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  #1  
Old Posted Nov 7, 2012, 11:21 PM
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TAMPA | Florida's Gulf Coast metropolis







































































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Rivergate Tower aka the Beer Can Building is unusual for two reasons. First: it's in Tampa. It looks like something from Boston or the UK. Second, my guess was that it was from the mid-1960's, when in fact it was built in 1988.








Behold: Bayshore Blvd, home to the world's longest unbroken sidewalk, clocking in at 4.5 miles.






- - - St. Petersburg - - -



I got a kick out of this one ludicrously ornate building.




























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Last edited by Thundertubs; Nov 8, 2012 at 12:01 AM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 4:02 AM
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Well, St. Petersburg was the saving grace. To your credit, you made Tampa look very Southern...which is interesting (I know it's in the South but ya know, Florida's weird).
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  #3  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 4:17 AM
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Great shots! This is probably the best i've seen of Tampa.
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  #4  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 6:31 PM
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Great shots! This is probably the best i've seen of Tampa.
agreed!
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  #5  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 10:44 AM
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The is easily the highest-quality Tampa tour I've seen on the forum. Despite it's size, you really capture the laid-back feel of the place. St. Petersburg looks like it'd be more my style, though. You know, something a bit more human-scaled and manageable. Does Tampa have a central square of any type from which the city emanates? If not, what intersection or main street is at the center of town?

BTW, anyone know about how big Jacksonville would be with its pre-merger boundaries? I'm getting a pretty similar feel between how the cities are situated.
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  #6  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 11:15 AM
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Nice pics of Tampa and St. Petersburg.

I like Tampa. Although I´ve never been there, I see it´s a very nice city with a very interesting architecture. I like its skyscrapers, above all Rivergate Tower.

Thanks for sharing.

Greetings from Madrid, Spain!
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  #7  
Old Posted Nov 10, 2012, 6:45 PM
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Originally Posted by LMich View Post
BTW, anyone know about how big Jacksonville would be with its pre-merger boundaries? I'm getting a pretty similar feel between how the cities are situated.
Not sure of the pre-consolidation size of Jacksonville, but Tampa and Jacksonville are Florida's original "big cities."

Both are port cities with an industrial past, and both were big by Southern standards before Miami was even a thought. Both also have fantastic bones in their heart - unfortunately, both also suffer from the suburbs supplanting their respective Downtowns as the center of (most) business and corporate activity.

St. Pete is a different animal and has a nicer Downtown (in my opinion) than both.

Great thread, Thundertubs! You've really been making the rounds of the South lately!
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  #8  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 9:30 PM
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BTW, anyone know about how big Jacksonville would be with its pre-merger boundaries? I'm getting a pretty similar feel between how the cities are situated.
In 1950, pre-merger Jacksonville was 30 square miles with a population of 204,000. Since then, it's lost roughly 50% of it's population. According to the 2010 Census, that number has dropped to 101,000. However, there's 717 square miles of rural area and growing suburbs that cover up the urban core population loss.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2013, 10:16 PM
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So what is that narrow street that is lined with palms and old buildings? Is that Ybor City? And where is it situated in relation to the bank towers "downtown"?

And just curious why are people saying St. Pete's downtown is better? Thundertubs didn't take many pics of it so I was thinking it was whack in comparison to Tampa.

And like KOTH said this place looks dead Not a burgeoning metropolis...
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 8:48 AM
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Thanks for this thread. Even though I live here, I sometimes forget to appreciate Tampa's good bones.



Quote:
Originally Posted by mello View Post
So what is that narrow street that is lined with palms and old buildings? Is that Ybor City? And where is it situated in relation to the bank towers "downtown"?

And just curious why are people saying St. Pete's downtown is better? Thundertubs didn't take many pics of it so I was thinking it was whack in comparison to Tampa.

And like KOTH said this place looks dead Not a burgeoning metropolis...
That's Ybor, our little party district north of downtown by a mile or so.

People say St. Pete's downtown is nicer because it is less run down and has a smattering of nightlife. Unfortunately, most of the rest of Pinellas county is a dump. The person who said it's where old people go to die is 100% correct.

Tampa's downtown is (currently) primarily an office district and condos, and in desperate need of "infill" both of business and nightlife. Very little of anything goes on after 5pm which is why in many pictures it looks so desolate. The city is working on that, but it seems like, as is the Florida way, everything moves at a snail's pace. The OP didn't get any photos of the Riverwalk, or Harbour/Davis Islands, which sit immediately south of downtown along the bay and are stunningly beautiful (Derek Jeter's house is on Davis).

Also, there are two very distinct mindsets here. One thinks we should reinvest in the downtown infrastructure and invigorate Tampa from its core (which IMO is desperately needed), the other is afraid of the scary looking run-down ghettos that surround downtown, Ybor, and most of the city due north of the downtown corridor, and want to keep building tasteless, zombie-like cookie-cutter sprawl subdivisions in the 'burbs (google Brandon, FL, Riverview, FL, Land O Lakes, Wesley Chapel, or "New Tampa" to see what I mean). Thankfully, our new mayor believes in reinvesting in the core of the city and it's starting to pay off. Streets are cleaning up, projects are underway (there was a recent announcement to build a new skyscraper/retail area downtown, along with the Encore Tempo District which is currently being built in between downtown and Ybor City. In the 2 years I've lived here, I've seen changes for the better. You have to remember though that this was one of the absolute hardest hit cities in the country recession-wise.

It's not a "burgeoning metropolis" in any sense of the word, unless you consider miles of choked sprawl to be an indicator. Tampa has excellent bones, and the most potential of any city I can think of other than Baltimore (yes, Baltimore). I believe it won't stay so depressingly barren and run down for long. That idea is already catching on, and downtown is changing for the better.


ps - Here are some very novice, crappy cameraphone pics I took during a stroll over to Harbour Island following the auto show at the convention center (square'ish looking building along the bay in the first pic)


















Last edited by anonymoose; Jan 19, 2013 at 9:16 AM.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2013, 2:12 AM
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Very nice thread. Tampa's metro had a major positive aspect being next to some of America's most beautiful beaches.
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  #12  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 4:34 PM
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Nice pictures!
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  #13  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 10:10 PM
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Yes you have certainly showed several sides of Tampa that seem necessary to understand this city which is pretty unique. I like seeing the industrial sections. Some beautiful waterfront shots as well. Also, the 4.5 mile waterfront trail is awesome; I would love to live near that for some jogging.
The only part that seems weird is the city center!
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  #14  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2012, 11:43 PM
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The downtown of Tampa seems much quieter than I had anticipated. Still, it looks great. Loved these photos! Thanks!
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  #15  
Old Posted Nov 9, 2012, 11:24 AM
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great pics, thanks. looks like we covered a lot of the same ground

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColDayMan View Post
Well, St. Petersburg was the saving grace. To your credit, you made Tampa look very Southern...which is interesting (I know it's in the South but ya know, Florida's weird).
Tampa's an odd duck...it's like Dallas' coastal little brother. it's also full of great steak restaurants, like Texas

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  #16  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2012, 4:15 AM
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very similar to Jacksonville... which I experienced for a week this summer
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  #17  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2012, 3:15 PM
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Tampa and Jax are similar in so many ways and share a competitive past together. The unique thing about Tampa was its mafia and old Cuban past (Tampa had a strong family that ran its cigar business and employed thousands of Cubans before Miami even existed). The unique thing about Jacksonville was its industrialist past whereby the likes of William Astor, Alfred duPont, Henry Flagler and countless others called the place home and built the place up. Jacksonville was always about 50% larger than Tampa and so stole all of Tampa's cigar business (think Swisher Brothers, who moved down from PA and started Swisher Cigars, which are still rolled in Jax in a large warehouse). Miami/Palm Beach stole all of Jacksonville's appeal for wealthy northerners by the late teens/early 20s. Orlando was an orange grove and air base until the 1970s and was pretty much irrelevant except for the past 30 years. Tampa metro did not pass Jax until the 60s and I believe South FL didn't pass Jax in population until either the 40s or 50s, but both exploded in the 50s-70s and then SoFLa just kept on going whereas Tampa also began to slow down. Not sure about Tampa's post-20s history, but Jax only became a southern backward city in the 40s and was actually one of the most progressive before. The city totally reversed course in the 40s, 50s and 60s when Alfred duPont's wife's brother, Ed Ball, became mayor and tolled all roads into downtown and wiped out much of the city's building stock so he could build suburbs as friendly favors to his landowning friends. St. Pete has probably the best overall downtown in FL, though it's smaller, but Pinellas County is literally where people come to die and the overall county is scary old and boring and pretty run down.
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  #18  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2012, 3:37 PM
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Nice tour and all, but, man, that is a mind-numbingly depressing "urban" environment.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2013, 6:56 PM
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Nice tour and all, but, man, that is a mind-numbingly depressing "urban" environment.
I can always count on you for an accurate and unique perspective.
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  #20  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2012, 7:49 PM
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Wow, I was not expecting to those kinds of bones in Florida. But then again, given the fact that this is a Thundertubs thread, I have no idea what I was initially thinking....
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