By Deb Carson
Charles Redington had a vision in 1935, before there were many homes or condos on North Redington Beach. Inspired by Miami Beach as a popular tourist destination, Redington wanted to create a similar hotspot on Pinellas County’s stunning Gulf Beaches. Redington relocated from Indiana and built a house in North Madeira Beach. In 1936, he opened the Tides Hotel and Bath Club on 1,700 feet of beach. It was the first major surfside tourist development in the area since the Don Cesar opened in Pass-A-Grille a decade earlier.
By the time North Redington Beach became incorporated in 1953, the Tides Hotel and Bath Club was THE place to see and be seen. Charles Redington had already dredged Boca Ciega Bay across Gulf Boulevard from the Tides to create fingers for Bath Club Estates, a haven then – and now – for luxury homes.
In its heyday, The Tides attracted well-heeled guests, including celebrities such as Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. In his book Vintage St. Pete: The Golden Age of Tourism – and More, Bill DeYoung says “during their eight-day stay, DiMaggio and Monroe dined often in the Tides’ on-site restaurant, and at the [nearby] Wine Cellar, also a favorite haunt for visiting Yankee players.”
Fading glory and economic woes eventually befell The Tides by the early 1990s, and in 1995, developers bought and razed the property. In its place was built the new Tides Beach Club with 200 luxury condominiums that stands today across 10 glittering beachfront acres. The Bath Club complex was also sold and replaced by a luxury townhome community on the banks of Boca Ciega Bay.
The quaint Bath Club bungalows built directly across Gulf Boulevard from both the original and current Tides beachfront property were sold and became the Park Circle B & B in 1999. In recent years, the bungalows have sold to private owners, many of whom now boast of modern interiors and beachy-toned exteriors that have proudly retained their historic bones and aesthetic.