New Lady In Town Celebration – Saturday, April 13th 11 am – 2 pm
Built by Thomas Rowe, the Don Cesar opened as a resort in 1928, named after Don Cesar de Bazan, the hero of William V. Wallace’s opera Maritana. The Don Vista Building just south of the resort was Rowe’s residence during construction. Rowe died in his hotel suite in 1940. The resort was sold to the US government in 1942, who owned the famous landmark until 1969, when abandoned as obsolete.
The property soon became an eyesore on the island and was headed toward demolition. A citizens’ committee was formed and a “Save the Don” effort, headed by June Hurley-Young was launched.
Finally, in 1972, the government sold it to the cty of St. Pete Beach, which, in turn, quickly sold it to William Bowman, a hotel entrepreneur, for $460,000. In order for Bowman to receive permission to construct the overpass and redo the hotel entrance, he relinquished the Don Vista property directly to the south of the main hotel. This is the Don Vista Community Center which is owned by the city. It was put on the National Historic Register in 1975, becoming an official historic landmark. The Don Vista Building houses the Suntan Art Center, where local artists teach, exhibit and market their respective mediums that include oil, acrylic, water color, mixed media, fused glass, and bronze sculpture. Award winning local artificers include the likes of: Libit Jones, Patricia Chase, Joan Clear, GS “Gator” Duren, Martha Gipson, Danee Kinzel, Gene Norris, Linda Swindall, David Smith, Joyce Van Horn, and Laurie Walker.
Even the most casual observer has noticed a strong artistic renaissance occurring throughout Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area at large and Suntan is right in the middle of it. The 55-year-old community art center recently issued a call for artists and is upgrading its gallery to feature carefully juried new local talent. It is becoming increasing clear that Suntan is living up to the tradition of excellence at this famous local historical landmark. Suntan is one of the only local fine art galleries where you can actually meet the artist working in the gallery.
Go to www.Suntanart.com to see the monthly gallery schedule and come out and meet the featured local artists at the: Join Suntan Art Center, 3300 Pass-A-Grille Way, St Pete Beach | FL | 33706 727.367.3818 | suntanart.org
Meet St. Pete Beach’s Newest Landmark- Uli the Mermaid Mailbox
With a green natural stone base weighing 483 pounds and about 80 pounds of recycled copper building materials that have been pounded and brazed together to form the mermaid.
The beautiful green stone is formally known as amazonite. The natural stone base has most rough edges removed and is highly polished to highlight the stone’s natural beauty. “Uli the Mermaid” Uli is a baby name of German origins, meaning “mistress of all” or the Indonesian origin means “Beauty”. The Sea King Neptune gave Uli the octopus a magic belt that keeps her upper torso remaining in human form. The Sea King gave this magic belt to Uli so she would communicate displeasure to humankind over all of the plastics and pollution in our oceans – upon the loss of the magic belt she will revert back into her original octopus form. When one looks closely, Uli is pouting and she is crying. Uli is very upset. She wants all the humankind to be better caretakers – for if ocean life fails the future of the world as we now enjoy it is condemned.
The Recreational Director and artist met to pin down a location that is on the north side of the Don Vista Building adjacent to the Gallery and visible to passing traffic. Uli will become a recognized landmark forever associated with St. Pete Beach and the Don Vista Building. The artist loans the sculpture to the City as long as art education continues at Don Vista, however, should the City elect to make Uli its’ official mascot, the loan shall extend perpetually. The world would be a dreadfully boring place without the visual arts. It is sincerely hoped that the City of St. Pete Beach together with the Don Vista Cultural Arts Center will reap positive benefits from Uli’s visual representation and her message.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Gary S. “Gator” Duren
Born in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida, grew up in Bahama Shores when most of the roads on the “Point” were either paved in brick, chert in asphalt or crushed shell from Tampa Bay. Sportsman and outdoor enthusiast.
Retired. Inventor-U.S. Patents Re. 35,532, 5,971,014, national safety advocate and mechanical engineer founded Code Compliance, Inc., in 1992 to provide building code and standards consulting services to the industry. A 25-year + member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) A112 Standards Committee for
Plumbing Materials and Equipment and appointed as Charter Member of the Florida Building Commission Plumbing Technical Advisory Committee, by Governor Lawton Chiles. Began career as a Partner/VP of LW Duren Sales Agency, Inc. promoting manufactured and engineered plumbing products to the Florida wholesale plumbing industry.
A life long passionate supporter of the arts who loves music and sculpture, principal instruments for over 50 years are piano and saxophone, since retiring have experimented with and completed works in natural and faux stone, wood, ferrous and non-ferrous metal mediums.
- Hardwood “presentation-grade” custom butcher block cutting boards utilizing game hunter-provided accents such as antler, bone/ivory, teeth/claw inlays;
- Design-build outdoor custom kitchens incorporating natural stone, wood and engineered tile and masonry structural components, for the outdoor types;
- Design-build tile and natural stone structures and mosaics pavements;
- Bronze nature, wildlife and sea-life sculptures utilizing castings, forgings and brazing techniques and handcrafted glass features;
- Member of the Suntan Art Center actively supporting its aims, goals and missions.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. – Gary S. “Gator” Duren | garygogator@gmail.com