Genuine Florida

Here Swampy visits the reception counter at The Biltmore in Coral Gables.

The Heartbreak Hotel

Here we visit The Heartbreak Hotel, which far preceded the famed Elvis Pressely tune. It’s situated on County Road 523 in Kenansville. Click here to get more of the story.

Entrance to the Heartbreak Hotel

Fontainebleau LaRonde stirrer

Here’s a stirrer from the restaurant in Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau Hotel (Now resort). The restaurant has since been altered many times and now has been entirely transformed and part of a larger project.

Bit ‘o Trivia: Before the Fontainebleau was built the property held the Firestone Estate, owned by the founder of Firestone tires. The daughter was best friends with my mother growing up. – Rob Smith, Jr.

Another bit o’ trivia – my cousin Ruth’s husband Harold Gardner was the PR person for this hotel for most of my life! – Sandra

Above is from the letterhead of the Cherokee Hotel in Tallahassee. The art is from letterhead from nearly 70 years ago. The hotel was on Park Avenue. The bottom of the letterhead exclaims “Air Conditioned Rooms and Coffee Shop. Radio in Every Room”. The hotel was part of the Stiles chain that included hotels in Panama City; Athens, Georgia and Balsam, North CArolina.

Here’s a great brochure from the 1950s for the Naples Beach Hotel.