Completed in just 90 days in 1926, the Hollywood Beach Hotel was part of the original planning of J.W. Young for Hollywood by-the-Sea, with every intention of rivaling the grand hotels built by Henry Flagler, to reach the hotel from his new city. Young had marshes drained, roads built over sand and a bridge constructed to extend the Boulevard across the inland Waterway to the beach island. At the end was the Hollywood Beach Hotel. The grand resort, modeled after the Virginia Hotel in Long Beach, California, had rooms for 500, a ballroom and an ornate dining room. It is a seven story structure with views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Canal. Lead architect, E.O. Hunter and Rubush were hired by Mr. Joseph W. Young, the original developer of Hollywood by the Sea. The hotel was taken over by the US Navy as an officer training school during WWII. After the war, the hotel continued to operate as a hotel until 1971, when it was sold to the Florida Bible College. After its sale by the college, it became a hotel again and was operated for a period by Ramada Hotels. The Hollywood Beach Resort is now a hotel, timeshare and condominium complex.