1675-1 Biltmore Terrace Mi ami Daily A1e7va
April 10,1966
i j IN THE BAR, drinking sodas,
are Daryl Witmer, 14, and his ��. ,
sister Gina, 6: gone are the days n g
j j when Satista's boys passed d •4.
j the afternoons i7nnaersed :Tr _
• €
in daiquiris. - , • z
I THE GOOD THAT MEN DO lives after them, and the whole- s a "' � " .
some atmosphere which Dr. Ralph W. Mitchell created at se 4,t a :` > ,0� x ;
lthe Biltmore Terrace Hotel will continue. Dr. Mitchell, who died ,. s. i'.-'
suddenly two weeks ago, had pioneered the policy of running a .s.�� �
Miami Beach hotel without sale of liquor, skimpy-costumed chorus ` ` , i
girls and risque comedians. _ g
My last visit to the Biltmore Terrace, at 87th Street and
Collins Avenue, was late in 1959 when Fulgencio Batista took it &
1 on the lam as Fidel Castro marched on Havana. Batista cohorts �`<
among them mobsters and gamblers, had fronted for the pur ,,
chase of the 300 room hotel and the penthouse high atop the .,.
thotel was to be a Batista hideout. a .
E I went there to review a Latin-type show. There were flamencoi*,a
and cha-cha dancers, grimacing comics who leered at the girls on4440,-1.4.,),,,,..„..,,..„,.‘'
r �,.
stage and cracked double entendre jokes. Bottles of booze were on -° ,1
the tables and Batista's men were livin it u
1 g p
At the bar there were some "lonesome" girls on the alert -+
for a "lonely" guy who'd buy them a drink. Sleek men I had seen , _ t
- in the Havana casinos moved around quietly. So did a mobster " ��
1 gambler I also had met in Havana when he was carrying heavy �' i i
• artillery in a shoulder holster and had two armed thugs around ,
him for a bodyguard. That was the Biltmore Terrace in 1959; „
' the style carried into the early part of 1960.
+ Then the hotel went into bankruptcy, doors were locked and 1 'r
t Batista's disciples vanished. It was the closing chapter in the old
i Biltmore Terrace, which had rough going ever since it was built
: in 1952. It had changed hands several times, and creditors were
1 banging on the doors. Trouble was constant.
Two years later — in 1962 — _
the golden rays from the heav- The
.
ens began to shine on the hotel. Resort Hotel
New owners took over. They
were A. Harold Anderson and Without booze And . Floozies
Paul Brandel,of Chicago. Bran-
del is an attorney and Ander-
son president of a company ,
which earned its profits from <. been a member of Billy Gra-
engineering, building, farming _ail ham's evangelistic team for 10
and banking. Both men wereyears and knew his way around.
travelers and felt the need for `: A chapel was set up where he
a place where a family could .rig' l 'I' held daily morning services that
spend a restful vacation without ' were nondenomenational. After
being exposed to booze and ,-- too N t; services the chapel was a place
cheap entertainment. kiiti: p for meditation and it was not
The figured kind of at- �: uncommon to see a tourist sit-
mos her ig re d this created with- ',,4 1€ ting there for a few moments
p '1 r of solitude and self-inventory.
out turning the hotel into a I `t,
church or a Sunday School. If fii j i}= ' Dr- Mitchell leaned heavily on
guests wanted to visit a sal C l=
�. � ' �� .i uj a° � •, culture. During the winter sea-
1 a nightclub, go to the horse or t Q y. son he brought in lecturers and
dog tracks or jai-alai — that ' •• ;' grand opera singers,often mem-
was their business. But when = t; 4+ bers of the Metropolitan.
they returned to the Biltmore i' +� A College choirs were booked.
Terrace, they would find the 1R 4, There's recreation for children
place quiet and relaxing. W . :Asp• " and adults. Movies are shown
THE BILTMORE, on the ocean at but they must be the right kind.
The hotel didn't renew its liq- 87th Street, bills itself as a family They're family pictures, some
uor license. In the old days hotel, claiins it isn't the least with a spiritual flavor.
red-jacketed bartenders poured bit dull.
scotch and vodka, bourbon and Has a radical departure from
blends. Cocktail waitresses in the usual format of resort hotel
long lace stockings, short skirts is now a'snack place where soft sandwiches and pie. life paid off? It's nearing the
and low blouses worked at the drinks, milk shakes and banana A n d e r s o n and Brandel break-even point. Three years
I tables. You don't find any of splits are served. Pretzels and brought in Dr. Mitchell, Scotch- ago when the plan was started
that today in this hotel. The bar salted nuts have given way to born and a dynamo. He had the hotel operated at a loss.