At 30, Pinecrest's Gardens Calendar Still Runs on Parrot Jungle's Floor Plan

Do you have a snapshot with Pinky somewhere in a shoebox? Maybe one with the flamingos, or under the banyans on Red Road? Pinecrest Gardens wants it. The Village is collecting photographs, artifacts and personal memories of Parrot Jungle, the Miami Serpentarium and the Miami Rare Bird Farm for a history exhibition called Wings, Scales & Wonder: Pinecrest's Legacy of Living Attractions. The special-exhibition page lists it on view from January 16, 2027.

The timing is deliberate. The June 2026 issue of the Pinecrest Sun tied the photo call to the Village's 30th anniversary: "As Pinecrest celebrates 30 years, we're collecting memories from the early days." Those early days began long before 1996. Pinecrest was incorporated on May 16, 1996. To celebrate three decades, the Village is reaching back to 1936, 1938 and 1947, the opening years of the attractions that put this stretch of South Dade on tourist maps. Many of the shows on this fall's calendar take place on grounds Parrot Jungle built.

The garden still runs on the 1936 floor plan

Franz and Louise Scherr opened Parrot Jungle on December 20, 1936. About 100 visitors came that first day, and each paid 25 cents to hear Franz Scherr talk about his birds, trees and flowers. He was an Austrian immigrant who had served as a U.S. Army private and later ran a fruit and chicken farm in Homestead. He rented 20 acres of hammock land for $25 a month and cut a winding nature trail through the coral rock, leaving the native plants undisturbed. According to the Pinecrest Gardens history page, the first month's rent was covered on opening day. Scherr bought the land in 1940 for $5,000.

Over 66 years on Red Road, the attraction drew more than one million visitors, including Sir Winston Churchill and President Jimmy Carter. In 2002 it moved to Watson Island and reopened as Jungle Island. With grant help from the Florida Communities Trust, the Village completed its purchase of the 14-acre property on December 17, 2002. The Council dedicated it as a municipal park on March 8, 2003.

Much of what visitors see today dates from the attraction years:

• The Red Road entrance that Scherr built is still standing.
• The Banyan Bowl, a 500-seat open-air amphitheater under a geodesic dome, started out as Scherr's Parrot Bowl.
• The native cypress slough and tropical hardwood hammock are the setting the National Park Service cites in its listing.
• The historic designations come at two levels. As reported by the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade County's Historic Preservation Board designated the grounds and limestone buildings in December 1990. The National Register of Historic Places followed on October 17, 2011, listing the site as the Parrot Jungle Historic District for its landscape architecture, building architecture and place in Florida tourism history.

So a jazz concert at Pinecrest Gardens this November takes place in a venue that a 1930s bird-show entrepreneur built for parrots.

The other two attractions sit along today's U.S. 1 errand route

The exhibition also covers two other attractions, and both stood on U.S. 1 within a short drive of the Gardens. Today both sites hold commercial buildings.

Bill Haast opened the Miami Serpentarium in 1947, just north of SW 128th Street on Dixie Highway. According to the Village's Serpentarium history, a Chase Bank and a shopping center now stand on the site, near Pinecrest Village Hall. The Village's own pages disagree on when it closed. The detailed account says fall 1977, and the general history page says the mid-1980s.

The Miami Rare Bird Farm stood farther south on the same highway. On August 3, 1938, Alton V. Freeman bought seven acres at the southeast corner of Flagler Boulevard, now SW 102nd Street, and U.S. 1. The Village's Flagler Grove history, written in July 2009, says the land had been split into commercial and residential parcels by then. At that time a private residence stood on the easternmost acre and a bank operated on the southwestern acre.

Put the three sites on a map and they all fall along a few miles of Red Road and Dixie Highway. That is the corridor where Pinecrest now runs its errands.

How to add your photos, and what the students are drawing

The request is simple. Email photos and a short note to [email protected]. The Gardens accepts donations or temporary loans of photographs and artifacts. Selected submissions will appear on the Village's social media and in the exhibition. The two Gardens pages differ slightly on dates. The special-exhibition page says the show is on view January 16 through May 31, 2027. The temporary-exhibitions page lists a January 16 opening, viewing from January 17, and a May 30 close.

The same theme runs through this year's youth program. The 13th Annual Student Art Contest, open to students across Miami-Dade County, is titled "The Roadside Gallery: A Tribute to Old Florida's Attractions." Entries open November 10 and are due January 11. Selected work will hang in a gallery exhibition during the 2027 Art & Design Fair. The student deadline falls days before the history exhibit opens in January, and both focus on the same era.

Saturday nights in the old Parrot Bowl

The Jazz at Pinecrest Gardens series is now in its 17th season. The 2025–26 announcement called last season the 16th, so this is a series with a track record. The lineup has six Saturday shows at 8 p.m. in the Banyan Bowl. All concertgoers get free parking and access to pre-show concessions. Subscribers keep the same seat for every show.

The November 8 concert opens Orchestra Miami's 20th-anniversary season. Its Gardens listing does not name a venue, and neither does the listing for Todo El Mundo Dice Aho. That show features Peia, Ima Nazca, Teresa De Jesús and Jesús Hidalgo. The jazz season continues into 2027 and ends April 17 with Eliane Elias's tribute for the Antonio Carlos Jobim centennial.

Sunday mornings, then a December of lights

On Sunday mornings the Gardens takes on the role Scherr built it for, a place where neighbors walk the paths among the trees. The Pinecrest Farmers Market is run by Miami Culinary Kitchen under market manager Susan Muci. According to an October 20 Community Newspapers feature, it brings together more than 80 vendors each week. The same feature reports that the market's December Holiday Toy Drive collects toys for Radio Lollipop, which serves children spending the holidays in the hospital. The market's event page puts it in the South Parking Lot and offers a free community Vinyasa yoga class from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The page lists two sets of hours, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in its schedule and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in its description, so the earlier start is the safer bet.

Nights of Lights returns on select nights from December 4 to 27, 6:30 to 10 p.m. The program includes light displays, Santa and Grinch appearances on select nights, story time, crafts, vendors and performances. Tickets are date-specific and were still marked "coming soon" in late October. Parking is free, members get a discount at the gate, and pets and outside food and drinks are not allowed. Last year the run was December 5 to 28.

For a regular weekday visit, the Gardens are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Splash 'N Play runs until 4 p.m. and closes when the temperature falls below 75°F. The mini viewing zoo is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. General admission is $8 for ages 2 to 64 and $5 for seniors. Annual memberships start at $55 for an individual, $95 dual, $145 family and $45 senior. They include free general admission and Splash 'N Play, plus discounts on select events. Outside food and coolers are not allowed on a regular visit, but a personal lunchbox-sized container is fine.

The newest additions, from a dragon tree to a chophouse

The Gardens' newest plant is in the dry Lake Garden. Pinecrest Gardens has acquired a juvenile Dragon Tree, Dracaena draco, a globally endangered species from the Canary Islands. The Pinecrest Sun calls it a rare specialty specimen in Florida. The tree stands fifteen feet tall and hasn't branched yet, so it looks like the Blue-Beaked Yuccas planted nearby. Look for a thick, bare trunk topped with long leaves. Cut the bark and it bleeds a resin that dries blood red, which is where the old trade name "dragon's blood" comes from.

A dining room is also on the way. Charisma, an Italian chophouse-style restaurant with indoor and terrace seating, is coming to Cypress Hall near the main entrance. The Village has approved a concession agreement with Platea Group to operate it on a profit-sharing model. On September 10 the Council approved buying the furniture and equipment needed to finish the space on its anticipated opening schedule. The Village's materials do not give an exact opening date.

The anniversary year has one more piece in progress on Kendall Drive. Gary Matzner Park is named for the Village's second mayor, who served from 2008 to 2012. The Village credits him with leading the push to incorporate after Hurricane Andrew. The 3.76-acre park sits on the southeast corner of Kendall Drive between SW 67 Avenue and SW 65 Court. Plans call for a covered playground, natural play areas, a walking path, a restroom shelter, preserved specimen trees and a gateway at the Village's northern entrance. The Village's project page gives October 2026 as the expected opening. The September Pinecrest Sun says fall 2026.

If your family photos include Pinky, a Serpentarium show or the Rare Bird Farm, I would be glad to hear about them, and to talk about the homes along Red Road that were built near the attractions. Jorge Hidalgo works with Pinecrest homeowners who care about the history of where they live. Schedule a Confidential Consultation whenever you're ready.