Ybor and Channelside

[hightechbull]

When I got to Tampa in 1996, I loved what Ybor was

 

I bounced down in Ybor in the late 1990's, Luna, Empire, Harpos, Irish Pub, etc

 

What happened in the early 2000's was simple - politicians got paid, to stop pushing Ybor, and to start pushing Channelside by the big businesses that were moving in.

 

They stopped closing the streets in Ybor, and tried to force the party over to Channelside. Channelside sucked, it was trying to get drunk at the mall. Generic, boring, and it just simply lacked the soul that Ybor had.

 

Ybor in the mid to late 1990's was a party mecca. I used to meet people from all over the southeast USA who would come down to party there. It was an amazing place. You had everything down there, trance, house, industrial, goth, blues, jazz, just a massive party from one to the other.

 

And they killed it, trying to force everyone over to Channelside.

 

As of right now, it's a great place to eat and go during the day, but the nighttime vibe is a bit off. The movie theatre in Centro is one of the nicest in Tampa, and it's a great place to go when other theatres are packed and crowded. I drive from Riverview with my family all the time to go to the Centro Ybor movie theatre, I happily drive right past Brandon Regency because of the hood rats at Brandon.

 

In Ybor, you have tons of places to ear. Berninis is still amazing, Green Iguana is awesome considering it's "bar food", they make great food. Creperia is delicious, La Terraza is good, and of course El Puetro is one of the best places you'd ever get a skirt steak.

 

Daytime it's great, as the night starts approaching, time to dodge out and go somewhere else. It does not have the "late night" draw it used to. I wish it did, I miss Luna's, Bar Tampa, Empire, Ampitheatre, ahh the good ole days

 

Dude you hit the nail on the head.  Everything you stated is pretty much spot on except that Green Iguana's food has always sucked, and it has not gotten any better.  Their main ingredient has been salt for as long as I can remember.

 

If you are into live music venues that feature local and touring acts, then there are three good places to visit in Ybor - The Crowbar, New World Brewery, and The Orpheum.  The musical acts that play at these places are obviously not big time acts, but nothing beats watching a band play in a 100 person venue vs. 10,000 person venue. 

[MikePhillips]

Channelside should be evolving as the economy begins to pick up. The Channelside district has just been sold to the Tampa Port Authority for a very reasonable sum. 

 

Unfortunately I really don't see much hope for Channelside in regards to a place to go for locals.

 

The problems with the location are quite severe. If there are any venues in the St Pete Times Forum (I still call it the Ice Palace), traffic down there is a nightmare. Parking sucks, I despise parking in parking garages. The only thing worse than drunk drivers, is dealing with drunk drivers in a parking garage. Your doors get beat up, it's tight and dangerous to drive in, you have cars flying up and down, pedestrians, you have to sit and wait if there is a line of cars in either direction to see if someone will let you out, parking garages are awful when they are crowded.

 

If you want to have the "parking garage" experience, park in the Straz Parking lot during a play or performance, and see how much is can suck to get out.

 

The next thing is just trying to navigate down there. The roads are like spaghetti trying to get in and out, one way roads, can't turn here, gotta turn there, it's just not an easy location to navigate to. I still get off at Ybor from the Crosstown / I4, then just turn left and drive over. Seems to be the easiest way.

 

The next thing is once a location "sucks", it tends to be haunted with that reputation for a long time. It's extremely difficult to get people to come back to a place they didn't enjoy going to the first time.

 

You want to revive that area? eff' channelside and bring back the Ybor of the mid 1990's. Close off the streets, allow folks to carry alcohol on the street, let's get the party back into Ybor. 

 

Edited December 25, 2013 by MikePhillips

[WoolyBully]

That brings up an interesting point.

Identity.

What, exactly, do those with their hand on the tiller want Ybor / Channelside to be? Do you want 'family friendly' ? That's going to result it a pretty vanilla almost shopping mall environment (and without something impressive, it's gonna be hard to justify the trip down that way). Or, do they envision a late night youth-centric party with booze and a blind eye; something akin to Bourbon Street?

 

And if you do decide to go the pesudo-Bourdon Street route, there's not going to be much demand for higher end/quality dining.

 

It's a tough call. However, it would appear that the recipe for disaster is what we've seen thus far at Channelside. You can't manufacture hip. But you can evict it.

[Bull Dozer]

The gay and lesbian community have firmly set up shop in Ybor which in many neighborhoods turned rough is the first step in whole sale gentrification. Artists and hipsters will start amassing in large numbers which will lead to a spike to a spike in local and independent business. I see Ybor being trendy and hip again in the next 5 years or so. This same process runs like clock work, see Portland, parts of Brooklyn, Austin, etc. I witnessed it first hand here in jacksonville in the Riverside area as well.