Sun Tower, one of the oldest remaining hotels on Fort Lauderdale sands

 

 

Sun Tower Hotel & Suites

2030 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL

954-565-5700

By Jane Feehan

The Sun Tower remains one of the few hotels in Fort Lauderdale that can claim the beach lies literally out the back door. With a deck and restaurant only feet off the sand, it draws locals and repeat visitors from afar.

It’s been around since about 1959 when original owner George A. Zarekas filed a fictitious name or intent to do business as “Sun Tower Apartments.” Architect of the 22-unit building was Gamble, Pownell and Gilroy Company. According to The Miami Herald that year, a $235,000 contract was “let to W. Edward Seese” to build; D.E. Britt served as engineer.

Zarekas came to Florida from Carbondale, Pennsylvania in 1955 where he and wife Marjorie owned and operated the Waymart Hotel and Restaurant. In Fort Lauderdale they also owned the Carib and North Shore motels. The seven-floor Sun Tower was known by several different names over the years. Some referred to it as the Sun Tower Motel or Hotel. It was not pretentious. In fact, the Zarekas would advertise for a couple to run the place while they were away for the summer.

Today it operates as Sun Tower Hotel and Suites. Zarekas, a World War II veteran who fought at Normandy, died in 2021 at age 98. His wife died in 2022. Current owners are listed as Sun Tower Investments with a mailing address in New York City.

The small hotel was upgraded during the COVID pandemic. Not enough can be said about its very casual restaurant, Sand Bar and Grill (or Sand Bar Grill), which serves a tasty breakfast, lunch and dinner on the deck or in a small adjacent room. It’s all about the beach … 

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources

The Miami Herald, Sept. 20, 1059

Fort Lauderdale News Oct. 23, 1959

Fort Lauderdale News, May 6, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, April 9, 1973

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Nov. 19, 2021

Legacy.com

 

 Tags: Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale beach hotels, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, George A. Zarekas, Sun Tower Hotel & Suites

Mark 2100 Resort Hotel in Fort Lauderdale and an owner who left a gift for average students

 

By Jane Feehan 

The Mark 2100 Resort Hotel was one of a very few that sat directly on Fort Lauderdale’s sands. For more than three decades it attracted guests from across the nation to its unpretentious accommodations. 

Locals probably miss this hotel for its Mark 2100 Ocean Lounge. Live jazz, a great bar and wooden deck provided a getaway, if only for a few hours while sipping a drink or two. The view of a moonlit ocean and sound of soft breezes rustling through the palm trees was unmatched along the hotel strip. 

The beach vibe probably attracted Pennsylvania native Edward W. Seese who retired to Florida during the late 1950s after a career in marketing. He and brother Worthington F. Seese published an intent to do business as Mark 2100 Motor Hotel in January 1960.

Located at 2100 N. Atlantic Boulevard, east of A1A, at the northern end of Fort Lauderdale’s hotel strip, Mark 2100 offered 47 rooms and apartments casually sprawled along a block. Room televisions, a heated pool, coffee shop and direct beach access were the advertised amenities. Wells M. Squier of Squier and Maxwell designed its interior. This then-popular firm had also designed interiors of several Fort Lauderdale hotels including Stouffer’s Anacapri Inn, the Jules Verne Room at the Marlin Beach Hotel, the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel and later (1965) the Fountainhead Condominium north of the Galt Mile..

In 1961, Mark 2100 became a member of Quality Courts United, Inc., the largest association of its kind and first hotel chain (now Choice Hotels) in the U.S.; it was a marketing cooperative set up to refer business to other members offering the same standards in accommodations and service. Stouffer’s Anacapri Inn in Fort Lauderdale joined Quality Courts the same month.   

With its reputation established, and by word of mouth, Mark 2100 successfully operated for decades. Seese also developed—as well as managed—the Sea Garden in Pompano Beach. Management of the Mark 2100 was turned over to Ruth Werth while Seese worked the Pompano hotel.

Edward Seese died in March 1995. He left much more than his hotels as legacy. Seese served as director of Florida Hotel and Motel Association and headed several other local hotel-oriented organizations. But what many would remember him for was the $4.5 million gift he bequeathed to Broward Community College to help average or C students. He believed they could achieve more in their academic pursuits if they didn’t have to worry about a job to finance their education. This gift made headlines beyond the South Florida media market.

Seese’s brother, Worthington, died about three months later. His wife Ida predeceased Edward some time in the 1960s. They had no children. Of note, Seese had worked for Philadelphia Electric in marketing and later as producer and host of the first day time television show in the Philadelphia market.

Epilogue

The Mark 2100 was still operating in 1994. By 1995 it closed or was about to when plans to build the two-tower, 30-story Palms Condominium went up for approval by the city commission. Residents resisted the development. The plan was to close part of North Atlantic Boulevard to accommodate the project and they didn’t want to lose direct access to the beach. Residents’ efforts to stop the project proved fruitless. The Palms was completed about 2001.

The Mark 2100 was the first of several small hotels and motels in that area to fall to developers. The glitzy Palms, spectacular Auberge Beach Residences and beautiful Pelican Resort now sit on those serene sands.

They say you can’t go home again...but one can always take a trip down memory lane.

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 15, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 1, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, May 9, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, June 8, 1962

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 13, 1963

South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 18, 1994

South Florida Sun Sentinel, March 22, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, June 19, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, June 25, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sept. 20, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sept. 25, 2021

Choice Hotels

Tags: Mark 2100 Resort Hotel, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Edward W. Seese

Marlin Beach Hotel ... once leader in Fort Lauderdale beach entertainment

 

Fort Lauderdale 

Marlin Beach Hotel
17 S. Atlantic Blvd.Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Three West Point graduates (Class of 1946) from Pittsburgh agreed that Fort Lauderdale held solid prospects for a new hotel. They bought a beach site in 1951.

The Pittsburgh group—Roland Catarinella, Harold Gray and W.C. Powers—moved forward with their hotel idea, formed the Penndale Corporation and filed a fictitious name to do business as the Marlin Beach Hotel in 1952. The hotel was to include an underpass or tunnel to the beach, the first in Fort Lauderdale. The reason: heavy traffic (even then) along Atlantic Boulevard making it difficult to cross to the beach. They also announced plans for 51-rooms, an unusual lower-level lobby with ultra-violet lighting illuminating aquatic scenes and a cocktail lounge with glass walls providing an underwater view of the pool.

The Marlin Beach Hotel opened to an enthusiastic crowd Jan. 20,1953 with cocktails and a buffet. The lounge, unnamed at opening, was the biggest draw with its underwater pool view. The name for the nightspot was determined by a contest announced by manager L. Bert Stephens. The winner tapped a month later, was picked from nearly 5,800 entries. Fort Lauderdale resident Edward Elmer struck success with “Two Fathoms Down.” He received a $500 credit for drinks and food … a big sum those days when dinners often ran for less than $2 or $3. Deemed “bar sensation of the year” in 1953, the lounge provided music, comedy and underwater acts. In 1961, the popular nightspot was renamed the Jules Verne Room and continued to offer quality nightclub acts and dancing.

As with most Fort Lauderdale beach hotels, owners changed several times over the  decades.  Under new owners in the 1970s the then-named Marlin Beach Resort with over 90 rooms, was marketed to gay visitors. By the early ‘80s it became a “mecca for gay vacationers” drawing clientele from around the world.

According to news accounts, the hotel slipped into a downward spiral when a new owner set out to attract the college crowd in 1986 and failed; those efforts coincided with Fort Lauderdale’s plan to shed its spring break image. Marlin Beach Hotel fell into disrepair—and bankruptcy. Doors closed in April 1992 but not before 2000-3,500 gathered over two or three nights that month to party and reminisce about 20 years of popular tea dances, weddings and other gay community gatherings at the "grand old lady."

In 1995, a group purchased the closed Marlin Hotel and its 3.2 acres for $3.1 million (a low price tag in the 2020s) and developed Beach Place, the site of a Marriott Hotel and several casual restaurants, relegating the beach area’s singular nightlife of lounge acts to Fort Lauderdale’s past.

 
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

  Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 20, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 29, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 26, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 17, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 21, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 9, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, June 27, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 30, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 13, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, June 7, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 11, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, March 19, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 10, 1961

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 19, 1992

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 13, 1995

Tags: Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale history, underwater acts, Jules Verne Room, Two Fathoms Down

Fort Lauderdale and Jay Mar Cottages - from church suppers to hordes of spring breakers

515 Seabreeze Blvd. Closed

Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Jay-Mar  Cottages started out as a pleasant, low-profile, no-frills seaside motel along Fort Lauderdale beach. A different image emerged during the 1960s and 70s.

Sitting on the south side of D.C. Alexander Park and extending to Seabreeze Boulevard, Jay-Mar was probably built during the early 1950s, when it was first mentioned in the Fort Lauderdale News. 

In May 1954 a Baptist Church held a “covered supper” event for 34 attendees. In 1961 “Mrs. Georgia Smith, owner of Jay-Mar” was recognized for hosting her fifth-annual party for her college student guests. She fed and entertained 60-70 visitors “without incident." 

But three months later, the motel became a target of mischief. Jay-Mar was hit by a women’s bathing suit thief: five suits were swiped from clotheslines there and at the nearby Merriweather Motel (still operating as of this post) at 115 N. Atlantic Avenue.

Missing bathing suits was nothing compared to what the ensuing tidal wave of visitors brought to Fort Lauderdale beach.

The movie, Where the Boys Are, was released in 1960, placing Fort Lauderdale on the national radar of places for college students to enjoy their spring bacchanal. There wasn’t much good news for Jay-Mar Apartments (or cottages) in the decades that followed. It was besieged by college kids, as was the entire beach area. 

Student-hosted impromptu parties attracted crowds of underaged locals and college visitors looking to score alcohol— or more—and to meet up with like-minded friends.

Jay-Mar lost its luster as a cute motel by the beach and became a cheap place for the down and out to rent a room. By 1976 it was called an abandoned eyesore by the Fort Lauderdale Beach Advisory Board. The property then was worth about $1 million. Emmett McTigue, owner and spokesperson for the Las Olas Development Company (owners then of the property?) refused to comment on the call to demolish the building.

Jay-Mar remained standing until at least May 1976 when some complained it was a “gutted hulk.” There are no news stories about its demolishment; the name of the motel receded into memory. Instead, the beach-side parcel became the lure and lore of profitable land deals.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, May 24, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, April 4, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, July 9, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1976

Fort Lauderdale News, May 25, 1976

Tags: Jay-Mar Cottages, Jay-Mar Motel, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s. Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale Spring Break  

Bahama Hotel, Fort Lauderdale beach hotel with an entertainment legacy

 

Bahama Hotel circa 1959
State Archives of Florida

Bahama Hotel
401 N. Atlantic Blvd. (now Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd)
Fort Lauderdale


By Jane Feehan

Among the hotels opened in Fort Lauderdale during the 1950s was the Bahama Hotel built in 1956. Guests were welcomed June 1 that year; it was one of several along the beach that proved to be popular among locals and tourists for entertainment and dining.

Kenneth G. Bacheller built and owned the three-story $800,000 project. The hotel’s motif was influenced by the Bahamas and featured 52 guest rooms all facing south. John B. O’Neill was the hotel architect. Its Chart Room sported a nautical theme with captain’s chairs, ship lanterns and charts of the seven seas. The pool, a scalloped design, sat in an outdoor area offering an informal breakfast and lunch bar.

Bacheller, a developer, builder, and banker, also built the nearby West Indies Hotel and Apartments. He may have had other projects in mind when he sold the Bahama Hotel in November 1957, less than two years after it opened. Realtors L.C. Judd and Lloyd E. Dutcher facilitated the sale (for a reported estimate of $1 million) to the newly formed Bahama Hotel, Inc., a group from Cleveland headed by two friends who were West Point graduates.

Ownership changed hands over the years, but its entertainment, including comedian Woody Woodbury, continued to draw for decades. Woodbury—100 years young as of this post and living in the area—first appeared at the Chart Room September 28, 1956. It proved to be a long, years long, engagement. 

His career includes subequent stints at sesveral Fort Lauderdale hotels and in Las Vegas. Woodbury also appeared on television and in several movies. His comedy albums remain available at Woodbury.com. He helped elevate the profile of the Bahama Hotel and that of Fort Lauderdale as a tourist destination with sophisticated shows during the late 1950s and throughout the 60s.  

The Bahama Hotel remained top of the list of places to stay on Fort Lauderdale’s beach for decades. But the city changed in the late 1980s; it shed its image as a spring break mecca for college students. 

By the 1990s and early 2000s, beach front property became a magnet for condo developers and hotel chains. As with today’s market, properties were grabbed up by investors and resold at higher prices over many months. Nevertheless, the Bahama Hotel continued to operate through uncertainty—even opening (perhaps leasing) the popular Deck Restaurant with its acclaimed jazz music in 2002—while potential developers submitted plans and applied for permits … and waited for city decisions.

Good times ended for the Bahama Hotel in 2004. The W Hotel, a Marriott brand, now sits astride the old sites of several properties, including the Bahama, from Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard (A1A) toward Birch Road off Riomar Street.

W Hotel from Riomar Street

The Bahama Hotel left fond memories of Woody Woodbury, the Chart Room, Deck Restaurant and something else: a time when Fort Lauderdale beach hotels served as entertainment destinations for local residents. A night on the town usually included a stop at one of the beach hotels for dinner, music or Woody Woodbury comedy.

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 11, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, June 17, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 23, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1957

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 5, 2001

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 24, 2002

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 30, 2005

Tags: Bahama Hotel, Woody Woodbury, Deck Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale Hotels, Fort Lauderdale Hotel History

Jolly Roger Hotel and a pirate flag debate

Jolly Roger Hotel 1953,
State Archives of Florida

Pirate flag, Åland Maritime Museum
* See below for more 

By Jane Feehan

A flag controversy at the opening of the Jolly Roger Hotel in 1953 sparked outrage—and a tradition.

The public was invited to opening night festivities at the 50-room, pirate-themed hotel, which included a display of treasure recovered from a Spanish galleon sunken off the Florida Keys. And what would a hotel named Jolly Roger be without a pirate flag, a jolly roger flag? Owner Bob Gill displayed the skull and crossbones pennant on a 75-foot mast along with the flag of the United States.

The July 29 festivities appeared on WFTL-TV. Soon after, calls, many from boaters, came into the station and to the Fort Lauderdale News about flag placement order. It appeared the pirate flag was placed in prominence over the U.S flag. Not only that, but some also said the flag should not be flown at night.

Gill was prepared, though the controversy didn’t end right away. The U.S flag can be flown at night if it was well illuminated, the hotelier said; lights were ablaze. Many said the two flags should not have been displayed together.

On the order of placement, hotel management cited the 1949 edition of Charles F. Chapman’s Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling. “Honor for national colors on land is as follows: on a straight mast, at the gaff.” The hotel mast had a gaff or yardarm. (At sea, a chaplain’s flag may be flown over the US flag only during services conducted by a Navy chaplain.)

Maybe it was the excitement of the festivities, the romance of piracy or the illumination of both flags, but overnight July 29-30, the skull and crossbones disappeared. Another pirate flag was on display a few days later; it was the first of many flag thefts and replacements. The pirate flag was grabbed again in 1955. Hotel management said the worst part of that incident was the car displaying it while cruising A-1-A in front of the Jolly Roger Hotel.

Fort Lauderdale News wrote that the pirate flag “seems to catch the eye of tourists who get the urge to bring it back home as a souvenir.”

It wasn’t just tourists who wanted that flag. Making off with it became a rite of passage for some kids. Many who grew up in 1950s and 60s Fort Lauderdale know of at least one jokester who stole the iconic flag. Known as the Sea Club Resort today, the hotel maintains a pirate theme, especially in the lobby. The hotel was given a historic designation by the city of Fort Lauderdale in 2009.

For some fun, let’s bring that flag back.

Pirate flag background
The jolly roger flag, so named by the British, is a skull and crossbones pennant first used in the early 1700s. Hoisted by pirates as an identifier in skirmishes or display of bravery or swagger, the traditional pirate flag was also raised by the British Royal Navy during World War II to indicate successful completion of a mission.

Sea Club today

* Picture of flag above:

Pirate flag at the Åland Maritime Museum, one of two pirate flags that are considered authentic. The flag is about 200 years old and came to Åland from the North African Mediterranean coast, where piracy occurred right into the 19th century. It is made of cotton and was once dark brown. Now it is faded by the ravages of time, weather and wind. This photo has been color corrected to try to show the flag as it originally appeared.

For more on the Jolly Roger Hotel, see index or a search on this blog. 

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, July 29, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, July 30, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 1, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 4, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 22, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 17, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 22, 1958

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 29, 2009

Wikipedia

Tags: Jolly Roger Hotel, Fort Lauderdale History, History of Fort Lauderdale, Jolly Roger flag, Bob Gill, Gill hotels, Fort Lauderdale during the 1950s

Fort Lauderdale tourist accommodations in the 1920s

Dresden Hotel on the New River
circa 1920
Florida State Archives

Fort Lauderdale has come a long way in the hospitality industry since the 1920s. This photo made front page of the Fort Lauderdale Herald, March 3, 1922.

Fort Lauderdale was beginning to appreciate its tourists, especially after the Las Olas bridge and causeway to the beach opened in 1917. Hotels and apartments are listed from top left to right, second row left to right, etc.

Hotel Broward, the first tourist hotel in Broward County, lies center, number 5. Most of the buildings listed in the photo were not on the beach. 

1. Gilbert Hotel
2. Smith Apartments
3. Dresden Apartments
4. Wallace Apartments
5. Hotel Broward
6. Palms Hotel
7. Shippey House
8. New River Hotel
9. Las Olas Inn (beach side)






 

Wallace Apartments 1917 Las Olas
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Hotel Broward  circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Smith Guest House circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Las Olas Inn at the beach, circa 1920
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s

Osceola Hotel, Fort Lauderdale's early frontier hotel

Osceola Hotel ,Fort Lauderdale,
circa 1910
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Some say the Osceola Hotel was Fort Lauderdale’s first, but Frank Stranahan’s trading post hosted visitors before 1900.

Visitors to Fort Lauderdale at this time were mostly in town for work or business, such as land sales or trade rather than sight seeing. There wasn't much to see, beaches were not easily accessed until 1917. Hopes were high for developing the Everglades into farms before attention turned east.

Early visitors stayed at the Osceola Hotel, also referred to as the Osceola Inn.

The large wooden structure started out in 1904 as a packing house for the Osceola Fruit and Vegetable Company at Wall Street and Brickell Avenue (later site of Brown’s Restaurant, a popular hangout of local politicians for decades).

The packing company failed and M.A. and William Marshall, Fort Lauderdale's first mayor, purchased the property in 1906. It’s not clear who converted it into a hotel but several claimed they did, including builder-developer Henry R. Brown of North Carolina or Tennessee (his home reference depends on news accounts). Don Farnsworth, a local resident and businessman, also claimed he did. The Fort Lauderdale Land and Development Company probably was in the ownership mix after the packing company closed.

What is certain is the Osceola was a place local families, including that of early Fort Lauderdale artist J. Melvin Ziegler, entertained themselves by watching visitors come and go. Also confirmed, the Osceola Hotel escaped Fort Lauderdale’s first major fire June 1, 1912. Most of the businesses burned to the ground in the city’s only downtown district before help could arrive. It was reported the hotel was saved by dynamiting intervening buildings. 

The Osceola Hotel was not so lucky a year later. It was destroyed in fire “all by itself,” July 17, 1913.

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

For more on the 1912 fire, use search box.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, July 22, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 19, 1938

Fort Lauderdale News, April 22, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov 27, 1951

Fort Lauderdale News, July 17, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 2, 1955

Weidling, Philip J., Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966)

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, History of Fort Lauderdale

Sea Ranch Lakes: A reluctant buyer, a hotel and an exclusive community

By Jane Feehan

Robert Hayes Gore purchased The Fort Lauderdale News in 1929, one of many purchases that helped define today’s Fort Lauderdale. By 1930, he reportedly owned a portfolio of 32 properties; most were downtown. It was said he wanted to make Fort Lauderdale one of the most beautiful cities along Florida’s east coast.

During the Great Depression plenty of land became available to serve as foundation for some of Gore’s dreams.

Realtor Lovick Miller wanted to sell oceanfront property north of Lauderdale-by-the Sea, known as the Ausherman tract. C.C. Ausherman was the first president of Fort Lauderdale’s Realty Board (1929); he bought that land during the boom days before 1926. Some say he turned down an offer of $1 million for the tract during the good times. Good choice, bad timing. In 1928 or 29 he sold it to another Fort Lauderdale pioneer, John Lochrie. Lochrie wanted to sell, perhaps for tax reasons, and Miller had just the right prospect for the purchase:  R.H. Gore.

Except Gore did not want it, even at the low price of $25,000. The tract was too far north of his downtown home, businesses and other properties. Miller told Gore he could make at least $100,000 on the land. Enticed, Gore bought the property. Great choice, perfect timing. The 45 acres (reported but doesn’t ring correct)  with 1,800 feet of ocean front, became the site of the Sea Ranch Hotel and Cabana Club, and later part of the Sea Ranch Lakes community (where more acreage was purchased).

Gore and family opened the Sea Ranch Cabana Club in 1939. Initially a membership organization, the club offered 20 cabanas, each with dressing rooms and other amenities, and a dining room with bar overlooking the ocean. The seaside club opened to the public soon after. Reciprocal comforts were available to guests of the Governors’ Club downtown Fort Lauderdale, which Gore also owned. The Sea Ranch Hotel was added in 1940, remodeled in 1949 and provided more than 60 rooms. Also added were the Hayloft Bar and additional dining facilities. A stable with horses for riding was also part of the remodeling project. The hotel’s guest list included the rich and famous, including Rita Hayworth and her new husband, Aly Khan (m. 1949-1953).

And then came the community of Sea Ranch Lakes, part of the original Gore purchase, where he eventually lived.

Named for the oceanside hotel and two fresh-water lakes on the property, the walled community underwent development in 1956. Its 210 lots bordered the Intracoastal Waterway and circled the lakes. Lots in those days were sold for $10,500 to $36,000. Advertisements lauded the community as “exclusive, secure and private.” It remains so today with its gatehouse and homes priced in the millions. Officially organized as a village today, Sea Ranch Lakes population is estimated at 600.

The hotel’s history, which included a popular dinner theater operated by Brian C. Smith (b. 1940- d. 2010) ended in the early 1980s when the property was sold to make way for the Sea Ranch Lakes Condominiums selling at $660K-$900,000 at this writing.  And so it goes, condo madness.

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

For more on R.H. Gore, see: index

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, March 8, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 23, 1939

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 3, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 28, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 12, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 15, 1956

Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, R.H. Gore, Sea Ranch Lakes history, Fort Lauderdale history

Lauderdale Beach Hotel: 1930s, in WWII ... and what remains today

Lauderdale Beach Hotel
circa 1937
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Built in 1937, the Lauderdale Beach Hotel was one of the two largest hotels in Broward County when the U.S. entered World War II (the other was the Tradewinds Hotel).  The 500-room Lauderdale Beach Hotel, the Tradewinds, the Edmar apartments and adjacent beach were taken over by the U.S. Navy August 1, 1943. They were used as a navy radar training school until the winter of 1945 when they were released to civilian trade.

Fusion of old/new

Today, only the front part of the Lauderdale Beach Hotel remains, occupied by a cafe and attached via a garage to the upscale Las Olas Club condominium. The hotel with its distinct architecture, a vestige of the 1930s art deco or art moderne style was partially rescued by preservationists when condo developers bought the property. A condition of development was to leave the distinctive facade of the old structure intact.

The Las Olas Club was built behind and attached to the old Lauderdale Beach Hotel in 2007. Condos there range from $799,000 to $3.9 million (about $540 a square foot) – quite a change for the old Fort Lauderdale landmark, site of so many special occasions, conventions and vacations since 1937.

Copyright © 2019, 2021, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
________________

Sources:

Miami News, Aug. 19, 1945

Miami News, May 18, 1943

http://blogsouthflorida.com/south-florida-oceanfront-condos/Las-Olas-Beach-Club

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale in WWII, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s

Second largest hotel in 1937 Fort Lauderdale now a ...

Lauderdale Beach Hotel 1947 
State of Florida Archives/
Florida Memory

Lauderdale Beach Hotel
101 Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316

By Jane Feehan

Built in 1937, the Lauderdale Beach Hotel was one of the two largest hotels in Broward County when the U.S. entered World War II (the other was the *Tradewinds Hotel).  The 500-room Lauderdale Beach Hotel, the Tradewinds, the Edmar apartments and adjacent beach were taken over by the U.S. Navy August 1, 1943. They were used as a navy radar training school until the winter of 1945 when they were released to civilian trade.

Today, only the front part of the Lauderdale Beach Hotel remains, occupied by a cafe and attached via a garage to the upscale Las Olas Club condominium. The hotel with its distinct architecture, a vestige of the 1930s art deco or art moderne style was partially rescued by preservationists when condo developers bought the property. A condition of development was to leave the distinctive facade of the old structure intact.

The Las Olas Club was built behind and attached to the old Lauderdale Beach Hotel in 2007. Condos there range from $799,000 to about $4 million (about $540 a square foot) – quite a change for the old Fort Lauderdale landmark, site of so many special occasions, conventions and vacations since 1937.

Copyright © 2019, 2021, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
________________

Sources:

Miami News, Aug. 19, 1945

Miami News, May 18, 1943

http://blogsouthflorida.com/south-florida-oceanfront-condos/Las-Olas-Beach-Club

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s

History and a totally new look for Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale

 

  Florida State Archives/,
Florida Memory 1996

See below for project update

By Jane Feehan

Phillips Petroleum, when headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, purchased land in south Fort Lauderdale for a gas station in 1956.   Within a few short years, the parcel, bordered on its west by the Intracoastal Waterway, began to evolve into the world-class hotel and resort that claims part of Fort Lauderdale’s skyline today.

Courtesy, Broward County

The oil company built a fuel dock on the parcel in 1957, then installed a marina for more than 100 yachts. In November that year, Phillips advertised the grand opening of a restaurant in the building that today anchors the west side of the resort. By 1959, a two-story hotel was added.  Pier 66’s reputation grew during those boom years as did its need for more rooms.

One of the primary designers of its iconic 17-story tower was Richard F. Humble (1925-2011), a Phillips Petroleum architect. The addition was constructed in 1964 for nearly $6 million. The project included about 250 rooms and a revolving top floor cocktail lounge (open only for special events today); both opened in 1965 but not after some construction problems. The building leaned slightly to one side and was righted with extra fill. When completed, the resort sprawled across 22 acres and berthed 142 boats.

The fortunes of Phillips Petroleum changed in the 1980s, the decade of takeovers. According to news accounts, it fought two hostile takeovers and incurred $4.5 billion in debt. Assets were sold off to reduce that debt and included the sale of Pier 66 in 1985. 

In 2004 the complex was sold to the Blackstone Group of New York. Blackstone bought the Pier 66 property from H. Wayne Huizenga's Boca Resorts, Inc. 

About that new look 

In 2016 Pier 66 (new signage reads sixty-six) was purchased by Tavistock Development of Orlando. New construction on the 22-acre property will include a revamped hotel, two 11-story condos (height limit under consideration as of 11/1/22), 12 waterfront homes with 5,000 sq feet each and retail and office space. 

For those of us who grew up with this iconic hotel, the property will appear unrecognizable. Some say the new look will "enhance its legacy." 

May 20, 2024 - nearing completion and opening late 2024. New entrance on left in this photo

Agust 20, 2024 - the sign is up ...

August 20, 2024               Spectacular new entrance (below). Faces west toward the Intracoastal. 

New mid-rise residence (more than one) across from new lobby entrance of the hotel

December 2022 - Lots of activity

Construction on nearly all of the cleared property to the Intracoastal

August 2022 update: Not much new in this photo

2021 UPDATE: The Sun-Sentinel reported on 5/4/21 that Tavistock says the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the project and pushed an estimated completion to fourth quarter 2023. 

Update Jan. 1, 2023: Lots of building activity on grounds around the hotel tower.

Update August, 2021: no activity at site

For more, see: 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-pier-66-redevelopment-ss-prem-20210504-g4gd3c3rung55nqy46pwt6vabe-story.html

Meanwhile (I say) it's an eyesore.

2020 update photo/video: 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-pier-sixty-six-rebuild-20200227-ekdi5boljfc3xop5hv3zb7pkju-story.html

2018 UPDATE. New owners have new plans for Pier 66: portions of it will be developed into condos. See:   http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-pier-66-vote-passed-20180711-story.html

Copyright © 2016 2020, 2024 

Sources:

Broward County Historical Commission
Miami News:  Nov. 22, 1957
Miami News:  Dec. 27, 1964

Sun-Sentinel, July 23, 2014

Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 27, 2020

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Pier 66, Pier Sixty-Six, Florida architect

Yankee Clipper Hotel still "sails" in Fort Lauderdale

 

Florida, State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

A number of hotels went up along Fort Lauderdale beach in the 1950s including the iconic Yankee Clipper that remains today. Gill Construction built the hotel, the third in its chain. The concept was the brainchild of prolific architect M. Tony Sherman of Miami.

Sherman designed the 130-room, six-floor Yankee Clipper to appear as an ocean liner. The $1.5 million hotel opened July 13, 1956 and drew locals and tourists with its 400 foot beach, pool with portals visible from the Wreck Bar, a Polynesian review, and stellar dining. Three kitchens were built to serve different food venues: the coffee shop, the Polynesian Room and the Clipper Room. 

During the same time this project was underway, Sherman designed the 300-room Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas and an addition to the Reef Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. He had designed the Castaways Motel in Sunny Isles (North Miami Beach), which officially opened in February 1952.  Also during the early 50s, the architect designed the Jolly Roger Hotel on the Fort Lauderdale strip as well as the building for nearby Causeway Realty.  Sherman also left his imprint on another Gill Construction project of the time, Lauderdale Isles. 

Sherman died in 1999. As of early December, 2014, the Yankee Clipper Hotel is now an InSite Group property. It operates in affiliation with B Hotels and Resorts as the B Ocean Resort. The Wreck Bar remains along with its Mermaid show.

Copyright © 2020, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources: 

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 15, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, July 13, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, July 14, 1956

Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale: The Venice of America. Charleston: Acadia Publishing (2004).

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale architects, architects

Early Fort Lauderdale visitors stay at the floating hotel - the Amphitrite

Amphitrite circa 1930
Florida State Archives

 

By Jane Feehan

Greek mythology deemed Amphitrite a sea goddess and consort to Poseidon. In the 1930s, the former warship USS Amphitrite served as a floating hotel and restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Decommissioned in 1919, the 262-foot-long Amphitrite was purchased by A.L.D. Buckstein who converted it into a hotel berthed at Beaufort, South Carolina. Ownership and location of the iron-hulled ship changed over two decades and included dockage and operations near Dunbar Road in Palm Beach (1927). Two years later, the Miami city council rejected a proposal to host the ship. Amphitrite found another home at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades in January, 1931. The vessel was moved near the Casino - now near the location of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

SS Amphitrite at Boston Navy Yard
Creative Commons, Wikipedia

The floating 75-room-hotel and two-floor restaurant drew local guests and tourists (and rumored gambling) until the Hurricane of 1935. The storm washed it across the waterway to the cove at Idlewyld off Las Olas Boulevard where it remained in legal limbo for several years. In July, 1942 the Amphitrite set sail north where it later served as home to workers on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The vessel was scrapped in 1952.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:
Moses, James. “The Amphitrite,” Broward Legacy, Vol. 1, October, 1976.
Palm Beach Daily News, Jan. 31, 1927
Miami News, Dec. 13, 1929
Photo at boatyard from wikipedia.org



Tags: Amphitrite, Florida history, Fort Lauderdale history, tourism history, Fort Lauderdale hotels, floating hotel, history of Fort Lauderdale

Hotel Champ Carr - known today as the Riverside Hotel - opens in 1936

 

New River at Champ Carr Hotel, now Riverside Hotel
Florida State Archives

Riverside Hotel

620 E. Las Olas Blvd.

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

954-467-0671

www.riversidehotel.com

By Jane Feehan

The Riverside Hotel, currently the only hotel on Las Olas Boulevard, attracts locals who appreciate its history as well as tourists who seek the cultural, entertainment and business center of Fort Lauderdale.

The Riverside opened as Hotel Champ Carr Dec. 17, 1936. Preston and John Wells, wealthy Chicagoans, met Champ Carr when he worked on a fishing boat they chartered, the story goes. They liked him so much that when they decided to build the hotel, they named it after Champ Carr, who they tapped as its first manager. The hotel was designed by Fort Lauderdale’s leading architect, Francis Abreu, and constructed by contractor George Young. The "Monterey-style," three-story, 80-room hotel drew business types and tourists in its early days, including a member of the DuPont family and Ronald Reagan. Carr left in 1947 and the name was changed to the Riverside Hotel.

Hotel Champ Carr, 1936
Florida State Archives

Today, the hotel has expanded to 214 rooms. It maintains that old Florida feeling with Spanish tiled floors in the lobby, dark wood molding and doors, and a mix of blue, dark green and orange hues throughout many of its hallways and attractive guest rooms.

Preston’s Lobby Lounge once hosted a happy hour with a piano player Monday through Friday. A short walk across the lobby sits the sophisticated Wild Sea restaurant. Another eatery, Indigo, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week (check first, check dining room names; they also change). 

For some, food is secondary here; tradition, atmosphere, and people watching from its sidewalk dining area and now the dock, is what Riverside is all about.

Today

Meeting rooms are available to accommodate business functions, and special events, including weddings. Service: very good.
_____
For Francis Abreu, see, https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/08/fort-lauderdales-first-architect.html

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 16, 1936
McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.




Tags: Fort Lauderdale dining, breakfast in Fort Lauderdale, pre-theater dining in Fort Lauderdale, hotels in Fort Lauderdale, Las Olas Boulevard hotel and dining, restaurants in Fort Lauderdale. Indigo, Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale's Hotel Broward, first tourist hotel

Opened in 1919
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

 

By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale experienced rapid growth after World War I and needed a hotel.  When approached about it, George E. Henry, from Massachusetts, decided to help the fledgling town. He owned suitable property on Andrews Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard. In moving forward with the project, Henry had an architect draw up plans and then put out bids for construction.

When the total price reached $140,000, $40,000 more than Henry agreed to pay, he suggested citizens raise cash for the overage. A citizens committee raised $23,000, but was still thousands short. City Council President  Frank Stranahan stepped in and deeded Stranahan Park for $1 to someone who could sell it to Fort Lauderdale (as council president, Stranahan couldn’t sell land to the city). Fort Lauderdale paid $6,000 for the park and that money was turned over to the hotel building fund.

Lobby Circa 1930
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Still short of the $140,000, Henry went ahead and built the four floor, 100-room Hotel Broward in Fort Lauderdale, the county’s first tourist hotel. It opened for the season in 1919 and counted among its first visitors actress Lillian Gish, filmmaker D. W. Griffith and his troupe of actors in Fort Lauderdale to make the movie, Idol Dancer.

Political will and community spirit merged to bring about the first hotel catering to tourists; it was far from the beach, though a causeway via Las Olas to the beach opened in 1917. A 1919 advertisement for Hotel Broward displays a menu and a $1.50 cover charge for their New Year’s Eve festivities. More highlights from that ad (capitalization of letters theirs):

• Located on the Dixie Highway mid-way between Palm Beach and Miami
• More for Your Money than Any Hotel in the South
• A Place of Elegance yet reasonable
• New Golf Course where Special rates are made to Tourists
• The Last Word in Fishing and Ocean Bathing
• John W. Needham, Leasee and Manager

The hotel deteriorated over the decades; much of it was rented out in later years as office space. A wrecking ball razed the "grand old lady of downtown  Fort Lauderdale" in 1974. 

__________

Sources:    

  

Miami News, Dec. 30, 1919

Fort Lauderdale Herald, Dec. 30, 1919

Fort Lauderdale News, May , 1974

Weidling, Philip J., and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).

Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County history, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotels, Fort Lauderdale historic hotels