In a recent visit to Don Cesar hotel & resort in December, our group met with resort host and certified concierge Ronald McDougall. As a concierge, Mr. MacDougall will guarantee that each guest has the best experience during his stay in Don Caesar. In his position as a concierge he has assisted many VIPs visiting the historic Pink hotel in the Gulf of Mexico in Saint Louis. Petersburg, Florida. These guests include Mariah Carey, Carroll King, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Buffet, and many visiting Presidents.
Private tour started with the main bar and lounge. It is beautifully decorated in the holiday season at this time of year. The magnificent dark wood bar, sofa and large leather chair are the perfect places to relax and imagine sitting in the early glory days of the pink palace.
The story of Don Cesar hotel or Pink Lady who Thomas Row likes to call the hotel will start at the beginning like all good stories. Making the monument of lost love was the vision of Thomas J. Rowe.
This part of the story begins in London while young Thomas Row goes to college, attending the opera "maritana" and being absorbed in a beautiful Spanish opera singer, Lucinda. They each night after playing near the fountain in London.
The plan has come out. On the night they left, Lucinda did not show, and Row waited at the fountain. Her parents learned of a pending marriage and let Lucinda return to Spain. Lucinda was reported to have died in a young period, but I sent this letter to Thomas including this sentence. "Time is infinite, I am waiting for you in the fountain to share a timeless love ... our fate is time. Well, if that did not happen, that should be there.
Returning to the United States, Thomas Rowe built a commercial building in New York. He later moved to Norfolk, Virginia where he met Mary Lucille, the daughter of a rich landowner. Thomas married Mary and began the life of a social person.
At the age of 47 his health declined and Thomas Row showed that he moved to a more distractive climate. I decided Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, who was experiencing a real estate boom, leaving his wife in Virginia. Arriving at $ 21,000.00, Rowe began purchasing real estate.
Real estate development was hot in the early 1920s and Mr. Thomas Row shared with Mr. Page Mr. Page, former social and land developer of Norfolk. He and the page formed a Boca-Sea Ground Company to purchase land.
Mr. Page has developed the land north of Johns Pass and still lives on Madeira Beach.
Rowe has acquired a small estate and is visiting the undeveloped beach in the area known as Pass-A-Grille. Pass a grill was named after the 18th century "Grill Ru" which dried fish on white sand beach. This was a very far and steep scenery. Access from the mainland was made at a wooden bridge. Thomas Row conceived a resort for his dream on a white sand beach near the gentle wave of the Gulf of Mexico. For many of his advice, Thomas Rowe bought 80 acres on these coasts. A residential district was built soon, each street was named a person of Opera Maritana (Maritana opera).
In 1926 a resort of his dream was built. Rowe hired the architect Henry DuPont and designed the project. One obstacle that had to be overcome was the huge structure sitting on the sand. The floating foundation was invented and its success is reflected in the fact that the foundation did not change in the last 82 years.
Another obstacle was construction material for transportation. As before, the bridge was old, there was an old bridge guard that was not always reliable, and when I felt I opened the bridge. Placed the building material in a barge, it bypassed the bridge and brought it to the site.
Through the railroad blow of the year raised construction costs, after completing the exterior and interior of the resort, Thomas Rowe ran out of money to provide the hotel. I needed a backhand to save my venture. HP Churchill had provided money, but he had regulations. He naming the manager. Agreed, Don Caesar did the Grand Opening in 1927 and the wealthy Americans participated.
In the Grand lobby it was luxurious and gorgeous. As a student, Thomas Row built a fountain replica similar to a place to do a beautiful Lucinda and rendezvous. This fountain is the first seen after climbing the entrance to the lobby entrance and is the center of the resort. Don Cesar Resort, which was renovated after the Royal Hawaiian Waikiki Beach, was a vision that stood on the sand of Pass-A-Grille. Thomas Rowe liked to call the hotel Pink Lady.
The entrance to the resort was at Gulf Blvd. Two statues of the Lion and "All people who are seeking health and peace, here they are abundant, although the original stairs are hidden, there is an ice cream shop on the first floor.
Because luck has it, the timing was not bad. The economy came to be known as the Great Depression. Fortunately for the hotel, a contract with the New York Yankees baseball team was secured to accommodate the players during the spring training and helped the resort stay.
Thomas Row moved to one of the two pensions of Don Caesar. Everyday wax sat on the lobby chair and talked to visitors and staff, and brought guests. Customers who did not meet certain standard clothing, manners and speech were asked to leave the hotel. It was not an era of political correctness.
Later in 1940 Thomas Row collapsed in Rome. He refused to take me to the hospital, so I moved to the next rooms 101 and 102. There he stayed there until he died. Rowe attempted to obtain the intention of witnessing his attending nurse, but they refused. This reported Will left Pink Lady at the hands of the staff. When that happened, Thomas Rowe's wife, Mary, dominated Don Cesar. The resort had a hard time. After that, in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack, the holiday on the beach was not attractive. People were afraid of the attack from the sea, so customers did not arrive soon. The US government purchased Don Caesar and used the hospital as a center of recovery for members of the US military Air Corporation suffering from Shell Shock and war injuries.
One of the victims of ownership was the fountain in the main lobby. The manager of the refurbished building was concerned that one of the visitors ordered to jump over the fountain and remove it.
After that, Don Caesar was used by the government agency and was eventually abandoned and devastated. A movement leases and removes the resort began. Don Caesar revived due to the rebellion by local residents and activists in June by Hardy Young. Later movements succeeded and a new owner of the resort was placed. William Bowman bought a resort and in 1973 the resort reopened. During the refurbishment, a replica of the original fountain was placed on the 5th floor.
Our tour included the pension which was vacant at the time of visit and the presidential suite where each president had stayed since 1940. The pension has a magnificent view of Saint Louis. St. Petersburg, the beach on the Gulf, Sunshine Skyway Bridge and so on. Of course, if I decide to stay on one pension, I will return to around $ 3500.00 per night.
Don Caesar is a beautiful resort with 2 swimming pools, exercise room, new spa. The recently opened 11,000 square meters of Spa · Oceana is a state-of-the-art spa. Massage, Jacuzzi and sauna are available during your stay. Guests can enjoy lunch at the rooftop of the spa building overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
If you go, if you have specials please consult with the person in charge of reservation. On our visit, we received a down payment rate and was very satisfied with my stay.
The resort is operated jointly owned by the Loews Hotels chain.
