Pass-a-Grille Beach

Everyone here has a favorite get-away-and-think beach spot. For one friend, it’s an isolated dog-beach where owners and pets can run and mingle. For another, it’s a sandbar off Fort Desoto where, at low tide, one can walk out to an island and, at high tide, swim back. For me, it’s down at Pass-a-Grille Beach, a tiny spit of land that’s just south of the Don Cesar, a giant pink hotel from the 1920s.

A pink hotel? Yes, and there’s a reason. It’s not just because it reminds you of flamingos—it does do that—it’s because it fits the sky and water. Have you ever seen those horrid oil paintings sold by the cartload at flea markets that are made for the wall of your rattan furnished beach condo? They’re a seemingly unnatural mixture of pastel pinks, greens, purples, blues, and whites. Well, the truth is that mix isn’t unnatural; those are the actual colors you see around here at sunrise and sunset. I remember being at the Frank Loyd Wright designed Van Wezel Hall down in Sarasota. It’s a purple building that almost disappears when Florida’s sunset palette colors the landscape.

So, when I go to Pass-a-Grille, I try to arrive just before the change from night to day, or day to night, so I can nurse a cup of coffee and think while sitting in a pink Adirondack chair or walking barefoot in the cool wet sand. For me, the best time is at dawn before most folks are awake. This particular beach, however, is almost never too busy so any time will do fine.

Pass-a-Grille Beach is presided over by the Hurricane Lounge. What was once a tiny beach snack shack grew and grew and became the majestic place it now is. Honestly, I preferred it as a shack, but the current incarnation is OK. I highly recommend the view from the rooftop dining area.

Since Pass-a-Grille is on a tiny peninsula hanging down from St. Pete Beach, there’s a Gulf side on the west, and–on the east side– a back bay area where the fisherman hang out. The Gulf side is beach and the back bay side is seawall (no beach) which makes for great fishing right off the wall for anglers of all ages.

Part of the charm of Pass-a-Grille is that all of the rental units are three or four floors at most. The road that circles the peninsula separates the dwellings from the water and beach. Having this large setback makes for a feeling of spaciousness. It makes you think of Fire Island or Provincetown. Some Gulf coast shores don’t seem to have shells after high tide any more. Not so Pass-a-Grille. There are plenty of small conchs, sand dollars, and scallop shells…so, take along a bread sack to carry home your loot.

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Tagged as: beaches, Florida, St. Petersburg