The Ace Theatre: How a Historic Black Theater Became Sarasota's Most Unique Wine Bar

At 1419 5th Street in Sarasota's Rosemary District, there's a wine bar inside a building that has been telling stories for nearly a century. Before it was Vino Bistro, before it was an art gallery, before it was a church — it was the Ace Theatre. And the Ace Theatre's story is one you should know.

The Ace Theatre: A Community Landmark Since the 1920s

The Ace Theatre was built in the 1920s as an open-air theater in what was then known as Overtown — Sarasota's historic Black neighborhood, now called the Rosemary District. It was one of the community's original gathering places, a spot where people came together before anyone had a word like "venue" to describe it.

Not much is documented about its earliest years, but in 1935 the theater changed hands when Wometeco Theaters — a chain of theaters based in Miami — took over operations and eventually purchased the building outright in 1938. Under Wometeco's management, the open-air theater got a roof and, in 1945, the facade received an Art Deco facelift in the Streamline Moderne style that was the architectural rage of the era. That facade is still intact today. When you walk up to Vino Bistro, you're looking at 1940s architecture that has survived eight decades of Florida weather and change.

Jim Crow, Paramount, and a Fire

The 1940s brought more change. Paramount took over management of the Ace, and a fire in 1947 necessitated the construction of a new lobby. By 1953, the Ace was officially designated a "Negro Theater" — a designation rooted in the Jim Crow laws that segregated every aspect of public life in the South, including where people could watch a movie.

During this era, the Ace was committed to showing films with Black casts — making it not just a movie theater but a cultural institution. In a time when mainstream theaters excluded Black audiences, places like the Ace were essential. They were where a community saw itself reflected on screen.

The theater eventually closed in 1967, as the civil rights movement transformed the laws — and the landscape — of the American South.

Fred Barber and the Ace

One of the most striking images from the Ace Theatre's history is a photograph of Fred Barber standing in front of the building, leaning against a Pontiac with the Ace Theatre and Cinemascope signs visible behind him. That photograph has been immortalized in a vibrant mural on the building's exterior wall — a painted tribute that preserves both the man and the moment in the neighborhood's visual memory. If you visit Vino Bistro, look for it. It's one of the most photographed murals in the Rosemary District.

After the Curtain Fell

After the Ace closed in 1967, the building didn't sit idle. Over the decades, 1419 5th Street has been home to a church, several art galleries, and other community uses — each one giving the space a new purpose while the bones of the old theater remained. The high ceilings, the stage area, the Streamline Moderne facade — all of it carried forward from one era to the next.

Today, the building is Vino Bistro — a wine bar and tapas restaurant that has, in its own way, returned the space to something close to its original purpose. The Ace was where a community gathered for entertainment and shared experience. Vino Bistro is where people come for wine, tapas, and live music — jazz on Tuesdays, bands on Fridays and Saturdays, open mic nights where anyone can take the stage that has hosted performers for generations.

A Sibling Theater's Legacy

While the Ace Theatre in Sarasota never received formal landmark status, it has a sibling worth mentioning. In Coconut Grove, Miami, another Ace Theater — also originally operated by what became the Wometeco chain — was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Built in the 1930s in Art Deco style, it was also a Blacks-only theater under Jim Crow. Harvey Wallace purchased that building in 1979, and his family's company, Ace Development, still owns it. His wife Dorothy and daughter Denise are currently moving forward with restoration, aided by a National Park Service grant awarded in 2021.

The Miami Ace's preservation reminds us what these spaces meant — and still mean — to the communities they served. Our Ace may not have a plaque, but it has something just as valuable: continued use. The building at 1419 5th Street is still a gathering place, still a performance space, still a part of the Rosemary District's living story.

The Rosemary District: Then and Now

The Rosemary District's transformation from Overtown to today's dining and arts destination is a story of resilience, reinvention, and community. Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe — just around the corner from Vino Bistro — continues the neighborhood's cultural legacy, producing world-class theater rooted in Black artistic traditions. New restaurants and galleries have opened alongside longtime community institutions. The neighborhood evolves, but it remembers.

The Ace Theatre is part of that memory. Every time someone walks into Vino Bistro, sits under those high ceilings, and listens to live music on the same stage where a community once gathered to see themselves on screen — the building's story continues.

Come See It For Yourself

The Streamline Moderne facade. The mural of Fred Barber. The stage. The walls that have held a century of stories. You can read about it, or you can come sit inside it with a glass of wine and feel it.

Vino Bistro. 1419 5th Street. The former Ace Theatre. Sarasota's Rosemary District. Still a gathering place. Still telling stories.