During the early 70s, Enrique Beltrán rented the space and named it El Carrusel, Spanish for Merry-Go-Round. 

Since 1973, he regularly presented Spanish productions.

 

     Throughout the 1980s, the space was used as a theater and it alternated with the Absinthe House Cinematheque, premier art film venue in Miami. Nat Chediak remodeled it with first-class Air France seats and brought the latest from European and Latin American cinema. It is considered to be the birthplace of the Miami International Film Festival. In 1992, it was the theater for Teatro Avante until 1996 when Mario Ernesto Sánchez and César Soto, director of Astor's Cinema in Coral Gables' Laguna Street, joined forces and the space was shared between the Alcazar Cinematheque and Teatro Avante. During this time the movie house was known as either the Alcazar or the Absinthe House.FN Miami New Times chose it as Miami Best Art Cinema in 1999.