Port Charlotte Motel

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 0 No tags Permalink

Vintage Postcard – Port Charlotte Motel – Port Charlotte, Florida

port charlotte motel

Port Charlotte Motel, Port Charlotte, Fla.
On Tamiami Trail, Route 41, North-South
100% Air-conditioned — Pool

Pub. by Elliot Lyman Fisher, Port Charlotte, Fla.
Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.
39171-B

“You sure you don’t have anything else to say about your motel?”

“Nope.”

“Want a closer photo, or a better view?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, then. We’ll run with it.”

This lovely vintage postcard is unused.

Doing some internet digging, I found an old matchbox cover from the Port Charlotte Motel (circa 1980s) with its address of 3491 Tamiami Trail.

Bummer, Google Street View location now:

portcharlottenow
That’s right, we just missed it as the old place has been torn down. The land was recently up for sale, with the sale price including demolition of the place. Prior to demolition, LoopNet had this image on the Port Charlotte:

portcharlotteloopnet

And this one, showing an aerial before the tear-down (courtesy of LoopNet)

loopnetcharlotte

The site lists the original property as constructed in 1960, with 30 units. Added on over time, it grew to 52 units in 1985. The Port Charlotte Motel survived Hurricane Charley in 2004, but couldn’t survive the desire of Americans to tear down everything more than 20 years old and replace it with an ugly box. Charley was a big deal; reports were that it basically leveled the town of Port Charlotte (read more about it on Wiki here). Here’s an interesting article on changes that have been made in the area since the hurricane hit, which was predicted to affect the Tampa area but instead surprised Port Charlotte. And here’s a video of the storm (lots of profane language; turn off the speakers if you are easily offended):

Nothing like watching a few hurricane videos on YouTube to make me question whether I could live in southern Florida in my retirement.

More on the Tamiami Trail:

Tamiami Motel

Tower Court

Motel Stewart

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