A local restorer rescues “Slothy” Miami from a former science museum

Miami, Florida. Those with childhood memories of the old Science Museum in Miami’s Vizcaya District might remember a 12-foot-tall sculpture made of fiberglass, steel, and concrete.

Adam Gersten, a restorer, remembers her as “slutty”, saw her value and decided she deserved to be salvaged and restored.

“You have to think that millions and millions of people who grew up in Miami walked their way to work, their way to school, their way home,” Gersten said.

Gersten said a former senior US Navy engineer has joined the effort to create a “superstructure” at the site.

“This steel cage has lasted, so far, 5 to 6 years,” Gersten said. “We were able to move the sloth vertically, horizontally, as we needed.”

He said it had become too expensive to store the statue, so it had to be moved again. It’s in Miami’s Little Haiti after the engineer stepped in with a 100-tonne crane and a 40-foot platform.

“For now, Slothie will be living here, and hopefully she’ll be a part of what we’re doing here in the meantime,” said Gersten.

“Slothy” will end up standing tall again at “Gersten’s,” a new restaurant and bar set to open on the Miami River.

“Being able to save something like this means something to the people who are here,” Gersten said, “and people who move here can see something of the history that has been mostly erased.”