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Don Boyd | all galleries >> Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet >> 1930 to 1939 Miami Area Historical Photos Gallery - click on image to view > 1930's - The Coliseum in Coral Gables when Douglas Road had trees next to it
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1930's Jesse S. Wooley Collection

1930's - The Coliseum in Coral Gables when Douglas Road had trees next to it

Douglas Road (SW 37th Avenue), Coral Gables, Florida


Thank you to Alvin Lederer for contributing this image taken by Jesse S. Wooley.

The Coliseum was designed by Anthony Ten Eyck Brown and planned by Coral Gables founder George Merrick. It opened in 1927 and served as a 7500-seat auditorium, an Embry-Riddle Technical School teaching military aircraft maintenance during World War II, a bowling alley, ice skating rink and a health club during its existence. It was destroyed in 1993 for redevelopment as an urgently needed shopping center because we don't have enough in Dade County.


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Guest 30-Aug-2022 03:54
I had some of my best memories there as a young man. I worked there for 3 years when it was Sportrooms. Lots of sports figures and TV celebs visited. That was the era when the Dolphins were unmatched. The club was full of beautiful girls day and night and everyone was so friendly. I still have my old staff shirt and an Ektelon 250G racquet that I bought there. Always something happening at the Sportrooms.
Rafael Ciordia 31-Jan-2020 04:10
I worked there during my high school years (1981-82) when it was the Sportrooms Raquetball club chain. One of the owners was former Miami Dolphin Tim Foley. Many great memories there.
Nick B. 04-Feb-2016 18:50
When I came to Miami in 1976 I spent alot of time there when it was a bowling alley. We used to go in there after school to play pinball. It was right behind Merrick Elementary. One time my friends and I discovered a glitch in the pinball machine that if you unplugged it and plugged it back in it would give you a free game. One time I did that and I got shocked! The jolt threw me on my ass! Never did that again. After that I had fun playing racquetball there. It was turned into a racquetball/health club owned or party owned by former dolphin Jimmy Cefalo. Alot of good times there playing racquetball as a young teenager.
Scott Bogash 28-Dec-2014 04:49
They held the Roller Derby there also back in the late 1940s. My grandmother, Josephine "Ma" Bogash skated for the Miami team, at least briefly, per two news clippings I've found; no dates on the clippings. I found these clippings with other non-Miami/Coral Gables dated in 1948.
JohnMartin 01-Feb-2013 05:46
I'm having a serious flashback memory of seeing an Ice Show here in the late 60s. Or was it "Hello Dolly". I was around 4 years old at the time.
James Clements 25-Nov-2012 17:23
I bowled there for several years as a child in the late 1960s. Great memories.
Lee Martines (MEHS '57) 28-Apr-2011 20:14
I can remember ice skating there in the fifties. It was a big thrill for a "Florida boy". There was usually about a quarter inch of water on top of the ice, so if you fell you got soaked and it was cold.
Nancy Foye-Cox 28-Apr-2010 19:36
I remember seeing the Ice Capades perform there. And my mother won some ice skating lessons for me on a radio station contest. I was 10 years old or less when I took the lessons. I remember that the ice skating rink was open to the public and you could rent ice skates. An unusual Florida memory. I also remember bowling there years later.
Ronda Frank 03-Apr-2010 03:03
I can remember bowling there for the first time when I was 11 in 1962. I was on a summer league and they were choosing teams. I got chosen by the 2 best looking 12 year old boys. Did that ever open up a whole new world for me.
Ray20-Oct-2008 01:20
Sadly, no. It's gone. They allowed it to sit idle for years until it wasn't cost effective to re-hab it. Hialeah Race Track is now in that mode.
lmartin12-Sep-2008 23:28
Is it still there?