Former Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell surprised Ace Theater owner Dorothy Wallace last week with the first of six jumbo letters he has promised to refurbish as part of the theater’s planned restoration.
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.
A Missouri native who married into a Coconut Grove family and later integrated the University of Miami’s School of Education, Wallace remembers when her husband Harvey Wallace paid $50,000 in 1979 to buy the theater from Wometco Enterprises.
“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.”
Progress has been slow, for sure, but Wallace credits her daughter Denise for moving the project forward.
“It’s hard to get permits to get a job done from the city, just to even get the lights turned on. You would be surprised at what you have to go through,” she said.
But, she added, “We still own the theater and hopefully it will get done before I pass away. At this point, I’m 96 years old.”
As if on cue, with Wallace as much as saying “y’all better hurry up,” former Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell stepped forward from the back of the audience to present Wallace with a surprise gift – a giant letter “A” from the Ace Theater’s original marquee.
Russell has offered to refurbish all six letters (ACE spelled twice, on either side of the marquee), and rushed to complete the first letter in time to surprise Wallace last week.
Russell called it a first step – a sign of promise and potential for a renovation project he and others support.
“As we lose our buildings, one at a time, and theaters specifically, the Coconut Grove Playhouse and the Olympia, this is something we can all rally around as a community,” Russell told the crowd.
“It’s privately owned, obviously, by a stakeholder who cares about the neighborhood and the structure. They are going to make an event space and a movie house out of it. They will be doing a lot of fundraising and hopefully, I’ll be able to help them with the permits.”
When asked about the status of the renovation later, Wallace’s daughter Denise was circumspect. “Renovations are in the works (and) the city has been working with me,” she said, before expressing gratitude for Russell’s contribution.
“What a great thing that we have somebody that has taken the first step,” she said. “We have sweat equity. ”
To learn more about the project, visit the Ace Theater Foundation online, or read the 2014 historic designation report from the City of Miami’s preservation officer.
