Daily Loaf

This post is about one of my favorite places in Tampa Bay: Ybor City.

The Ybor City I admire is the community pre “urban renewal”: that pathetic time in the 1960s when vast stretches of this remarkable multi-lingual and multi-ethnic historic district were demolished in the name of the mid-century streamlined suburban dream.  I’ve written about Tampa’s planning history in previous Creative Loafing posts: The Tampa That Might Have Been, The roots of sprawl, and Fixing sprawl and redesigning suburbia.

The idea behind urban renewal (a national program) was that it demolish the existing crumbling old historic fabric of cities, and the newly vacant lots would become modern new development that would spur the economy. In Ybor this Faustian new construction never materialized, as I remember the old 1980s “Rough Riders restaurant” in Ybor being surrounded by vacant lots.

The real premise for urban renewal was most likely racial and socioeconomic, with the goal of moving the poor and disenfranchised out of the cities and into the sparkling new modern housing projects further out. Mind you, this re-location scheme is still being pursued by Tampa and the county to this day as these old housing projects are now meeting the wrecking ball and the unfortunate inhabitants are relocated even further out to places like the USF area (aka “Suitcase City”), Lutz, Carrollwood and Brandon (might I add places that largely lack mass transit). Dear readers, please note that South Tampa is not on the list.
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(The Stinky Drinkers are a band of merry runners in training for the Women’s Running Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon on November 22^nd. These are their stories from the road…)

As the lightning flashed above, beyond and behind downtown St. Pete’s Vinoy Park, four runners sat in a Nissan discussing the science of conductivity. It was a very rainy Friday evening, and our 6:45 call time was being pushed ever backward as the thunder crashed around us.

“You know, if the car was struck by lightning, we would be sitting in a death trap,” Phylis told us. Read the rest of this entry »

Creative Loafing’s Gay Issue hits the streets on Wednesday just in time for St. Pete Pride. During Pride Week, we’ll be updating last year’s Za-Gay Guide with news about bars, clubs and restaurants that are newly opened or recently renamed.

First up: The Queenshead Eurobar, opening today in St. Pete’s Grand Central District. It’s an updated version of a British pub, with good food and a gay sensibility — and be sure to check out what they’ve got on the walls of the men’s room. More video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »