Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

A couple months ago, I was going to write something about the old Sea Wolf restaurant and the completely wacky owner, Gene Holloway.  This dude was quite a character.

Well, the Tampa Tribune beat me to it, and plays an excellent game of ”where are they now?” with Gene Holloway.

Remember when Jim Smith asked us about hotels in tampa? Well, all of you responded with helpful suggestions, and Jim was so overwhelmed with your generosity, he was moved to write us a thank-you note:

In Case Anyone Cares How It Worked Out:

First thanks to all those folks who responded to my question, you didn’t even bother to try to humiliate me for asking such a dumb question and sounding like such a hayseed! Really, I appreciate all the inputs and Tom’s interest in my predicament. We completed our trip to Tampa/Sarasota/Ft. Myers and really like Tampa best of all — will definitely make it a priority to come back. We did end up staying in Brandon in a chain hotel by I-75 - bummer, next time we’ll be looking at downtown hotels (affordable ones) and I will keep a copy of all your suggestions. Two days and nights was not nearly enough time, we realized. Blew off Busch Gardens for that reason. Really liked Ybor City in the daytime, we walked around, had beers, walked some more. Drove out to Tarpon Springs cuz we heard it was more interesting than the popular beaches. Was not prepared for the over-the-top tourist Greek kitsch but otherwise it’s a cool town. Sarasota: too bougie for my taste. Ft. Myers too, except for Sanibel/Captiva, we went thru Ding Darling wildlife refuge. Didn’t have time for St. Pete at all, so there’s a growing list of stuff to check out if we ever make it back way.

Thanks again, Sticks of Fire and its readers!

Jim, Thank you for visiting us out in the Sticks, and don’t be a stranger!  Come Back Soon!

If you drive anywhere in the Tampa area over the past couple of years you have likely noticed more than a few new things. There is a flying highway heading towards Brandon, US 19 and I-4 are a bigger hassle than ever, and roadside snipe signs encourage you to get a mortgage at 1% interest.

I could never begin to explain the first two things, but I can talk about number three.

Monthly Treasury Average (MTA) adjustable rate mortgages have become more and more popular as home prices have risen across the area. The reasons are pretty simple: homes have gotten more expensive even though our paychecks have not increased.  Banks obviously want to keep selling home loans, so they come up with a way to convince people they can afford them.  It’s not always pretty.

(more…)

80 years ago…

May 25, 1926 – A fire originating from a gas explosion at the Hyde Park Pressing Club destroys a group of businesses covering almost a half block at North A Street and Brevard Avenue in Hyde Park. Harry Spalas, the proprietor of the store, would die from extensive burns suffered in the fire. Damage was estimated at $350,000, although some placed the damage as high as $750,000. In total, twelve stores, seven of them occupied, a garage and a filling station were destroyed. Losses included eight pleasure cars, sixteen passenger buses and five large trucks that were burned in the garage.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

Local artist Lynn Ash recently completed a painting for the City of Tampa.  Called “The Story of Tampa,” the piece depicts geographical, biographical and historical tidbits of life in Tampa.  If this webpage was a piece of art, “The Story” is very close to what I would want it to be.

The entire outline of the painting includes little postcard-like graphics of things you see every day in Tampa, and the center is filled with all sorts of Tampa-related stuff.  As you might imagine, it’s this homer’s new favorie piece of art.

I took a look at the real thing at the City Hall Annex building, and found a secret message within the piece, so I called Lynn to ask him about it.  With one quick conversation, you can tell he is quite proud of the job he’s done.  He was happy to have been chosen to do the commissioned painting, and put a lot of effort into getting it just right.

You can see more of Lynn Ash’s excellent work online at Royal Graphics Resource.

Lynn went on to tell me about several hidden messages within this work Take a look at it on the city’s website.  But if you have the time, I recommend you go to City Hall, and take a look at the real deal - it’s quite impressive.  Let me know if you find any of those hidden messages.

Ben opens a can of worms wondering about Tampa Fire Rescue’s recent purchase of an ambulance for 700 pound patients.

With help from area sponsors, Creative Tampa Bay commissioned a $40,000 study to find how Tampa Bay differs from other metro centers across America. Results from the study, “Things look different here: The Economic Importance of Tampa Bay’s Distinctiveness” are available in a PowerPoint presentation, but according to the coverage in the local media (links below), the things that make us different are:

• Retirees: There’s a bunch here now, and there’s a bunch more coming.
• Football: When asked what folks nationwide think when they hear “Tampa Bay,” their response is “Buccaneers.”
• Large Employers: 60% of all jobs here are with large (500+ employees) companies.
• Finance: There is a larger number of banks and finance companies here than most anywhere else in the nation.
• Sprawl: Tampa Bay is spread out. Most of us live in the suburbs, and there is no unity in the community (apologies to Chris Thomas).
• Leisure Time: We have more beaches than any other place.
• Adult businesses: Tampa Bay is 3rd in the nation in the number of adult businesses.

So… That cost $40,000. You know they could have just read Sticks of Fire to learn about all of that. Well, we didn’t know about the big companies thing, but other than that, it all is sorta common knowledge, isn’t it?

In fact, our line of t-shirts in the Sticks gift shop celebrates all of these things that make us different. There are designs for retirees & snowbirds.  There should be a football, but we stay off the radar by calling it “pirates.”  The heavy traffic indicates sprawl. We’ve covered the beach scene.  And the very first logo brother Mike designed was Veronica, your friendly neighborhood stripper.

In the market for some real estate?  It’s hard to find a place with enough room, so why not skip the house and just buy a shopping mall?
The University Mall is up for sale. Less than a year ago, current owner Glimcher Realty Trust was talking about big changes for the mall. Some subtly positive signs of changes had been taking place, though the biggest changes had been negative - JCPenney left months ago, with Dillard’s following soon.
But overall University Mall still performs fairly well, so it’s not easy to assume that it will soon go the way of Eastlake Mall or Tampa Bay Center.  It could go the way of the late Clearwater Mall, shifting over to the big boxes popular today in commercial real estate. But there are more than enough big boxes on Bruce B Downs - not to mention an upcoming new mall - for that to make sense.
Rumors have always been floating around that USF wants to buy the place - they already hold classes in the movie theatres. But those rumors have been denied before.
What should we do with all that space?  Give us some suggestions, ridiculous or otherwise.