If we’d stayed more nights, we would have tried some other highly rated spots all within walking distance of The Hacienda.A New Port Richey landmark that offers a full Italian menu, hand tossed New York style pizza, a gluten-free menu and a growing selection of craft beers. Our second dinner was outdoors across the street from the Hacienda at Backdraughts Pizza, a family owned spot with excellent wood-fire pizza and craft beer, adjacent to a draft brewery, Infusion Brewing Company. We had a great dinner at a sidewalk table at The Social, oblivious to the lively bar scene and rooftop bar for which the place is known. The downtown is now home to several good restaurants. The theater is still in use and it looks remarkably like its historic photos. The first movie shows was Meighan’s “The New Klondike,” a story set during Florida’s 1920s land boom. One of the oldest buildings is the Thomas Meighan Theatre, named for the silent-movie star who built a large winter home in New Port Richey. Main Street and intersecting Grand Avenue are home to several restored historic buildings. He now operates them both.ĭowntown New Port Richey has preserved some historic buildings. Gunderson was the ideal choice – a few years earlier he had purchased and refurbished another grand hotel that had fallen on hard times – the 1883 Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora. They formed Friends of the Hacienda and Historic New Port Richey and the hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 during its period of decline.Įventually a successful hotelier, Jim Gunderson, took on the multi-year renovation project working with some state grants in an agreement with the city, which owned the property since 2004. (Photo: Bonnie Gross) The Hacienda Hotel is reborn The view from the second floor public balcony at the Hacienda Hotel. But then several decades of decline followed, with the Hacienda becoming an adult congregate living facility and deteriorating into an eyesore.Įventually, it looked like the Hacienda Hotel’s next special event was a date with the wrecking ball. Through the first decades, the Hacienda thrived and was the place to have weddings, proms and special events in New Port Richey. The lobby of the Hacienda Hotel in New Port Richey with its original chandeliers.
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