From the Key West Citizen, dated January 20, 1926 - "The roof of the La Concha Hotel has already become popular on account of the fine view that one can get of the entire city and surrounding gulf and ocean... In the distance are the towers, boats in the habor, boats passing in the distance, the old fort, the sun shining down on the surrounding waters, and many other beautiful pictures made picturesque from that height."

In 1925, when Carl Aubuchon looked to Key West for investment potential, he saw travelers arriving by ship or by train and a lack of first-class accommodations to serve them. He immediately started construction on the La Concha Hotel.

To celebrate the grand opening on January 22, 1926 (the 14th anniversary of the train's arrival,) a lavish dinner and dance was held with special guest Martha Lane. Then starring on Broadway in the smash hit The Chiffon Girl, Lane introduced the newest dance craze to Key West --the Charleston.

According to a press release of the day, La Concha's owners spent $768,000 to build the hotel, plus $130,000 on furnishings. At seven stories, it was-- and still is-- the tallest building in Key West. It featured marble floors, private baths, an elevator, and other luxuries new to the Key West hotel scene. Each of the one hundred guest rooms had been "artistically and exquisitely furnished by expert decorators and designers from John Wannamaker's..."

A number of rooms were connected to adjoining rooms by baths, a novel feature at the time. Even rooms without baths were complete with hot and cold running water. Other amenities included telephone booths, a haberdashery, bakery, bank, ballroom, and lush carpeting so thick that "one literally 'bogs up'," the newspaper said.

For $3 a night one could stay in a room with a semiprivate bath. An additional 35¢ would buy you a steak dinner.

Before moving to his home near the Lighthouse, Hemingway stayed and wrote at the La Concha. Reference is made to the hotel in his novel To Have Or Have Not. As the lead character, rum-runner Harry Morgan, leaves Key West enroute to Cuba, among his impressions in a departing glance was "the La Concha Hotel up high out of all the low houses..."