Events

There are a few events coming up this month that may be of interest to Tampania followers:

May 6 - Tampa Library Road Show makes a stop at the Seminole Heights Library http://thplhistoryroadshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/seminole-heights-branch-library-history.html

May 10 - Bill Belleville closes out this years Florida Conversations series discussing his book "Salvaging the Real Florida: Lost and Found in the State of Dreams"  http://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/flaconversations.html

May 12 - National Train Day at the Tampa Union Station http://floridacoalitionofrailpassengers.memberlodge.com/Default.aspx?pageId=315709&eventId=427120&EventViewMode=EventDetails


Starting June 3 - Tampa Theatre's Summer Classics Series - kicking off with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, this years summer classic series features Planet of the Apes, Shaft, Edward Scissorhands and Alfred Hitchcock's silent film Lodger.  http://tampatheatre.org/event-descriptions-and-coming-attractions/

I doubt I'll be able to catch them all, but you should.  If you know of any other history related events going on let me know!

Greetings from a Tampa Park

Postcard mailed May 1963, the back reads"Tony Jannus Park showing skyline of Tampa, Florida in background"

Two weeks ago, I managed to make some room in my Sunday for a visit to the Floridiana Festival and Highwayman Art Show at the Palladium in St. Petersburg.  I have never been before and had heard good things about it in the past.  I must admit I was a little disappointed; very few vendors, cramped space, and  don't get me started on the lectures about Hawaiian Shirts!  However, it was great to see that there is enough enthusiasm for vintage Florida ephemera that something like this can take place.   I did happen to walk away with a few small nick-knacks and the postcard shown above was one of them.  I was immediately drawn to it.  Postcards of skylines are commonplace, however this one focuses on Tony Jannus Park, located along the Hillsborough River at the Northeast corner of Platt and Bayshore.  You can see the beginnings of Platt Street bridge ballustrade in the lower right.  The sign in the middle says:

TONY JANNUS PARK

SPONSORED BY

City of Tampa

Tampa Federation of Garden Club Circles

Hillsborough County Aviation Authority

Dedicated July 4th, 1955

Tony Jannus Park remains the sad younger sister to Tampa's crown jewel, Bayshore Boulevard.  In the 60s the Borein bridge was built along the North end of park, increasing traffic flow and speed around the park, with very little thought to pedestrian flow and access.  Later on the Crosstown Expressway was built over the park, casting a shadow over the North half.

Tony Jannus Park aerial view 1957 (PALMM FCLA)

Tony Jannus Park today (Google Earth)

The (De?)Evolution of the Shuffle in Tampa

I was inspired by my recent first visit to the beautiful St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Courts and Visual Ephemera's recent postings on Florida's vanishing shuffleboard courts to go in search of Tampa's remaining public shuffleboard courts.  The only court I knew of in Tampa is a well-maintained set of courts at MacFarlane Park in West Tampa.

However, I found out that the reason these courts are so nice is due to the fact they were built around 2001 when the city built a new senior center at the park, furthering the stereotypical association is between senior citizens and shuffleboard is still going strong.

Trolling through the trusty ol' Burgert Bros. Collection I typed in "Shuffleboard" and found that a few more had existed.  The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Complex on Oregon was actually a municipal trailer park during the depression era.  The original administration building is still in use and behind it sits a set of 5 deteriorating courts, I can only assume that these were the original courts in the picture below.

A few blocks away over on Howard Avenue the scene at Rey park is very different.  With help from the WPA the city built a beautiful park complete with a small bandshell, tennis court and shuffleboard court.

Demolition of 1211 N. Tampa

Well, I am beginning to wonder if I should continue doing posts highlighting abandoned buildings.  Back in August I posted about a cute little 3-story building at 1211 N. Tampa Street.  It is my sad duty to report that after Thanksgiving crews rolled in and started slowly chipping away at the brick facade, it was truly a Black Friday.

Friday, November 25

Saturday, November 26

Saturday, November 26

Monday, November 28

Bro Bowl Doc

There is a documentary about the Bro Bowl that was made a year or two ago, it finally got posted on the You Tube's so I thought I would share it here.  The legendary skateboard "bowl", built by the City of Tampa's Parks & Rec Dept. at Perry Harvey Sr. Park.  The bowl is still standing, but for how long?  Good little doc. featuring historic footage, interviews with locals, celebs and featuring music from some awesome local bands!  Enjoy!

Re/Creating Tampa: 101 Ideas for a Better City

David Davisson over at Re/Creating Tampa has been diligently blogging for the past 2 years or so.  His blog is like a feed providing highlights from the Tampa blogosphere and sharing random thoughts, interestingness and ideas from non-Tampa media.  And yes, occasionally this blog makes the cut!  I have never seen a more thorough directory of Tampa related blogs, as the one provided on the margin of Re/Creating Tampa.  Well, now you can peruse Re/Creating Tampa, the book "Re/Creating Tampa: 101 Ideas for a Better City".  The book is chock full with ideas (101 to be exact) to help make Tampa a better place.  From the obvious (#8 Increase the population density) to the creative (#56 Human-Powered Carnival Rides in Public Parks) the list starts off strong addressing one of my favorite topics, the annoyance of overbearing Historic Districts (#1 Innovative Neighborhood Designations).  Another gem and the one that probably embodies the essence of the term "Re/Creating Tampa", #91 Return mutual aid societies.

Thank you David for giving us some food for thought!  

So, check it out already!

Kress building

Kress in late 2010 when the plywood came off the windows.

I recently did a post for Creative Loafing's Daily Loaf blog regarding the recent happenings, or non-happenings, at the Kress building in downtown Tampa.  You can read the post here.  While public safety is of the utmost importance in planning events and permitting events, bringing a long vacant early 20th century building up to today's fire and life safety codes is a long and expensive process.  The owners of the Kress building and the City of Tampa have been caught up in a preservation / development battle that is going on 5 years now.  The battle started after the loss of the historic Gary school to neglect.  After that event the city turned its eye to other threatened landmarks and the former Kress department store downtown was #1 on the list.  Below is a list of links that provides a rudimentary timeline of major events over the past 4 years:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2008/sep/11/me-city-urged-to-fix-kress-building-ar-125793/

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2009/oct/08/na-repairs-being-made-at-kress-building-ar-66226/

http://www2.tbo.com/news/metro/2010/aug/23/na-the-cost-of-keeping-facades-ar-37501/ 

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/owners-of-woolworth-and-newberry-buildings-back-mulhern-challenger/

I should be providing a few more posts for Creative Loafing.  I'll be focusing on local architecture and related events, so stay tuned.