Chapter II: Building the Pink Palace

Construction began in 1926 on a stretch of undeveloped barrier island that was then called Pass-a-Grille Beach. Rowe invested $1.25 million—an enormous sum at the time—and employed architect Henry Dupont, who combined elements of Mediterranean Revival, Moorish, and Spanish Baroque styles. The result was breathtaking: a symmetrical pink castle with turrets, balconies, and arcades rising above the dunes.

The color was bold and unusual—pale rose mixed with coral tones. Rowe chose it to stand out against the blue Gulf sky, but also, he claimed, because it reminded him of Lucinda’s lips. Locals mocked the eccentric hue, calling it “Rowe’s folly.” Yet when the Don CeSar opened on January 16, 1928, it was an instant sensation.

The hotel featured 220 guest rooms, marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and luxuries rare in the 1920s: elevators, air-cooled systems, and private baths. A rooftop garden offered panoramic views of the Gulf, while the Maritana Room provided fine dining to the strains of live orchestras. Newspapers called it “the finest hotel on the Gulf Coast.”

Rowe spared no expense in hospitality. Bellhops wore pink uniforms, guests received orchids with their cocktails, and celebrities began to arrive by the dozens. The Don CeSar quickly became the playground of the elite—from tycoons to film stars, from bootleggers to Broadway legends.

Chapter III: The Golden Years—Jazz, Wealth, and the Age of Glamour

The Don CeSar thrived throughout the late 1920s, attracting some of the most famous names of the age. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda reportedly visited; Al Capone is rumored to have stayed under an alias. The Chicago Cubs used the hotel as their spring training headquarters, while socialites from New York and Boston descended for winter galas and moonlit dances on the terrace.

This was an age of boundless optimism. Guests arrived in chauffeured cars, women wore sequined gowns, and orchestras played until dawn. The Don CeSar embodied the jazz age spirit—decadent, defiant, and joyous. The pink walls echoed with laughter and music, and its terraces overflowed with champagne.

But beneath the glamour, storm clouds gathered. The Florida land boom was collapsing, and by 1929, the stock market crash sent shockwaves through the nation. The Great Depression had arrived—and luxury resorts like the Don CeSar faced extinction. shutdown123

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