Chapter 3 - Bee Gees and Terminator

Subject: "The Bee Gees ♫ Stayin' Alive [High Quality]"

CHAPTER - 3

Memory Lane -- The Bee Gees - Mid 1970's -

Celebrity Encounters

Hi........I recalled another "Celebrity Encounter"........As I recall this time in the mid seventies...........

We would travel to St Petersberg, Florida and stay at a Hotel called the Don Cesar Beach Resort....At that time, depending on ones point of view, it was either the first hotel on the beach location or considered the last hotel......The hotel was pink in color when it was built in 1928 and still is today.....

It opened on January 16, 1928 with 220 rooms and was over budgeted by 300% at a cost of $1.25 million dollars.......This hotel became an attraction to the rich and famous during the Jazz Age that included F.Scott Fizgerald, Al Capone, Lou Gehrig and F.D.Rosevelt and continued to attract the rich and famous throughout the great depression.....The hotel was built and owned by Thomas Rowe who would die without a will causing the hotel to fall into disrepair until World War ll..........

The Army would buy the hotel for $450,000 dollars and convert it into a Military Hospital in 1942.........During that year and again in 1969 the hotel would be vacant and closed in each of those years.....In 1975 the hotel was named to the National Register of Historical Places [an attempt to raze the hotel in 1969 would fail]........Some of the other famous guests would be every President from Gerald Ford excluding Ronald Reagan..........There are ghost stories associated with the hotel......In 1984 parts of the crime film "Once Upon A Time In America" was filmed in this hotel........

When we checked into this hotel we had heard about 10% of this History from the hotel employees but otherwise knew very little of its History until [this writing]...........The first day that we came out of our rooms we noticed all kinds of camera and lighting equipment on our floor, a few doors and rooms from our room..........We thought nothing of it and headed for the pool that had a hand full of people in it.........After we were in the pool we noticed a man who looked like Barry Gibb from The Bee Gees.........

Well as one would have it, it certainly turned out to be Barry Gibb who apparently was filming a video on our floor where we saw the equipment a few rooms away from our room.......Barry was very friendly to the small number of people in the pool and also used it with the rest of us...........His very young son was so proud to have Barry as his father and while in the pool kept telling everyone that Barry was his dad just as I am now talking about Barry the great singer.........Click on the links below to review the Hotel's History and to also hear one of The "famous" Bee Gees recordings..............Nick

PS.......This would also be the time that we would get to see the "Arnold Schwarzenegger Type Tourist" who would also be staying at this hotel........My daughter recently reminded me of that fact......No disrespect meant for the Austrian Nationality but while we were staying at this hotel we would see and be surrounded by this group of people each day.......The funny part of this story was how they spoke with their Austrian accent, sort of like Arnold......WE can recall one little young man calling out to his dad, "Fartha, Fartha, do you vant to go to da poole"....This became a funny incident and reminder of this great time period in our family life as we would always joke about the saying, "Fartha, Fartha, do you vant to go to da poole", way before the "Terminator" film (1984) would be born and as people jokingly do today when they say, "I'll be bock" impersonating Arnold............

History of Don Cesar Hotel