Pleasure Doing Business: The Peninsula Inn

is a popular choice for dining in Gulfport and has a long history tied to the beginnings of the township.

The current owner, Alex Kingzet, is well informed on the history of the Peninsula Inn and is responsible for much of it's restoration.

“When I found this building in 1999, it was boarded as was much of the town. It was just waiting to be discovered,” Kingzet said.

After Kingzet opened up The Peninsula Inn, more businesses came to Gulfport until it became the thriving town that it is today, Kingzet said.

Kingzet has opened two restaurants in the Peninsula Inn. The first, Six Tables, is a classier dining restaurant and the other serves classic southern comfort food, Kingzet said. The southern comfort food restaurant is named Isabelle's and is named after the Peninsula Inn's resident ghost.

“Every hundred year old building has to have a few tales to tell,” Kingzet said.

In addition to the restaurants, the Peninsula Inn still exists as a hotel with eleven suites, each with an individual theme, Kingzet said.

Originally, the inn was the first building built in Gulfport and was called the Bayview Inn. The building was typical of the style popular at the turn of the century, which was called southern vernacular. It included the wooden paneling and long verandas that the Peninsula Inn is known for.

The inn existed as a stopping point between the beaches and St. Petersburg. A trolley used to take people from St. Petersburg to the pier in Gulfport so they could get on a boat to the beaches since the bridges didn't exist at the time, said Alex Kingzet, the current owner of the Peninsula Inn.

“Because Isla Del Sol and Tierra Verde didn't exist at the time, it was open to the ocean. It was the port to the gulf,” Kingzet said.

Kingzet opened the inn for business in 2002, but later sold the inn in 2004. When Kingzet and her husband sold the inn in 2004, they also sold their house in Gulfport and moved to one of their rental properties in Pasadena and have stayed there since. In 2007, Kingzet was once again the owner of the Peninsula Inn.

“Without getting into details, we were basically the bank and we got the Peninsula Inn back,” Kingzet said.

Getting the inn back wasn't something that was expected by Kingzet because she and her husband currently live and have business concerns out west, Kingzet said.

“We can't be slaves to two masters and the Peninsula Inn is a full-time job,” Kingzet said.

Currently, Kingzet is looking for buyers of the Peninsula Inn so that she and her husband can go back out west.

“We'll be coming back to visit. We want to come to Gulfport and eat as civilians,” Kingzet said.

For more information, including menu prices and room rates, please check the Peninsula Inn's website.