The most unmissable structure on St. Pete Beach — the Don CeSar Hotel, aka The Pink Palace — rose on the horizon in the late 1920s and has remained an icon ever since, carrying with it a sense of history that’s rare in a transient tourist culture.
Under the no-detail-overlooked management of the Loews hotel chain, it’s looking fresher than ever these days, with Chihuly-esque glass chandeliers by Tána Dvoráková in the lobby lounge and rooms that feel more contemporary beach house than old-guard hotel.
But the service is old-fashioned in a good way, friendly and efficient from front desk to bellman, from Spa Oceana to the Shoppes at the Don. Everyone seems proud of the tradition they’re preserving, none moreso than concierge Lisa Dowling.
Dowling has been at the Don for 18 years, her expert service landing her membership in the exclusive concierge organization Les Clefs D’Or USA. Each day at 11:30 a.m., the hotel offers tours of the premises (gratis for guests, $10 otherwise), and if you’re smart you’ll make sure your tour guide is Dowling.
With a storyteller’s flair and a wry appreciation for some of the establishment’s more, um, colorful chapters, she’s a font of info about famous guests (from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Jerry Garcia); mid-century travails (the hotel became a convalescent home for wounded soldiers during WWII, fell into disrepair after the Army moved out in 1967 and narrowly escaped demolition); and tasty tidbits (the most-requested booth at the hotel’s aquarium-accented Maritana Grille is the one with a view of Caesar the big green eel).
And if you’re discreet about it, she might just tell you which famous Hollywood personage threw an historically wild Oscar party in the penthouse.
Loews Don CeSar Hotel, 3400 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, 727-360-1881, loewshotels.com.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2015.