These 2010s Social Media Posts Show the Wynwood We Used to Know

The Miami that emerged out of the 2008 financial crisis would be unrecognizable to most of us today. In the aftermath of the crash, the city was left with a partially built skyline and the domino effect of bankrupt condos, nightclubs, retail, and restaurants. The party of unlimited development and growth, it seemed, was over. But by 2012, the city began to rebound, and, if any neighborhood emerged like a phoenix from the ashes, it was Wynwood. 

Shiny condo buildings and New York-financed clubstaurants might have defined Miami in the early aughts, but the 2010s gave way to a more homegrown scene. Wynwood, with its local galleries, art walks, and live music, became a grassroots destination driven mostly by word of mouth in those early days. Gramps, its pioneering watering hole, pizza spot, and music venue, has, for the last 13 years, been at the center of that culture, providing an eclectic meeting spot for locals of every stripe. For many, its closure feels like a symbolic end. 

As a final farewell, we asked a handful of Miami artists, business owners, and creatives, for whom Gramps was a second home of sorts, to share their social media posts from the early days of the Wynwood boom. They serve as snapshots of a now-legendary moment in Miami history. 

“Wynwood had this special area where it was easier to put cafés, restaurants, and bars next to each other with a little bit less red tape at the time,” Gersten remembers.

“My friend was visiting, and I was taking pictures of my grandfather’s office, because it was design inspo as I was working on the decor for the bar. She was staying at The Standard, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be right over. I’m just taking pictures at Gramps’, meaning his office. She asked, ‘Is that the name of the bar?’ And I was like, ‘Yes. In fact, now it is.’”

“Edgewater was going from two- and three-story buildings to its first condos during the boom of the early 2000s…There were a lot of people who were artists moving to Edgewater, and then the galleries came into Wynwood, and it was this great sort of natural, not forced, zone of things happening.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, we’re building a pool. And everyone was like, ‘Wait, are you putting in a pool bar? Is this gonna be like the Clevelander in Wynwood?”

“I went on an excursion with Lazaro to buy video games for the bar.”

“I guess that’s pretty self-explanatory.”

Brian Butler of Upper Hand Art

Brian Butler is a prolific Miami artist. After moving from Boston in 2010, he dipped his toe in the local scene by creating flyers for Sweat Records. Over the past decade and a half, he’s left an indelible mark on the city with his concert illustrations and public art projects.

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Butler contributed to the visual direction of Gramps alongside Sun and Sons, the Miami creative firm that spearheads Gersten’s projects. (Burnie from Sun and Sons has his likeness painted in the yard.)

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Opening night.

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Butler created these Jacuzzi Boys illustrations on Gramps’ stationery. 

Ale Campos of Las Nubes 

Ale Campos has played the patio and Shirley’s at Gramps countless times, with several bands. Today, she is the frontwoman for Las Nubes, one of Miami’s most lauded local bands, and the touring guitarist for Iggy Pop. When Gramps opened, she was playing drums for Testökra.

“To me, it felt like freedom because I had just moved out of my parents’ house for the first time,” she remembers. “I was on my own. I was playing in all these bands, and I just felt like this sense of independence when I was there. It was like a playground for me.”

Lolo Reskin of Sweat Records

Lolo Reskin is the owner of Sweat Records, the beloved indie record shop that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. She has hosted several Sweat Records event series at Gramps over the years, including ’80s Prom and Take Me Out. Her highlight from the year Gramps opened involves Campos’ frontman.

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“In 2012, our highlight was hosting Iggy Pop at Sweat, when he was the Official Record Store Day Ambassador,” she says.

Aramis Lorié of Poplife

Aramis Lorié is the founder of Poplife, which began 25 years ago as a local indie-dance party catering to hipster Gen Xers and millennials, and evolved into a marketing agency that works with big-name brands nationwide. His standout memory from the year Gramps opened involves another high-profile Miami local.

“This night, Pharrell Williams came to Grand Central because he wanted to check out Cannibal Corpse live,” he says. “He bought a ton of their merch.”

Joel and Leticia Pollock of Panther Coffee

Joel and Leticia Pollack moved from Portland to Miami in the early aughts and saw a need for a local coffee shop like the ones they were used to back home. They opened the original Panther Coffee in Wynwood in 2010, right at the start of a consequential decade for the neighborhood.

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Billy Corben of Rakontur

Billy Corben, a childhood friend of Adam Gersten, is the Miami-based documentary filmmaker behind Cocaine Cowboys, The U, and God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down A Dynasty. His 2018 Instagram post shows Gramps just shy of six years in, already an established hub for Miami’s creatives, and a place where anything could happen.

“Gramps was Adam’s dream,” he says. “[Alfred] Spellman tried to convince him not to do it. He was both absolutely right and absolutely wrong. God, I loved that place.”