Casa Ybel Sanibel Island Resort
Before the Casa Marina hotel was built, it was almost destroyed by the Key West Category four hurricane of 1919 where it sustained more than two million dollars of construction damage. Perhaps that early seasonal catestrophe set a precedent because the resort, although magnificent, never seems to quite live up to its own expectations or advertisements.
The Casa Marina Resort was completed in 1920 and managed by Louis Schutt who moved from the Long Key Fishing Camp for the job. Situated a half mile from the southern-most point in the United States, on 1500 Reynolds Street, in Key West, Florida, the cream-colored bastion of a Southern era offers a unique get away and a world of its own. Famed playwright, Tennessee Williams, used to live in a modest adjoining suburb a few blocks away. Yet, it is far from a paradise, and it never has been.