What’s in a name
Aymer Vinoy Laughner: Built downtown palace

The Vinoy Hotel has dominated St. Petersburg’s waterfront since the 1920’s
Times photo – Kathleen Cabble

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By Betty Jean Miller, staff writer
©St. Petersburg Times, published October 29, 1990

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The Vinoy Hotel, for so long a ragged pink Cinderella on the waterfront has a most unusual name. Have you wondered where it came from?

A consultation of one of several local-history books will tell you that it was built by and named after Pennsylvania oil man Aymer (pronounced eye-mer) Vinoy Laughner, who came to Florida in 1919 and stayed until his death in the ’60s.

– Courtesy of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort

Aymer Vinoy Laughner (1883-1961) built the "Vinoy Park Hotel". Laughner was from Pennsylvania where he made his fortune in the oil business. He served on the St. Petersburg City Commission from 1930 to 1934.

But how did Aymer Vinoy get his unusual name? His son, Paul Laughner, now 74 and living in Fitzwilliam, N.H., explained it: “My grandfather, Perry Laughner, loved books (novels) about men who were great fighters and great woman lovers. He found one whose name was Aymer Vinoy.”

So he named his son after the fictional character.

As to giving the name to a hotel, Paul Laughner claims that was Aymer’s friend E.M. "Gene" Elliott’s idea. Elliott, the man who sold the bonds to finance Gandy Bridge, was at one of the many colorful parties at the former Laughner home at 532 Beach Drive NE. “It was about 3 a.m., and they were hitting golf balls off my dad’s watch without breaking the crystal. Elliott looked toward the water and said to my dad, ‘We’re going to build a hotel there, and we’re going to name it the Vinoy because that’s such a pretty name’.”   See 'Vinoy House' story.

It was just Aymer Vinoy Laughner, however, who built the hotel which is scheduled to reopen in late 1991 as the Stouffer Vinoy Resort.

Originally known as the Vinoy Park, the Spanish renaissance style hotel opened for the first time on New Year’s Eve 1925. Into the 1950’s the hotel was one of the leading resorts in the area, opening each year just before Christmas for a three-month season. The Vinoy tower, lighted bright red, was a symbol that "the season" had arrived in St. Petersburg.

The hotel drew the wealthy from far and near, but was available to local groups for dances and parties, of which there were many, including the annual Debutante Ball, the Dragon Club New Year’s Eve dance and numerous fraternity dances.

It closed in 1975, and the "Cinderella" has had many suitors, but all of their golden coaches turned to pumpkins until now. Realizing the hotel’s place in St. Petersburg’s past, executives of Stouffer and Frederick E. Guest, president of the Vinoy Development Co., which is restoring it, decided to retain the Vinoy name.

“Obviously, it is a historic building and a historic name so we wanted to keep it,” said Guest.

“The only requirement is that the management company has built a lot of good will into their name, so we wanted that in too. And we added the "resort" because that’s what it is. It’s more than a hotel now.”

See also:

From ritzy to ratty and back again, The Vinoy has come full circle ......(7/1992)

The story continues: See 'Vinoy verdict: exceptionally elegant' story ...(8/1992)

The Vinoy celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its grand reopening ..(8/2002)

Been 20 years since The Vinoy had its grand reopening, renaissance ...(7/2012)

Vinoy House was once Aymer Vinoy Laughner’s winter home ..............(5/2014)

The Vinoy Legacy: The $93 million restoration and (more history) ....(11/2014)

The Vinoy originally opened 90 years ago, a step back (retrospect) ......(7/2015)

The Vinoy will be getting a facelift: breaks ground on renovations .......(5/2016)

Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club - new owner ....(7/2017)

Paul’s Landing at the Vinoy is the newest restaurant to open ................(3/2018)

The old Vinoy, the battle to save it and the power of legacy ...................(6/2018)

More stories and chronological timeline of Vinoy (more history 2) .......(9/2019)

St. Petersburg’s Vinoy hotel planning remodel for 2022 .........................(9/2021)

More pictures of The Vinoy

Go Back to The Vinoy history timeline