Hawaiian Inn - St. Petersburg

St. Pete Beach, Florida, United States

The Hawaiian Inn was opened by Frank Cannova in late 1974. Its building used to be the Desert Ranch hotel which dates to the mid 1950s. The lobby was decorated with tiki masks and outrigger canoes. They had a restaurant called the Kon Tiki Supper Club, which had the traditional Polynesian floor shows such as hula and fire knife dance, and there was also a separate lounge. In November 1978 a fire gutted the restaurant and lounge, and it remained closed until May 1979 when it became the Beachcomber Resort, run by Resort Inns of America, who decided to change the bar/restaurant area into a German Beer Hall complete with an oom-pah-pah band.