The coolest pool in town...literally! Venetian Pool is filled with water from the Biscayne aquifer…read more Its infamously cool waters can feel a little frigid to us locals, but it's a great place to beat the heat of summer in Miami. This beautiful public pool recently re-opened after extensive renovations. They have a small pool designated for children, and the main pool which is divided into shallow water and deep water. Also be sure to explore the grotto and the waterfalls. They will stop admitting guests once they reach capacity, so try to arrive early. There are plenty of lifeguards around to keep everyone safe. The facility is well-outfitted with ample parking, a casual café, and M/F locker rooms with showers.

If you need a fun thing to do with family and friends this natural pool is the best place. The…read morewater is fresh and always cold, which is needed in the Florida heat. There are chairs for rent , clean bathrooms, and concessions for buying food and drinks. I hope you come back again !

The kids and I had so much fun swinging through parrot jungle together! The frozen lemonade was…read morehelpful given how hot it was. They have really cool outdoor parks and a few cool animals you get to encounter as you stroll the park. Luckily for me I caught two love birds sharing a pec

I love a historic building and this storybook looking structure was once the site of the original…read moreentrance into the attraction Parrot Jungle. 1936 an Austrian named Franz Scherr rented the site of a former nudist colony for $25 a year. He used to visit Monkey Jungle offering unsolicited advice until the exasperated owner told him to open his own jungle. He did just that charging 25 cents to tour his garden and visit his birds. Parrot Jungle did very well for many years especially through the 1970's. Famous visitors include Winston Churchill, US President Jimmy Carter, and Steven Speilberg. During its 66 years of operation, a million people visited the attraction. It was eventually designated a historical landmark making it difficult to make changes to the park to keep up with the changing tastes of consumers. Attendance began to drop due to hurricanes and larger theme parks opening. The decision was made to move the park to Watson Island where it opened in 2003. It has struggled ever since, never finding the following it once had in Pinecrest. Jungle Island closed to visitors during the pandemic and never reopened except for events in the ballroom and camp groups. The land for the park is owned by the city and the operators of the park are unable to pay back the millions of dollars of debts it owes. I have heard many rumors surrounding Jungle Island like plans to turn it into an action park and to build a hotel on the property. What a sad turn of events for the once beloved attraction. Meanwhile back in Pinecrest on December 17, 2002, the Village of Pinecrest, with grant assistance from the Florida Communities Trust and Miami-Dade County were able to purchase the former Parrot Jungle site and turn it into a lovely garden which opened on March 8, 2003. In 2011 this site was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Parrot Jungle Historic District. Although the parrots are gone the winding paths and beautiful plants remain along with the Parrot Bowl which now hosts community performances. You can still see the original attraction entrance on Red Road as you drive up to the gardens. It was built from Dade County pine, impervious to termites and it had a palm-thatched modeled after the roofs on the Seminole chickee huts. In the 1940s, the roof was replaced with clay tiles and the building front was covered in natural coral rock. According to the historic marker out front, the entrance was damaged by fire in 1994. It is nice to see that although the birds are gone, Franz Scherr's gardens still thrive.

This is a memorial marker to Special Agents Jerry Dove and Special agent Benjamin P. Grogan. On…read moreApril 11, 1986, Special Agents Jerry Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed in southwest Miami, Florida, during a gun battle with robbery suspects William Russell Matix and Michael Platt. Agents were conducting surveillance in connection with a series of violent bank and armored car robberies. They observed a suspect vehicle and attempted to stop it which resulted in a high-speed chase. Matix and Platt engaged in a gun battle with agents during which 145 rounds were exchanged in less than 5 minutes. Dove (30) and Grogan (53) were killed and five other agents were injured. Special Agent Edmundo Mireles, Jr. was shot in his left arm but he was able to use his right arm draw his service revolver, and kill Matix and Platt. This incident is regarded as one of the most violent episodes in the history of the FBI. It has been studied in law enforcement training. As a result the FBI and many police forces switched from revolvers to more powerful semi-automatic weapons. The 1988 film In The Line Of Duty: The FBI Murders is based on this event. In 2001, the Village of Pinecrest, Florida, which incorporated in 1996, honored the two fallen agents by co-designating a portion of Southwest 82nd Avenue as Agent Benjamin Grogan Avenue and Agent Jerry Dove Avenue. Street signs and a historical marker commemorate the naming of the roadway in honor of the two agents.

The non profit Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) has its origins as the Coconut Grove Audubon Society…read more(CGAS), founded April 16, 1915, as Dade County's first Audubon organization. CGAS members met in homes and worked to advocated for bird and wildlife protection, protection of birds hunted for their plumes with the hiring of game wardens, ornithological education for school children and the public, and they also collaborated in the movement to establish Everglades National Park. WWII led to the CGAS becoming inactive in 1942. Led by Charles Brookfield, then employed by National Audubon Society, a new chapter of the National Audubon Society was established in 1947. The Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) has been on the frontlines of conservation and environmental protection issues in South Florida. The mission of the Tropical Audubon Society is to "conserve and restore South Florida ecosystems, focusing on birds, wildlife, and their habitats. The Tropical Audubon Society has been headquartered at the 1932 Doc Thomas House since 1976. It has been designated a Miami-Dade County Historic Site, a Florida Heritage Site, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Arden Hayes Thomas, Jr. was a pharmacist from Indiana who moved to South Miami in 1925, and opened the O. K. Drug Store just months before the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. His business grew to managing two stores on Sunset Drive and Thomas invested in a 2.5 acres of property on the south side of Sunset Drive in the subdivision of High Pines. He commissioned Robert Fitch Smith, one of the first six graduates of the University of Miami architecture program, to create a home that would look like part of the piney landscape. He created a rustic house in the Florida wood-frame vernacular style of architecture that exemplified the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. Created out of cypress, oak, pine mahogany, and local limestone, the home has detailed woodwork, a limestone fireplace, and built in features. Smith went on to a storied career as an architect, taught at the University of Miami, and served on the first City of Miami Planning Board. In the 1950's Doc Thomas retired and traveled the world. A life long conservationist and bachelor, Doc Thomas decided to leave his home and the surrounding 2 acres of woodlands to the TAS. He deeded the property to them in December of 1974 and he passed away exactly one year later. Since 1976 the house has functioned as the home of Tropical Audubon Society while the surrounding acreage now serves as the Steinberg Nature Center. I first discovered this delightful nature oasis and historic home in the middle of South Miami while eating lunch at Whisk which is just down the street. The gate is open so you can walk around what feels like a a secret garden. On the first Saturday of the month the Tropical Audubon Society hosts a public tour of the historic Doc Thomas House headquarters which has recently undergone structural repair and restoration. The tour is free although donations are welcome and lasts for 1 hour guided by a Tropical Audubon docent. I was finally able to attend the tour and learned so much more about Arden Hayes "Doc" Thomas and Robert Fitch Smith as we explored the house and near-native Steinberg Nature Center campus. The Steinberg Nature Center contains Pine Rockland, a globally endangered ecosystem. It is only located in south Miami, the Keys, and parts of the Bahamas. Pine Rockland once covered 180,000 acres or 12 percent of Miami but by the time Miami turned 100 in 1996, less than 2 percent remained. Today only fragments of the Pineland remain. It is a critical refuge for endangered plants and animals, some not found anywhere else in the world. I loved getting to see the inside of the house although the furnishings are not original and the bedrooms are now TAS offices. One of the few objects that actually belonged to Doc Thomas is the mantel clock. The docents were so engaging and they made the time fly by. A special thank you to Dan for one of the highlights of my visit, showing me a first edition copy of River of Grass that was signed by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Come out and learn about this important ecosystem and the pioneers who lived here and built South Miami. The last tour of season will be May 4th. They also have a fundraising Conservation Concert series on the last Saturday of the month with live music, food truck, and area restaurant take out. The next date for that event is April 27th. The house is still undergoing restoration so all donations to this non profit are sincerely appreciated.

Stopped in yesterday and they were doing free admission to the museum. They have quite a few…read morerestored cars and are continuing to build out exhibits. It is cool visiting and they offer tickets to ride in the train for $15-20. Yesterday there was also a car show and coffee and food trucks in the parking lot. Located in the zoo Miami lot.

can get up close to real train cars, plus adorable working mini trains and a wooden play zone for…read morekids. The ride wasn't running today, and the website could've warned us-so we missed out. Three stars, but fun if you're nearby. it's also free to get in the first Saturday of the month and if you are attending the car show and coffee event

Coral Gables is known for it's numerous plazas, entrances, and fountains from 1920's. That's why I…read morefind it so interesting to see what current works of art are being added. Anything new needs to harmonize with the beautiful features that George Merrick added in when he created the city. In 2014 the city approved two sculptures to be installed at the traffic circles along Segovia Street. They were designed by New York-based artist and sculptor Alice Aycock. The two installations are the first public art pieces to be added since George Merrick was alive. The sculptures are inspired by the passion flower and are constructed of more than 4,000 pieces of metal. The two sculptures are different. The sculpture on Biltmore is larger and has two flower designs. The Coral Way sculpture is designed to mimic a flower flowing in the breeze. More than 180 submissions were judged before a panel selected Aycock's design. The flowers have received mixed reviews from the community. Many feel that the modern art is not in keeping with the look of the city. A group of residents tried to have the sculptured removed but did not muster enough signatures for the ballot. Some of the complaints are that the sculptures are not Mediterranean and that accidents have increased at the traffic circles since the sculptures were installed. Others complain bitterly that they are not even able to choose a paint color for their house yet the city has moved away from the Mediterranean look of the city without consulting them. The city has decided to keep the sculptures despite the protest of some people who do not care for the look of modern art in their 1920's Mediterranean Revival city.

Interesting new metal art located near the golf course and situated on two roundabouts. There are…read moretwo pieces one on each roundabout - They are passions flowers. Other people here have told the history about them so I will leave it at that. However what I did read about on the net and thought was amusing - was some local residents were not very happy with them, thinking they did not represent Coral Gables mediterranean image, so they started a petition to get them remove. They did get over a thousand signatures but no where near enough to make an impact and get them removed. Looks like they are here to stay. I was not too keen when I first saw them and had a little chuckle to myself as the largest one is situated in front of a plastic surgery office (HE HE)...(apt? - you decide). However after walking around and actually really looking at them, the location, the area, they started to grow on me!...Let me know what you think - when you go for a look!

I first saw - and entered El Jardin in 1982/83. At that time it contained the office of Father…read moreRoger Radloff, a Catholic priest and Jungian psychologist which he used in relation to a private practice that he maintained in addition to being the "shrink for the diocese" as he put it. His assistant at that time was Eugene Ritter. I believe Radloff also offered services to students at the adjoining Carrollton School, which owned the gatehouse. As with all Miami revival architecture, El Jardin is at one with the earth, looks organic, and is built with color, shapes and textures as well as stone.

I went to coconut Grove to see as many historical places as possible, and spotted this one. See…read moreinfo I got from the net regarding it. El Jardin is a house located at 3747 Main Highway in Miami, Florida. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. El Jardin is now home to Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami, Florida. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 30, 1974. Built in 1918 along a ridge of oolitic limestone, El Jardin expresses the broad training of its architect, Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott, and the experience of its owner, John Bindley, then president of Pittsburgh Steel. Kiehnel, in a September 1928 article for Tropical Home and Garden, referred to the house as a "progenitor of the Modern Mediterranean style home." Kiehnel relocated to Miami from Pittsburgh and became the architect for many landmark buildings, including the Coral Gables Congregational Church, Miami Senior High, and the Coral Gables Elementary School.

John was very very easy to work with and accommodating of us for our tour in Miami and the…read moreEverglades. He shared with us the very interesting Wynwood area with all the street art murals, which were amazing. He worked with us to customize our trip and did all of this for a very fair price. I would strongly recommend him.

My family and I have been to Miami before but had not truly been on a proper tour of the city. We…read morefound out about Miami Native Tours via Trip Advisor, and upon looking at John's website, we knew that he would be the right guy for the job. All I can say, and I'm sure my family would say the same, is what an AMAZING experience. Booking was easy, straightforward, and at a very reasonable price. Throughout the tour, we saw manatees and covered the backroads of Wynwood, with my family and I, at the end, being dropped off in South Point Park in South Beach for a wonderful sunset. John was an extremely informative guide, and I left the tour feeling like I could teach a college course about the history of Miami! 10/10 experience and just a great day