His long career included leading the Tides Hotel and Bath Club, once known as a hub for parties and stars.
By CRAIG BASSE
Published January 18, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Phil Dross, who helped usher an ailing Tides Hotel and Bath Club into a golden age, has died at 86.
Mr. Dross, who also managed the McCarthy and Princess Martha hotels in downtown St. Petersburg and the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa in St. Pete Beach, died Tuesday (Jan. 6, 2004) at Twin Lakes Nursing Center in Burlington, N.C. He suffered from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
For almost two decades, ending in 1965, he ran the Tides in North Redington Beach, dishing up bingo games, Saturday dances and beach cookouts.
"I like people, and liking people is what the hotel business is all about," Mr. Dross said in the twilight of his long career.
He was in charge during the Bath Club's heyday. With a membership reaching 3,000, there was a long waiting list to join the social hub for Tampa and St. Petersburg.
A mecca for young and old, it became the scene of top social functions of St. Petersburg, with wedding receptions and debutante parties. Dragons and Squires held functions there, and it also drew Merrymakers and Gasparilla members from Tampa.
"Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Alfred Hitchcock, Paul Harvey, Morgan Beatty, Buster Crabbe, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra - they all stayed there," Mr. Dross recalled in 1993.
He left the Tides in 1965 to manage the Princess Martha in downtown St. Petersburg. When that hotel began to decline, he took over at the Don CeSar for its reopening after renovations in 1974. He became manager of the 65-room McCarthy, now the Bay Park Arms, in 1986.
He retired in 1992, with great apprehension.
"I'm scared, to tell you the truth," he said. "I don't know what I'll do with myself. I just can't imagine not working for a living. "
As part of St. Petersburg hotel life, he remembered the annual start of "the season," an event that stirred hearts. Each Nov. 1 found hotel workers scurrying to meet trains. Streets clogged as car doors flew open and porters hustled to unload luggage.
"We were housecleaning a month before opening," Mr. Dross recalled. "Then the staff came in. When I came in '48, everything closed in the summer."
Well-versed in the hotel business, Mr. Dross came to the St. Petersburg area to take over the Tides, which was built in 1936. He was employed by Charles Alberding, who the previous year had bought the Tides, the Vinoy and the Soreno.
He was born in Meridian, Miss., where his family owned a hotel. He got his early training in the business by working as a kitchen helper, bellhop and elevator operator.
After World War II service flying missions over northern Africa, he joined the Alsonett Hotel chain and became its youngest manager, heading a hotel in McAlester, Okla.
His first wife, Pauline "Polly," died in 1979. Survivors include his wife, Eleanor Taliaferro; two daughters, Mary Catherine Schock, Denver, and Polly Cirrelda Dross, Springfield, Mo.; a son, C. Drane, St. Petersburg; and four grandchildren, Matthew Dross, Amanda Dross, Suzy Schock and Ricky Schock.
A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. March 26 at Cathedral Church of St. Peter, 140 Fourth St. N. McClure Funeral Service of Burlington, N.C., is in charge.
The family suggests donations to the St. Petersburg Historical Society and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.
- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.
