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Historic place

Parliament House

410 N Orange Blossom Trl, Orlando, FL

A 1962 motor inn that became Orlando's best-known gay resort in 1975, and closed in November 2020 when the owners could not get financing to renovate.

📅 1962–2020🏛️ HotelDemolished
Open on the mapSlide back to 1962

The story

Parliament House opened in 1962 as the Parliament House Motor Inn, part of a small motel chain with other locations in Cocoa Beach and Birmingham. After Walt Disney World opened, the motel struggled and was nearly bankrupt when Bill Miller and Mike Hodge bought it. It began operating as a gay club in 1975.

The complex grew into a resort with a pool, an outdoor stage, a dance floor and a 10,000-square-foot entertainment space, with drag shows, theme parties and a Sunday T-dance. Don Granatstein and Susan Unger bought it in August 1999, when it was nearly closing, and spent millions renovating it. They said they wanted to make Orange Blossom Trail a gay mecca. The owners said they could not get financing to renovate, and the resort closed on November 2, 2020. Demolition began January 4, 2021.

What's There Now

The complex was demolished starting in January 2021; the current use of the site was not confirmed.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

A 1962 New York Times article about the motel mentioned tours of the Martin Marietta plant and Colonial Plaza, which it called the largest shopping destination in the Southeast.
The 2012-era owners were a straight couple who had run the Debbie Reynolds Hotel in Las Vegas.
The statue at the entrance was painted by many people over time, changing from white to colored.

Nearby history

Chastain's Restaurant

23 N Orange Blossom Trl · 548 m away
A truck-stop-style breakfast spot with a glass radio booth in the parking lot, closed after one last breakfast on Septem

Goff's Drive-In

212 S Orange Blossom Trl · 875 m away
A walk-up ice cream stand in Parramore that served Black and white customers at the same window and kept going through a

Orlando Arena / Amway Arena

600 W Amelia St · 1.1 km away
The Magic's first home, a $110 million public-money arena that locals called the O-Rena, imploded in 2012.

Orlando Stadium / Tangerine Bowl (Camping World Stadium)

1 Citrus Bowl Place · 1.2 km away
Opened in late 1936 as Orlando Stadium with 8,900 seats, then rebuilt so many times that its 2014 reconstruction demolis

Tinker Field

287 S Tampa Ave · 1.2 km away
A spring training ballpark where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke from the pitcher's mound in 1964, torn down so the Citrus

Orlando Municipal Auditorium (Bob Carr Theater)

401 W Livingston St · 1.3 km away
Opened in 1927 with Aida, later renamed for a mayor, and slated for reuse after the Dr. Phillips Center took over.

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_House_(hotel)