At Lakeview Terrace above Swan Lake, contractors stabilized the foundation, repaired the entry ramp, then took up every mosaic tile and set each one back in its original midcentury pattern. The terrace has reopened. The pattern you walk across now is the same one under the feet of Parrot Jungle visitors decades ago.
That tile work sums up how the Village has handled the old attraction this year. It is restoring physical pieces of the site one at a time. Next on the list is a record of what visiting was like, and Pinecrest Gardens is asking residents to supply it.
What the Village has already put back
Pinecrest marks its 30th year as a village in 2026. Its spring issue of the Pinecrest Sun lists the recent upgrades at the Gardens. Besides the reopened Lakeview Terrace, the Banyan Bowl has updated restrooms. According to Hoodline, the Bowl itself served as a bird-show arena in the Parrot Jungle years.
Dining is changing too. Bohemian Spark Café opened in Cypress Hall in 2025 and served breakfast and lunch, as Community Newspapers reported. Cypress Hall is now set to house Charisma, an Italian chophouse-style restaurant run by Platea Group. The June Pinecrest Sun said it would serve dinner indoors or outdoors on the terrace. In October 2025, the Village described the deal as a profit-sharing concession for five years, with up to two optional five-year renewals. On Sept. 10, 2026, the Village Council approved buying up to $100,000 in furniture, fixtures and equipment for the space through the Village. That lets the project use the Village's tax-exempt status, and Platea Group pays for anything above that cap.
Admission changed in April 2026. Adults now pay $8 and seniors 65 and older pay $5. It was the first change to admission in more than 15 years. Children under 2 get in free, special-event tickets are sold separately, and parking is free. Residents pay the same price as visitors, and the reason goes back to the purchase. The Village bought the site with Florida Communities Trust funds and Miami-Dade County bonds, and both require equal access and consistent pricing for everyone.
The piece no contractor can reinstall
The tiles were still there to be lifted. The experience of a Sunday at Parrot Jungle survives mostly in family albums, and that is where the Gardens is collecting it.
The coming special exhibition is called Wings, Scales & Wonder: Pinecrest's Legacy of Living Attractions. It covers three attractions: Parrot Jungle, the Miami Serpentarium and Rare Bird Farm. Pinecrest Gardens is asking the public to donate or lend photographs, artifacts and personal memories. Its exhibition page asks directly for snapshots "with Pinky, the flamingos, or beneath the banyans." The September 2026 Pinecrest Sun added historic film to the list.
To contribute:
- Find your prints, slides or old film from visits to any of the three attractions.
- Email photos with a short note to [email protected].
- If you have an object rather than a photo, say whether you are donating it or offering a temporary loan. The Gardens accepts both.
Selected submissions will appear on the Village's social media and in the exhibition. The show opens with an exhibition opening and plaque rededication on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 5:30 p.m. It stays up through the end of May.
Three attractions along one stretch of road
The pairing makes sense on a map. All three attractions sat within a short drive of each other in what is now Pinecrest, and each left something behind.
- Parrot Jungle. Franz and Louise Scherr opened it on Dec. 20, 1936. The Village completed its purchase of the site on Dec. 17, 2002, and dedicated it as a municipal park on March 8, 2003. According to the Village, Winston Churchill toured the grounds and Celia Cruz filmed a commercial there. Pinky, a cockatoo known for riding bicycles and walking a high wire, became a fan favorite. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 17, 2011.
- Miami Serpentarium. Bill Haast ran it on Dixie Highway just north of Southwest 128th Street. A huge cobra head stood over the entrance, and Haast put on venom-extraction shows with cobras. Today a bank and a shopping center occupy the land, close to Pinecrest Village Hall, according to the Village's history. When the attraction closed, South Miami High moved the cobra head to its campus on Southwest 53rd Street. It stood there until Hurricane Andrew destroyed it in 1992.
- Rare Bird Farm. It sat at the southeast corner of Flagler Boulevard, which is Southwest 102nd Street, and US 1. Animal broker Alton V. Freeman bought the seven acres on Aug. 3, 1938, and sold the farm in 1961 after about 20 years in operation. According to the Village's Flagler Grove history, the land was later split into commercial and residential parcels, including the Reserve of Pinecrest condominiums and the Dixie 102 Plaza site.
Of the three, only Parrot Jungle survived as a public place. That is why the exhibit about all three will hang at the Gardens.
A season that builds toward Jan. 16
The exhibit opens on the same night as the third Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens concert. So the evening of Jan. 16 brings the old attraction's history and the venue's current calendar together in one place. Here is the season around it, from the Gardens' series pages for Jazz, Tropical Nights and Sound Sessions.
| Date | Series or event | On the bill |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens | Allyson Briggs & The Dan Gabel Big Band |
| Select dates, Dec. 4–27 | Nights of Lights | Light displays, Story Time, performances |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens | Allan Harris |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Tropical Nights | Orquesta La Oferta |
| Sat., Jan. 16 | Jazz, plus exhibit opening at 5:30 p.m. | The Sweet Tooth Jazz Band |
| Jan. 23–24 | Art & Design Fair | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days |
| Sat., Feb. 13 | Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens | Lucy Yeghiazaryan Trio |
| Sat., Feb. 27 | Tropical Nights | Baila Nova |
| Sat., March 13 | Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens | Jukebox Saturday Night |
| Sat., April 3 | Tropical Nights | Cortadito |
| Sat., April 17 | Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens | Eliane Elias |
| May 1 | Sound Sessions | Fernando Perdomo & Friends |
This is the 17th season of the jazz series and the fifth of Tropical Nights. The Tropical Nights program marks Antônio Carlos Jobim's centennial. Hoodline reports that Eliane Elias's April concert also honors Jobim, and that Allan Harris's December show is A Nat Cole Christmas. A six-show jazz subscription costs $275 for Level A or $250 for Level B. Single jazz tickets run $55 to $60 for Level A and $45 to $50 for Level B, with processing fees included. The three-show Tropical Nights subscription is $150 for Level A and $135 for Level B. Miami New Times previewed the full season in October.
Sunday mornings and December nights
The concerts are the headliners, but most visits to the Gardens happen during the week and on Sundays. The weekly Pinecrest Farmers Market runs Sunday mornings through November. It takes one Sunday off this season, Jan. 24, when the Art & Design Fair uses the grounds. The fair is the event formerly called the Fine Arts Festival. Through Jan. 3, the Gardens is showing "Miami Through the Lens," a contemporary photography exhibition by South Florida artists. Alongside it is "Beyond the Studio: Public Art in Practice," with work from artist Carola Bravo's Public Art Mentoring and Exhibition Program.
Nights of Lights runs on select dates from Dec. 4 through Dec. 27. It has light displays, Santa and the Grinch on some nights, Story Time, the Jolly Craft Corner, vendors and performances. On Friday, Dec. 11, Conchita Espinosa performs in the Banyan Bowl at 7 p.m. The Grinch appears from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Story Time runs from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., and carolers close the night from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Craft activities need add-on tickets, and parking is free.
On regular days, the Gardens is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. That gives you plenty of time to look through a drawer of old Parrot Jungle prints and send the best ones in before Jan. 16.
At Boschetti Realty Group, we pay attention to the history behind Pinecrest's addresses, from the old Rare Bird Farm parcels on US 1 to the land the Village protected on Red Road. If your family's history here includes a home you are thinking about selling or passing on, we'd be glad to talk about how to present it well. Work With Us.
