Old Motel Photos and Postcards - Sunny Isles

[qtpi1969]

Ok, I have posted before about my love for the old Motel Row. I have gathered up a collection of photos and postcards and am here to share it.
Please comment and share share share about your memories of Motel Row circa 1960's-70's.
I am very interested in more about the history of the less well-known motels like the Colonial Inn and the Heathwood.
I am looking for old interior photos of the Colonial Inn and ANY info about who owned it from it's roots to it's demolition. I know one family are the Dezer's (Gil)...
this awful fellow who tore down the Colonial:

and other owners, Ben Marden and LEN MARKOWITZ.
Anyhow, here are the photos...
:)
Shelly from Chicago

Colonial Inn Photos:
http://www.qtpi1969.com/FLA/ColonialInn/P.html

Miscellaneous Sunny Isles (Motel Row) Photos:
http://www.qtpi1969.com/FLA/Misc/P.html

Miscellaneous Restaurants (in & near Sunny Isles):
http://www.qtpi1969.com/FLA/Rest/P.html

[zippyjet]

Dear Shelly:
Thank You and its hearfelt. That link to the old Miami area restaurants. I posted a thread about Picciolos but, I never got much info because I couldn't remember the correct spelling! One of my all time favorites. My mom and her friends ate at Picciolos back in the 40s and 50s when she went to the old Miami Beach High. (the open air school before the advent of air conditioning!) Anyway, Picciolos had the best garlic rolls. New York folk call them garlic knots and their pizza was to die for. I last ate at Picciolos back in 1980. I understand it bit the dust sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. Sadly it couldn't hold on for the South Beach Renaissance. Had it survived it would be thriving today even in the recessionary George W. Bush economy. A source who works for the Miami Beach Police department told me they want to reopen but do not have a location. Anyone out there know more and when it officially closed?

Regarding the Colonial Inn; this is what I know. I'll share more detail with you soon.
1. Hotel opened around 1956 or 1957.
2. A family with the last name of Jackal (not sure of spelling) leased the property from the original owners. I do not know their names.
3. They opened a near identical twin in St. Pete Beach, Fl. around the same time. The property is alive and well and is the Travelodge St. Pete Beach.
4. Sometime during the 1960s, the Colonial Inn bought and absorbed the old Bon Air Motel next door to the North. This annex featured cheaper rooms and did not have interior hallways. This old motel used to have a kidney shaped pool which was much less crowded than the main Colonial Inn Pool. BTW, I took swimming lessons with my first cousin in August of 1966. My little sister took swimming lessons at the Colonial Inn in July 1969. My teacher was an old Marine named Joe who drove a 1956 or 1957 Chevy Nomad or Bel Air Wagon. My sister's instructer was an Asian/Fillipino young dude named Ken.
5. The main dining room was called the Medallian Room
6. There was a massive upper lobby. Back in the day hotels and motels in Miami Beach had them!
7. I stayed at the Colonial Inn in 1966, 1969 and 1976. My cousin stayed there in 1962, 1964 and experienced Hurricane Cleo and 1966 when my family vacationed there.
8. The kidney (peanut) pool at the Bon Air annex was torn up and made into a tennis court in 1975 or 1976. The writing was on the wall and the Colonial Inn like most of Motel row had peaked and was on its decline. Tennis become popular in the 70s so that extra pool was sacrificed.
9. Across from the upper lobby were small hotel rooms with alphabet designations. I never got inside them. They faced the pool and ocean. Anyone know the 411 on those rooms. I don't remember them having their own bathroom. Maybe I'm wrong on that.
10. The Colonial Inn NEVER redid their rooms. We always stayed in the main building in the two story side facing South over the parking lot Ocean view. I stayed in rooms 234, 242 and in 1976 204. The first two rooms had kitchenettes and were a cool aqua. The last room was one of the rooms without a kitchen and was pink. At least on that side of the building, the rooms alternated aqua (kitchens) pink (basic). The TV sets were always Admiral. The Colonial Inn through 1976 had three generations of Admiral TVs. The third generation were color (probably added 1972 to 1974 era) For the rest of you hope this was not "TMI."


Travelodge St. Pete Beach formerly Colonial Inn

[zippyjet]

I know one family are the Dezer's (Gil)…
this awful fellow who tore down the Colonial:

Have pity on him. With looks like that, he probably gotten wedgies and swirlies in his youth. Probably competing with the Maytag repairman for social action.


Regarding the Colonial Inn's 4th. floor. If my memory serves me, that floor in the middle of the higher room # hallway had an elevator which lead to some kind of health club with Turkish baths and rub downs. However, they were always closed during the off season so, I never got to investigate what lie behind the door!

[qtpi1969]

Zippy...
never ever ever too much information.
I take and absorb it all...
LOL!!

It is soooooooooo scary ...you may very well have been there when I was! Every year from 1974 to 1985. I went there in December and April (Spring and winter vacations). My dad was a teacher and he got off of work when i got out of school. Sometimes we would go in June...but that was rare and so very hot, even pre-atmospheric changes.

I have seen many photos of the St. pete's Colonial inn. I always wondered if the owners were the same. Now I know.

I never knew that Colonial owned the Bon Aire.
My mom was very "picky". She, even if she had known about the pool at the Bon Aire, would never have gone over there to swim (and certainly never told me about it, if she did know...heaven forbid I would leave the property to swim elsewhere). She loved the Colonial Inn and that was that.
One year we stayed at the Marco Polo ( I have photos of that trip in the Motels section of the photos I left links to earlier), because they booked the vacation late. the Colonial was full and we had no other choice.
I remember I got pneumonia on that trip and was sick as a DOG the entire time we were there.
Mom always said i got it from going from the outside heat by the pool and up the elevator to the room. We were on the 8th floor or so.
She said, that never would have happened at the Colonial Inn and after that, we never stayed elsewhere. I imagine that she made my dad book extra early from then on.

I took swimming lessons at the Colonial too!!
When I did, there were two guys teaching swimming. A morning guy and an afternoon guy. Both were american I think. One was maybe mid-40's (the afternoon guy) and the other was maybe 30 or 32. I chose the afternoon guy because I did not want to get up at 8am on a vacation to learn to swim.
the guy was MISERABLE! When I would not dive into the deep end, he PUSHED me in. I will never forget flailing in the water, and my mom was on the balcony of the 3rd floor room she always got. (I don't remember the number, but my dad might. it was always one of 2 or 3 rooms...and it HAD to have the PINK bathroom!)
So I am feeling like I am drowning and waving up to my mom yelling "Help!" and she is waving back at me, smiling!
After that, needless to say, i took morning lessons. The afternoon guy told my dad I was unteachable. the morning guy taught me just fine. I still have a bit of a problem with diving though...

I remember clearly, the kiddie pool and the adult pool and wanting to be able to swim in the adult one. I know I saw a kid pee in the kiddie pool once.

I remember the huge lobby the hotel had. it had maroon DRAPES too. I remember the gift shop (very tiny) in the lobby. I remember thye Medallion room. i saw Jackie mason there. I also recall my dad dancing with a belly dancer one year.
I also remember the kid's playroom on the second floor. It had a tiny table pool table. I also remember a large open room that was used for meetings and to play bingo...which I loved and still do. I remember winning tiny little gold trophies for bingo and other kids games. I had a LOT of those through the years.
I totally remember being scared of the lobby bathroom because it echoed when you went in there...and the toilets were weird looking, with just a tiny hole at the bottom...the things one remembers, weird huh??

I actually stayed at the Colonial Inn on my first honeymoon in 1992. The whole area was at it's end by that time. The amount of people had dwindled so much. A lot of foreigners were coming and it was not the same.
I remember there used to be beach bars. NOTHING like that now.

We always stayed on the north side of the building facing poolside. I don't remember ever not staying poolside. Like i said, by mom was TOTALLY OCD!
We never had a kitchenette.
I do remember the crappy tv's and the maids used to watch them while they cleaned. they probably watched them more than the occupants.
It's so funny with some of the old motel ads saying "A TV in every room." Now it's WIFI and cable...lol!
I used to sleep on a cot while my mom slept on one bed and my dad on the other...and I think about how weird that was...again...my crazy mother...probably thought it was wrong to sleep together in front of me.
the last time I ever went there with them in the mid-80's, i remember saying i would not go if I had to sleep on a cot. And i got the other bed. LOL!



And Picciolos...I remember those garlic rolls...OMG how wonderfully delicious! there is actually a place in Pompano beach called Rotelli Pizza & Pasta
POMPANO BEACH - PALMAIRE
163 S Pompano Pkwy # 954
Pompano Beach, FL 33069

http://www.rotellipizzapasta.com/gallery.php

that has almost the exact same rolls. You MUST try it!!!
I liked the Newport Pub too. I remember they had the best chocolate cake!!
You have no clue about The Reef restaurant?? I remember it was beautiful and huge and had waterfalls in it. You got a spinning appetiser tray on your table with the meal...
nobody seems to recall that place.
All I have is a match book from there...no postcard...




Anyhow...that's some of my story...
how did you know that a guy named Jackal owned the Colonial Inn?? Can you find out the spelling...or do you have any ideas on how I can find info about the motel?
Let me know...and THANKS for the memories!!!!!!!!!!
TTYS!
Shelly

[zippyjet]

Shelly:
Regarding the Bon Aire; originally it was it's own property. As I said the Colonial Inn absorbed it before 1966 my first of three stays. My dad always being practical felt the southern parking lot view did just fine. You looked to the left and saw the ocean. Also, my dad could see the rental car. We flew on that 1966 trip in August. For our 1969 journey we drove so, my dad wanted to be able to see our Ford Country Squire Station wagon and have quick access to it. A side note; in the late 80's in some fashion magazine they actually used the "Bon Air" building of the Colonial Inn for model shoots of trendy couture showing plenty of leg and tushy! You may have been at the Colonial Inn when I was there in 1976. I went on Spring break with two friends from April 8 (Thursday) to Friday April 16. We got stuck in room 204 which was all the way toward the front though facing the south parking lot. I liked being closer to the ocean. I remember the motel was dead; a ghost town and this was Spring break. From 1976 through 1980 Sunny Isle beaches were way eroded. I'm not sure how I remembered the Jackal family. My family also stayed at the Marco Polo in August of 1970 when it was sleek and modern. We had room 1033 facing West (Collins Ave). We returned in 1974 when it was called "Lifter's Marco Polo." Then, it had started to look tatty in disrepair. We stayed at the M.P. in late May/June 1980 on the 8th. floor facing North over the burnt out Sheraton. The Marco Polo redeemed itself and was in better shape since there were no more "Lifters." Restaurants we patronized on our back in the day trips.
1. Rascal House
2. Corkies
3. Wolfies
4. Picciolos
5. Newport Pub
6. Raymonds Steak House (my dad's favorite) closed around 1975
7. The Luau
8. Les Violins (1 time)
9. Embers (1 time)
10. Pumperniks
Don't remember the Reef that you were talking about.
For desert, it was up to Jaxons. My dad was into big eating! Also Jahns on Collins was great until it went downhill in the mid 70's. My parents ate there on a trip in Fall '75 for a wedding that my sister and I did not go on. My dad said Jahns got "goyish."
We also stayed at the Newport in August of 1968 because the Colonial Inn was sold out.
Motel row was going strong through 1970. We didn't go on vacation the next three years. When we went back in August of 1974 it was like someone pulled the rug from Sunny Isles. It officially "Jumped The Shark!"

Simon and of course wonder kitten "QT"

[Maria de los Angeles]

Wow you guys! Thanks for sharing all these memories and the photos too!

[davedsimko]

Wow-thanx for the posts and all the pics of old "Motel Row".I too loved the area-having stayed there on vacation in '62,'64,'66,and '78 (Chateau,Sahara,Chateau,Thunderbird).I also stayed at the Colonial Inn in St. Pete Beach back in '68-I believe it said winter home of the New York Mets under their sign as I jokingly said that they would be world champs the next year since I had stayed there.To me it seemed like Motel Row was a magical place to be back then and it sickens me to see that in the name of "progress" and $$$ that this area has been transformed into NYC with palm trees.

[zippyjet]

I had stayed there.To me it seemed like Motel Row was a magical place to be back then and it sickens me to see that in the name of “progress” and $$$ that this area has been transformed into NYC with palm trees.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. However, I do see two silver linings in this cloud.
1. The Chateau always looked like the Bates Motel by the Ocean. At least in the later years, I heard it was indeed shall we say not the Ritz.
2. The Real Estate that once held the Chateau is now a beautiful PUBLIC beach access with giant palms and Miami Beach flowers that looked as if they've been there for 40 years. And the art decco touches are way cool.
3. This was NOT due to the Trup Dezerization of Sunny Isles but, thank God they widened the beach, dredged sand and replenished it. When we stayed at the Marco Polo in June 1980, there WAS NO BEACH in front of the M.P.! They had a crooked wooden staircase that led you onto the Chateau's sliver of sand. If a row of people laid out there'd be no room to walk! 1980 and the next few years had to be Miami Dade's rock bottom. Right after the riots and before Miami Vice. This was where the beach was eroded to next to nothing even in South Beach. In South Beach we walked into the Shelborne. The lobby had the same now tired furnishings as in 1963, last time we stayed there. The giant fish tanks were gone and the bellman luggage carts were covered in worn shag carpeting. Lincoln Road Mall was a ghost town. However, Picciolos and Corky's were alive and well. Little did I know, they would be gone but not forgotten. If you asked me: Is Miami Dade better off now than 1980, I'd have to say yes! True Motel Row is gone, the surprising death of the Rascal House and the rest of the greats gone but, I feel this time around Miami Beach and it's great core of residents who give a damn will not let the decline of the 1970's and early 80's happen again. I'll go out on a limb and predict that the 163rd. corridor between the beach and the Golden Glades junction will see a rebirth over the next 25 years. And, with our penchant for nostalgia maybe someone will open a Rascal House or Picciolos in what I call suburbia tropical style.

I've stayed at the Thunderbird five years in a row since Summer 2003. Huegot M. (manager) refers to me as family. Maria, Suzy or one of the other folk that make this site fantastic should take a little trip up Collins and visit the Thunderbird and do an interview/story with Heugot M. She's a motel row fixture. The Thunderbird is still an oasis in a desert of concrete canyons!

[Maria de los Angeles]

Heck, I would love to interview her, if there are no other takers.

[Maria de los Angeles]

I'm going to be speaking with Dr. Paul George very soon. He's the premier local historian. I'll pick his brain about Motel Row.

[zippyjet]

Huguette Martineau hmartineau@dezerhotels.com

Maria: Above is her E-mail address. She's at the Thunderbird. Obviousle, with her working in the Dezer empire, roll with her; I know you can be objective but get the "411". Regarding that historian, ask him about Picciolos (136 Collins Ave.). Corky's, Raymond's Steak House, The Newport Pub. Thanks :-) Simon

[elena]

I really am enjoying this thread and am new to this forum.

The very best days of my childhood were spent in Miami Beach. I remember my first trip in July 1958. I traveled there every summer thereafter from New York and hated to go home. My favorite area back then was South Beach. I stayed at the Town House, the Shelbourne, and the DiLido. However, my favorite place of all was the Fontainbleau. I was told that I couldn't stay there because that was the place where "people with money" stayed. To me, that place was a magnificent, glittering palace (I still think it is!). I remember when I was 14 I would walk from Lincoln Road to the Fontainbleau listening to WQAM on my tiny transitor radio. I would sneak behind the Sorrento, walk along the beach and sneak into the Fontainbleau's pool from the beach. On the walk back to Lincoln Road, I would sometimes rest in the Roney Plaza gardens or the Algier's lobby. I remember there was a big aviary there.

I'm curous to know if anyone remembers these restaurants and other sights:

The Holiday restaurant - 20 and Collins
Darby's - Lincoln Road
Pickin Chicken - In general, I don't like fried chicken but I liked theirs!
Polly Davis Cafeteria - downtown Miami
The Shissel - ice cream parlour in the Shelbourne
The Nocherie (sp?) in the Saxony

Was there such a place as Parrot Paradise? I don't think it was the same as the Parrot Jungle. I remember there were tourboats that stopped there.

By the way, I did get to stay in the Fontainbleau eventually and lived in Miami for 13 years. I lived not far from Sunny Isles in Aventura. I am living in Georgia now where teachers earn more money than in Florida. I miss it a great deal. I think what happened to Motel Row is deplorable. Miami Beach seems to be glitz, glitz, and more glitz. It is tough to stay there now for the average middle class citizen.

[AngDuke]

Oh my God!! I cannot believe I found this website on the Colonial Inn. I was just in Miami in February, looking for the Colonial Inn and realized it must have been torn down. Sad was an understatement. Back in 1996 I was able to find it and went to visit. I went back to the pool area and was shocked to see it. I'm thinking it was turned into a home for old folks? They looked at us like we were out of our minds!!

So, I used to go there in the 60's every Easter. The last time I was there was in 1974. But who remembers the older waiter in the dining room who used to pour the chocolate milk really high into your glass? I remember being in a "twist" dance contest and winning a small plastic silver trophy. Anyone else remember that twist contest? How about everyone (the adults) hanging in the lobby after dinner? And of course the little shop off the lobby with the little crates of oranges that were gum. When I was young, I was always in the "craft" room painting on ceramics. When I was a teenager, I then went into the game room where they had pinball machines. Did anyone ever get their photo professionally taken outside with all poses thru-out the back of the Colonial Inn? One pose was holding a beach ball and another pose was sitting on the back white railing by the ocean. No one ever went to the beach there. Everyone was always by the pool. You were assigned lounge chairs the day you got there and had the same ones all week. Your last name was put on white tape and put at the end of the lounge chair. I remember the amazing cheeseburgers at the outdoor restaurant by the pool. I remember always going to the pool in the hotel next door (part of Colonial Inn). We liked it better because it was fresh water, not salt water like the big pool. We were able to open our eyes under water in the fresh pool. Plus, it was always empty.

Does anyone remember a guy coming around and asking if anyone wanted to learn to waterskii? I was 12 years old at the time and my mother let me go with a complete stranger to learn how to ski! I remember it cost $10.00 a person. I went with my 9 year old cousin and no parents!! Can you imagine doing that today??

I remember a couple of times getting a room on the first floor with no balcony. It was great because you can walk right out your door and the pool was right there. Hated when we had balconies. Occasionally after dinner, we would walk to the Thunderbird to get ice cream. That was "the" hotel to stay at. Did anyone ever go to the game place where they had trampolines? They dug these huge holes in the ground and would attach a trampoline to it. We hardly ever left the property though. I have so many photos, but they are at my Mom's house. Every year we took a photo by the horse in the front with the year. That was a must to do.

Anyway, I have loads of memories and would love to hear if anyone remembers some of the same things I did. The Colonial Inn will always hold a special place in my heart.

Angela

[3bean3]

From the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s, I spent one-to-two weeks every March as a kid with my family at the old Pan American Resort Motel. There are few fonder memories than my time at the Pan American. I knew that motel inside and out and befriended pretty much the entire staff, including Eddie the bartender who let me sit at the poolside bar eating cherries. (Six year olds could do that then.) Somewhere I still have the butter fork one of the restaurant waiters let me keep from dinner. I could go on.

Sadly photos of the Pan American, inside especially, seem to be scarce. So if anyone can point me in the direction of some please let me know.

Thanks!

[Maria de los Angeles]

Hey y'all ... I started a Flickr photo group called Vintage Miami Beach. I kept it to zip code 33139, but I could open it up to Sunny Isles. If you have vintage photos on Flickr, please let me know.

[zippyjet]

Hey y'all ... I started a Flickr photo group called Vintage Miami Beach. I kept it to zip code 33139, but I could open it up to Sunny Isles. If you have vintage photos on Flickr, please let me know.

Maria: Can't wait to get home and check out your photo collection! BTW, It looks like we'll be in Miami Beach at least the day and night of August 17 (Sunday, if we don't go on the cruise, we'll be in MB for at least two more nights. Hopefully we can all hook up. (You, Gus, Michelle)

[zippyjet]

Some interesting musings regarding the late Pan American Hotel:
1. Consistently back in the day this hotel received "Excellent" and even "Outstanding" ratings by Triple A! This was before AAA went to the diamond rating system.

2. My parents swore, that the Pan American along with the Sahara and the Kenilworth further down the beach were "restricted." Meaning if you were ethnic (of color or Jewish your were persona non Grata.) Anyone have any information on this? Ironic that Miami Beach at the time had a large Jewish clientele along with the beginnings of an Hispanic influence.

[Maria de los Angeles]

Hi Zippy! I don't know about Sunny Isles, but I do know that South Beach practiced major segregation in the early days. Jews & blacks were allowed to work but not live on the beach.

[3bean3]

Sadly you are right, Zippyjet. The Pan American for one was "restricted," i.e., no Jewish clientele. The brochure didn't say serving a "select clientele" for nothing. I can honestly say that wasn't a motivator for my family but I do remember the older guests (WWII generation mostly) making reference to it pretty openly. The Pan American was family-owned and operated and, interestingly, the best way to get a reservation at the Pan American was through referrals. We had cousins who had been going there for years. My family would visit roughly the same time each year and we would see many of the same people year in and year out. It was a pretty closed environment. Definitely a different time and place.

[3bean3]

In poking around about Motel Row, the one motel that seems to have been forgotten is the Hawaiian Isle. It was next door to the Pan American. From the perspective of a kid, its one outstanding feature was the outside tiki display--giant masks with bubbling water, multi-colored lights, and of course real torches. We would all walk over to the Hawaiian Isle after dinner to see it.

There are a lot of strong memories out there about Motel Row. Somebody should compile them!