JUST YESTERDAY
It’s All in a Name

By Cathy Meyerhoff
Sun City Center History Society

As we approach the 56th anniversary of the grand opening of Del Webb’s third development for retirees, Sun City, it is appropriate to reflect on our community’s early days. Before the first home was sold, developer Webb insisted that model homes, streets, a shopping center, post office, recreation center and restaurant be operational. When the December 30th grand opening date arrived, all was ready, a major accomplishment completed in only eight months. Over nine days approximately 41,000 visitors explored this new age-restricted community. By April of 1962. the first residents moved into their new homes. Our community was off to a great start.

There was one fly in the ointment – the community’s name. Del Webb wished to use the Sun City title he had used for his communities in Arizona and California. However, another town in Florida already claimed that designation. Sun City, located less than ten miles from his new development, had been established under that name in the 1920s. Located south of Ruskin on what is now Highway 41, it had originally been called Ross. It became Sun City in 1925 when it was promoted as “Hollywood East.” Developers built a studio and power plant, but its main goal was to sell building lots on streets with such movie related names as Pickford Avenue, Chaney Drive, Metro Drive and Universal Drive. Both the film and real estate ventures were short-lived, but the name Sun City lived on.

The entrance sign at the intersection of Pebble Beach Boulevard and Ricker Drive read “Welcome to Sun City” on opening day in 1961. The window of the local Post Office spelled out Del Webb’s Sun City, Florida. In a 1991 talk, Sun City Center’s first sales manager Edsel Whitener said that Del Webb almost went to court to obtain the right to use the Sun City name, but he finally agreed with postal authorities to add the word Center to the original name.

So, where do we live? We live in Sun City Center. If you would like to visit Sun City, it is only a few miles down the road.