Vintage Postcard – Gayfair Hotel
Gayfair Hotel
433 – 2nd Street, North, St. Petersburg 1, Florida
Phone 7-1329 For Reservations Phone 52-3931
The ideal vacation spot on the west coast
Finest in clientele – Finest in Atmosphere
Centrally located within 1 to 4 blocks of Waterfront Park, Million Dollar Pier, shopping district, bathing beaches, solarium, Al Lang Baseball Park, yacht basin, Williams Park, band concerts, Post Office, library, Mirror Lake, Churches, and shuffleboard courts.
Steam heated rooms, efficiencies, and apartments, many with private baths….Lobbies, gamerooms, patios, sundecks, and T.V. Lounge for your enjoyment.
Open All Year – Day, Week, Month, Season
Low Summer Rates from May 1st to December 1st
Color by Cotton & Schatzman, P.O. Box 1911, St. Petersburg 33, Fla.
There seems to be a surplus of linen-type postcards from the Gayfair. There also seems to be some question as to the official address of the place.
This document details the fact that WW Gay and Mabel E Gay leased the Gayfair to the United States Army for use as barracks from August 8, 1942 through June 1, 1943, after which there was some issue taken with the condition of the hotel after the army moved out and the cost to repair the hotel to regular service (exhibit no. 948, State of Florida). It lists the address of the Gayfair as 160 Fifth Avenue N. This page, scanned into Google News from the St. Petersburg Times September 18, 1955 also lists the same address (it’s a story about Mrs. Reba Morrissette and her annual vacation to St. Petersburg…also features a photo of Mrs. M).
Either way, there seems to be no evidence of the Gayfair Hotel around in modern times. According to Ancestry and the 1940s census, Mabel was born in 1892. Her husband, Walter W Gay was born in 1884 and died in 1953. Their son, William W Gay was born in 1919 and died in 1993. At the time of the census, they lived at 242 4th Avenue North in St. Petersburg.
Like this post? Check out these other St. Pete beauties!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.