MIAMI – Those who have childhood memories at the old science museum in Miami’s Vizcaya area may remember a nearly 16-foot-tall sculpture made out of fiberglass, steel, and concrete.
Adam Gersten, a restaurateur, remembers it as “Slothy,” and he saw its value, and decided it was deserving of a rescue and restoration.
“You have to think that millions and millions of people that grew up in Miami drove by this on their way to work, on their way to school, on their way home,” Gersten said.
Gersten said a former senior engineer from the U.S. Navy joined the effort to create a “superstructure” onsite.
“That steel cage has lasted, now, 5-6 years,” Gersten said. “We were able to move the sloth upright, horizontal, as we needed to.”
He said the statue storage got expensive, so it had to be relocated, again. It’s in Miami’s Little Haiti after the engineer stepped in with a 100-ton crane and a 40-foot flatbed.
“So, for now, Slothy’s going to live here, and hopefully be a part of whatever we have going on in the interim, here,” Gersten said.
“Slothy” will eventually stand tall, again at “Gersten’s,” a new restaurant and bar slated to open up on the Miami River.
“Being able to save something like this means something for people that are from here,” Gersten said, “and people that are moving here can see something from a history that has, predominantly, been erased.”