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''Guests became family'' at the Hotel Rellim, which stood on St. Pete Beach for 40 years.
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2003
ST. PETE BEACH -- To Jews barred from area resorts and restaurants in the 1940s, there was always the Hotel Rellim.
"This was a major reason Dad opened the hotel," said Irwin Miller. "The beaches needed to be for everyone."
In 1941, J.L. Miller established the Rellim on St. Pete Beach. He offered food, relaxation and entertainment to Jewish guests for 15 years, eventually adding villas to the resort. After J.L.'s death, his family ran the resort for another 25 years.
"It was something that you don't see today," said Jay Miller, J.L.'s grandson, "a small resort that offered the perks and luxuries of a large resort."
Said Jerome Gilbert, 80, a frequent guest: "The Rellim provided the Jewish community with camaraderie and the fine social aspect of life."
Born in northern Poland about 1890, Jacob L. Miller immigrated to Ellis Island as a teen. He came to St. Petersburg about 1925 with limited education and established a dry goods store at Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street and Third Avenue N.
In 1928, J.L. helped establish Temple Beth-El. "His family was integral in founding the congregation," said Jay Kaminsky, 45, the temple's executive director. The congregation, now at 400 Pasadena Ave. S, originally met at 763 Arlington Ave.
J.L. purchased land at 3200 Gulf Blvd. from Don Cesar builder Thomas Rowe in 1940 and built his haven for Jewish guests, the Hotel Rellim -- Miller spelled backward. "We used to kid about taking a towel and turning it backwards and you'd have our name," said Irwin Miller, 77.
Business waned after the Dec. 15, 1941, opening of the two-story hotel, designed by architects Blanchard Jolly and William Harvard. "He struggled," Irwin Miller said of his father, who charged about $24 a night for two guests. "He knew very little about the hotel business."
Within a year, J.L. had leased the 44-room concern to a cruise ship operator, who converted the Rellim into an American Plan hotel, which offered lodging and three meals a day for one price.
"Ah, the old-fashioned ambience of the American Plan with its numerous whims, which the Millers catered to," said Joel Burki, 54, a 13-year employee of the Rellim and once the hotel's concierge.
In 1948, Irwin Miller married. That same year, on property purchased for about $30,000 directly across Gulf Boulevard, J.L. constructed eight three-room villas. "The villas made everything a much more complete resort," Irwin Miller said. "We were also (in the early 1950s) the first hotel to offer golf at the Pasadena Golf Course to our guests."
At age 66 in 1956, J.L. died of kidney failure. Irwin Miller assumed operation of the Rellim; his wife, Sonya, directed the entertainment. "We tried to keep the guests busy," said Sonya, who with Irwin helped found Menorah Manor nursing home in 1985 and in 1999 received the Yitzhak Rabin Award for community service from the Pinellas County Jewish Foundation.
Rellim guests enjoyed dances, movies, bingo and dinners flavored by strolling violinists. They were taken on trips to antique shows and dog races. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, parties featured patrons attired in French, Egyptian or Polynesian garb, depending on the monthly event's premise.
"Guests could come to the Rellim and never leave," Jay Miller, 45, said of the hotel that opened from Dec. 15 to April 1 and operated as a beach club in the summer. "Guests became family. It was their home. That's what brought them back year after year."
The Rellim-Tellim, a weekly newsletter produced by Sonya for her "Rellimites," highlighted upcoming events. "For us, it was like being on a constant vacation," said Howard Miller, 52, Irving and Sonya Miller's first child. Realtor and beach historian Frank T. Hurley Jr., 78, said: "The Rellim had a great clientele and an excellent reputation. Very much a credit to the industry."
In November 1980, when daily rates were $100 for two guests, Irwin Miller decided to sell the landmark. Aging regular guests added to the hotel's responsibility, he said. Younger travelers sought just brief stays.
The deal went through in 1981; the Rellim fell, and the Marina Bay Condominiums rose in its place.
"I felt sad," said Jan Sher, 50, another of Irwin Miller's three children. "It was idyllic strolling past the villas, like going to a resort in the Catskills. I wondered what next year was going to be like."
Said Sonya Miller: "They brought some of the hotel's fixtures to our yard. It was like undressing a beautiful lady."
-- Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com.