“That divine rendezvous”—the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables

N.B. This article has been revised and edited 24 September 2019.

Dear, when in your arms I creep,
That divine rendezvous,
Don’t wake me if I’m asleep,
Let me dream that it’s true.
–“How Long Has This Been Going On?” (1928) by George and Ira Gershwin

Biltmore Hotel
1200 Anastasia Avenue
Coral Gables, Florida

When grandmama whose age is eighty
In nightclub’s gettin’ matey
With gigolos,
Anything goes!
–“Anything Goes” from the musical, Anything Goes (1934) by Cole Porter

N.B. Thank you for taking time to read through this experimental entry. I have a great love for music of the 1920s and 1930s and decided to see how much they could contribute to the narrative of this entry.

The cover of Leslie Rule’s Coast to Coast Ghosts, a marvelous collection of ghost stories from across America, features a lovely and haunting black and white photo of a colonnaded balcony. A door is open and the wind is pulling the sheer, white curtains outward. This photograph of a balcony at the Biltmore Hotel was shown by Rule to a psychic who exclaimed, “There has been a lot of raunchy activity here! A couple was murdered here. They were having an affair and were shot by the woman’s husband.” The psychic continued saying that the woman was naked except for her jewelry.

In the mornin’, in the evenin’,
Ain’t we got fun?

Night or daytime, it’s all playtime,
Ain’t we got fun?
Hot or cold days, any old days,
Ain’t we got fun?
–“Ain’t We Got Fun?” (1921) by Richard A Whiting, Raymond B. Egan, and Gus Kahn

The Biltmore Hotel, in picturesquely named Coral Gables, was built as a beacon for fun and sumptuous pleasure at the height of the Roaring Twenties. With its Mediterranean Revival tower modeled on the Giralda Tower on Seville, Spain’s cathedral it featured the largest swimming pool in the world, containing 1,250,000 gallons of water, where synchronized swimmers and alligator wrestlers entertained guests. Johnny Weismuller, who would go on to portray Tarzan on the silver screen, taught and showed off his aquatic prowess in the gigantic pool. Luminaries gathered in the hotel’s ballrooms where they enjoyed top tier entertainment and even illegal gambling under the watchful eyes of gangsters Al Capone and Thomas “Fatty” Walsh. Popular bands of the era pumped out popular tunes with upbeat tempos, catchy lyrics, and jaunty tunes while couples danced foxtrots, the Charleston, tangos, and the Black Bottom under blazing chandeliers or glowing stars.

Stars fade but I linger on, dear…
–“Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1931) by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and
Gus Kahn

The hotel’s beauty began to fade when the United States War Department commandeered the hotel in 1942 for use as a convalescent hospital. Hotel rooms became rooms for patients and offices for doctors while public spaces became surgical suites. The floors were covered with linoleum, original furnishings were thrown out or painted over, windows were sealed with concrete, while the interior was painted a dismal, antiseptic green. Following the end of World War II, the hotel became an Army General Hospital and was later taken over by the Veterans Administration. Despite its utilitarian garb and atmosphere, the hospital attracted popular entertainers who performed for the patients. During its tenure as a VA hospital, the University of Miami established its medical school in the building. The grand hotel served as a hospital until 1968 when it was abandoned.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you.
–“Stardust” (1927) by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish

The now crumbling hotel sat abandoned while the City of Coral Gables attempted to save it as a historic structure. The city finally succeeded in 1973, but the building continued to sit empty while the city decided how best to utilize it. While empty, the building was used as a backdrop for the horror film, Shock Waves and can be seen briefly in the trailer. It also attracted attention for odd activity. In fact, Dennis William Hauck’s Haunted Places: the National Directory, states that, “Townspeople congregated on the golf course to observe the strange lights and eerie sounds coming from the empty building at night.”

The song is ended
But the melody lingers on
You and the song are gone
But the melody lingers on.
–“The Song is Ended” (1927) by Irving Berlin and Beda Loehner

While the locals who observed the activity in the abandoned building would often hear lingering melodies, that’s only part of the activity they witnessed. Greg Jenkins in his masterful three-volume series, Florida’s Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore, notes the witnesses as seeing windows opening and closing, figures within the building, and crashing sounds. The activity was so pronounced that in the summer of 1979 a team of policemen stormed the building in search of drug dealers and other malcontents believed to be hiding within. Their search turned up no one. When the humans failed to find anyone, a pair of police dogs was brought in only to have them flee after just five minutes, tails between their legs. After restoration began in the early 1980s, the activity increased.

Looking everywhere,
Haven’t found him yet.
–“Someone to Watch Over Me” (1926) by George and Ira Gershwin

A team of psychics and investigators visited the empty hulk in 1978. The psychics picked up on many energies throughout the building especially on the 13^th floor and around the elevators. A recording device that was running during the investigation picked up a loud tapping that was not noticed by anyone present. Many of the psychics remarked that that floor possibly contained hundreds of spirits. Another group investigating in 1979 recorded the sounds of heavy breathing and a sigh. Could this be related to a tragedy from the hotel’s early years?

We lived our little drama…
–“Stars Fell on Alabama” (1934) by Frank Perkins and Mitchell Parish

O, show us the way to the next whiskey bar.
O, don’t ask why.
–“Alabama Song” (1930) by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht

In the late 1920s, a local gambler, Edward Wilson, rented out the suite on the 13^th and 14^th floors of the hotel and opened a speakeasy, This was a place where wealthy locals could drink and gamble away from the eyes of the law. Wilson became acquainted with New York mobster Thomas “Fatty” Walsh and his friend, Arthur Clark. Both had left the city to avoid an investigation in the death of an associate.

One evening in March of 1929, Wilson and Walsh began to argue in the speakeasy with nearly a hundred patrons in black-tie. Wilson pulled a gun and shot Walsh to death. When Clark rushed to his friend’s side, he was wounded. Police rushed to the hotel but it took some time to reach the murder scene. Once there, the room had been “cleaned” of any evidence of a speakeasy. Modern researchers believe the lack of police records on this event to be evidence of a police cover-up.

Now that I have found you,
I must hang around you.
Though you may refuse me…
–“He Loves and She Loves” (1927) by George and Ira Gershwin

One popular tale about the suite on the 13^th and 14^th floor involves the private elevator leading to it. A young couple exploring the hotel somehow stumbled into the private elevator and was whisked to the dark, uninhabited suite though guests must have a key to operate the elevator. The young woman stepped off and the doors quickly shut behind her, leaving her husband wildly punching buttons as the elevator quickly descended to the lobby. The husband found a bellhop who used his passkey to get them back up to the empty suite. There they found the man’s wife standing in the dark, scared and befuddled. 

You must realize
When your heart’s on fire
Smoke gets in your eyes…

Now, laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide.
–“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” from the operetta, Roberta (1933) by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach

The young woman stated that when the doors closed behind her, she began walking through the silent suite calling, “Hello?” She heard the sound of distant conversation and occasionally people laughing. The sounds of things hitting the floor echoed from around her but nothing was out of place when she turned. She also remarked that there was the strong smell of cigar smoke with her throughout this experience. The elevator is still said to rise up to the suite on its own accord on a regular basis. This luxury suite (I checked the price and it’s around $1800 a night) is often used by celebrities, and President Bill Clinton stayed here in 1994. A number of sources note that he had troubled getting TV reception for a ball game he wanted to watch. His aides were unable to find a reason why the TV would not work properly.

It was just one of those nights,
Just one of those fabulous flights,
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings,
It was just one of those things.
–“Just One of Those Things” (1935) by Cole Porter

The apparition of a lady in white is also a part of the hotel’s folklore. According to legend, a couple was staying in the hotel with their young and very curious son. The child somehow made its way onto one of the hotel’s elaborate balconies and the child’s mother, fearing disaster, ran towards him. Unfortunately, she lost her balance reaching for her son and her body hurled over the railing towards certain death. Her spirit has been seen silently racing towards the balcony and at other times walking through nearby guest rooms. 

There were chills up my spine
And some thrills I can’t define.
–“How Long Has This Been Going On?” (1928) by George and Ira Gershwin

There’s so much more still going on in the Biltmore Hotel. Numerous apparitions, often seen momentarily and disappearing, have been reported including a dancing couple in period attire, World War II era soldiers, and a man playing the piano in a top hat. The hotel actually employs a storyteller to keep up with the hotel’s histories: recorded, legendary, and paranormal. Perhaps the spirits have finally found their own, sumptuous heaven.

Heaven, I’m in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.
–“Cheek to Cheek” (1935) by Irving Berlin

Sources

• Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 11 October 2011.
• Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places: the National Directory. NYC: Penguin, 2002.
• Jenkins, Greg. Florida’s Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore: Vol. 1 South and Central Florida. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 2005.
• Lapham, Dave. Ghosthunting Florida. Cincinnati, OH: Clerisy Press, 2010.
• Moore, Joyce Elson. Haunt Hunter’s Guide to Florida. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 1998.
• Preira, Matt. “Spooky Hotel: Biltmore Hotel Haunted by Gangsters and WWII Soldiers.” Miami New Times. 6 October 2011.
• Rennella, Cecilia and Carolyn Pitts. National Historic Landmark Nomination form for Miami-Biltmore Hotel and Country Club. 8 December 1994.
• Rule, Leslie. Coast to Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America. Kansas City: MO: Andrew McMeel Publishing, 2001.