NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Could New Port Richey, Florida have rivaled Hollywood?
About 100 years ago, one man thought so.
His name was George Sims, and he envisioned New Port Richey as homebase for wealthy entertainers and athletes, luring them to a city he wanted to outfit with golf courses and movie studios. Sims bought 30,000 acres of land and started to develop the area.
“He promoted it to his rich friends and got a lot of them to move down here,” said Paul Herman, digital media archivist with the West Pasco Historical Society. “They were going to produce movies and turn it into the ‘Hollywood of the East.’”
Don’t scoff. Sims concocted this idea in the early 1920s. Back then, commercial flight had barely taken off. For actors based in New York, Sims had connections in Great Neck, N.Y., a trip to make a movie in Hollywood required a cross-country train ride. The allure of a shorter trek to Florida was real.
Sims’ idea did attract two legends of the era. Actor Thomas Meighan, one of the highest-paid actors of the silent film era, built a house in New Port Richey. Legendary golfer Gene Sarazen did too.
Then work began on the city to attract even more A-listers.
A theater, named after Meighan, opened in 1926. A fancy hotel, The Hacienda Hotel, opened in 1927. A golf course soon followed.
Historian Mario Caruso, president of the West Pasco Historical Society, said he feels like the idea could have had a future, if not for the nationwide economic calamity that struck in the late 1920s.
“Unfortunately, 1929, the Great Depression, was the nail in the coffin for Hollywood of the East,” Caruso said.
The theater in New Port Richey survived. It’s still there. The Hacienda Hotel also survived. It’s still there too.
But by the time the Depression and World War II were over, the dream of turning New Port Richey into Hollywood’s rival had died.
It was never revived.
No major studio picture was ever shot in the city.
Jeff Butera
Source link