MORE MUST-DOS
Two weeks ago, we ran a cover story, "The Must-Do List," which detailed the top 100 things that everyone should do to consider themselves a true Tampa Bay resident. The list included everything from the inevitable to the absurd. Here a few ideas that readers thought we should add.
Catch a show from Basic Rock Outfit at Margarita Mama's and get to do shots out of a girl's boobs when she's wearing nothing but lingerie … been there, done that.
Watch the cruise ships dock at Channelside and think about rushing in to see if they have any cabins left.
Hit the MCC garage sale in Seminole Heights because we all know it's the Mecca of garage sales.
Take Highway 50 to Orlando and stop at Mystic Mojo in Mascotte because how do you pass a place with a confederate flag and a Buddha statue out front?
Pornaoke…need I say more?
Get hit on by creepy guys in Keith's.
Kill a water moccasin by the pool.
Call USF's Zoology dept. to let them have the 18 lb. toad that's been living under your shed in the side yard since 1978.
Hear a police officer say, "You ain't from around here, are ya?"
Watch the guy with dreds and a kilt walking through Seminole Heights stoned off his ass.
Addison Phillips
Tampa
By far the best ice cream in town is Bo's on Florida Avenue. Any true resident can tell you all about the banana split tub that they have always intended to order for their next birthday, but never got around to it. There is nothing better after a long day at the beach than a vanilla soft-serve with a butterscotch dip. Fantastic!
Hillary Neuschwanger
Via e-mail
Have an appointment with a faculty person at USF, arrive three hours early at campus, buy the $3 parking permit, head for the spaces suggested by the attendant in the booth, use the time searching for an empty visitors parking place, leave after three and a half hours, phone your appointment to express frustration and hear, "Oh yeah, we get a lot of that."
Mortimer Brown
Lutz
Awake to the noise of the "undocumented" mowing the lawn and just in time to watch the "Baby Boomers" struggle to work and then go to Hooters or Pete & Shorty's on Gulf-to-Bay for an "eye opener."
LaSpadas on Main Street (Route 580) in Dunedin for the real "Philly Steak Sandwich." It has to be real since their parents made them learn how to make them in Delaware County (Philly area) in Pa. Then they escaped to Dunedin.
The "Amish Country Store" (206 13th St. SW, Largo, behind Largo Medical Center on West Bay, theamishcountrystore.com) for real Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch Products imported from Pennsylvania (naturally) and Ohio. You have the Rotterdam Dutch, the God Dam Dutch and us Pennsylvania Dutch!! Try their birch (not root) beer straight or mix it half and half with a Bud … try it. Try finding Birch Beer in Tampa!!! Oh, yes, there is also ginger beer.
Richard E. Dornblaser
Clearwater
How about the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. It's a must visit!!!
Dylan
Via website
Clearwater Marine Science Center.
Scuba dive in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fish from the old Skyway bridge.
Joe
Via website
Lived here my whole life, 21 years, and I only did half of those things, but you nailed it on the head with the "I don't give a shit about the hurricane party," and Snack City is the best place for cheap and good food, never mind the appearance. The bowling ball house is my uncle's by marriage, and it's even cooler on the inside. Good job guys.
I never get a chance to read the Planet, and I only did because someone left it in the courthouse. I think it needs to be more places!
Faye K.
Via website
HAPPY WITH HAPA
I'm sorry that you didn't agree with the reviewers for the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times who raved about Hapa (Food Feature, "Hardly Hawaiian," by Brian Ries, June 7-13).
I've eaten there at least a dozen times, have always found the food and service to be superb and have recommended the restaurant to many people, all of whom have loved it.
You can call me a dill-loving bourgeois who enjoys sublime and creative food along with superlative service and hopes the Gardiners will be happy at Hapa for many years to come.
Bonnie Richman
Oldsmar
A QUESTION OF ETHICS
Thank you for the article (Political Whore, "Reading Between The Lines," by Wayne Garcia, May 31-June 6). I don't know how the citizens of Hillsborough County can have faith in their school district when the head of Professional Standards (Linda Kipley) is unprofessional herself and when the superintendent is going around bullying a revered, historical newspaper that gave a voice to the Hispanic community when there was no voice. How she can do such a thing demonstrates what depths she will sink to in order to hold onto power.
Bart Birdsall
Tampa
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2006.
