm at 3545 E. Fairview Street. You can get more info below.

Parking in the Grove

Today I tried to get coffee at Starbuck's again, on Grand Ave. and again, I could not figure out the Grove parking, so I just said screw it and left. It isn't that there is no parking, the spots are just not clearly marked and I always end up with a ticket because I am somewhere I shouldn't be.

Ever since the meters were removed it is impossible to figure out the parking situation. It seems that when I do find a spot it is either a loading zone or it is limited to certain hours or for some reason, I am not able to stay there. I think that if there is a paid receipt in the window, then people should be given some sort of consideration since obviously they paid and attempted to navigate the stupid parking do's and don'ts.

I wish someone would actually mark the spots so they are easily understood. I am sure many merchants are losing lots of impulse buy business. I was going to stop in one of the stores near Starbuck's, too. They lost business, too. All because I didn't want to get a parking ticket if I had chosen the wrong spot by mistake.

Put the freakin' meters back. Then at least you had a fighting chance of knowing where you could park.

Playhouse receives cash from county

According to the Miami Herald:

The Coconut Grove Playhouse got a $150,000 windfall from the Miami-Dade County Commission to help pay for a study and a plan to get the venerable institution back on its feet in the coming months after the doors were shut in the spring.

You can read the whole story here.

Meeting planned to fight Mercy Hosptial land overdevelopment

Even though a couple of neighborhood associations have sold out to the developers trying to change zoning at the Mercy Hospital site, most neighbors are against it.

Three towers of varying heights from 27 to 37 stories are proposed if the zoning is changed from GI (Government Institutional) to R4 (High Density Residential), allowing up to 150 units per acre.

All I know is that I live next door, and it took me 20 minutes to leave my block this morning due to all the traffic. And it's a summer Friday. Imagine the traffic on an October Monday. Nasty.

There is a meeting to stop this overdevelopment on Wed., July 26 at 7:30 pm at 3545 E. Fairview Street. Call Raul Ramirez (305-213-5457) or Bruce Reep (305-858-6260) for more info.

There is also a zoning board meeting coming up in September, we'll post more about that later.

Many developers are trying to scam the city and rush zoning before "Miami 21" is in place, which would prohibit this obnoxious overdevelopment.

More Home Depot haters

I love what Whiz Kid wrote on the Miami Metroblog about Home Depot. You can read it here.

Donations needed to fight Home Depot

The Grove First is asking for donations to pay for the lawyers working on the Home Depot issue. If you can help out, please do so. You can get info here.

They have done an excellent job so far. We (the anti-Home Depot folks) are actually winning!

Bomb in museum?

Guess someone didn't like the Titanic Exhibit.

Someone called a bomb threat into the Museum of Science (3280 South Miami Ave.) today.

The bomb squad showed up, people were evacuated but all that was found was a lunchbox. So all is clear now. On with the Titanic.

No anchovies?

This is a small Casola's veggie pizza. Imagine a large pizza with EVERYTHING on it!

Casola's is located at 2437 SW 17th Ave. Phone: 305-858-0090

Today is Molly Brown's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Titanic survivor the Unsinkable Molly Brown.

All day today, the Museum of Science is throwing a celebration.

Click here for more info.

Here great granddaughter Helen will be on hand, too!

Remembering Wayne Brehm

We received this email from a real Grove native! Not many of them around. I have a friend Shayna who is one. :)

I was born in the Grove in 1957.

I worked at Om Jewelry (3070 Grand Ave) for first Mike Weiner, and later for Wayne Brehm from 1978 to 1995 when I escaped to east Tennessee.

I have many memories of the Grove, some I can even talk about...

I remember Lums and The Octopus' Garden, Symposium in Sound (later renamed Yukky's) and lots of other groovy stuff.

After Wayne died I lost touch with everyone there, and haven't been back to Miami in a lot of years. I'm putting together a website dedicated to Wayne Brehm and am searching for people who remember him, who have photos of him, and who would like to contribute.

Please forward this email to whomever:
Jeweler@Big-Orange.com (Ray)

So If anyone can help, there is the email address. I used to eat breakfast at Lums many mornings with friends. We used to sit at a booth at a window overlooking McFarlane Road. Now I don't know what that thing is there in its place. It is so out of character for the area. Even the church next door is a club, but at least it is the original structure.

Bird Bath

I posted the one shot of the guy at the Bird Bath Coin Laundry (2829 Bird Ave.), but one interesting thing about the laundromat is the art. The walls are covered with it. It's worth a trip just to see that. In fact, if you can't make it there, check out their website for some really nice stuff: http://www.birdbathcoinlaundry.com/

No to Mercy Hospital land variance

I have it on good authority that the City of Miami does not wish to grant any variances to the Mercy Hospital development at 3663 South Miami Ave. They do not wish for high density high rises there.

Their problem: No one shows up at the meetings or contacts them to voice their opinions.

Now I know some neighborhood associations sold out to the developer, but for those with a conscience who are against it due to traffic, sewer, water and density concerns, please contact the Hearing Board at

City of Miami
Dept. of Hearing Board
444 SW 2nd Ave.
7th Floor
Miami, FL 33130

The do want to hear your concerns and they need to know this coming week.

It's wine time

Thirsty Thursdays is still going strong at Jaguar, the Civiche Spoon bar, (yes, enjoy civiche in big plastic spoons). From 7-9 p.m., you'll enjoy various wine tastings from various countries and regions. Jaguar is located at 3067 Grand Ave. The cost is $15. Call 305-444-0216 for more info.

Friday Night Wine Tasting Series continues at the Ritz-Carlton (3300 SW 27th Ave. (look for the big green roofs). The tasting this week features vintage wines for summer including great wines for backyard barbecues and picnics. This is from; 7-9:30 p.m. Cost is $10. No reservations necessary. Call Barry at 305-793-3120 for more info.

Only in the Grove

I was posting some Coconut Grove Grapevine cards on the bulletin board at The Bird Bowl laundromat the other day and I saw this. I just thought it was odd and funny. He just kept taking off clothing and putting them in the wash. I was waiting for him to take his shorts off, too, so I could get a really interesting blog photo. :)

Being fresh at The Fresh Market

So I'm at The Fresh Market the other day and I order a pound of the Mediterranean salad. The girl behind the deli counter puts the stuff into a container, and then she starts putting the liquidy part into the container, you know the dressing, oil and vinegar, whatever it is. And she is weighing the stuff, I guess to get me to exactly a pound. This is like the third time this has happened.

This of course made the container weigh more, but I would have been happy with what fit into the container. What was the point of "padding" the container. I didn't say anything, but after I ate the stuff at home, I noticed that the liquid part weighed a lot. So I probably paid for a pound of the salad, but really got three quarters of a pound.

Watch out for this when visiting The Fresh Market or any market for that matter.

Also, people are still sticking their grubby hands into the candy and nuts, taking "free samples" at the Fresh Market. Disgusting. I was about to purchase a bunch of stuff and when I saw this, I just put it all back and walked out of the store.

Shakespeare in the park

Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be performed in Peacock Park July 13-15, 2006. The performance starts at 8 pm.

This is the second year in a row that Colleen Stovall, Grove resident and project founder will have her troupe perform free for the community. Bring blankets and chairs, this is a picnic atmosphere, seating is not provided.

This is the sort of thing we were talking about in a previous post. Let's get out and about in summer. Let's enjoy the Grove!

Code 33 discounts

The "Code 33" card is still available for Grove residents and people who work in the Grove. It's free and allows you to receive discounts at lots of Grove establishments. For more info, click here.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! Don't forget the Barnacle today!

The day runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The Barnacle Historic State Park is at 3485 Main Hwy.

$5 admission, $2 kids ages 6-12, free for kids 5 and under. 305-442-6866.

Summer activities

In today's Neighbors, Glenn Terry talks about the Grove having more summer activities. I agree. I had mentioned in an earlier post about the playhouse having some summer activities to allow it to bring money in 12 months a year and not just during their usual short season.

Miami is not just a winter destination for tourists anymore. In fact, aside from hurricanes, we are probably more comfortable than many northern locals. Ever go to New York in July? You can't breathe, the humidity and heat are oppressive sometimes, that's why the whole city is in the Hamptons.

The one drawback about having summer events are the hurricanes, but then again, that would have to be compensated for. Tourists are coming here in the summer, why not have things for them to do other than the beach and shopping?

Glenn mentions outdoor movies (I am in Key West today, they do that here and have for years), or outdoor concerts in the park. If a hurricane threatens, they can easily be postponed or canceled that week.

I'm not proposing an art show like the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, but why not something in the forgotten months of summer?

Red, White and Blue at Vizcaya

Tonight at 8 pm, Vizcaya (3251 S. Miami Ave.) is having its 8th annual, "Red, White and Blue Fundraiser." Martha Wash (C & C Music Factory, The Weather Girls) is part of the entertainment.

There will be a barbecue buffet and fireworks over the bay. The fundraiser benefits The Vizcayans, the caretakers of the magnificent estate.

Admission is $85.00. Call 305-856-4866 for info.

On July 20, Vizcaya is offering free admission to Dade and Broward residents. Make a note of that.