The Xanadu Beach Resort & Marina, also known as the Xanadu Princess Resort & Marina, is a resort and marina on the island of Grand Bahama in the Bahamas. Built in 1968, the resort was purchased by Howard Hughes in 1972 and was for several years the most celebrated resort in the Caribbean and served as a hideaway for the Hollywood jet set of the era. The resort comprises 20 acres (81,000 m2) of beachfront, 215 rooms and an 80 slip marina on the southern coast of Grand Bahama.
Since its opening, the resort and the events that took place within its grounds have appeared on the front pages of tabloids with visits from The Rat Pack, including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, as well as other celebrities of the era such as Cary Grant and Lucille Ball.
The resort was purchased by Howard Hughes in 1972 who moved into the penthouse floors of the resort and lived there until days before his death in 1976. While in residence, he rarely left the penthouse but was frequently seen looking out over the resort from the 13th storey balcony. He would order fishing boats which were docked in the resort's marina to go out to sea every day to catch him fresh fish.
After his death, the resort was sold. However, the penthouse floor in which he lived for the last four years of his life has remained empty for thirty years. The hotel is on sale for $45 million.
Famous quotes containing the words beach and/or resort:
“They will tell you tough stories of sharks all over the Cape, which I do not presume to doubt utterly,—how they will sometimes upset a boat, or tear it in pieces, to get at the man in it. I can easily believe in the undertow, but I have no doubt that one shark in a dozen years is enough to keep up the reputation of a beach a hundred miles long.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)