March 05, 2004
A BRIEF AND FREQUENTLY POINTLESS
LUNCHTIME RIDE THROUGH
DOWNTOWN TAMPA
Got a chance to get out of the building for an hour and go tooling through downtown Tampa. I like riding there for the simple reason that there isn't much traffic, and the traffic that does pass through usually does so on one-way streets, making it easier to get around. It's a docile place, as core downtown areas go. Lots of pedestrian suits. The occasional homeless person on a bench. A few brick-paved streets. A trolley car or two.
Still, there are some relatively funky spots to explore, and when the weather is as nice as it's been for the past month or so, it's difficult to resist the lure of spending your lunch hour exploring.(For a larger version of the above photo, click here.)
This week, there seemed to be a million window-washing crews crawling up and down the sides of tall buildings, including the Bank America tower, the Wachovia building and the City Centre tower. It's as if there was a 24-hour period between monsoon seasons to get every window in the city clean.
A side note: One woman pedestrian on her way back from lunch stopped and asked me what I was doing taking pictures?
"Recon,'' I told her.
That'll teach her.
As I said, downtown can be pretty sterile - if you exclude the bum urine in the occasional puddle or two. This is as bohemian as it gets: A guy with his bongo or drum or whatever the hell it is, sitting on a park bench.
As you can see, Bongo Billy had a bit of a nicotine addiction and spent much of his time slapping the skin with one hand while using his other hand to steady the cancer stick between his lips. The resulting effect was a rhythm that sounded more like an EKG than any kind of tribal drumming.
Suck it down to the filter, Billy. It's all yours.
Most of the midday activity revolves around filling your pie hole at lunch. There are many options - Tampa is a city filled with great restaurants and eateries. Lunch carts are another matter. This one above was clearly lacking in customers. But a closer look may reveal the reason:
Do you really want Homer Simpson making your sushi in a cart with a double entendre in its name? I don't think so.
Ah, downtown Tampa. Saw my wife for the first time at the base of that round bank building across from the Trib. Had many the romantic meal at that italian restaurant on the second floor looking out over the pedesrian mall.
I miss the place sometimes. But not in the summer.
Posted by: tom mangan at March 7, 2004 03:28 AMSure as hell beats downtown Newark, although I was disappointed to see that "Wachovia" has a large building in the city. Dumbass name, that.
Posted by: Parkway Rest Stop at March 7, 2004 08:56 PM