Remembering The Tradewinds

From the Jazz Age to the Space Age Indialantic’s iconic feature was the Tradewinds Hotel and Club. On Sunday, April 6th, some hundred people gathered at Indialantic town hall for “Remembering the Tradewinds” an historical program organized by the Indialantic Heritage Committee.

A panel of speakers, whose families were intimately connected with the Tradewinds Hotel and Club, brought the history of the long-vanished resort that once defined Indialantic-by-the-Sea to vivid life. Their stories were enhanced by displays of vintage historical promotional materials, site plans, and artifacts, some of which can be seen on this website.

Attendees included community members who recalled cotillions and holiday parties, a lively bar scene, swimming lessons in the pool, and golf on the 9-hole course in back of the hotel. Others at the event were relative newcomers whose homes are in the Tradewinds Terrace development, built on eight acres of the former forty-acre site after the hotel was razed in the early 1980s.

The grand Mediterranean style hotel attracted the rich and famous in the 1920’s and ‘30s, military officers and space scientists in the 1950s and ‘60s, as well as seasonal visitors fleeing northern winters throughout the decades. Cardinals and countesses, auto executives and astronauts enjoyed the resort’s amenities and the oceanfront facilities of the nearby Indialantic Casino (Bahama Beach Club). The Tradewinds also served as a social hub for the community well into the 1960s.

The panelists who participated in “Remembering the Tradewinds” are all Indialantic residents were:

Dan Abbott, grandson of Karl P. Abbott, who operated the hotel in the 1940’s and in 1944 bought the Indialantic Casino, changing the name to the Bahama Beach Club.

Bob Doherty, grandson of Thomas Doherty, who was part of a group that purchased the resort in the early 1950’s. Doherty managed the Tradewinds, which boasted a dozen cottages, and lived on the property with his family.

Marcia Hoskins Littlejohn, granddaughter of Ernest Kouwen-Hoven, who in 1916 purchased and platted one square mile on the barrier island east of Melbourne naming it Indialantic-by-the Sea. He constructed the first bridge connecting Melbourne to the barrier island, opening the area up to development.

Dian Hoskins Milligan, granddaughter of Ernest Kouwen-Hoven.

Cindy Earp served as moderator.

Hope you enjoy the unedited video from the standing room only presentation.