Post #406399 by Hurricane Hayward on Sat, Sep 6, 2008 11:40 PM

On 2008-08-11 04:16, Tipsy McStagger wrote:

cool- looks like the only thing they rebuilt was the restuarant and bar on the ocean front....otherwise it basically remains the same, structure-wise...they added the extra stairway access to the beach and put in a fence along the pool side...more current pics of this will be interesting to see...it;'s amazing how much has developed around it, enclosing the entire property on all sides....

I'm so glad I finally got a chance to check out the Palm Beach Hawaiian (now the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn) on the beach in South Palm Beach. I went down there at sunset on Aug. 29 and shot all the photos that follow. This place is indeed a relic. It might be the only remaining mid-century motor lodge on the ocean in central Palm Beach County.

I'm not sure how much longer this great artifact will remain considering not only rampant development but also its dangerous proximity to the Atlantic Ocean (see the final photos and link).

As noted above, the main structure remains pretty much as it was originally designed ...

Looking back at the old placemat and vintage photos you'll see an elaborate fountain to the left of the entrance. This amazingly remains in place, albeit in scaled-down form, complete with bubbling fountains ...

I examined the roof and found it to be in nice shape. It appears to have been recently refurbished, though some of the trim was a bit ragged ...

The bar and restaurant were not very busy on a Friday evening during happy hour, though this is off-season (and hurricane season) so that's not too surprising. As advertised, the pool deck is right on top of the beach ...

The indoor restaurant looks right out onto the Atlantic and when the surf kicks up patrons enjoying drinks or food on the pool deck get a big splash when the sea is rough, which was the case when I was there ...

It was so rough, in fact, that the stairway down to the beach was closed. Apparently there is no more beach ...

The severity of the erosion problem and the threat it poses to the hotel became even more clear after my visit when Hurricane Ike threatened this week. Here's a story that ran in The Palm Beach Post, which quotes the family-owned hotel's owner: "We don't know how much punishment and pounding we can take. Nothing has been done by our government to replace the beach that was lost. We have nothing to protect us from the raging ocean waters."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/05/0905erosion.html

Here's hoping that somebody will step up to help protect this landmark from future storms.

(By the way, the hotel and restaurant are both highly recommeneded. And from what I sampled at happy hour, the bar (while not a traditional tiki bar) does offer a nice selection of cocktails poured by some very capable barmaids. The $3.50 rum & pineapple was a steal.)

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2008-09-06 23:45 ]