Coral Gables Florida Attractions

Coral Gables Florida is in the Miami Metro Area. There are several attractions of note in this region. Please feel free to visit our WEBSITE for more information. The Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel is a luxury hotel opened in 1926, by John McEntee Bowman and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel chain. Located in Coral Gables, Florida it is now a national historic landmark. It served as a hospital during World War II and as a VA Hospital and campus of the University of Miami medical school until 1968. It became a hotel again in 1987 managed by Seaway Hotels Corporation. The John C. Gifford Arboretum is an arboretum and botanical garden located at the northwest corner of the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Florida, USA. The Arboretum was founded in 1947 by Prof. Frank J. Rimoldi, and in 1949 named for Prof. John C. Gifford. In 1950, the Gifford Society of Tropical Botany was formed to promote the study of tropical plants, and the arboretum grew to more than 500 plants. The 2005-2006 season marks the 60th year that the Ring Theatre has been offering exciting theatre to the city of Coral Gables and the greater Miami area via the University of Miami's famous theatre company and the producing arm of the Department of Theatre Arts (itself a producer of theatre in Miami since 1936). Created in 1946, the Ring has performed at three different sites -- including a circus tent and a round building used to train Allied navigators during World War II. The name for the Ring grew out of the company's first in-the-round performance which placed the audience in a "ring" around the stage. The current building was constructed in 1951. Its unusual circular design and first-of-its-kind, flexible seating arrangement drew national headlines. In the 1970s, the Ring permanently changed its seating configuration to three-sided thrust. After a complete renovation of the theatre house, the Ring has now returned to total flexibility and offer three different kinds of staging as well as three seating arrangements. The remodeled theatre was been renamed for UM alumnus, Jerry Herman. The new stage was named the Alvin Sherman Family Stage in honor of Mr. Sherman's generous support of the renovation project. One of the outstanding treasures of Coral Gables, Venetian Pool, once the site of a rock quarry, was designed in Mediterranean Revival style by Phineas E. Paist to resemble a natural lagoon in a Venetian setting. Located at 2701 DeSoto Boulevard four blocks south of Coral Way on Granada, the pool is open most days of the year for a small admission fee. Please feel free to visit our WEBSITE for more information.