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 by user Blockhaj to try to show the flag as it originally appeared.

For more on the Jolly Roger Hotel, see: 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/07/trailblazing-jolly-roger-hotel-jaynes.html

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/ Florida Memory

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

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

Osceola Hotel, Fort Lauderdale's early frontier hotel

Osceola Hotel in 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.

For more on the 1912 fire, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/12/fort-lauderdale-burns-fire-that-brought.html

Another early hotel:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2019/01/las-olas-inn-long-gone-and-mostly.html

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.

For more on R.H. Gore, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/05/fort-lauderdales-publisher-r-h-gore.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/09/governors-club-opens-in-1937-setting.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/10/wftl-and-rh-gore-afloat-in-venice-of.html

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/09/look-in-sky-its-flashing-its-news-fort.html

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 the H2O 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.

________________

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 the H2O 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.

________________

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. 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 really new look 

In 2016 Pier 66 (or 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." 

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 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

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 concept was the brainchild of prolific architect M. Tony Sherman of Miami.

Sherman designed the 130-room Yankee Clipper to appear as an ocean liner. The $1.5 million hotel opened during the summer of 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. 

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 and its Mermaid Show remains.  

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/ Florida Memory

 

By Jane Feehan

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

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.

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/Florida Memory

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 (check for offerings during these COVID days). 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). 

The hotel recently opened its waterside Boathouse (https://www.boathouseriverside.com). 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

Governors Club opens in 1937 setting Fort Lauderdale hospitality standards and legal precedent

 

Governors Club circa 1940 Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

The Governors Club, located on Las Olas Boulevard, was built by Robert Hayes Gore, Sr., owner of the Fort Lauderdale News. For decades after its 1937 opening, the hotel was a Fort Lauderdale landmark and gathering place for politicians, socialites and national notables.  

Gore (RHG) bought the Wilmar Hotel, an unfinished eight-floor steel skeleton in 1936 for $20,000. The original owner, William H. Marshall, first mayor of Fort Lauderdale, stopped work on the building during the 1920s when he ran out of money. Gore hired an architect and construction firm to resume the project and opened it as the Governor’s Club in December, 1937. (Gore was once governor of Puerto Rico.) 

A Fort Lauderdale News story lauded its "eight floors of sheer beauty and convenience." Furnishings of the building afforded guests "facilities on par with any in the United States." Charles Haight of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. in Chicago planned the interior of the hotel. Its lobby was decorated in soft blue and Van Gogh yellow with modern paintings and blue leather furniture. Each floor presented a different color scheme.

The Governors (the apostrophe was deleted) Club operated from Thanksgiving until Easter each year until 1947 when it was opened year round.  In its early days, the hotel hosted singer Kate Smith, broadcaster Lowell Thomas, film maker D.W. Griffith and other celebrities who enjoyed its privacy. The Governors Club also became a popular spot for holiday dining, special occasions, and as refuge during hurricanes. State politicians often chose it as a site from where their key speeches were delivered.

The hotel faded over the years as competition for rooms shifted to the beach.  For more than a decade, the Governors Club lay vacant until it was demolished in 1995. A bid to preserve the hotel as a historical landmark failed.

Of legal note about the Governors Club is a Florida law holding builders responsible for their work. RHG successfully sued builder Fred Howland, Inc., shortly after construction began on the hotel, for shoddy workmanship (leaking windows and joints during storms), providing precedent for a Florida law. Copyright © 2011, 2020 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

License  1938-1939 (apostrophe removed ...)

Sources:
Burghard, August and Weidling, Philip A. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966

Fort Lauderdale News, June 30, 1937

Broward County Historical Commission

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Robert H. Gore, Sr.

First hotel built in Fort Lauderdale after WWII ... offers other firsts

Fort Lauderdale Beach circa 1950
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory/Postcard collection

By Jane Feehan 

Touted for its new architectural features, the Holiday Hotel opened in January, 1948. It was the first hotel constructed in Fort Lauderdale after World War II.

The hotel garnered attention because each room faced the ocean, a “startling” concept.  Its through-ventilation was also unique at the time.  Visitors to Fort Lauderdale today would take those features for granted.

Located on Mayan Drive, where part of the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort sits today, the Holiday Hotel was built in a U-shape with the ends splayed outward. New in those days was its outdoor access to rooms and cantilevered balconies over room entrances. Stairways on the four-story building were covered. It was an expensive construction but outdoor entrances completely eliminated the need for fire escapes and the dangers of guests being trapped in hallways.

An article about the 50-room Holiday Hotel claimed “all rooms are provided with baths, and end rooms are equipped with elecrtric refrigerators …” It also had a cocktail lounge, dining room, dining terrace and large ground-floor lobby. Its horse shoe shaped bar was built of bleached mahogany. Guests could also expect central heating and complete phone service. Two penthouses and a large sun deck sat atop the building.

The Holiday Hotel became a popular place to book social functions and Chamber of Commerce events.

And there was other booking, so to speak. The hotel nearly lost its liquor license in 1951 after bartender Louis Kettler was convicted of bookmaking, the second such arrest and conviction in 1951. The state didn't (or failed to) carry out the revocation.

Designed by Clinton Gamble and Associates, and built by Leonard Brothers, the popular Holiday Hotel sat 100 feet from the water’s edge ... at the best beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 4, 1948.

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 18, 1951

Tags: Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale architecture, post WWII Fort Lauderdale, film industry researcher, Fort Lauderdale history

Howard Johnson's opens its first Fort Lauderdale site and a link to the U.S. franchise concept

Shuttered HOJOs on A1A before it was torn down. 

By Jane Feehan

Orange roofs of Howard Johnson restaurants were as much a part of the American tableau of the 1950s and 60s as were wide skirts, rock n’ roll and Russophobia.

Howard Deering Johnson (1897-1972) started out in Massachusetts in 1925 with a soda fountain. Competition was tough but he bumped up sales with his own concoction of high-fat vanilla and chocolate ice cream that quickly became popular; business boomed. Within a few years he opened additional stores. Some say he pioneered the franchise concept with the opening of his restaurants in 1935. (Retail histories point to founding father Ben Franklin as a franchising pioneer with his printing shops and Martha Matilda Harper with her hair care stores in 1891 Rochester.)

By the time Johnson made it to Fort Lauderdale in 1950, he owned 252 restaurants throughout the nation, many on turnpikes. He celebrated his 53^rd birthday in Fort Lauderdale Feb. 2, opening his 253^rd restaurant at 317 North Federal Highway. On hand for the occasion was Mayor F.R. Humphries, other city officials, and R.H. Gore, president of the North American Company, builder of the then-new structure which he leased to Howard Johnson of Florida, Inc.

By the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson’s was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., with more than 1,000 units. He and son, Howard B. Johnson, also opened motels beginning in 1959. Today, Wyndham Worldwide owns Howard Johnson motels and the rights to the name. By 2018 only one restaurant was operating and that was in Lake George, N.Y.

How many HoJo restaurants and motels can you remember in Fort Lauderdale? Was it the ice cream or clam strips that brought you back?  None of the frozen entrees or ice cream products are manufactured today. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

_____________

Sources: 

   Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Feb. 3, 1950

   www.hojoland.com

   https://www.franchise.org/blog/the-history-of-modern-franchising

Tags: Howard Johnson restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history, Howard Deering Johnson, Fort Lauderdale restaurant history, Fort Lauderdale hotel history

Trailblazing Jolly Roger Hotel, Jayne Mansfield and an adventure

Jolly Roger, now Sea Club

By Jane Feehan

Builder-turned-hotelier George “Bob” Gill developed six properties during the 1940s, 50s and 60s along Fort Lauderdale beach including the iconic Jolly Roger.

The Jolly Roger Hotel (now the Sea Club), designed by Miami architect Tony Sherman, opened in 1953. It was first in the area to “offer in-room air conditioning.”

Actress Jayne Mansfield* and husband Mickey Hargitay (mother and father of today’s Law and Order: Special Victims unit Mariska Hargitay) stayed at the Jolly Roger in February, 1962 when other hotels were booked. Mansfield, who was 28 then, obliged the press with a photo session at the hotel pool deck before their ill-fated trip to the Bahamas. 

They were briefly shipwrecked on a small island when their boat, piloted by Gill’s public relations man Jack Drury, broke down. Rescued the next morning, the trio made headlines worldwide over their lost-at-sea adventure.

The Jolly Roger drew tourists – and college students – for decades. And who among the locals could resist claiming the pirate’s skull and bones flag waving to us from the roof? Today, as the Sea Club, it remains a favorite beach hotel with European tourists. In 2009, the hotel was granted historic status by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society.

Jolly Roger now Sea Club

* Mansfield and Hargitay divorced in 1963. She married director Matt Cimber in '64 and had another child. Mansfield was killed in an auto accident in 1967 on her way to an appearance in Biloxi. Her three children, including Mariska Hargitay, were with her and survived.


Sources:

Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 29, 2009

Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 26, 2009
Drury, Jack. Fort Lauderdale, Playground of the Stars (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2008).

Tags: Jolly Roger Hotel, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Bob Gill, Gill Hotels, Fort Lauderdale history, Mariska Hargitay, Jack Drury, film industry researcher

Las Olas Inn, long gone and mostly forgotten Fort Lauderdale

Las Olas Inn - postcard
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

    

By Jane Feehan

During the late 1800s, pioneer Frank Stranahan’s activities centered on his trading post along the New River in what became Fort Lauderdale. But others came who discovered the beach and were to have an equally important place in the city’s history and development.

In 1893 Chicagoan and counsel to Standard Oil Hugh T. Birch decided to pass on an invitation from Henry Flagler to visit Palm Beach and decided to head south; he set sail on a boat lent to him by Flagler. With only a vague notion of where he was headed, Birch sought refuge from a storm in what was referred to at the time as New River Sound, today the site of Bahia Mar. He liked what he saw and soon bought up beachside property for a reported 75 cents an acre.

Birch introduced fellow Chicagoan J. McGregor Adams to the beach area by 1896. Adams, a brass manufacturer, also became a heavy beach investor. One news story reports a beach cottage was built at Las Olas and the ocean by Adams; other reports say both Birch and Adams had the two-room structure built but they later split, dividing holdings. The house was constructed by pioneer Ed King who mounted the building upon molded concrete blocks he made in the sand. Whatever the genesis of ownership, the structure launched another legacy.

Las Olas Inn
State Archives of  Florida

Adams played host there, it was reported, to an interesting lineup of guests that included author Theodore Dreiser and Senator Robert Follette. In 1904, less than 10 years later, Adams died. His estate sold the beach house and property in 1906 or 1911 (depending on account) to Thomas E. Watson, one-time Georgia senator and interestingly, author of a noted history of France.

1955 demolition, Courtesy of 
State Archives of  Florida,
Florida Memory

What ensued was a chain of owners of the picturesque inn and property; its story spanned several decades

Watson sold the property and rambling structure a few years later to D.C. Alexander (a park in his name lies a block south of Las Olas). He then sold it to G.E. Henry for a reported $30,000—after the Las Olas bridge was built in 1917. Henry, who built the Broward Hotel, was annoyed by the sound of surf. He rented the building, known by then as the Las Olas Inn, to Captain and Mrs. J.B. Vreeland who converted the structure to hotel use. 

Henry reclaimed the inn in 1920 for Broward Hotel staff housing, but sold the package to George Simon around 1923. Simon didn’t hang on to the property and hotel for long. In new hands, the Las Olas Inn went into foreclosure in 1926 after the historic hurricane. Ownership reverted that year to Simon. It proved to be a fortuitous stroke of luck; Simon’s son, George Jr., ran a successful hotel there for 22 years.

In 1925, a tent colony, popular vacation housing in South Florida at the time, was set up at the Las Olas Inn. Tents—25 of them—were advertised as “ventilated and luxurious” offering showers, bathtubs and with the same service that was available in the main wooden structure. In 1939 the inn, with several cottages by then, advertised rooms in the main building having an ocean view facing east and a view of the “New River Sound on the West.” Dining was available on the veranda.  

The Las Olas Inn and its three acres went through several owners and iterations until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for the Las Olas Plaza. Many will remember the popular Forum restaurant in the plaza. In 1967, a 243-room Holiday Inn was built on the site, later home to the Button Lounge.

The property is now the city's Las Olas Oceanside Park, or LOOP, a site for beachgoers and community events.

Note: In March 2018, the Sun-Sentinel reported land owners Lior Avidor and Aiton “AJ” Yaari, could be looking into selling nearby property for a huge redevelopment project. They’ve amassed a string of properties on the beach-facing block just north of Las Olas Boulevard that includes the historic Elbo Room.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-beach-tower-lasolas-20180316-story.html

Las Olas Inn, first beach hotel in Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 15, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 30, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1930,

Fort Lauderdale News, May 20, 1931

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 29, 1939

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov 16, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 26, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 31, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, March 4, 1967

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 7, 1982

Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 8, 1991

Sun-Sentinel, March 8, 2018

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1800s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale Beach history, Jane Feehan, history of Fort Lauderdale

The first hotel on Fort Lauderdale's Galt Mile?

Galt area 1950s
State Archives/ of  Florida/
Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The mile-long strip of land known as the Galt Mile was sold in 1953 by Arthur T. Galt for $19 million to James S. Hunt and Stephen A. Calder, heralding the first development phase of that area. The first hotel to go up on this golden mile was the Beach Club Hotel.

The Beach Club, first an exclusive private club along the beach at Oakland Park Boulevard, was purchased in July 1956 by Eugene Ballard and L. Bert Stephens, owners/managers of the Lago Mar Hotel. 

Ben Chavez Construction connected the old Beach Club building to a new, 150-room (some accounts say 200-room) wing. The Chanticleer cocktail lounge in the old building and the new, outdoor Carousel Bar, shuffleboard courts and saltwater pool were included in hotel offerings when it opened Dec. 22, 1956.

Its “tropical architecture” motif served as backdrop to an array of civic club meetings, a busy calendar of winter season parties and year-round memberships to its pool and roster of family activities. In May 1957, five months after opening, the Beach Club Hotel hosted the Mrs. America contest for 10 days.

And there was the Woody Woodbury connection. 

The popular Fort Lauderdale entertainer is often remembered for his appearances at other hotels along Fort Lauderdale beach, including the Bahama Hotel, but he appeared (and ran things) at the Lulubelle Room at the Beach Club Hotel for 10 years, his longest run anywhere. 

Woodbury’s last show at the Lulubelle was July 21, 1984 where he bid farewell to about 200 fans—the B.I.T.O.A. club or “Booze is the Only Answer” club. Many thought he would soon move to California, but he remained in the Fort Lauderdale area (Plantation).

Woody re-appeared months later at the Rum Room at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel and elsewhere in Fort Lauderdale and other cities before he actually called it quits.

The opening of the Beach Club was soon followed by the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel in 1957. But, by the mid-1980s, both were shuttered to make way for new projects—for what I call the second development phase for the Galt, the condominium era. A 500-room Hilton Hotel was proposed for the Beach Club Hotel site but made some on the city’s zoning board nervous about potential traffic problems (they should see Fort Lauderdale now, where traffic problems no longer matter). After several years of lying vacant, the old Beach Club site was developed into two 27-story towers of L’Hermitage Condominium.

Today's beach access next to the
site of
Beach Club Hotel 
Oakland Park and A1A

For more on Galt Mile hotels, see 

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/05/galt-mile-jewels-in-1950s-ocean-manor.html

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 27, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 20, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, May 2, 1957

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 19, 1975

Fort Lauderdale News, July 24, 1984

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1985



Tags: Beach Club Hotel, Galt Ocean Mile, Woody Woodbury, B.I.T.O.A. club, Fort Lauderdale history

Swank Marie Antoinette, a Fort Lauderdale beach landmark

Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The “swank” Marie Antoinette apartment-hotel located at 2222 N. Atlantic Boulevard opened the last week in January, 1948. The 27-unit building was lauded as being one of the few in Fort Lauderdale offering complete hotel service—and an elevator.

Of French Colonial design, the Marie Antoinette was distinctive for its two large picture windows, 13 feet by nine feet. The windows provided an ocean view from two “studio apartments” each with a two-story living room and a bedroom with a balcony. All units in the hotel boasted wall-to-wall carpeting, one papered wall, jalousie windows—and a fire place.  Imported marble graced the stairways and handrails. Apartment refrigerators stocked with food greeted guests as well as stationary printed with their names.

Designed by Upton C. Ewing of Coral Gables and C. Dale Dykema of Fort Lauderdale, the terra cotta block and concrete structure was 100 percent fireproof. The Marie Antoinette was built by Caldwell Scott Construction Company. Kay Kellogg served as its interior decorator. It was the fifth project in the area owned and operated by Fred C. Snedden.

The Marie Antoinette was beautifully maintained throughout all the years I remember, elegant in its coat of beige paint and white trim. The picture windows drew in passing eyes to an interior of a bygone era. It was probably part of the land parcels bought to make way for the Palm condominium, near the old Mark 2100 Hotel. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29. 1948 

Tags: Old Fort Lauderdale hotels, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, historical researcher for films, Fort Lauderdale history