Heard about the "gallery" after reading a short bit in our local paper, so decided I'd go out and have a look. Arrived just in time for Jetson Grimes, the gallery's proprietor, to drive up just as he was going to open-up his hair salon next door.
I've known "Jet" for some 30 years now, back from when I first interviewed him - and back then, while doing his portrait. As a respected leader of Sarasota's historic African-American community (Newtown), Jetson Grimes has put together a collection, and now a showcase, of a local and unique community's history.
Carlton Baker - for nearly 60 years, ran one of Newtown community's last gas stations.
Willie B. Rogers - ran the local African-American community's first and only movie theater, the Ace.
Little ones at Newtown's Day Nursery
City of Sarasota's Sanitation workers outside the Municipal Auditorium.
The Club Palms, entertainment flyer. The "Palms" was an all black showcase located in a simple, single story, wood-framed building right off of old Hwy 301 - not far from today's Manatee / Sarasota County line.
The racial push for the integration of Sarasota County's beaches (1955).
School sports, always a big part of the African-American Community.
The Newtown Community Center originally started as a USO Club, then used for a multitude of social activities.
And on floor display, a glass showcase featuring those ever popular, early black publications.
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