Water Sprites: Bern's Park

This is the statuary and fountain ready to be unveiled at the new Bern's Park on South Howard Avenue. The park is located south of Kennedy Boulevard and two blocks from Bayshore Boulevard and is named in honor of Bern Laxer, famed restaurateur and founder of Tampa's world renowned Bern's Steak House.

A report from Bay News 9 on Bright House said this about the park:

"More than half a century after Bern Laxer opened his steak house, the city is preparing to unveil Bern's Park. The park will bear the name of Laxer, who died in 2004, ... The park has been in the works since 2003, and has been spearheaded by planner Laurie Potier-Brown. The first phase of the project is set to be completed in a couple of weeks."

"It does entail these beautiful walkways that will be lined in brick, and the fountain, which will be two-tiered," Potier-Brown said. The fountain will be the first in Tampa to use reclaimed water."We're placing eight benches surrounding the fountain, so people can enjoy the fountain at night," she said. "There will be lights on the sculpture and the water will be flowing."David Laxer said his father would have approved of the park."He's the type of person that would really enjoy that park a lot," he said. "Life sometimes gets a little bit too fast, and you need to just sit back and enjoy it."

Is Square really dull or unfashionable? How old are you anyway?

I have always liked the look of this place. (I admit I have not yet ventured inside.) And the name, SQUARESVILLE, pretty much says it all to most every generation alive. If you were born a Boomer, it conjures up all kinds of scenes and memories in your head. If you're even older, you may remember back to trying to dress exactly like Elvis and swivel and sneer at the girls in poodle skirts as you ran a greasy comb through your pompadour. As the sixties picked up steam, the 50s knock-off group Sha-Na-Na, that performed at Woodstock, represented a more contemporary, acceptable Square music scene, attitude and dress. Now, with generation X, Y and probably zebra, Square is hip, cool and totally retro, dude. Very in, cachet and desirable. So your apartment can look just like the 1950s and mimic your grandparent's place without the scratches and dust and doileys. Squaresville is on South Tampa's popular South Howard Avenue, SoHo. It's been around quite a while and attracts a clientele of just about every age...except for some of our parent's generation who couldn't wait to unload their furniture and knickknacks from the 1950s because it was so dated (they moved to Scan design and never moved back.) On occasion there has been a really fine vintage car parked out front, a Ford Edsel or similar "cool" car of the era.

They carry all the things that you either remember from that time in American cultural history or think is representative of the period after the Korean Conflict (War) and before the Beatles invaded from England. Playboy shirts, wall clocks with Bettie Page and kidney-shaped coffee tables. Very vintage and of an era we celebrated on television from Dobie Gillis to Laverne and Shirley to the all-time classic, Happy Days. Apparently, everything we grew to associate with these TV shows and lovable characters is to be found in Squaresville. Clothes, furniture, poodle skirts and Go-Go boots. The funny thing is, the furniture you couldn't wait to have picked up and hauled away is for sale at places like this. The store attracts all sorts who hang out in SoHo. So you'll see folks on Vespas and the occasional Maserati coupe sharing the spaces out front. Open since 1998, it bills itself as Tampa Bay's Grooviest Store, and If it's out of style, it's in stock. That's really groovy, man.

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The Honest Scrap Award was given to this blog by Jacob of Creative Confections. This is a real honor and I am especially proud because it is given by a fellow blogger. Please check out Jacob’s really fine and creative blogs by clicking on the award at left (and visit Ocala Daily Photo, Cedar Key Daily Photo and The Villages Daily Photo, too) The award is bestowed upon Tampa Daily Photo because its content or design is, in the giver's opinion, brilliant. The Honest Scrap Award is for bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul. In looking back at the origins of this award, I found that past recipients were all terrific bloggers and honestly gave of themselves. Every day they shared with us their special place in our larger world. I recognize and thank all who have come before me.

The Official Rules are as follows:

1. You must brag about the award.
2. You must include the name of the blogger who bestowed the award on you and link back to the blogger.
3. You must choose a minimum of six (6) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog.
5. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. [This one I will attempt to comply with at a later date.]

So here, in no particular order, are the next recipients of the Honest Scrap Award, ones I think show brilliance in content or design (or both), but above all, honesty:

1. Avignon in Photos

2. The Skoog Farm Journal

3. Charleston Daily Photo

4. Livorno Daily Photo

5. Greenwich Village Daily Photo

6. Verona Daily Photo

Congratulations to each of my fellow bloggers. I hope you will decide to participate and find other blogs worthy of the award.

Healthy dose of Java at Starbucks on Howard Avenue

What is it with Starbucks? (After my second cup tonight I'm prepared to tell you.) I admit it, I love Starbucks. But the initial luster, the huge love affair with the entire concept -lifestyle even- has dropped from a loud roar to a audible hum, but it's still very much alive. Some of my favorites shops: Newport, Rhode Island; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Prague, Czech Republic; Vienna, Austria; Paris, France; and even Savannah, Georgia ('cause I really like Savannah). Some of you are rolling your eyes and figuring I've gone off the deep end over an expensive, over-popularized, overly romanticized coffee. But, for those of you who have never experienced the world of Starbucks, the friendly coffee shops, convivial conversation, then you can't know what it is to enjoy Starbucks. Even the familiarity in faraway cities Comforting. For some, the price alone is grossly prohibitive. And the bitter taste is how I've heard some describe the coffee. But I've known more than a few regular Maxwell House-types who got hooked, literally and figuratively. When this Starbucks opened a few years ago, a couple blocks from my home, I practically lived there. (I'm sure there's a brass plaque on a chair out under that oak tree.) Every noon hour I'd grab a Vente-size Verona or Sumatra and settle in with my newspaper. I don't go as often, but I do drink my Starbucks morning, noon and night ... at home. Got to get my fix. Hooked. Their mission statement reads: To inspire and nurture the human spirit— one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time. Sounds benign enough but tread carefully. It's addictive. From a coffee shop in Seattle in the 1970s, they sure have grown. 15,000 locations and still growing. I wouldn't mind discovering a few more in fascinating and even unexpected places on our globe. It's a sweet thing to enjoy a bit of home so far from home. Gotta go. The coffeemaker just beeped. Ah-h-h-h.

A man and a woman. So much tension, yet cold and unmoving.

This sweet couple stand greeting passersby on Howard Avenue, our SoHo entertainment and restaurant/bar district. After your first realization that, no, sadly, they are not living, breathing locals trying to decide which of the hottest clubs to hit, you drive on by. But that first glance makes you look. He's sporting an Au currant goatee, skull t-shirt and bleached jeans. She is almost touching his hand, she's moving in on the clean-cut young professional dressed for bar-hopping on a Saturday night. She is declaring 'poison' on her t. The latest jeans and t-shirt ensembles probably set them back a few bucks. Just so they could look properly casual and unconcerned with their clothes. There must be forty or so popular nightspots to choose from as they make their way up and down Howard, South Tampa's place to eat and party. The famous Bern's Steakhouse is a couple of blocks down. That's it. He has their proper jackets stashed and they're heading to Bern's for steak and the dessert room after. What an elegant evening he has planned. (Now, will she take his hand in hers?)