Anyone who ever lived there called it Hell,
because it was hell living there. Laughter and/or
groans are the immediate responses from former
tenants asked to refl ect on their time spent there.
Just about anyone who lived on Gasparilla island
before the Boca Grande Club was in existence has a
story about living in Hell.
Some are willing to talk, some are not.
Donald “Wharf Rat” Casey lived in a second-fl oor
apartment for years and was known as the unoffi -
cial mayor of Boca Grande. Casey frequented local
bars like Miller’s Marina, the Laff-a-Lott (now South
Beach), The Temp, The Pink and The Theatre. He
was never at a loss for an opinion on any subject.
He had few equals as a conversationalist. When he
said something, people listened and took note – or
laughed.
“He was a kind drunk,“ according to Hotel Hell
alumnus and manager Bob Edic. “Everyone took
turns back then being the town drunk and it seemed
like his turn came every other day. It was my job to
collect the rent. For all the apartments (six or seven
if you counted the attic where Gene Sampley lived),
rent was $800 a month. If I got the $800, I didn’t
have to pay. And if someone didn’t pay, they moved
to the porch.
“Wharf Rat spent a few nights on the porch. Fire
inspectors came to do their thing one day and they
went into the apartment where Wharf was living,
and he was barbecuing hamburgers in the sink.
Smoke was billowing out of the apartment.”
Casey lived in Boca Grande for 13 years, working
as a landscaper. He sobered up and moved to
Massachusetts. He died in 1993 at age 52 in a
mysterious accident in Salem, Massachusetts.
Edic‘s daughter, Darlene (Edic Crawford) Dempsey,
and son Dennis have their own stories about
growing up in Hell. Both said it was an experience
they won’t forget, one that made them better
people.
Crawford, a nurse, said Hell allowed her to
experience a lifestyle foreign to most people. She
was glad to have a solid roof over her head, because
the family’s previous roof was made of canvas.
“Living a middle-class life in the same home now
for over eight years, it’s hard to remember some
of the places I lived during my childhood in Boca
Grande, “Darlene said. “We lived in a tent on Cole
Island, at the Boca Grande Fish House and, for the
longest time, at the infamous Hotel Hell.
“The Fish House is a multi-million-dollar home
now, Cole Island became Boca Grande North and
Hotel Hell is now Hotel H. I wonder how many
people remember what that building nestled
between the hardware store and the fi re
department used to be like?”
Darlene said the experience made her more
compassionate, a big plus in the nursing profession.
“The guys who lived upstairs were very nice,
although they were in a stupor most of the time.
They were polite and respectful. There were people
living in every nook and cranny of that building and
overnight guests frequently used the porch. One
person even lived in the attic.
“The guys actually seemed to look out for my
younger brother and I. Once in a while I did have
to step over naked bodies passed out on the upper
porch or in the hallway. The cockroach infestation
was beyond belief.
“My parents ended up in the front apartment on
the bottom fl oor. My brother and I shared a
connected room on the second fl oor over my