![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_200RedRooster00NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"View")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
View of the Red Rooster restaurant located in the heart of Miami’s historic Overtown neighborhood on March 13, 2026.<\/p>\n
Pedro Portal<\/p>\n
pportal@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
If you want to understand what\u2019s really happening in Historic Overtown, don\u2019t start with a development proposal. Start with the people \u2014 and the businesses \u2014 that have never left.<\/p>\n
This past week, the community gathered to celebrate the 76th anniversary of Just Rite Barber Shop. And yes, 76th. There was no big celebration for the 75th, but 76 showed up with full energy, full chairs and full pride. That tells you a lot about Overtown. It doesn\u2019t wait for perfect moments. It creates its own.<\/p>\n
For more than seven decades, Just Rite hasn\u2019t just cut hair \u2014 it has shaped community. It\u2019s where people check in, debate, laugh, organize and stay connected. In a city that changes by the minute, that kind of continuity isn\u2019t just impressive. It\u2019s foundational.<\/p>\n
Overtown is home to some of Miami\u2019s oldest businesses and churches that date back to the 1800s. These institutions have endured with discipline, sustained by faith and a deep responsibility to their community. They have served as stewards of their real estate through successive economic booms and downturns.<\/p>\n
That legacy is visible across the neighborhood, from Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, both organized in 1896, to St. Agnes Episcopal Church, founded by Bahamian Anglicans in 1898. Institutions like St. John Institutional Missionary Baptist Church (1906) and A.M. Cohen Temple Church of God in Christ (1918) continue that tradition \u2014enduring, adapting and anchoring both faith and economic life.<\/p>\n
Black-owned businesses and churches in Overtown are often framed as part of the past. That\u2019s a mistake. What\u2019s happening now is not preservation \u2014 it\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n
You can smell that evolution in the air. The smoke and spice from Red Rooster Overtown, the wings at House of Wings, the comfort of Lil Green House Grill and the staples at Two Guys Restaurant signal presence and pride. With the reactivation of People\u2019s BBQ, that lineage is being reignited.<\/p>\n
My small business in Overtown, Hampton Art Lovers, has helped transform a historic structure, the Ward Rooming House, into a living classroom and gathering place. African American\u2013owned and operated, it is more than a gallery; it is a cultural institution founded to promote African American art and honor fine artists.<\/p>\n
The Ward Rooming House is important all by itself. Built in the early 1900s by Shaddrack and Victoria Ward, it once served as a safe house in what was called \u201cColored Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same spirit is shaping what comes next. At Northwest Third Avenue and 11th Terrace, a 4,000-square-foot hub, OVRTWN Corner, will offer a marketplace, a caf\u00e9, a bar and a food hall for entrepreneurs, artists and community. Nearby, a planned supper club and lounge called Harlem Square will help revive the legacy of the iconic 1963 Harlem Square Club.<\/p>\n
This momentum from projects like these reflects alignment between community effort and public investment. The work of the Southeast Overtown\/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, chaired by Miami Commissioner Christine King, has helped create conditions that support small business growth and reinvestment.<\/p>\n
These are not isolated projects. They are signals of a neighborhood building its future from within. During National Small Business Week, May 3\u20139, we recognize entrepreneurs and small business owners. Overtown already knows: small businesses aren\u2019t secondary \u2014 they are the economy.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s especially true in Miami. Our economy is dominated by small, locally rooted enterprises. Overtown sits at the center of that reality. And Overtown has something that cities spend millions trying to replicate: authenticity.<\/p>\n
For years, the question has been whether Overtown would be revitalized. The better question is: revitalized for whom and by whom?<\/p>\n
What\u2019s happening now offers a clear answer. Revitalization led by Black-owned businesses means ownership, growth and spaces that reflect Overtown\u2019s identity, rather than erase it.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something fitting about skipping a 75th anniversary and going straight to 76. It\u2019s imperfect. It\u2019s real. And it\u2019s unmistakably Overtown. All are welcome in Overtown \u2014 but Overtown must remain Overtown.<\/p>\n
Christopher Norwood is the owner and curator of Hampton Art Lovers at the Historic Ward Rooming House Gallery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"View of the Red Rooster restaurant located in the heart of Miami’s historic Overtown neighborhood on March 13,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-261049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}