Only fond memories remain of Lido Casino

Published: Sunday, January 5, 2014 at 4:56 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, January 5, 2014 at 4:56 p.m.

And although it stood for only 29 years, it has become an iconic symbol, a memory mill of all that was good about the good old days here.

As today, back in the 1930s Sarasota's financial well-being was closely linked to the annual migration of snowbirds. In 1936, the Chamber of Commerce Committee to Create Summer Business met to determine what could be done to give the community a boost during the slowest time of the year.

It was Roger Flory, real estate man and publisher of the Sarasota Visitors' Guide, who suggested that the city provide a municipal bathing beach. The next year, that idea was expanded to include a bathing facility.

Karl A. Bickel, former head of the United Press and a major civic leader, was appointed to chair a committee to take the matter up with the city council. And thus was sown the seed that would ultimately blossom into Sarasota's storied Lido Casino.

The site deemed the most desirable for the project was a 1,300-foot stretch of sugar-fine sand on Lido Beach owned by the estate of John Ringling, then under the control of Ringling's nephew and co-executor, John Ringling North.

Mayor Verman Kimbrough met with North and hammered out an agreement whereby the property would be deeded to the city in exchange for $35,000, which would immediately be paid back to the city for delinquent taxes.

Albert Moore Saxe drew up preliminary plans for a Hawaiian-style casino called Sarasands, but it was Ralph Twitchell, one of the founders of the Sarasota School of Architecture, who was given the assignment. His version of the Lido Casino became one of Sarasota's first modern buildings.

From its conception, progress on the Casino was front page news, where it often competed for space with ominous headlines about Europe sliding into World War II.

It was hoped that construction would be completed by the summer of 1939. A color rendering appeared on the cover of that year's edition of Flory's Visitors' Guide with the description: Whether it's fun and frolic...recreation or amusement...health and happiness... or just plain lazy contentment...The Sarasota Lido beckons all who seek what Florida has most to give.

Originally posted here:
Only fond memories remain of Lido Casino