Just last month, New Times named Lumonics Best Art Gallery. Two years ago, we named it Best Dance Club, although we don't take credit for the raid that took place ten days later, with drug-hunting cops enforcing permits and fire code regulations. Oops. Two months later, Lumonics established attendance caps and an 18-and-over rule. But the 2002 incident has been difficult to overcome, Lumonics spokesman Barry Raphael says. Owners are now searching for a larger building that can also serve as a community center for field trips exploring art and technology. "We're trying to find the right kind of space," Raphael says. "South Florida is our preference, but if the opportunity arises, we'll move."
After Lumonics was born in 1960s-era Miami, the museum (the lovechild of artists Tanner and her husband, Mel, who passed away in 1993) migrated to California and New England before its 1987 South Florida repatriation. Now, as its staff house-hunts, it will still use the warehouse as a workshop for building lighted dance floors -- some portable, in case you're interested in holding a rave in your church's basement. -- Dave Amber
