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Coral Gables Art Cinema founder recounts theaterhistory, praises city support
Summary
Stephen Krams, president and founder of the Coral Gables Art Cinema, described the cinemaorigin, local film history and thanked city officials and staff for ongoing support.
Stephen Krams, president and founder of the Coral Gables Art Cinema, told meeting attendees that the theater at 260 Aragon Avenue began as a city-backed project and that local officials and staff have been consistently supportive of the cinema's work.
Krams said the site sits "right across the street from Books and Books" and that the project with the city began in February 2006. "We started the project with the city in 02/2006," he said, adding that before that the group operated the Tower Theater for the City of Miami.
The cinema was created by converting what Krams described as a former museum parking garage into a theater. He said the city's development director at the time, Kathy Swanson, approached him about finding a use for the space known then as the Carl Gables Museum parking garage and that "there were modifications made to the space to make it more suitable to be used as a movie theater. So we basically created it from the dirt."
Krams cited earlier local film venues and industry activity as part of Coral Gables' cinematic history, naming the Gables Theatre, the Miracle Theatre, the Plitz Triple Theatre, the Coral Theatre, the Parkway Theatre and the Sunset Theatre. He also referenced early studios and animation work in the area, including Rainbow Pictures on Levante Avenue and Edoardo Morey's studio off Ponce on Bird Road, and noted that Caprice Studios on Flagler Street did animation for the Fleischer brothers.
He said Nat Chetiak, whom he identified as the founder of the Miami Film Festival, once ran an art cinema called the Coral Gables Cinematheque at 235 Alcazar Avenue, which Krams said was part of the local motivation to reintroduce an art house in the city. Krams also said then-mayor Don Sleznick was an early supporter of bringing an art cinema back to Coral Gables.
Krams closed by expressing gratitude to city employees and elected officials for their support and by characterizing the cinema as "an apolitical organization" focused on art. No formal actions or requests were recorded in the transcript excerpt provided.
