The Suncoast Rises and Sets - Gay news and Lesbian newspaper including, Local, National and International Level.

Jesse’s Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo

My partner Michael and I first visited St. Petersburg's Suncoast Resort in 1998, shortly after gay businessmen Tom Kiple and Lester Wolff bought the decrepit Hosanna Hotel and turned it into “the world’s largest all-gay resort and entertainment complex.” We were in St. Pete for a friend’s daughter’s bat mitzvah, and after a couple of days of straight family values we needed some gay relief. So we skipped out and headed for 3000 34th Street South, where we had a gay old time. We liked it so much that we stayed at the Suncoast the next time we visited St. Pete, in 1999.

The Suncoast Resort is one of Central Florida’s “big three” GLBT attractions, the other two being the Sawmill Campground near Dade City and the Parliament House Resort in Orlando. At the turn of the millennium, the Suncoast was a gay oasis in a red state. LoAnn Halden, in PlanetOut.com, called it “quite possibly the gayest spot on Florida’s West Coast . . ., featuring 120-no frills motel rooms, five gay bars, a heated pool, gay shops, a restaurant, and theater. . . . the Sunday T-dance draws a crowd, and its fans are quite devoted.” I enjoyed the Suncoast’s smorgasbord of bars: the Tiki pool bar, the Wedgewood piano bar, the Lunar disco and (drag) show bar and the Suncoast Eagle, a Levi-leather bar. (Aren’t all bars named “the Eagle” gay, Levi-leather bars? That’s how we find them when we go on vacation.) I also liked the female impersonator shows, the “gay mall” that surrounded the pool area, and the fact that you could safely stagger back to your room once you had too many. Of course the eye candy wasn’t bad, either.

Alas, to paraphrase a famous song title, Suncoast rise, Suncoast set. By the time we visited the Suncoast Resort for the third time, in 2006, the place had obviously declined. Though the locals continued to enjoy the bars and the shows, the rooms were in disrepair and some of the stores were empty. Halden was as diplomatic as she could be when she wrote that “everything could use a fresh coat of paint and the rooms are best for super-budget-minded boozers and cruisers (bringing your own sheets isn’t a bad idea) . . . .” Co-owner Kiple tried to explain the situation when he was interviewed by S. I. Rosenbaum for the St. Petersburg Times: “People say, ‘Why don’t you fix it up?’ Well, believe it or not we have, but mostly in things you can’t see . . . We were planning on millions of dollars of renovation, but it’s better to relocate.”

“Relocate” is apparently what Kiple had in mind. On April 21 Kiple told the Times’s Rosenbaum that he had come to an agreement to sell the Resort property to the ever-expanding Home Depot chain. The deal, which became official when it was later approved by the Environmental Development Commission, meant that the Suncoast’s days were numbered, at least at 3000 34th Street South. By the end of May the Resort’s Web site (suncoastresort.com) had posted an announcement that “the Suncoast Resort will cease operations at 3000 34th Street South.” The Web site went on to announce that the Flamingo Restaurant would cease operations on June 10, the hotel on June 11, and the bars on June 17 (presumably after T-dance). “Thank you for 9 wonderful years!,” it concluded.

The Suncoast is not the first LesBiGay or Trans business to change hands or go under in 2007, especially not in the Tampa Bay area’s volatile business climate. But the Resort’s unique importance to St. Pete’s GLBT community made its demise such a traumatic experience for all involved. The Suncoast’s best-known tenants, Mark Bias and Carrie West, saw the handwriting on the wall and opened a second MC Film Festival store in what might now become the region’s gay center, Ybor City in Tampa. Groups like the Eagles gay wrestling club, which used to meet at the Suncoast, are now scrambling to find a new place to call home. The staffs of the Suncoast and those businesses who rented space there have lost their jobs; while thousands of tourists and locals who used to party at the Suncoast will now have to do go somewhere else.

Will the Suncoast rise again? According to Rosenbaum, ”even if the sale goes through, Kiple said the resort will not close. He said he has two possible new locations in mind, but he wouldn’t say where.” The Resort’s Web site simply asked us parties to “please check back for information on a new location.” So now we will have to wait and see, hoping for the best but not holding our breath while doing so. In the meantime, we can cherish our memories of the Suncoast Resort, and thank it and those who made it possible for “9 wonderful years.:”

Jesse Monteagudo is a South Florida-based freelance writer and gay activist. Reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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