Retro planetary retrograde
The Miami planetarium opened in 1966 and for almost half a century, the giant golden igloo on the northeast edge of Coconut Grove welcomed generations of school-age kids to reach for the stars. As time went by, the surrounding community became swept up in movements of the sixties and seventies, like legalizing marijuana and gay rights. But the planetarium remained steadfastly and charmingly rooted in the past.
Up until its final days, the planetarium took visitors on a trip into space as well as back in time. The massive black globe in the lobby boasted a map from the old Pan Am terminal down the street, which included countries like Siam and Rhodesia. A retro “Planetarium in use” sign flashed above old wooden double doors like the “Applause” sign on the set of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
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Address 3280 South Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33129, +1 305.646.4269, www.miamisci.org | Hours Viewable from the outside; open for special events (check website)| Tip Grab a meal at Green Street Café (3468 Main Hwy), a Coconut Grove institution. Founded in the early 1990s, Green Street offers modern European fare, from breakfast through dinner.
Inside the theater, at the center of it all, sat the Spitz Model B Space Transit Projector. A round, menacing steel beast of a star simulator, the once cutting-edge machine long outlived its life expectancy of 20 years. In fact, the projector was so advanced for its time that it was once used to train astronauts by simulating a flight to the moon. The celestial show cast onto the ceiling was compelling enough to make anyone a sci-fi nerd. Even more mesmerizing was watching the Spitz projector gyrate, spin, and turn upside down, as lights would flash in and around its innumerable tiny pinholes, mirrors, and miniature lenses.
The projector shone one last time on August 30th, 2015. In a bittersweet transition, the beloved landmark was shuttered to make way for a shiny modernized planetarium at the newly incorporated Museum Park, right next to the Perez Art Museum. While the projector will be on display as an exhibit in its new digs just 20 minutes up the road, the glittering celestial shell of the old planetarium still stands as an enduring reminder of a bygone era.
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