The Pink Palace of Florida’s Gulf coast
Nicknamed the Pink Palace, the Don Cesar Hotel is an icon on the sandy shores of St Pete Beach on the Gulf coast of Florida.
Developed by real estate giant Thomas Rowe, the opulent eight-storey landmark was built as a tribute to a previous lost love and named after the hero Don Cesar de Bazan from his favourite opera Maritana by William Vincent Wallace.
Opened in 1928, in the heyday of the Gatsby era, the hotel quickly became a favourite stomping ground for the movers, the shakers and the notorious including US president Franklin D Roosevelt, novelist F Scott Fitzgarald and gangster Al Capone.
In 1940, Rowe died suddenly from a heart attack in the hotel lobby. Legend has it, his spirit still walks the halls of his beloved Barbie-hued abode.
The US Army bought the property and used it as a sub-base hospital during the Second World War, before turning it into a convalescent centre for returning airmen.
It later fell into disrepair – and with the threat of a wrecking ball looming, a group of concerned citizens set up the Save the Don committee vowing to get the once grand hotel restored.
In 1972, William Bowman became the new owner and a $3.5million restoration began. Two years later it re-opened and was subsequently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Don Cesar has been a favourite location for films and music videos over the years, featuring in the 1984 Robert De Niro film Once Upon a Time in America.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers filmed a 1985 MTV documentary on the hotel roof. Rapper Pitbull used it in the sundrenched video of his 2016 summer banger Sexy Beaches.
And last year it was a location in the Amazon TV series Life’s Rewards.
Newly updated in 2020 as part of a three-year, multi-million-dollar renovation, this registered Historic Hotel of America has 277 guestrooms, six in-hotel dining restaurants/bars, two pools and a spa. Rooms from £280 per night.
doncesar.com
Visitors to Florida’s Tampa Bay can now buy a smartphone-enabled money-saving pass that offers discounted entry to leading attractions on the popular Riverwalk, including museums, galleries, the aquarium and the water taxi. Three days from £58 adult/£36 child. visittampabay.com/ riverwalk-pass