Wednesday, April 9, 2008

GaYbor in Tampa

My friends birthday was yesterday, so we all took her out to Ybor City to the Laughing Cat Italian restaurant, and yet again, a GREAT experience, make no mistake this has to be consistently one of the BEST Italian restaurants in Tampa. Afterwards looking for something to do on a Tuesday evening in Ybor City, we notice the place across the street is very busy, Streetcar Charlies. They were having "2 for 1" dinners this evening, and had live music in one part of the restaurant, the bar area was also very busy.
The GLBT community has done an amazing job bringing this West End part of Ybor City back to life. With over 8 specific GLBT establishments and a host of more in the area that are GLBT friendly, they have coined that area of Ybor City GaYbor. After Streetcar Charlies, we wondered over to Club 714 and then G. Bar which were both very busy and very entertaining. We received news that yet another entertainment venue will be opening shortly. It's almost becoming like areas similar to North Halstead in Chicago, or Chelsea and the Village in New York City(of course not on that scale).
On our way back to the car, parked in the street at a meter, I noticed the City Parking Enforcement about to write a ticket for an expired meter. As soon as he saw me we chatted for a bit, I told him I heard the mayor was getting rid of meters in Ybor, he told me that yes, the meters would be gone after April 12th in Ybor, and since we were just a few days away he would not give me ticket...what a nice human being. I wish him well, as he then told us that he will be out of a job after April 12th.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the good comments you left about GaYbor. If everyone could be so positive about what is happening in Ybor. Glad to hear the parking guard didn't give you a ticket. FYI: They won't be out of a job. They will be moved to downtown and into the residential areas of Ybor.

MORE TAMPA INFO