HISTORY

Located “Where the Tropics Begin” the Gulfstream was originally conceived under the name El Nuevo in 1923 when investors secured $225,000 from two local banks and applied for the building permit, at the time the largest permit in the city's history. Hoping to complete El Nuevo in time to capitalize on this growth, the hotel's creators found themselves beset by delays and financial troubles. When it ultimately was completed two years later, at the tail end of the development boom, the cost had ballooned to $600,000. Built during one of South Florida's development booms, the Gulfstream's ornately decorated rooms and grand dining hall attracted legions from the Northeast and Europe who made Palm Beach County their winter nesting grounds. Less than five years after it opened, that dream had all but vanished, thanks to a string of misfortunes and mismanagement.

The great Okeechobee Hurricane that ripped through Palm Beach County in 1928 hit the hotel hard, damaging the fifth and sixth floors and reportedly depositing huge amounts of sand in its lobby. The Gulfstream survived the storm, but then was directly hit by the stock market crash in 1929 when its original investors went bankrupt and were forced to shutter its doors. It remained closed for seven years until the hotel reopened in 1936 when two retired Army officers, Gen. Richard C. Marshall III and Col. H. Cabel Maddux, purchased it at auction. In the years that followed, the Gulfstream underwent a renaissance of sorts, hosting many of the city's most important galas, dinners, and junior and senior proms. Despite the turmoil surrounding the hotel since the beginning, little had changed about its exterior. The six-story, 100-room structure still sits on Lake Avenue, yards from the Intracoastal Waterway near Lake Worth's downtown. The sandy-yellow building has 18-foot-high archways on the ground floor and a tiled entry. For decades it was the only hotel in the beach community of 35,000.

During World War II, which brought a surge of activity to South Florida's military bases, the hotel was considered the biggest social venue in the history of the city. Sixty hotel rooms were set aside for military officers and their families. For most of the next decade the hotel flourished - the Gulfstream was the site of political rallies and chamber of commerce meetings, socialite luncheons and New Year's Eve parties. "In its time, it was the height of Lake Worth society," city historian Helen Greene said. It was THE place for Palm Beach's rich and famous to gather at the rooftop restaurant and dance club.

But instability seemed to follow the hotel. Its owners sold it again in 1978, and by the early 1980s, the Gulfstream was struggling. Its dated look lost favor with the younger demographic, coinciding with the emergence of more modern hotels being built along the oceanfront. It almost became forgotten until optimism returned in 1989 when a group of Finnish investors purchased the Gulfstream at auction for $3 million with the hope of marketing it to European vacationers and the region's large Finnish population. Four years later, it was back on the auction block and remained closed until 1997. Then purchased in 1998 it was renovated with much of the hotel's original 1920s charm: arched doorways, white pillars, chandeliers, and brown rattan furniture. Success, however, was short-lived as the doors were closed again in 2005 just waiting for life to be breathed into it once again.