Gloria Estefan Attends the Miami Marine Stadium Event

On Saturday morning the National Trust For Historic Preservation held an event at the Miami Marine Stadium to help create awareness about the building and to help with the stadium restoration.

The stadium has been abandoned since 1992 after Hurricane Andrew. City officials deemed the building to be structurally unsafe and ordered it closed. The stadium was used for boat races and concerts such as Gloria Estefan and Jimmy Buffett.

While the stadium has sat abandoned for twenty two years, it has become a haven for graffiti artists who have used the stadium walls as a canvas to display their work.

The Saturday event gave nine street artists the chance to create live work for the people attending.

The event was attended by Gloria and Emilio Estefan who announced that they were donating $500,000 to help in the restoration of the building. They were gracious enough to meet and greet with everyone who was at the event. Also on hand was stadium architect Hilario Candela, who was mingling with guests throughout the day.

The Friends of Miami Marine Stadium are trying to preserve and restore the stadium and are looking to raise $30 million by January.

If you would like to make a donation, you can visit http://www.marinestadium.org for more information.

Below are photos from the event.

Jimbo's Place was a famous open air beer and fish bar that was located on Virginia Key. It was an eclectic place with colorful shacks and where locals could relax to get away from the pretentious South Beach vibe.

It's previous place had been on the waterfront in Miami where the Miami Herald Building is being torn down.

After being kicked out of his Miami waterfront spot where Jimbo has a shrimp operation, he relocated to Virginia Key in 1954 where the City of Miami gave him land, lease free.

Many TV shows and movies have been filmed there including Miami Vice, Dexter, Flipper, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Wild Things. Esquire Magazine even voted it one of the best bars in America.

Jimbo's owner, Jim Luznar, allegedly sent a letter to Mayor Tomas Regalado saying he was giving the land back to the City of Miami in April 2012. Since then, family squabbling between the siblings threatened to close the place for good, which eventually happened in May 2012.

The City of Miami kicked out the remaining people living there. The City of Miami demolished all of the shacks and towed away the buses and cars left behind.

Now the place is completely covered with new grass with a no trespassing sign in front.

Nothing remains and looks as if nobody had been there for the over half a century.

Before Photos - March 2012