DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Before the end of segregation, the Campbell Hotel was one of the only places Black people could check into in Daytona Beach. Condemned in 2023, its fate has remained uncertain, but the community is pushing hard to see it restored.
The hotel is considered an important part of history during the Jim Crow era, with trailblazers like Jackie Robinson among those who passed through its doors.
“So, people opened their doors for him, especially people of color; that’s what we do,” said Freddrick Caine, a barber at W’s Beatitudes Barber Shop just down the road from the hotel.
For those who lived through segregation, like Carla Johnson of Ms. Carla’s Kitchen, also on the same street as the hotel, the building serves as a reminder of how far the community has come.
“I can remember back in the day [hotels] all used to be up and down here, used to be all the motels, because we couldn’t go on the beachside,” Johnson said.
The hotel’s history runs deep. Famous musicians like Dizzy Gillespie performed at its Stardust Night Club, and it was featured in The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, a Black travel guide.
“That’s where we had to stay because we were on — it’s called the Chitlin Circuit, believe it or not. James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr. A lot of the Black actors, singers, they came through here,” Caine explained.
The city of Daytona Beach purchased the building after a fire led to its condemnation in 2023, but officials initially moved toward demolition, citing the high cost of restoration. Last summer, following pleas from the community, the city gave prospective buyers 90 days to submit proposals.
[WATCH: Historic Daytona Beach hotel faces demolition, community fights to save landmark]
Now, an update on those efforts is expected.
Many residents want to see the hotel repurposed in a way that breathes new life into the boulevard while honoring its deep roots.
“Maybe a museum; there are restaurants around here that could go in there,” Caine said. “Something’s got to be done about it to where it’s going to benefit everybody. But if not, it’s like forgotten history, and that’s not what we want either. If no one is here to tell our story, we won’t even know where we come from.”
“It is very important because I would like for my kids to see my black history and see the beginning of when Mary McLeod came in. I would love to see all the kids come in and see that,” Johnson said.
The Daytona Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is set to receive a presentation on the Campbell Hotel during its Wednesday night meeting at 6 p.m.
Wells’Built: Orlando’s historic hotel turned museum
Another historic Central Florida hotel for Black travelers faced a similar fate decades ago, but is now a museum for African American history in Orlando.
Dr. William Monroe Wells, one of Orlando’s first Black doctors, built the Wells’Built Hotel in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood in the 1920s. The hotel welcomed some of the most notable people in the Black community for decades.
But in the 1990s, the hotel was slated for demolition until it was saved and turned into a museum by the late State Senator Geraldine Thompson.
Today, the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture preserves artifacts and documents of Black life in Orlando. Last year, the museum was awarded $2 million for long-needed renovations.