Back to the future
A tourist asked a couple of us the other day for a "Where" magazine, he was looking for theater listings to see some sort of play or performance in the area. Shame we didn't have the Grove Playhouse to send him to.One of my neighbors is an old Grovite. He was telling me one night that he played with the Monroe kids at The Barnacle when it was just "their house." He says the playhouse was a movie theater back then and they also had a soda fountain in the lobby, which I remember being told before.
Love the idea of the Playhouse being turned not only into a theater again, but maybe a place to show old movies -- a revival house, and an old ice cream shop or soda fountain in the lobby would be great too.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:18 AM
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8 Comments:
god i would love that. im only 30, i have lots of old films yet to see.
So we should rebuild the decrepit playhouse because one tourist wanted to see "some sort of play"?
I think that it is fairly evident that residents in the area voted with their feet. Attendance was miniscule. Quality was laughable. The board was useless.
There were movies also where the New World School of whatever it is called is now located. Again, residents voted with their feet and now, there are no more movies.
Sometimes, it is much better to move on.
Having grown up in Europe, where mixed use is the norm, I would absolutely love to see much more mixed condos, street-front stores and/or restaurants and small professional offices (e.g., architects, ad agencies) built around that area.
If you look around the most exciting cities in Europe, Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, Milan, London, Berlin... the parts that are growing and considered fun are always mixed use so people can live, play, work in the area and keep it vital.
Don't be so rude, no we should not do it because one guy asked to see a play, we should do it to save the institution. We don't need another town house or condo in the Grove and the current mixed use places are sitting half empty.
Let's keep some culture in the Grove, get a playhouse board that has a clue how to operate a playhouses and move from there.
That's a true "mixed-use" comment, as well: being a jerk, then offering some sort of nice idea.
There was tremendous turnout for "It's a Wonderful Life" down on the water last December. I applaud the tourist -- our ratio of clothing stores to cultural places is, what, one million to one?
The most exciting cities in Europe value movies, the theater, concerts, opera and the arts. They're not too keen on condos and chain restaurants. So let's not go there please.
Miami has changed and hopefully is changing even more. People lament the fact that we get to see a tiny bit of what's out there being shown in NY for instance. Go read a Time Out NY or a New York Magazine and tell me why we never get even a tiny portion of the fabulous movies that other people get to see!
We should definitely fight for the Playhouse! Old movies would be great and good new ones would be wonderful as well. And ice cream, mais oui! Always ice cream.
The fact of the matter is that anytime a theater opens up in a town center, evening foot traffic increases. One need look no farther than Miracle Mile to see the truth of that.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Coconut Grove Playhouse failed because of poor management, and nothing else.
I see a really fun modern art museum there in that space, on the order of the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse.
I have a six-year-old child who has been exposed to the arts since infancy and has developed a strong interest and deep appreciation for such. She enjoyed Aida last year and La boheme last weekend. When she heard the Cleveland Orchestra play Mozart a couple of months ago she turned to me, kissed my forearm (her way of saying "thank you") and said, "I'm so happy I could cry." She was then inspired to dance the rest of the night (box seats, although more expensive, are great as they give little ones room to move around without disturbing other patrons). She has experienced many more live performances on stage than movies in multiplexes. Her desire to learn to read was propelled by attending her first foreign film at age five (previous to that she wasn't interested and was her Kindergarten teacher thought she was "slow" - she now reads two levels above her grade). It hasn't always been easy to find cultural activities in our area. It would be wonderful if one day soon (while she is still young and her character and values are still being molded) to be able to walk to the Playhouse from our home or school (Coconut Grove Elementary) and get a little dose of art, whether it is in the form of a classic film, a live musical or play, as that is what has helped keep our spirits and hopes alive during some very difficult times.
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