The Bilmar

I can't stand Bill Maher, but I love the Bilmar.

That's the Bilmar Beach Resort, right next door to the Thunderbird in St. Pete's Beach. Another fine old relic from the past that somehow still stands today, the Bilmar is a hip, swingin' and affordable place even into the 21st century.

But it's the Bilmar of another time that I'd surely love to experience, when it apparently had a restaurant and nightclub across the street called Kings Inn, complete with swing big-band music.

Though its gaudy yellow and tan stripe paint job screams retro, apparently this is a relatively new innovation. An old postcard from the early 1970s shows the inner walls painted yellow but the outer façade merely a dull gray.