Perfect if:
• You and your crew want to indulge in a down-and-dirty Tropical Heatwave-driven weekend of live music and boozin' without having to watch how much you drink.
• You want to treat an out-of-town guest to the full-on Ybor City experience — from peaceful daylight hours to after-dark buzz to late-night exodus when people of all types converge in the street…
Itinerary: Havin' a Heatwave
WMNF descends upon Ybor every year on a Saturday in mid-May for Tropical Heatwave, and hosts live music by an eclectic range of local, national and international artists on multiple stages around the city. (See my tips for navigating the 2011 edition.) Plenty of local folks make an overnight of it. But who wants to show up on Saturday with all the other schmucks when you could get the party started early and make your landing Friday? Take a half-day off … shit, take a full day off, and make a real stay-cation of it.
Lodging
The independently owned Don Vicente Inn is booked solid on Saturday, as is the nearby Hilton Garden Inn. However, the lesser-known but just as nice Hampton Inn & Suites (1301 E. Seventh Ave., 813-247-6100) has availability on both nights with rates starting at $92 (possibly less if you're internet savvy). While it's not as near the action as the other two, it's still an easy walk away, which means you can drop by your room any time during the fest to rest, freshen up, toss back a drink (pack a cooler!), and unload any goodies you snag from the array of street vendors.
Eats
Arrive on Friday early enough for lunch (before 3 p.m.), and fill a plate at Laughing Cat Café's small but famously delicious Italian buffet (1820 N. 15th St.). Turn up later and treat yourself to an entrée from the full-on menu; the prices are steeper, but the portions are generous enough to make a meal for two.
Get your Heatwave day started with some cheesy Cuban toast and café con leche at Tre Amici (1907 N. 19th St.). For lunch, chow down on pub food and throw back an icy cold mug of brewed-onsite beer at Tampa Bay Brewing Company (Centro Ybor). Or pick up a Cuban sammie and some black beans and rice at Carmine's (1802 E. Seventh Ave.), and take it back to your room to nosh on as you gear up for the main event.
When Heatwave concludes, track down a slice of pie — New York, New York Pizza Bar & Grill (1512 E. Seventh Ave.), Old Manhattan Pizza (1616 E. Seventh Ave.), or The Market On 7th (1816 E. Seventh Ave.) are all solid bets. Or, if you think you can stomach some deep-fried Alaskan tacos, stop by Mema's (1724 E. Eighth Ave.); it's a late-night grubbing tradition and it'll likely be packed to the gills with other post-Heatwave revelers.
Nurse your Sunday hangover with brunch at The Bricks (1327 E. Seventh Ave.); for best results, we suggest "the Cure" — two messy but well-dressed eggs on a toasted baguette, with a side of fruit — and a Defibrillator (iced coffee over a quad shot).
Entertain yourself
Heatwave fills up a chunk of your Saturday, but what about the rest of your time?
Get tatted! Ybor boasts a virtual cornucopia of tattoo parlors — from long-running hole-in-the-wall establishments like Phat Katz (1632 E. Seventh Ave.) to larger custom shops like Redletter1 (1818 N. 15th St.), among many others.
You can do the retail rounds, too. There's classy vintage apparel at La France (1612 E. Seventh Ave.), naughty fetishwear, toys and wigs at Kicks on 7th (1516 E. Seventh Ave.), vinyl and glass at Hot Wax (1409 E. Seventh Ave.), and plenty of other eclectic offerings.
Other worthy diversions: the Saturday Morning Market in Centennial Park (Eighth Ave. and 19th St., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.), where you can get anything from fresh-baked bread and honey direct from the 'comb, to herbs, plants and handmade crafts; the nearby Singing Stone/Casa de Art (1903 N. 19th St.), Dan and Nataly Balk's casita row gallery that features their silver works along with select pieces by a range of other artisans; the 20-theater Muvico Ybor, where they have a full-service bar and afternoon matinees that screen to near-empty audiences (Centro Ybor); and New World Brewery (1313 N. Eighth Ave.), which serves stone-seared pizza and stages a Friday night bill of Ninebullets.net-beloved music (more info here).
OR….
If Heatwave isn't your thing, Raphael Saadiq hits The Ritz Ybor on May 28. Or, if you saw the headline "PLAYcation" and immediately thought, "Play ball!" — then you should take a… RAYcation!
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.