The Hotel Don Cesar – the Pink Palace

On a recent December visit to the Don Cesar Hotel and Resort, our group met with the resort host and certified concierge, Ronald MacDougall. As a concierge, Mr. MacDougall ensures that each guest has the best experience during their stay at the Don Cesar. In his role as a concierge, he has assisted many of the VIPs who have visited the historic pink hotel on the Gulf of Mexico in St. Petersburg, Florida. Among those guests are Mariah Carry, Carole King, Mick Jagger and Jimmy Buffet, as well as many of the visiting presidents.

Our private tour began in the main bar and lounge, which at this time of year is beautifully decorated for the holiday season. The stately dark wood bar, capes and large leather chairs make this the perfect place to sit back, relax and imagine yourself in another era, the early glory days of the Pink Palace.

The story of the Don Cesar Hotel or Pink Lady, as Thomas Rowe liked to call the hotel, starts from the beginning, like all good stories. It was a vision of Thomas J. Rowe to create a monument to a lost love.

This part of the story begins in London where it is rumored that young Thomas Rowe, while attending college, attended the opera “Maritana” where he fell in love with the female lead, Lucinda, a beautiful Spanish opera singer. performance next to a fountain in London.

Plans were made to elope. The night they were leaving, Lucinda didn’t show up and Rowe waited by the fountain. Her parents found out about the pending marriage and forced Lucinda to return to Spain. Lucinda was reported to have died at a young age, but she sent this letter to Thomas that contained this passage. “Time is infinite, I wait for you next to the fountain to share our eternal love, … our destiny is time.” Well, if it didn’t happen like that, it should have.

Upon returning to the United States, Thomas Rowe built commercial buildings in New York. Later he moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he met Mary Lucille, the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Thomas married Mary and began the life of a socialite.

At the age of 47 with his health in decline, Thomas Rowe chose to move to a more hospitable climate. Leaving his wife in Virginia, he settled on Florida and, in particular, St. Petersburg, Florida, which was experiencing a real estate boom. Arriving with $ 21,000.00, Rowe began purchasing a property.

Real estate development was all the rage in the early 1920s and Thomas Rowe partnered with another former Norfolk socialite and land developer, Mr. Page. He and Page formed the Boca Ciega Land Company to purchase land.

Mr. Page developed the land on the north side of Johns Pass and the family still lives on Madeira Beach.

Rowe made a small fortune while visiting a secluded stretch of undeveloped beach in the area known as Pass-A-Grille. Pass-A-Grille got its name from the 18th century “grillmen” who dried fish on the white sand beaches. This was a very remote and rugged landscape. Access from the mainland was made by a wooden bridge. On these white sands alongside the gentle waves of the Gulf of Mexico, Thomas Rowe envisioned the resort of his dreams. Against the advice of many in his circle, Thomas Rowe bought 80 acres on these shores. Soon a residential subdivision was built and each street was named after a character from the Maritana opera.

In 1926 the construction of his dream resort began. Rowe hired architect Henry DuPont to design the project. One obstacle that had to be overcome was that the huge structure would be sitting on the sand. A floating base was devised and its success is reflected in the fact that the base has not changed in the last 82 years.

Another obstacle was the transportation of construction material. The bridge, as mentioned above, was older and was run by an older bridge keeper who wasn’t always trustworthy, opening it when he was in the mood. The construction material was placed on a barge and brought to the site bypassing the bridge.

A railroad strike that year raised construction costs and, after completing the exterior and interior of the complex, Thomas Rowe ran out of money to furnish the hotel. A sponsor was needed to save the company. HP Churchill would provide the money, but he had a stipulation. He would appoint the manager. It was agreed and Don Cesar had his Grand Opening in 1927, with the attendance of some of the richest people in America.

It was luxurious and luxurious in the Grand Lobby. Thomas Rowe had built a replica of the fountain similar to the one in which he, as a student, would meet the beautiful Lucinda. The fountain would be the first thing guests would see after climbing the entrance stairway to the lobby and was the centerpiece of the complex. Modeled after the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki Beach, the Don Cesar Resort was a vision, standing on the sands of Pass-A-Grille. Thomas Rowe liked to call the Pink Lady Hotel.

The main entrance to the complex was on Gulf Blvd. with two statues of lions and a sign that says “Come all who seek health and rest. For here they abound.” The original staircase is hidden, but it is located where the Ice Cream Shop is now on the first floor.

As luck would have it, the moment had not been worse; the economy entered what became known as the Great Depression. Fortunately for the hotel, a deal was struck with the New York Yankees baseball team to house the players during spring training, helping the resort stay solvent.

Thomas Rowe moved into one of Don Cesar’s two attics. Every day, Rowe sat in a chair in the lobby, talking to visitors and staff, and taking stock of guests. Guests who did not meet a certain standard of dress or manners and spoke were asked to leave the hotel. It was not an era of political correctness.

Then, in 1940, Thomas Rowe collapsed in the lobby. He refused to be taken to the hospital, so he was transferred to adjoining rooms 101 and 102. He remained there until his death. Rowe tried to get his nurses to honor a will, but they refused. This reported that Will would have left Pink Lady in the hands of the staff. It so happened that Thomas Rowe’s wife, Mary, gained control of Don Cesar. The complex went through difficult times. Then in 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a beach vacation wasn’t all that appealing. People were afraid of the ocean attacks and soon the guests stopped coming. The US government purchased the Don Cesar and converted the complex to use as a convalescence facility for members of the US Army Air Corp. suffering from projectile impacts and war wounds.

One victim of the property transfer was the fountain in the main lobby. The manager of the renovated building was concerned that one of the visitors might trip over the fountain and ordered it removed.

Later, the Don Cesar was used for government offices and was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair. A movement was started to level and remove the complex. A counter movement led by local resident and activist June Hardy Young began to restore Don Cesar. The subsequent move was successful and a new owner was found for the complex. William Bowman bought the complex and in 1973, the complex was reopened. During the remodel, a replica of the original fountain was placed on the fifth floor.

Our tour included the penthouses, which were unoccupied at the time of our visit, and the Presidential Suite where all the presidents have stayed since 1940. The penthouses have a spectacular view of St. Petersburg, the gulf beaches, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Of course, if you decide to stay in one of these penthouses, it will cost you around $ 3500.00 per night.

The Don Cesar is a beautiful resort with two pools, a gym, and a new spa. Recently opened, the 11,000-square-foot Oceana Spa is a state-of-the-art spa. Guests can get a massage, enjoy the hot tub and sauna, and then have lunch on the rooftop of the spa building overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

If you go, ask the reservationist if there are any special offers. On our visit, we received a preseason rate and we were very happy with our stay.

The complex is co-owned and operated by the Loews Hotels chain.

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