Robertson and Fresh, “Bartenders at a Hotel Bar” (1930). Credit: Robertson and Fresh Collection of Tampa Photographs via USF Digital Commons

The City of Tampa turns 137 years old this week, and while there’s a daytime celebration happening outside of Old City Hall on Monday, a bar just two miles away is where the real party is at.

Shuffle is where Tampeño historian Manny Leto will stage an 813 version of drunk history (don’t worry, anyone with a 656 area code came come, too).

Leto, who is currently Executive Director at Preserve The ‘Burg, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he’s not the foremost expert on local history (spoiler: he knows a shitload). He does, however, hope that this talk and Q&A—which will probably involve shots—opens the door for others to experience history in the comfort of a local pub before going to explore a museum, or partake in Archives Awareness Week which kicks off July 14.

“This is not meant to be a definitive kind of look at Tampa’s history. It’s meant to have a little bit of fun, be a little irreverent,” Leto added.

No telling exactly what the program will entail, but we’re hoping to hear about fights over which books lectors could and couldn’t read to cigar workers, Catholic priests who were clubbed to death after landing on local shores, and maybe that mayor of West Tampa who was kidnapped.

There’s no cover for Drunk Tampa History happening Monday, July 15 at Tampa Shuffle.
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