Rex Art Cinema
7929 NE 2nd Avenue,
Miami,
FL
33138
7929 NE 2nd Avenue,
Miami,
FL
33138
1 person
favorited this theater
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Bert Schrieber announced the Rosetta Theatre in 1925 which - along with the Ruben Building across the street - was providing what was then the Little River neighborhood with a moderne nexus of retail and entertainment. Paramount Theatres opened the 1,045-seat venue with Spanish architecture primarily as a movie house but had a stage for live stage shows and vaudeville. Its large Kimball pipe organ was a huge hit as the venue opened at the tail end of the silent era. The first film on February 16, 1926 was Tom Mix and Tony, the Wonder Horse, in “The Yankee Señor” and was preceded by an organ concert.
On May 5, 1929, the venue added sound to remain viable with Pauline Frederick in “On Trial” playing on the big screen. Wometco assumed the Rosetta in time for its big fifth anniversary celebration in 1931. As the 20-year leasing period was reached, a new Rosetta was in the works. In 1946, Wometco closed the venue for a full month to give the building a shocking streamline moderne makeover to the plans of Roy A. Benjamin and Charles P. Neider. Those plans were complete with a new Flexlume neon attractor, all new box office and lobby and a new air conditioning plant in time for the August 1, 1946 relaunch with Chester Morris in “Counterfiet.” With temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s at its launch, the air conditioning would be welcomed. The new building also had a confectionery to its right and another retail operation to its left to provide improved economic benefits. It is assumed that a new 25-year lease came with the refresh.
By 1970 and in its 24th year of operation since the refresh, the theater was scuffling with Wometco repostioning it as a double-feature, ultra-discount house with all seats for 35 cents. Wometco left the venue at the expiry of its lease and a new operator tried a new approach. It moved the Rosetta to an adult movie house named the 2nd Avenue Arts Theatre beginning on February 17, 1971 with Lindis Guinness in “101 Acts of Love” and “The Proficient Professor.” Controversy hounded that change. On January 3, 1973, the venue was briefly taken on by the Southland Cinemas circuit as the New King Cinema / King Cinema returning the venue to double feature Hollywood fare. Success was not to be found for Southland.
It was subleased to Waldrick Theatre Corp. Circuit who renamed it the King Art Cinema. “Art” was in the eye of the beholder. On September 7, 1973, the King Art booked “The Devil in Miss Jones.” On September 10, 1973, the film was confiscated with manager Ceasr Alonso booked on an obscenity charge. The King Art Cinema became the subject of a high-profile litmus test for the Miller v. California standard that the Supreme Court had promulgated on June 21, 1973. That ruling said that, using contemporary community standards, obscene films and other content did not have First Amendment protection.
Though many municipalities had used the Miller standard to impound films in the weeks following the landmark decision, most of those situations did not reach a jury as quickly as the the King Art Cinema case. The case was teed up, launched and decided within weeks of the film being impounded. A jury had viewed the film and was deadlocked on the matter leading to a mistrial and the venue and its manager was off the hook all within the month of September 1973.
But the State did not rest and pushed the case further. That civil case is considered perhaps the first known application of Miller v. California. And those sensing the end of “smut” were sadly let down. The second case was decided on December 14, 1973 and the presiding judge spiked the prosecution’s case by saying, the State wanted the court to “miraculously” interpret Miller in such a way that was not “the role of the courts” in exonerating the film, the exhibitor (Waldrick Corp.) and its manager (Alonso). Similar cases within months in Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties went the same way. Threats by the State to appeal the verdict(s) remained just that as that as they appeared to have no grounds to potentially overturn these early decisions on appeal.
To spike the football, “Devil” had an uber successful 6-month run at the King Art Cinema. The venue was renamed as the Rex Art Cinema on April 19, 1974 likely under new ownership. Though the venue was never known as the King Art Theatre, it was known both as the King Cinema (showing Hollywood fare) and the King Art Cinema (showing adult content). And it should be labeled as either the Rosetta Theatre - its name for some 45 years (1926-1971) or the Rex Art Cinema (final four years) as it was never the Rex Art Theatre. It’s believed though not confirmed that the cinema may have closed in 1977 when its license was pulled along with the 79th Street Twin I & II under a new battle waged by Dade County against obscene content. Also, the theatre was at 7929 NE 2nd Avenue across the street. It has long since been demolished and one might say that the Devil made them do it.
Became Rex Art Cinema on April 19th, 1974. Little River ad pulled.
Become 2nd Avenue Art on February 17th, 1971. Ad posted.
Attempt to convert back from adult movies fails:
Rivest, the Little River was the 79th Street Twin (Bard).
A “Little River” theatre opened on 79th St. & NE 2nd, Avenue on January 18th, 1949 and closed in 1954. Is this the same building?
The Rosetta theatre opened on February 16th, 1926 with Tom Mix in “The Yankee Senor”. Grand opening ad posted.
I remember the lobby cigarette machine and the three-penny change it returned inside the package cellophane. Like it was yesterday… How about Grable’s Bakery next door and the C & C diner directly across the street? The Rosetta was my home away from home. How I loved the movies! And the hamburgers at Royal Castle after the picture broke and I hopped the bus home to Miami Shores. Thanks for the memories!
Back when a 12-YO kid could ride his bike from El Portal to Little River and see an afternoon of films, the Rosetta was it. The balcony, even back then (late 1960s to early 1970s) was where the stoners would sit. Sad when the theatre went adult and then closed.
I Remember Buying Cigarettes In The Machine In The Lobby And Getting Three Pennies Change Back Inside The Cellophane Of The Pall Mall Package. To Sit In The Smoking Section I Had To Pay An Extra 25 cents. What A ‘Funky’ Smell The Carpeting Throughout The Theater Had … WHEW!
1985 photos of the Rex here and here.
G. Burwell, I remember those little soda cups from the Wometco Vending machines at the Miami Theatre Downtown in the sixties. Sometimes the cup would flip upside down as it dropped and the soda (RC Cola?) would simply spill into the drain. Sometimes there was some ice first, most of which promptly bounced out of the cup as well when it dropped.
When I was in elementary school (Little River elementary 1957-1959) I never missed a Saturday matinee at the Rosetta. There would be a movie, sometimes a serial, and a scad of cartoons, all for a quarter. I saw my first horror movie (“House on Haunted Hill”), “7th Voyage of Sinbad,” “Forbidden Planet,” Northwest Passage,“ "Inn of the 6th Happiness.”
I remember it as being fairly run-down even back then. I don’t recall much of a snack bar. There was a soda machine that sold lukewarm off-brand sodas in little cups. If you pushed 2 buttons at once you could mix them into something even more awful.
I remember that the 79th St, Art Theatre was around the corner near Larry’s Luncheonette. I used to try to figure out what was going on there by the posters, but it was all pretty mysterious,
Here is how I see it:
Rosetta 1926-1971
2nd Avenue Art – 1972-73
King Art – 1973
Rex Art -1974-1984
Ad for the Rex/Second Ave Art/Rosetta in its KING ART CINEMA incarnation.
The theatre’s name was changed to Rex Theatre in the earlier 70’s. I saw “Last House on the Left” there. They tried the non-porn theatre approach, but it didn’t fly.
The Little River area went down hill in the 70’s. Porn dominated all of the theatres of the area. I can’t remember any regular theatres in Little River that had not been converted to porn. In addition to the theatres there were several Adult Book Stores, and a small mini theatre called “The Little Adult Theatre” which was right on NW 79th Street one block West of Biscayne on the south side of the street.
During those years, Little River was “Manhattan’s 42nd Street” of Miami. This is where most of the adult businesses were located. This changed once the Little River area became “Little Haiti”. The area cleaned up pretty good.
The establishment that survived the area’s porn flair, was the Playboy Club, which was there until the mid 80s. Ellis Ruben’s law office took over that building when the Playboy Club was closed.
I think this was the New King when it tried running blaxploitaion in 1972.
Link to Rex Art theater ad:
View link
Another link to Second Avenue and the Rosetta:
View link
AGING THEATER COULD GET NEW LIFE IN LITTLE HAITI
Miami Herald, The (FL) – June 2, 1983
Author: CHRIS VAUGHAN Herald Staff Writer
The Rex theater , a battered survivor of porn and neglect, is nearing yet another comeback.
The 54-year-old movie house in the 7900 block of NE Second Avenue has been closed since a failed salvation attempt four years ago. It will reopen as a Haitian-oriented theater this summer if HAYTO Services, a Haitian partnership with offices at 7220 N. Miami Ave., can obtain the city license it needs.
City parking regulations currently stand in the way, said Fritz Henriquez, manager of the firm, but an exemption to current parking regulations — one parking space for every four seats—may be “grandfathered in,” Henriquez said.
The Rex has 700 seats, which means 175 spaces would be required if no exemption is granted. There are 25 spaces behind the building and about 50 parking meters on the street near the theater .
“We really do not need all those spots,” Henriquez said. “Most of the people who will come to the movies are from the Haitian community. They will walk.”
The Rex is at the edge of Little Haiti, which has no theater catering to the tastes of its more than 25,000 Haitian residents. Henriquez says the fare at the Rex will be mostly French movies. The theater may show English- and Spanish- language movies once a week.
“We will have to see what people want,” Henriquez says. “To show only French movies would be killing ourselves, I think.”
Admission will be $2, with some reserved seats for $2.50, Henriquez says. At those rates, he figures, “I need 1,000 people a week” to break even.
Henriquez and two partners in Haiti began efforts to buy the theater in March. They have sunk about $25,000 into renovations.
“We’re trying to open this month, but the way things are going, we will try to open the first week of July,” Henriquez said.
“It will be a clean place again,” he vowed. As he spoke, a workman swept steadily in the newly painted lobby. The candy counter was cracked and dusty, but the floors were clean. Outside, the red marquee shows its age. Inside, the red velvet seats appear in good repair.
“It will be nice for the neighborhood,” said Alma Camacho, a waitress at the El Paso Coffee Shop next door to the Rex. Camacho attended movies at the Rex “when it was good, not when they had those X movies.” But she probably will not attend shows there in the future, she said.
“When work is over, I’m on my way home. I don’t stay around here at night,” she said.
Chris Crickmore, 18, of 82nd Street by way of Dayton, Ohio, said he won’t go to the Rex, either.
“I don’t know French. I like American movies, the modern ones,” Crickmore said.
Amy Johnston, an employe at Barnett Bank across the street, was more concerned about the kind of movies the Rex will show.
“What kind of French movies?” she asked suspiciously.
Assured they would be family fare, she breathed easier. “As long as they don’t put those X-rated ones in again, I guess it’s a good thing. The neighborhood sure needs something.”
Lochard Noel, a clerk at Les Cousins Book & Record Shop, 7858 NE Second Ave., was enthusiastic about the plan. “They have a Rex in Port-au-Prince, too,” he said. “All the Haitians will go.”
But the ticket seller at United Adult Movies, 7829 NE Second Ave., offered no encouragement to the backers of the Rex.
“They’ll never make it,” he said. “They tried running straight movies before and it didn’t work. Take it from me.”
I do remember this operating as the Rex Art.
I used to take my sister on the bus from North Miami to the Rosetta in Little River. We paid between about $.15 and $.25 for admission. The drug store on 79th street had $.25 banana splits. My dentist was down from the Rosetta on the same side of the street, on the 2nd floor. I remember after a teeth cleaning, we got to pick a lollipop from a jar. Really! I worked at Lynn’s Fashions right down the street from the theater. Got $.75 an hour after school for cleaning up and putting out stock. This was in the mid 1950s. Yes, I am a bit older than dirt, but my mind is as sharp as a tack. Also got to hear Eddie Arnold and other performers before the show at the Boulevard Drive In Theater. Had the train, horses to ride and Easter egg hunts back then.
The Rosetta.
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I went to the Rosetta a lot as a kid. I think that it turned into an adult theater in the 60’s. There was also another place that was an adult theater in the sixites a little ways West on 79st called the Little River Art Theater. It also was originally a regular movie house.
The Film Daily Yearbook;1950 edition lists a Rosetta Theatre, 7929 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL with a seating capacity given as 981.
Both the 1941 and 1943 edition’s of F.D.Y. give the seating capacity of the Rosetta Theatre as 1,084.