For nearly 100 years, Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard has been a center of important activities and the site of some of the city's loveliest waterfront homes. Bayshore's five miles of uninterrupted sidewalk, said to be the longest in the world, runs along a gorgeous commuter route lined by homes and high-rises and is also a hot spot for recreation. This precious stretch of real estate is the focus of an intimate tour on Home & Garden Television's Dream Drives, a weekly, half-hour series that explores unique neighborhoods that typically have one defining street as their anchor. Examples of previously profiled streets include Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.; Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles; and St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.
Hosted by Tia Marlier, each episode features a few homes that are by turns elegant, hip, historical or trendy. She explores the architectural and design elements that convey the theme or spirit of the community, guided by interviews with the homeowners, as well as preservationists or restoration architects who can help characterize the area's history.
The show's spotlight on Bayshore covers a Mediterranean Revival style home built in 1925 that's set back from the hubbub of South Bayshore; a pastel bungalow built in 1911 that's among the first homes built on the boulevard, a grand Colonial-facade home built in 1985 that hides a colorful Floridian interior and a French Revival home built in 1981 that's designed to blend with the boulevard's older homes.
HGTV airs the episode of Dream Drives at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, Nov. 2, on Time Warner channel 57 in both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
