Don Cesar: against the odds

St. Petersburg Beach had a lot of empty space 
when the Don Cesar opened in the 1920s.
Photo credit: Florida Memory

The Great Depression swept across the nation in 1929. In Florida, it started earlier -  in 1926 with the collapse of the Florida Land Boom. So I was surprised to learn that the famous Don Cesar resort in St. Petersburg Beach first opened its doors in 1928.

Developer Thomas J. Rowe was already building the massive hotel when the Florida boom crashed. He'd also sold lots in a subdivision he was creating around the hotel and had started building the Spanish-style houses so popular then. But he wouldn't admit defeat.

In June Hurley Young's The Don Ce-Sar Story, she describes Rowe as a man of poor health but an astute businessman with a high tolerance for risk. He had to be, to continue pursuing such a dream in a time of shaky finances. A combination of savvy business dealings, partnerships, loans and mortgages saw him through.

The 300-room hotel was completed in December 1927. It featured towers and wings and other Mediterranean and Moorish design elements.

The official opening took place January 16, 1928 with a gala attended by 1,500 people. Hurley provides details about the event, the kind that add color to dates and other numbers. Picture a Gatsby-style evening:

• Women in gowns and men in tuxedos arrived in LaSalles, Chryslers, Marmons and other upscale cars. 
• The entrance was canopied in red fabric.
• Dancing in the large ballroom cost $2.50 per person. I guess people were able to skip the dinner and attend just the dancing portion of the evening.
• No word on the type of food or cost of the dinner, which was served in the fifth-floor dining room and eaten on Black Knight china from Germany. 
• Flowers filled the rooms.
• The Don Ce-Sar Orchestra provided music.
• Nella Erickson and Helen Ford sang a Brahms duet.
• Guests toured the rooftop gardens. 

Guest rooms contained mahogany furniture and the best horse-hair mattresses of the era. Some rooms even featured private baths - which wasn't a given at the time, the way it is today.

St. Petersburg Beach back then was still a semi-wilderness, as the photo with this post shows. The Don Ce-Sar (later renamed the Don Cesar without the hyphen) started as a seasonal resort that opened for only January and February each year. People flocked to the resort for those two months in 1928, 1929 and even 1930.

In fact, in 1930, hotel guests included F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. Hurley writes that they stayed for the season. Nightly rates that year ranged from $12 for a single room to $30 for a suite (roughly $214 to $535 today). The price included meals.

The grand resort had its ups and downs through the years and was almost demolished in the 1970s. Hurley was a leader in the successful effort to save the historic landmark. It was restored by hotel magnate William Bowman Jr.

Since the early days, the massive structure has had several owners and multiple uses including as a government office building. Today, it remains a gem worth visiting. 

Read the Don Cesar's full history on the hotel website and in Hurley's book, which has gone through seven printings since being published in 1974. It's available via several outlets online. I found my copy at a local independent bookstore. The hotel also has a tribute to Hurley on its blog. She died in February 2024.