Gulf Stream Hotel Lake Worth Herald/Coastal Observer Installment 2

This is a continuation of a series of articles on the Gulf Stream Hotel that began in last week’s edition of the Coastal Observer. The first installment comes from the Statement of Historical Significance that was filed with the National Register nomination form prepared in 1982. This second installment continues where the previous article left off. You will recall that the hotel’s beginning in the mid 1920s came right at the end of the first boom period of development in south Florida. Then the hurricane of 1928 severely damaged the fifth and sixth stories of the hotel, tearing off the roof and the hotel had about 7 feet of sand in the lobby. It remained dark and closed to the public during most of its first ten years of existence.

The hotel’s fortunes began to improve after 1936 when it was bought out of bankruptcy. Picking up where the previous narrative left off, we find the Gulf Stream operating as an American plan hotel. Such hotels offered three meals a day for guests that stayed for longer periods, weeks or months, as opposed to days. Many hotels in Florida operated in tandem with partner hotels in the north during this period, with many of the same staff and guests travelling to the other associated hotels with the change of season. The Gulf Stream Hotel was no exception, in fact, the ownership had a number of business relationships with other hotels, both near and far.

We pick up where we left off last week in the following portion of the National Register Nomination as written by Leslie Divoll, AIA. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Note that the text has been edited slightly for purposes of this publication. If you wish to review the footnotes that accompanied the original, please contact the publisher.

THE ASSOCIATED HOTEL SYSTEM

The Gulf Stream Hotel was open for the winter season and the Admiral Hotel, for the summer. Management and staff moved seasonally between the two, with great organizational economy. Many guests spent both summer and winter vacations at the paired hotels. This tandem resort system was common until WWII. The Gulf Stream's first manager, George Kreamer, and some of his staff spent their summers at the Wyandotte Hotel, Belleport, Long Island. Later Manager Benjamin Pease also managed the Hamilton Hotel in Bermuda, then the Admiral

Hotel when it was acquired. The Kirkwood had its own retinue of regular guests, but also appealed to the Gulf Stream guests as a pleasant mountain contrast halfway between New York and Lake Worth. Thus the management could sell an extra week or two to many of its regular guests. The Monterey in West Palm Beach was converted to a residential hotel by Marshall and Maddux, except that a large block of rooms was reserved during the winter season to accommodate overbookings at the Gulf Stream. A block of rooms was held at the Biltmore for the same purpose. This allowed tight scheduling of available rooms. Residents of the Monterey Hotel encouraged their visiting friends to stay at the Gulf Stream because of the many benefits of shared management.

General Marshall spent much of his time in Washington, D.C. where the Martinique, like the Monterey, operated year around, and helped reduce the impact of the vagaries of resort town economics on the collection of hotels. There Marshall was able to promote the resort hotels to business, government, military, and sports figures.

WORLD WAR II A TURNING POINT

The hotel management anticipated that with the coming of the war, the Gulf Stream would be even more in demand, since "so little coastal area is available for civilians." Conservation of fuel oil was offered as a justification for a southern winter vacation. Florida's Atlantic coast became an area of concentrated military activity. The Gulf Stream capitalized by opening the Gulf Stream Patio and Officers Club, in "the biggest social event in the history of Lake Worth." Sixty of the hotel rooms had been set aside for military officers and their families.

The direct mail appeal of January, 1943, advertised the Gulf Stream as "one of the few first class resort hotels open to civilians on the southeastern coast", and by February, the management was turning away guests and referring them to the Kirkwood. At that time the management found it necessary to explain its "restricted clientele" policy: “Under no circumstances do we want you to feel that we are discriminating against the Jewish race or any folks, but we do not want any of our guests possibly to be uncomfortable." [Editor’s note: “Restricted” resorts were once common in the United States. Fortunately, they are now a relic of history, but it is important to note that they did exist.] Notices were sent to guests reminding them to bring their ration books, carry I .D. cards on the beach, and dim the lights on the east side of the building.

The owners revealed plans to double the size of the hotel immediately following the war, and discussed the City's plans to expand the golf course and build a clubhouse at the hotel's front door. Wartime prosperity infused Lake Worth with money and exposed it to a new kind of tourist. Following the war, the younger tourists would return, would prefer the European plan (a Continental breakfast was provided for guests with the price of the room)to the American, stay for a week or two instead of two to four months, and demand active recreation. They would arrive in automobiles instead of the train, in every season of the year.

Following the war, the Gulf Stream resort expanded, and continued to cater to the 72% of its visitors who returned repeatedly. But the direction was set: to survive as an American plan hotel for seasonal visitors, the 1923 Gulf Stream Hotel became one part of a larger resort offering diverse accommodations and active recreation through much of the year. In addition, surrounding property was acquired well before it was needed, allowing expansion and parking facilities. "With a few notable exceptions, the big American plan resort hotel in Florida is over. Not only the turn of the century luxury hotels...but the hundreds, large and small, which came on the scene in the early 20th century...are being razed or turn into retirement homes." The Gulf Stream Hotel is a notable exception.”

Yes, the Gulf Stream Hotel is a notable exception in that it is still standing today. However, the latter part of the 20th century would bring changes which affected the hotel’s continued operation. It’s regular customer base aged and no longer visited the hotel. Their children had travel options other than returning to the same hotel every year. Florida was no longer “new.” Passenger train travel, the primary means of journeying to Florida in the early years, was taken over by Amtrak service and carried less passengers than before. Automobile traffic increased, but moved from relatively close U.S. 1, or Dixie Hwy., through Lake Worth to newly built Interstate I-95. Vacationers sped by at a high rate of speed on their way to other locations. The lure of the city’s beach and Casino building could not compete with other tourist attractions, falling into disrepair over time. Thus, the Gulf Stream Hotel went through a series of owners, all with different plans to bring it back as a tourist destination.

In future installments, we'll look at the Gulf Stream’s history during the later part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It will show certain continuing themes that have kept the hotel from thriving in the current marketplace. Among these are the relatively small size of rooms when compared to modern and competitive hotels, the lack of parking to serve hotel guests and the area surrounding the hotel, additional hurricanes and national/global economic challenges.