Globe O' Booze

I needed a drink when I got home from TIA, so it's only fitting to start back up with the World Liquors sign on Central Avenue in St. Pete.

Going Out of Town

A brief interruption in posting -- gotta go out of town until Thursday.
Image courtesy of: Spell with flickr

Temporary Skyline

A cruise liner looms over the Bennigan's on the second floor of Channelside. In front, giving some scale, is the covered escalator to the second level.

TBay Around the Net

Tampa Bay in Orange:

• Nice photo, including setup details (jeremyallen35/photo)
• Polluted-looking (katiew/photo)
• Beach wedding in Anna Maria Island (thecharmedgirl/photo)

Ybor Collective

Among the images: details from Ybor City lamposts; the statue of writer, poet and Cuban independence leader Jose Marti; a cigar factory lector taken from a detail on an outdoor mural; and the Centro Ybor sign.

TBay Around the Net

Flickr tags: "tampa" and "photobooth":

• Facial Gyrations (photo/unaesthetic)
• Fully Loaded [I mean the booth!](photo/unaesthetic)
• Al (photo/NuckleheadEd)

Everything Changes

I never would have gone to something like the Home & Remodelling Show that was at the Trop last weekend before. But before buying a condo, I never would have spent three days painting indoor walls, either. I wish there had been more cool stuff, such that you might see on HGTV, but at any rate, here's a series of (relative) highlights.

Here is the Trop all luau-ed out at the Exotic Plumeria booth, followed by...

The Weekender

The Weekender outdoor grill, just under $9200, including deep fryer.

Hoffman Spa Collection

...and my favorite, the Rock Salt Crystal Lamps, made from 100% crystallized Himalayan salt.

Banner Ads

The midday sun illuminates the glass-ceilinged entryway to Tropicana Field.

TBay Around the Net

Flickr tags: "Tampa" and "crash":

• Only here (Iccee/photo)
• Don't Be Skeered and Confused! (flesh mcfeisty/photo)
• Note the Florida park job (futsoulja/photo)

Before

...and after at http://www.beachwalkgulfport.com/. It'll cost $445K to live across the street from the Gulfport beach.

Winding Up

A circular stairway wraps to the top of the water tower at Crescent Lake.

TBay Around the Net

Green, green Tampa:

• Murky (Mark A Jones/photo)
• Skyway (The_Architect/photo)
• Cross-Processed Croquet (Todd Bates/photo)

Peking Picnic

Pagoda picnic shelters at the beach in Gulfport.

Sidewalk Stencil

A pair of sidewalk geckos give play to Gulfport's arty bent.

TBay Around the Net

What's been flying over St. Petersburg? (chemkook/You Tube)

Color Grab

While in Gulfport the other day, this vibrantly-colored building made me stop to take a shot. But once I looked at the photos from that day on my laptop, those vibrant colors ended up looking washed out. Now, my camera's not top of the line, but I still felt cheated. So I cheated, and got out Scott Kelby's "The Photoshop Channels Book." And maybe it's too much for the rest of you, and maybe I swung too far in the other direction. But I wanted my color back, dammit!

Ephemera

Fish Spread To Go

Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish on Pasadena Avenue. It's one of the few remaining of its kind in Tampa Bay, making it as Old Florida as they come.

I'm partial to their burgers, which have the most perfect melted cheese I've ever seen on a burger.

TBay Around the Net

Tampa in Blue:

• Blue Awnings (andertho/photo)
• Blue Vein (ap&/photo)
• Ghost Hand (kbot=cool/photo)
  

Industrial Chic

The complimentary complementary neatly-piled stacks of stone...the glass block...and the weird oversized slats on the door... I guess these elements are why I took a photo of this doorway. That, and I'm still not sure if this is operational, or if the overgrown weeds in front indicate an abandoned building.

Peeking Through

A hole in a cloud lets the sun shine through during a sunset over Tampa Bay.

TBay Around the Net

This week, travel back in time to the Big Sombrero, where U2 plays under a giant McDonald's arch:

Merger

I-275 in St. Pete, north of the I-175 connection from downtown.

John's Pass Makeover

I had a positive reaction to the new parking garage at John's Pass. Well-disguised by shops, the exterior of the garage is punctuated by nice touches like high-ceilinged walkways past shops done up in a multi-color scheme. Wooden shutters at the top of the stairwells look nice too.

More interesting is that the new structure presents, in actuality, a difference from the rest of the tourist compound. You can't get more of difference than between a new creperie and the paintings of Red Skelton. Maybe kitsch and upscale can co-exist harmoniously!

It looks like a changing of the guard, and yet it feels strangely integrated. I wonder how the existing shopowners feel about it.

Also, a John's Pass bonus shot...

...for documentary purposes, I'm posting this photo of a view of Hubbard's Marina, which is also slated for some changes.

TBay Around the Net

It's Friday--when's the last time you went night fishing?

Forgotten Tracks

Near Tropicana Field, South of Central (SOCA, anyone?), along the Interstate, is an area with storage warehouses, auto collision shops, fur storage, and food distributors that stages innumerable industrial backdrops.

Also:

• More Industrial
  

Doing the Job for Two

One span handles traffic for both directions as new bridge construction begins at John's Pass.

Traffic was conveniently light, a lucky happenstance, for having forgotten about construction here.

Fresh Tracks

Morning sand at St. Pete Beach.

TBay Around the Net

Oh! So that's what that bridge is for! (Video/danmele)

Harbor Lights

A crop of a photo shot last winter during the early morning hours of the waterfront in front of the Pier. It was as still as it looks.

For the photo, I moved up the brightness and nudged the contrast.

A St. Petersburg Story

So this past weekend, there was apparently a mint shortage in North St. Pete. It took two stores to get some, and I almost missed some in the second store. In talking with other people looking for mint, I know of at least three grocery stores that were out of it. For a moment there, it sure looked like the after-work mojito was in jeopardy.

Is everybody drinking these? Next time, instead of making simple syrup ahead of time, I'll shop for the mint. On Wednesday.

TBay Around the Net

Tampa Bay, the Body of Water:

• Stormy Bay (tpl108/photo)
• Dolphins (clorenz41/photo)
• The View from Weedon Island Preserve (mbarrison/photo)

Golf Courses and Jim Morrison

Looking toward the Renaissance Vinoy Golf Club on Snell Isle Boulevard in St. Petersburg. The Mediterranean Revival style of this historic landmark is accented by a Moorish style of architecture, which brings to mind the minarets of UT. Wherever you look for the Moorish influence, its presence here imparts an other-worldly feel here. Jim Morrison, who visited the Tampa Bay area frequently, by hitching rides from FSU down to Clearwater, was right:
"To me, it was a strange, exotic, exciting place"
(See Photo # 10 of Photo Gallery).

Doors of Perception

I do like back alley doors. Like the way we all hide certain character traits when we present ourselves to the world, alley doors often have more character on the surface than their doorway cousins on the street. This one's in St. Pete--and it has that icon of the Florida landscape: the shopping cart.

Also:

• More: Alley Doors
• More: Shopping Carts
  

TBay Around the Net

This week's Friday tour sees red:

• St. Pete Beach (LINDAC928/photo)
• Target (BB/photo)
• Red Sony (Fabricio Buonomo/photo)

Snell Arcade

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Snell Arcade is located at 405 Central Ave., in St. Pete. There were 18 images used to assemble this panography (some of the individual shots are included below this post).

• Learn to how to make a panography
  

Ubiquitous

Signs of construction loom over an alley in downtown St. Pete.

TBay Around the Net

The Friday tour post:

• Waterspout in Tarpon Springs (dohrmanoriginals/photo)
• Saddle Creek Trail in Lakeland (Mc Shutter/photo)
• Oldsmar flea market (kellogg/photo)
  

Are They Playing Chicken?

At Lake Seminole Park, they don't want you feeding the squirrels. I've highlighted my favorite, which sounds like one of those absurd product warning labels.

Storm Triad

TBay Around the Net

Because I'll never post any sunrise shots of my own:

• Sunrise over Tampa Bay (wyndl jones/photo)
• Nice B&W dawn (MIAinFLA/photo)
• Lastly, one at Ballast Point (RUSewCrazy/photo)

Found Photo Series, No. 8

This photo of Sloppy Joe's in Key West was found in a St. Pete antiques store. I scanned this photo before, but now I can't find the actual. If memory serves, there was a note on it saying it was taken in 1983.


Also:

• Found Photo Series, No. 7
• Found Photo Series, No. 6
  
• Found Photo Series, No. 5
  

Holga Two

This was taken in late May-early June in Straub Park, and it has since joined the Legion of Toppled Statues there. All that remains of this one is its base.

I'd never viewed the park's statues as anything special before, but in putting this post together, I've proved myself wrong, as they have an interesting background.

The Park and Art have had a checkered relationship.

TBay Around the Net

Friday! Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota, click away...

• Mmmm....Blueberries! (Addie Foto/photo)
• They Had a Problem with That Before (Nyati Amita/photo)
• Night in Sarasota (jfrobenalt/photo)
  

The Wright(ish) Stuff

Whispering Waters in Old Northeast. A 2/2 there recently sold for $239,000.

Blue-Gray Bay

On Tampa Bay, as storm clouds begin moving in.

TBay Around the Net

This week's Friday tour goes aerial:

• Busch Gardens (BGTGuide.com/photo)
  
• Sunshine Skyway (Gary Sibley/photo)
• St. Armand's Circle (Gary Sibley/photo)
  

Free Time

The Bank of America Tower, blenderized through Paint Shop Pro's pattern maker.

Storm over Gandy

Crossing onto the St. Pete side of the Gandy Bridge, an RV outruns a storm building over the bay this afternoon.

TBay Around the Net

This week's selections are from Polonoid.net:

• Clearwater Beach (doublespeak/photo)
• Surprise under the Sink in Homosassa [sorry, Dr. Shooter, I'm still trying to decide if that's mounted or not] (Dr. Shooter/photo)
• Going, going... (doublespeak/photo)

Holga One

The Don CeSar Hotel, taken with a new Holga.

One of Many

Just another condo crane <yawn>. On Beach Drive in St. Pete.

TBay Around the Net

Here's your Friday tour:

• Toucan Sam (Brian Cassella/photo)
  
• Dunedin Egret (alfuso/photo)
• Heron's Bad Hair Day (st0l1/photo)
  

Beach Drive

Along Beach Drive in St. Pete, at The Moon Under Water. Taken on a recent Saturday--a hot one, too--following our tour of A Taste of Pinellas, in nearby Vinoy Park.

TBay Around the Net

Here's your Friday tour of Tampa Bay photos:

• Cup of Fire, Thonotosassa (dulcelife/photo)
• Rocky Point architecture (dshalock/photo)
• Coney Island Grill, St. Pete (calebism/photo)
  

Almost Through

The move is almost complete, but...

Maybe It Will Return

...I've had to sell my boomerang table. It just didn't fit in the new digs. Too bad.

Prop

Inside a lifeguard stand at Picnic Island, where a propped palm frond that I didn't prop served as a handy photo prop.

Also, this blog's first wireless post.

Extra link: the Googled phrase "picnic island lifeguard" produced this article. Very unusual for the beach!

TB Around the Net

• SiM war on the beach (photo/Annik Rubens).
• Harbor lights from the downtown Marriott (photo/sherermaddness).
• Bradenton Beach sunset (photo/RebeccaSaylor).
• Lovely retro in Lakeland (photo/BEERandBONES).

Shadows and Light

One of the Ca d'Zan's many stained glass windows. In the background is Sarasota Bay, just beyond the veranda.

Also:

• More Ringling Mansion.
• Inside the Ca.

Rooftop View

A view of Pass-a-Grille, from the roof of the Hurricane.