The Historic Riviera

LINCOLN MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY - FROM MISTY BEGINNINGS TO DESERVING RESTORATION

Lincoln Memorial Park, located at 3001 N.W. 46th Street, is one of the oldest black cemeteries in Dade County. It is the final resting place of many black pioneers and luminaries who have helped shape the cultural landscape of early Miami. Since its inception, thousands of people have been laid to rest within the 20-acre property. One of the most unique features of Lincoln Memorial Park is that it is one of perhaps three Miami cemeteries that is almost exclusively comprised of above-ground burial vaults. Lincoln Memorial Park’s origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery. Fact and myth have blended together to produce one of Miami’s most beautiful and enduring legends. The urban-myth is described as follows: Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery was located in what was then known as the Brown Subdivision (now known as Brownsville) and was founded in the early 1920’s by a white realtor named F.B. Miller. According to the legend, Kelsey Leroy Pharr,...

THE DREAM SCREEN AT THE THEATER BEAUTIFUL The History of Coral Gable’s First Movie Theater; The Dream Theater

There are few things in life that are more distressing than opening your eyes to realize that the wonderful dream you were having only a few moments ago was, well, nothing more than a dream. Thus is the story of the Coral Gables Dream Theater, the massive open-air movie theater that graced the corner of Ponce de Leon Blvd and Giralda Ave from 1926 to c.1928. In May of 1926 it was announced by J. Gordon Hussey, a developer who had built his fair share of Coral Gables homes, that plans had been finalized and construction was commencing on Miami’s newest movie theater. Hussey dubbed it “The Dream Theater” and announced that the building would be two stories high and would contain 29 shops and offices, yielding a capacity of 1,500. In keeping with the architectural themes found within Coral Gables, John and Coulton Skinner were hired as architects and fashioned the building to replicate a famous bull ring in Seville, Spain. The excitement surrounding the announcement of this theate...

The Lady in the Portrait

Film aficionados will readily recall a masterful early example of Film Noir, 1944’s classic “Laura”. A suspenseful dark romance, it opens with a street-smart detective, Mark McPherson (played by Dana Andrews) finding himself fixated by a portrait of a wealthy, beautiful young lady, Laura Hunt, who has mysteriously disappeared (superbly essayed by Gene Tierney), and foul play is suspected. Although they have never met, McPherson finds himself enamored of the lady in the portrait, falling hard for the missing Laura. After numerous twists and turns, peppered with attempted murder, Laura’s cad of a fiancée, a venomous poison-pen news columnist and a cast of characters (each with their own agenda), all ends well. McPherson and the very-much-alive Laura fall in love and all is right in the world. Fade to black. A similar, teasingly enigmatic portrait of a beautiful lady, by renowned artist Denman Fink, hangs in the Coral Gables Museum. Done in 1943, it captures the imagination of those...

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