Historic Seahorse Café on Pass-a-Grille Beach ravaged by storms

Owners plan to rebuild historic Seahorse Cafe

Lloyd Sowers reports.

PASS-A-GRILLE BEACH, Fla. - The storm-ravaged ruins of the iconic Seahorse Café in Pass-a-Grille is not a pretty picture.

Still, Jack and Connie Rupprecht took their cameras out to photograph what was left of their favorite breakfast spot. They remember spending dozens of mornings there.

"Bacon eggs, omelets, sometimes we'd eat on the patio," remembered Jack.

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The Seahorse looks like it was hit by a bomb. Ironically, it was the real bombing of Pearl Harbor that sent the U.S. GI's to war and when tourism shut down, Florida leaders invited the military here to train.

"They said 'listen, we have everything you need. We've got hundreds of thousands of empty hotel rooms restaurants and cafeterias. We have beaches where you can practice amphibius landings, all kinds of stuff,'" said Rui Farias of the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

The Vinoy Hotel became officers’ quarters for the Army Air Corp. The Don Cesar Hotel became a military hospital and the GI's became good customers at places like the Seahorse and years ago the owner of the Mastry's Bar, one of the oldest in St. Pete, talked about those days.

"He told me that Mastry's made more money in that two or two and a half years the soldiers were here compared to the next 20 years," said Farias. "A lot of places like Mastry's, like the Seahorse, these are places the soldiers went and hung out."

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They liked it so much that many GI's returned to the area. Many in the Tampa Bay area are descended from them. Imagine being your grandpa from Kansas getting sent to St. Petersburg or Tampa in 1942.

"In January, it's 75 degrees, you're drinking a beer on Spa Beach. You survive the war; you go back to Kansas and it's 17 degrees. How long are you going to stay in Kansas?" laughed Farias.

Many headed right back the the Bay Area. It was a huge factor in our area's growth.

World War II introduced Florida to the United States. Unfortunately, the Seahorse, a favorite of the GI's, suffered major damage, but the owners said the historical designation could make it easier for them to rebuild.

Jack and Connie would like that.

"I sure hope they come back," said Jack.

Just as the GI's came back for the weather, the bars and the Seahorse.

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