Venice, Florida in October 2012 Three years ago, we planned a Florida road trip to revisit some of the places I adored as a child. I had fond memories of Venice and I loved the idea of staying in a retro Florida-Style motel. However when we arrived I had to roll my eyes at this awful sign that overshadowed the quaint semi-circular office building. The Tamiami Trail from Tampa to Miami When most Floridians escaped to the north during summer months, our family traveled south (for Dad's work) from Tallahassee to Sarasota. We knew the north portion of The Trail well. Every neon sign and orange juice stand made the 4 kids (and our traveling pets) pretty giddy. My dream when planning the trip, was to stay at a motel on the actual Trail! 40 Winks! This is what Island Breeze used to look like! When built In 1951, it a had a cutesy name, a lovely grass courtyard with a fountain and most likely shuffleboard! The sign possibly was not neon, but it had a colorful fellow sleeping under a sombrero... which may not be considered politically correct, today. But these are the images that still make me sigh today. I'd like to sit a spell in one of those webbed lawn chairs. At Least It's There! I was glad we were able to find any place at all right on the TheTrail! When bigger interstates opened up, the motels and restaurants suffered. This very area turned pretty shady. The places that didn't have boarded up windows were becoming flophouses and homes to drug dealers and prostitutes. Around 2005, a few brave souls began to work on saving the area with renovations. Florida Feel The motel is not on the beach or they might have gone for a pricier fix-up. But I liked the simplicity of the flat roofs and painted cinderblock. We enjoyed the convenience of backing up to the door. There was even a covered walkway that we could have used as a porch to watch one of those great Florida thunderstorms. Nothing Fancy The TV and microwave reminded me that it wasn't 1967 anymore. But the doors and ceiling had the original knotty pine. This was their smallest and cheapest of 21 rooms. The woman at the desk tried to talk us into something "more comfortable" but we assured her it would be fine. Porch with Shells and a View... Sort Of We didn't seem to have neighbors, so the porch was ours. We noticed a few shell collectors had decorated the windowsill. The rock and palm landscaping was pretty tidy and gave us a little view. But mostly it was just sad to see the parking lot, where there had once been a refreshing, green courtyard. Pool Time? There was a tiny pool with a wooden table and grill, but I was eager to get to the beach. It was Venice Beach where my family spent many an afternoon filling paper cups with shiny black shark's teeth. "I found 94," Says an entry in my 1968 diary. I was sad to discover that 40 years later, the "Shark Teeth Capital of the World" has lost its loot. I didn't find a single one. What's Notable? They still have palm trees and the 2 rounded buildings that face the street. You have to really hunt to find traces of the original motel. And then you have to appreciate what you discover. Island Breeze is not a place I will yearn to revisit. More than anything my overnight stay just made me curious about the history of old motels. I'm motivated to find more that have survived, since I know these Mom and Pop places do exist.
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Hotel Nostalgia This is my last entry about long ago, before the blog switches focus to the quirky places Don and I discovered recently! This memory is a silly one from my teen years. In 1970, a 12-story Holiday Inn opened on Tennessee Street in Tallahassee. I was in 8th grade, a time when most girls were focusing on boys, makeup and popularity. But my good friend Ginnie and I were busy trying to figure out how to convince our parents (and the hotel) that two 13 year old girls should be allowed to rent a hotel room... for the fun of it. The fact that our parents said yes, tells a lot about how tame or nerdy we were. So one sunny day, Ginnie and I checked into our 11th floor room and unloaded our bags filled with snacks, teen magazines, games, candy cigarettes (for photo ops) plus formalwear for our buffet dinner in the rooftop lounge. I guess the windows must have opened because we spent a lot of time yelling out them to surprise the people on the sidewalks below. At one point, a group of "boys" hollered back that they had our room number, which meant Ginnie and I freaked and moved our supply of entertainment into the bathroom where we stayed put, until the knocking stopped. The next morning we ordered room service for breakfast and perfected a few gymnastic stunts using the two double beds as trampolines. In the elevator heading down to check out, we did one more "jump test" to see if we could detect the floor "falling". This fine postcard (with an X on our window) is a good reminder of when I first started to enjoy the adventure of hotel/motel living! I drove through Tallahassee a couple years ago and was sad to see the old Inn has not held up well. And I'm pretty sure they never "grew" those mountains that are depicted in the postcard image! Summers 1968 and 1969 This dandy getaway on the bay in Sarasota, has surely been replaced with retirement high-rises by now. But for a couple of summers, this motel was home to FSU faculty and acting students involved in the Asolo Repertory Theatre. It also was home to my family of 6 since my dad was directing shows at Asolo during the summers. My memories of this place are a crazy mix of gray-haired folks on the shuffleboard courts and fishing dock... and very entertaining and extroverted acting students hanging around the pool. My top pool memories are playing Weeki Wachee Mermaids with my sister, Jenni and grumbling over the sign that reminded women to wear swim caps. This was very unfair, because there were numerous male college students who had longer hair than mine.
What do I remember about the motel rooms? Very little, since we spent as little time as possible inside. Luckily our family only had one summer in the motel efficiency. I remember my brothers sleeping on couches and a lot of bickering with siblings. Panama City Beach, Florida (1967 and 1968) My family was pretty thrilled when we moved from Iowa to Florida in 1967. We suddenly could play in white sand instead of white snow. On a couple of rare occasions, our neighbors convinced our family to join theirs for a weekend at this beachside motel. I think the only time the kids got out of the pool or ocean was to eat or sleep. That many hours in the sun meant that most of the time our swimsuits were covered in long tee shirts. Decent sunscreen hadn't been invented yet. Old Postcard I was obsessed with postcard collecting when I was kid. So glad I still have this little gem, to help me recall our fun times at Sandpiper. We spent hours playing Marco Polo and floating on air mattresses. I remember the corny beach décor in the lobby and a stone seahorse statue in the front. As I recall, my younger brother climbed that seahorse once and fell hard. I think there were stitches involved, but I'm not sure. What I do not remember is anything about the rooms. Very little time was spent inside. Sandpiper in 2007 The Sandpiper still exists, but it looks nothing like it once did. It is a multi-level complex which caters to the beer drinking, spring break crowd. Only the name and location is the same. This is what I found almost 10 years ago, when I dared to stop by, early one morning. The spring breakers were still sleeping. Got to love that sea breeze... mixed with stale beer!
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Ninety Notable
Nights My New Year's Resolution for 2014 was to start documenting some of the memorable overnights I've had in some very odd and curious motels and hotels. Like the adventures in my Dining Blog, I have learned to enjoy the surprises that happen when you step out of the comfort zone, far away from the well-known chains. I began with a few entries recalling my very first home away from home memories from my youth. Then, I started sharing about some of the quirky and unforgettable motels, hotels and inns that my husband and I have discovered in recent years. The best part about this challenge was making some lists with Don and getting on the road in search of new overnight adventures. I gave myself a 2-year goal to write up 90 stories and the goal was met. Now we just keep on adding! Archives
April 2024
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