Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 206

2L Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, Feb. 28, 1982 ljjfX' vjcr It 1 1 1 linnnmnft. feltOrLltzv iW The beginning of a great tradition: The Creat Southern Hotel as it appeared not long after it was built 63 years ago. mm V'H! SOUTHERN ft 'i I 5 1 Urn A grand hotel is again great and Southern To Eloina Solowsky, The Great Southern Hotel on Hollywood's Young Circle is an aging Southern belle. The hotel co-manager calls the place "the old girl," as in, "We wanted to keep the old girl looking the way she always has." Two and half years ago, when Mrs.

Solowsky and Robert Schwarz took over the lease for the landmark, the old girl was showing her age. The new management added a little rouge and lipstick paint and polish. For years, the Great Southern opened in November and closed in April. The same folks came down year after year. They got to know each other and looked forward to seeing each other.

"Just like family," Mrs. Solowsky says. "That's what an evening in our lobby is like a home away from home." Now, some of those snowbirds have roosted in the Great Southern and stay all year. Others still make their annual pilgrimmage. Things are a little more modern these days, but some things don't change.

Like the barber he's been there about 30 years. And the lady who sells fruit she's been there 22 years. And the old girl herself she's 63 and going strong. HOTEL i Et stats 1 i i i i.i The Great Southern Hotel is shown as it is today. Staf photos by WALTER MICHOT if I air Jl .11.

.11 fI 1 S'll. ar fi Za0iZS i ww I I I'iV I 1 Jy imtiiull Great Southern Hotel co-manager Eloina Solowsky checks guest. Guest Eleanor Williams has been coming to hotel for 10 years. ft I it I l( I 1 Kt I II 1 1 it I'm 0 ftp 1 A ni i Willi i 4 "If I1 ll i 5 Ma(d Willie Mae Leopard makes up a bed as she cleans a room at 'the old girl' hotel. The hotel staircase, torj has received a coat of pWtnt and polish..