ST. PETE BEACH

Its guests have ranged from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Jerry Garcia. It was born as a hotel during the Roaring Twenties, became an Army hospital during the 1940s and narrowly dodged the wrecking ball in the '70s before finally being restored to its former glory.

So it was no wonder the Loews Don CeSar Hotel was recently named "Best Historic Hotel" in the country for its size category by the Historic Hotels of America organization.

The 10-story resort has played host to famous authors, journalists, musicians and even at least one Nobel Peace Prize winner among its 277 rooms. Nicknamed the Pink Palace, it has undergone millions of dollars worth of updates since the hotel's opening in 1928 (construction began in 1926), fusing contemporary design with the charm of its old architectural features.

Loews announced recently it was pouring $2 million into a renovation of its beachside bar, formerly named Sunsets. It will now be named the Rowe Bar, in honor of its founder, Thomas Rowe, who originally purchased the land where the Don is located for $100,000 in 1919.

"At the age of 42, Mr. Rowe had health problems like asthma while he was living in Virginia, so his doctor told him, 'If you want to live to be a ripe old age, Thomas, you need to move to a southern climate,' and that's what brought him to St. Petersburg," Susan Owen, a concierge with the hotel, said recently. "Being a real estate developer, he set out looking for good land prospects in the area as soon as he got here."

Rowe named his creation after the main character in William Vincent Wallace's opera, Maritana.

The hotel weathered the Great Depression with difficulty, according to Owen. In 1940, just prior to America's foray into World War II, Rowe collapsed in the lobby from a heart attack. Rowe refused to leave the hotel and was treated around the clock in a room on the first floor, where he died.. (Rumors of his ghost roaming the halls and rooms have persisted ever since, according to Owen.)

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, "telegrams poured in with cancellations for the coming season and within weeks 50 percent of reservations were cancelled," according to the book the Don Ce-Sar Story, published in 1974 by local historian June Hurley Young.

After occupancy plummeted in 1941, the hotel's management went through a period of change.

The U.S. Army bought it for $450,000, according to Hurley Young's book. The Pink Palace became a hospital for recovering servicemen for a couple of decades until the facility fell into disrepair, ultimately being closed.

According to Owen, it became known as "the world's largest pigeon coop," with homeless people using the building to sleep in, until another hotelier named William Bowman Jr. "saved it from being torn down within a week's time in 1971." By 1972 he had the hotel reopened and ready for guests again, Owen said.

Since then, the hotel has had several updates: another outdoor pool was added; chandeliers were replaced in the main lobby, which got contemporary furniture; and new shops were opened. Loews, which took over ownership of the hotel 12 years ago, along with Prudential Insurance, is preparing to spend millions more on new carpeting.

The jet-setters who have stayed at the hotel since it was brought back from the dead include a who's who of A-listers: Lauren Bacall, Carol Burnett, Tim Burton, Bryan Cranston, the Bush family, the Who, and as Owen, the concierge, described it, "(rock band) Kiss checked in and I couldn't tell who they were at first because they were dressed in suits and ties."

"Loews owns 23 hotels, but from the visibility standpoint for the Loews brand, this is the most iconic," said Jeff Abbaticchio, the director of public relations at the Don.

The guests tend to come back more than once. Standing poolside during a recent day was a couple from Lincoln, Neb.: Tom McBride, 65, a former U.S. Air Force security policeman, and his wife, Darcy, 64, a teacher.

"In the last 12 years, we've been here eight times," Darcy said. "We came here for our 40th wedding anniversary and our son will be getting married here next summer."

"They've maintained the history, but have also added touches of modernity to it, so it's got everything you want, really," said her husband. "It's a treat we give ourselves every year during winter from Nebraska. I think the temperature back in Lincoln today is 32 degrees."