A hotel that causes me to smile
Downtown St. Petersburg, Florida – not the beach
421 4th Ave North Street
Why this place appeals to me
“The Hollander is old Florida,” says a guest sitting on the hotel’s front porch. Old Florida? Maybe: The Hollander is stacked with once-upon-a-time stuff. STUFF packs the lobby, hallways and rooms of the Hollander.
An 80-year-old wooden phone booth stands a few feet from the hotel’s Check-In desk in the lobby.
“Phone doesn’t work, but it generates conversation,” says Will the front desk clerk at The Hollander.”
The Hollander Hotel; hip? Boutique? Hard to classify, The Hollander simply causes me to SMILE as I roam the building and its contents from time past.
Built in 1933, just as Prohibition ended. The basis for the original name is mystery. The Hollander went through several reinventions; it was a Travelodge, then the Bond Hotel. And then sat empty from 1990 until it came back to life in 2013 as downtown St. Pete’s boutique-ish, lodging venue; offering a spa, a coffee shop/bakery and a tap room.
A poster on the wall of The Hollander’s outdoor front deck proclaims,
1933 prohibition finally ends
FREE NEWSPAPER ANY DAY THE SUN DOESN’T SHINE
I SMILE!
The wall of the stairwell connecting the lobby to the upper 3 floors is hung with images of earlier St. Pete. Couples in the 1950’s, wearing 1950’s-style bathing suits, sitting in the sand under 1950’s beach umbrellas cause me to SMILE.
How Far Down the Block?
Expressway I-375 routes you onto 4th Avenue leading into downtown St. Pete. The Hollander is on the corner of 4th Street North and 4th Avenue North; just a few hundred meters from I-375 merge point with 4th Ave.
The Hollander front porch is a magnet for lodging guests. Travelers share weather updates from home-base, almost always somewhere north. I light a Macanudo cigar . . . and SMILE.
The Hollander is a timepiece of Florida history. The wide veranda porch features padded, rattan chairs. Half of the porch hosts outdoor diners being catered by the staff from The Hollander Tap Room; the other half of the porch is seated by visitors that are chatting . . . and SMILING.
Entering the front door of the lobby, the vintage-style front desk is evident. After checking in, I skip the elevator, choosing to walk up the stairs to my 3rd floor room. Hallway flooring is 2.5” maple strips installed during construction in 1933. The slats refinished lacquer-bright, featuring scars acquired over the past 80 years. The wooden seams creak with every step. I SMILE.
The Coffee Shop just past the Tap Room offers not only traditional French pastries, but Italian cannoli. Cannoli make me SMILE.
On a Saturday morning, I step into the first floor Tap Room; the Hollander restaurant. Brunch is featured on weekend mornings. At the edge of the bar, a sign suggests a do-it-yourself Bloody Mary, almost a brunch itself – I SMILE.
When the Hollander re-opened in 2013, the former glory and the name were both restored. It breaks the mold of the everyday branded chain hotel. How to describe? Unshackled lodging?
Why you might be nearby?
St. Pete Beach is a 20-minute drive from the Hollander. Four of Florida’s Top Ten Beach Bars, chosen by an annual vote conducted by FLORIDA Beach Bars web site, lie within walking distance of one-another at St. Pete Beach. A Florida pub crawl, eminently do-able.
Lesser Known Facts
The Hollander Hotel drips character, with non-uppity charm. Rooms feel Florida-warm. I drift back. Maybe to another era, or maybe just a decade. The façade of hotel today, remains exactly the same as when constructed in 1933. The Bonnie & Clyde era look causes me to SMILE
“The City of St. Peter” Florida was named in honor of St. Petersburg, Russia. The name chosen by Russian-born railroad builder Piotr Dementyev (Peter Demens).
Jack Kerouac authored On The Road, his roaming-about-tale of travel on America’s newly paved highways of the 1950’s. Kerouac owned a home in downtown St. Pete in the late 1960’s.
Television had highjacked Kerouac’s theme, creating Route 66 (1960–1964). Weekly episodes followed two untethered young men “on the road” in a Corvette seeking adventure; jumping from temporary job to temporary job.
Town-by-town from Chicago to California the two protagonists, Buzz and Todd, roamed. They bore a resemblance to Kerouac. Kerouac, didn’t like TV’s Route 66. He felt the show’s creators had ripped off his On The Road. Kerouac wanted to sue, but on October 20, 1969, in St. Petersburg, Florida he lost his chance. At 11 am that morning in St. Pete, Kerouac was sitting in his favorite chair drinking whiskey, chasing it with malt liquor, and working on another book.
He began to vomit blood. Blood transfusions later that day, failed. Kerouac’s liver was failing, due to an untreated abdominal hemorrhage suffered in a bar fight several weeks earlier and aggravated by booze. He died at 5:15 the following morning. Kerouac drank – a lot.
Local Recommendation
Stroll downtown Beach Drive SE; the city side of Beach Drive is lined by the shops and watering holes. Manicured city parks line the bay side of Beach Street. Late model luxury and vintage classic cars maintain an all-day parade.
Parkshore Grill, Beach Street, offers refuge under their sidewalk, tabletop, umbrellas.
Something for Nothing
The Hollander provides free shuttle from hotel to downtown St. Pete; serving a 10-block area.
Parking at the Hollander is free.
Every Saturday morning from October to May, St. Pete hosts a downtown farmer’s market in the parking lot at Al Lang Stadium, a half-mile walk from The Hollander. Local vendors sell, fruits, foods, goods while live music plays.
6 pm Sunday evening, sitting on the Hollander’s outdoor front porch, piped-in music plays. Will, the Hollander desk clerk of long standing, says,
“In the morning, we play Petula Clark on Pandora throughout our public areas. Afternoon is Debbie Harry. Evening music here at The Hollander is Jack Johnson. Do you like his music?”
I SMILE