Coconut Grove Spotlight

30/09/2025

Once they were as visible on the streets of Coconut Grove as traffic, tourists and peacocks are now. In flowing saffron robes, devotees danced to the rhythmic sound of drums and chiming hand cymbals, chanted “Hare Krishna” and handed out religious literature while inviting the curious to discover yoga and meditation.

Worshippers pulled a colorful “chariot of gods” down Main Highway each year in the King Mango Strut, and on Saturday nights showed up regularly at CocoWalk and Peacock Park, where they provided free vegetarian food and sold copies of the Bhagavad Gita, a holy book of Hindu scripture.

But then the dancing stopped, and the Hare Krishnas seemed to fade into the Grove’s vibrant, tie-dyed past. Some members moved away, priced out as the Grove gentrified. Others who lived outside of Miami found places of worship closer to home, went online to find classes and ceremonies, or relocated to a burgeoning community in Alachua, northwest of Gainesville.

“They were all over the Grove,” said Alan Cohen, of A.C.’s Icees, the food truck he’s been operating in Kennedy Park for more than 45 years. “I didn’t realize they were still around.”

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Mike Clary
Photos by Patrick Farrell

30/09/2025

26/09/2025

On a spring morning in 1918, a seaplane lifting off from the new U.S. Naval Air Station at Dinner Key collided with a small, red sailboat in Biscayne Bay. The young pilot survived, but the crash killed 78-year-old John W. Frow, an early Coconut Grove settler, heading out for a day of fishing.

The accident rattled Frow’s neighbors and underscored growing concerns about the presence of the noisy air station amid South Florida’s rapid growth. Within a year, determined to set its own rules and decide its own fate, Coconut Grove incorporated as a town. But after barely six years, its dreams were dashed. 

A century later, residents continue to grapple with the aftermath of those events.

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Iris Guzman Kolaya

25/09/2025

Miranda Johnson, a photographer and Coconut Grove native, recalls fondly waiting with friends in line, in the late 1970s, for midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” – the low budget, Frankenstein-spoof musical that enjoyed a 15-year run at the now-defunct Grove Cinema on Grand Avenue in Center Grove.

“There was no calling or texting anybody,” Johnson reminisces. “You knew if you wanted to see all of your friends, go to the theater at that time. It was like a little cult.”

The film, which indeed has earned a worldwide cult-classic following, later this month celebrates the 50th anniversary of its U.S. premiere. And for many, like Johnson, few cultural highlights of Coconut Grove in the years following its release quite resonate – and capture the village’s artsy, slightly-off-kilter, counterculture vibe — like the impromptu, late-night gatherings for a showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

At the time, Johnson recalls, moviegoers lined up around the block for tickets — if it wasn’t sold out — at the Grove Cinema’s location in what is now the Coconut Grove Post Office. 

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Liz Tracy
Photos Contributed

24/09/2025

The City of Miami is poised to approve the addition of 300 police officers to its existing force – a staffing increase of nearly 20 percent – costing Miami taxpayers more than $161 million in start-up costs and police salaries and benefits over the next five years.

The new officers would be phased in over five years, bringing the city’s total police ranks to about 1,700. When fully onboard, the new officers are expected to cost the city roughly $40 million per year in additional salaries, benefits and expenses.

Police officials say the new officers are needed in anticipation of a growing city population.  

“Our officers are doing well, but I’m looking at the city and how we’re growing,” City of Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told commissioners in June when the staffing proposal was first made. “It’s not that there is a need for now, but there is a need to prepare for what Miami is to become.” 

Keep reading at the link in bio.

Story & Visuals by Jenny Jacoby

23/09/2025

After months of uncertainty, Miami’s mayoral race is officially underway, with 13 candidates — five who filed just hours before Saturday’s qualifying deadline — now set to compete for the city’s top office.

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Dave Villano

22/09/2025

Nearly every day 25-year-old Patricia Ayes commits a chunk of time toward leisurely strolls through Coconut Grove.

A resident of Dadeland, Ayes says her “mental health walk” is an essential ritual that began two years ago because, as she puts it, “my life revolves around wellness.”

Ayes’ priority – and passion – is a trend so powerful among Gen Z’s and millennials that it’s fueling a notable bright spot in the economy. 

Dubbed the “wellness industry,” this behemoth business sector includes a vast number of products and services marketed as “self-care,” including fitness centers, natural beauty products, eyelash extensions and medical spas (med spas for short), offering Botox, and “fillers” for all four cheeks, among other things.

It’s easy to spot the industry’s impact on Coconut Grove. Polished storefronts that promise a good sweat, a great glow, and fewer lines (the word wrinkles is a no-no in the wellness world) are popping up everywhere. 

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Kathryn Mann

19/09/2025

Christopher Tsialas was a few months into middle school when his older brother, Antonio Tsialas, was found dead at the bottom of a gorge in Ithaca, N.Y.

Antonio had left home just a couple months earlier, excited to begin studying at Cornell University after a rigorous athletic and academic high school career at Coconut Grove’s Ransom Everglades School. 

But in only his first semester, Antonio became a victim of drunken hazing. What happened to Antonio is not entirely clear, but this much is known: later that evening he fell approximately 100 feet into a steep gorge about a ten-minute walk from the party, dying of blunt force trauma. His autopsy revealed he had acute alcohol intoxication at the time of the fall.

In the six years since Antonio’s death few details have emerged. Criminal charges have never been pressed. But his family has continued on. 

Now a senior in high school, Christopher is helping to prevent the senseless loss of someone else’s sibling, child or classmate.

Read more about the work of the Antonio Tsialas Leadership Foundation at the link in bio.

Story by Jenny Jacoby

17/09/2025

With the appointment of an independent inspector general, the City of Miami has an opportunity to move beyond the scandals that have rocked City Hall in recent years.

Read more about the new position at the link in bio.

Story by Charles Rabin

16/09/2025

Dorothy Wallace has lived a life, but at 96 years old she’s looking ahead, like others in Coconut Grove, to the day when the Ace Theater on Grand Avenue opens its doors again – for a theater performance, a movie matinee, or a neighborhood event.

Wallace’s family owns the Ace Theater, the former “colored only” movie house that stands today as a sentinel of Coconut Grove’s segregated past. 

“My husband had grandiose ideas about it,” she told a crowd of people gathered last week for a History Miami program featuring Wallace and local historian Paul George. 

“However, money became short, and he became ill and passed away,” she added. “Now, it’s still there, and it’s on the National Register to be renovated.” 

Read more at the link in bio.

Story & Photos by Don Finefrock

16/09/2025

An astronaut who has flown around the world hundreds of times came home to Coconut Grove on Sunday to pay tribute to the historic house of worship where he first learned about the heavens. 

“I was born and raised in this church,” said U.S. Navy Captain and former NASA astronaut Winston E. Scott as he stood on the steps of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, celebrating the 130th anniversary of its founding in 1895 by some of the original Bahamian settlers of the West Grove. It is recognized as the first Black church on the South Florida mainland. 

“This church taught us so many things: good living, civil living, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of possibilities,” said Scott. 

Read more at the link in bio.

Story by Mike Clary
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Donaldson

16/09/2025