Above, what Hotel H looks
like today. At right, one of the
original pieces of trimwork
still left on the building. Below,
what a typical room in the old
Hotel Hell looked like.
Firsthand
Memories of
Hotel Hell
Living a middle class life in the same home now
for over 8 years it’s hard to remember some of
the places I lived during my childhood on Boca
Grande. We lived in a tent on Cole Island, at the
Boca Grande fi sh house and for the longest time at
the infamous Hotel Hell.
The fi sh house is a multi-million-dollar home
now. Cole Island campgrounds is now Boca Grande
North condominiums. 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?
I brought my husband to a gift shop there I tried
to describe the apartments that used to be there ...
Hotel Hell was a mustard yellow, wood clapboard
building with rusty awnings. There were screened
porches top and bottom in the front and a very
busy washing machines and one dryer Laundromat
on the back porch. There were always sounds of life
coming out of that place. The fl oorboard creaked as
you walked down the halls. The cockroach infestation
was beyond belief. Don’t turn on the lights at
night, might not get back to sleep.
I later found out that the building had supposedly
been condemned while we living in it, but it
seemed sturdy enough with all the activity that went
on in there! I think we lived in every apartment in
the place at one point or another, my father painting
them and fi xing them up a little as we moved
through the building.
My parents ended up in the front apartment on
the bottom fl oor; right hand corner. My brother
and I shared a connected room on the 2nd fl oor
over my parent’s apartment. Most of the upstairs
rooms all shared a bathroom. I tried to clean it
once, but it was a losing battle because it was well
partied in by my fellow residents of the upper fl oor.
It reminded me of some of the bathrooms I saw
at bars during spring break in college ... My brother
and I would just walk down the stairs to use the
bathroom in my parent’s apartment. Had to plan
well ...
48 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE March/April 2020