Is the Don CeSar Hotel Haunted? Tampa Bay's Pink Palace

Is the Don CeSar haunted? According to hotel lore, yes: staff have long told stories of builder Thomas Rowe still walking the halls of his pink beachfront palace, sometimes hand in hand with a lost love. The legend is famous. The real history behind it is just as interesting, and a little more surprising.

First, a quick location note. The Don CeSar isn't in the city of Tampa itself. It sits on the Gulf at St. Pete Beach, roughly 30 miles from downtown Tampa, and it's one of the best-known landmarks in the whole Tampa Bay area.

The history of the Don CeSar

Thomas Rowe came to Florida in the early 1920s, during the land boom. He bought 80 acres on the barrier island for $100,000 and set out to build a grand hotel. Indianapolis architect Henry Dupont drew the original plans, though Rowe and contractor Carlton Beard finished the work after Dupont left the project.

The design blended Mediterranean and Moorish styles, topped with red tile and bell towers, and painted a soft coral pink. Rowe named it after Don César de Bazan, the dashing hero of the opera Maritana. It ran far over budget, costing well over $1 million.

The Don CeSar opened on January 16, 1928, and became a playground for the wealthy in the last gasp of the Jazz Age. During the Depression, the New York Yankees stayed there for spring training.

Rowe didn't just build the hotel. He lived in it, in rooms on the first floor. On May 2, 1940, he suffered a heart attack in the lobby, and he died a few days later. That detail matters for what came next.

From military hospital to near-demolition

After Rowe's death, his wife Mary inherited the hotel. In 1942 the U.S. Army bought it and turned it into a military hospital, and later a convalescent center for the Army Air Corps. After the war, it became a Veterans Administration regional office for about two decades.

The VA moved out in the late 1960s, and the grand old building sat vacant. The federal government planned to tear it down. Locals fought back, the government sold it instead, and after a major renovation the Don CeSar reopened as a hotel in November 1973. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The Don CeSar ghost story

The most famous Don CeSar ghost story is a love story. As the legend goes, a young Thomas Rowe fell for an opera singer named Lucinda while studying in Europe. Her parents forbade the match, and the letters he sent her came back unopened. Years later, after her death, he supposedly received a final note promising she would wait for him at the fountain where they'd met.

In the story, Rowe built the Don CeSar as a tribute to her, complete with a lobby fountain modeled on the one from their courtship. Hotel employees have described seeing a couple in old-fashioned clothes walking hand in hand on the grounds before vanishing.

Other stories focus on Rowe alone. Since he collapsed in the lobby and died in the hotel he loved, it's said he never really checked out. Some say he still makes the rounds of his old hotel. One former employee from the 1970s even recalled staff talking about "the ghost of the 5th floor."

Legend versus fact

Here's the twist: historians who've dug into the Lucinda story haven't found her. Opera records and newspaper reviews show no singer by that name, and the tale appears to trace back to the hotel's own promotional material. Rowe was a married man, and his wife Mary inherited the property when he died.

What is documented is that Rowe lived in the hotel, fell ill in its lobby and died there. That's more than enough to explain why people feel his presence. A man poured his life into a building, and it outlived him by nearly a century. If anyone were going to haunt the Pink Palace, it would be him.

Visiting the Don CeSar today

The Don CeSar is an operating luxury resort at 3400 Gulf Boulevard in St. Pete Beach. It's a member of Historic Hotels of America. Hurricane Helene caused serious damage to its ground floor in 2024, and the hotel reopened in 2025 after extensive repairs.

Because it's a working hotel, be respectful of guests if you stop by. Dining or having a drink on site is the easiest way to soak in the atmosphere, and the pink facade at sunset is worth the drive across the bay on its own.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Don CeSar hotel haunted?

It has a well-known ghost legend. Staff and guests have reported seeing a figure believed to be builder Thomas Rowe, sometimes with a woman. The romantic backstory isn't supported by records, but Rowe really did live and die at the hotel.

Is the Don CeSar in Tampa?

Not exactly. It's in St. Pete Beach in Pinellas County, part of the greater Tampa Bay area, well under an hour's drive from downtown Tampa without traffic.

Who is the ghost of the Don CeSar?

Most stories point to Thomas Rowe, who built the hotel and died there in 1940. Some versions add his legendary lost love, Lucinda.

Why is the Don CeSar called the Pink Palace?

Rowe had it painted a distinctive coral pink when it opened in 1928, and the color has been its signature ever since.

Tampa Bay's ghost stories don't stop at the beach. For more haunted history, local legends and a few good drinks along the way, join a Nightly Spirits ghost tour in Tampa.