BEST JUNKYARD TO FIND ART SUPPLIES
Hobbs Metals-Recycling
Clarence Hobbs, the owner, is a character, a true Florida cracker, and he's an artist himself, the way he arranges the salvage yard in its own aesthetics. It's just wild. You walk through arbors of metal that he's attached together. It's a found-object museum. Any kind of metal you've got, you can bring it to the recycling center. Depending on what the object is, he'll charge you a fee to drop it off or he pays for it. They have things like old carnival rides, roller coaster chains, airplane parts, helicopter gears, interiors of ships that have been dismantled. A lot of the boats have beautiful histories of being submerged underwater and then being pulled out and recycled. But a lot of what's there are just objects from everyday life that people don't have any use for — refrigerator parts, blenders, stoves, parts of old motorcycles — and these kinds of things are really attractive to me. I'm drawn to the back piles that are about three stories high and true debris. It's not the stuff that has any merit to it. It's the real waste part of the salvage yard. I can spend hours just digging through it. And Clarence is really cool about it. I've known him since I was a little kid. I would go there when I was five. Visitors just sign in and then walk around. I make little piles of things I want and then he tells me what they'll cost. Lawnmowers are awesome, but most of them are really expensive cause they're cast aluminum. But sometimes I have to break down and go on a shopping spree. Many of my treasures come from this salvage yard.
Hobbs Metal-Recycling, 1599 Rainville Road, Tarpon Springs, 727-934-1591.
BEST FLEA MARKET
Webster Westside Flea Market
Flea markets have become so commercialized since I was a kid that it's really hard to find used things at them. But I love to make it out to Webster's. I go at least once a year. It's enormous. It takes you a day to go through just half of it.
Webster Flea Market, 516 N.W. Third St., Webster, 800-832-3477 or 352-793-9877.
BEST HOMEBREW
Rocky's Amber Pilsner
My dad made beer and wine when I was growing up. I have a little beer-making unit out at the studio. It's an interesting process: the fermenting, watching it bubble for weeks on end thinking, "Am I gonna drink that?" I make an amber pilsner that I'm fond of, but I do different things. I'll throw jalapenos into the beer to see what comes out. I made a tangerine beer last year that didn't work at all. It tasted like sour wine, but it was worth the experiment.
BEST CROSS-ETHNIC RESTAURANT
Asado Café
It's Cuban-Thai, family owned and operated. You walk in and they have a little bar, very cozy. The menu changes but it's all specialty dishes — rice dishes, some noodle dishes — it's eclectic. They have curry sauces but they're really unique because they're combinations of Cuban and Thai recipes. I usually get different Thai dishes. Highly recommended for some unique flavor.
Asado Café, 118 Eighth Ave., St. Pete Beach, 727-368-0246.
BEST GREEK RESTAURANT
Mr. Souvlaki
Mr. Souvlaki is sort of off the main track of Dodecanese Boulevard. It's just incredible. They have a chicken souvlaki sandwich that is out of this world. Their signature dish is Greek chow mein — yellow pilaf rice with feta and lamb. And of course the Greek salad, which is very authentic, is excellent. Their motto is, "Once a week, go Greek."
Mr. Souvlaki, 510 Dodecanese Blvd., Tarpon Springs, 727-937-2795.
BEST RAW SOUTHERN
ROCK VENUE
The Boat Club
There's no place like it on the face of the earth. It's a tiny little shack that's located right on the Anclote River. Part of it actually goes over the water, and then they have a crude dock. A lot of people pull their boats up and I guess that's where they got their name, The Boat Club. It's been there for years. On Sundays they have live music and do a grilling for their customers. They usually grill chicken and corn on the cob. And you're standing in this building that's about to fall in the river, the walls are covered in graffiti from floor to ceiling, and there's a crowd of very real people and incredible southern rock 'n' roll. They have different bands that come in. The Dalton Gang — just a true Southern rock 'n' roll band — they're regulars. And they sometimes have Gloria Higgins, who's got a great voice. She's the daughter of Bertie Higgins, who sang "Key Largo." The Boat Club's one of those very unusual Florida places that you'd never hear of.
The Boat Club, 1761 C.R. 71, Tarpon Springs, 727-938-9566.
BEST BOHEMIAN BAR
The Zone Art Lounge
The atmosphere of the Zone is amazing. It's very peaceful, upscale but relaxed. Susan and Jeff are the owners and they believed that if they built the right place, the right people would come. Robin Hillary, the bartender, is also a sculptor and her sculptures are intermixed throughout the lounge. There are comfortable armchairs and artwork everywhere, and there's an outside courtyard with a couple fireplaces and ivy growing up the red brick walls. Susan goes out of her way to create a specialized wine list and they have some good beers on tap. About three times a week they have bands come out and play, but the music changes. It's a really great venue for jazz.
The Zone, 121 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs, 727-945-1700.
BEST GARAGE SALE
Rocky's Annual Art Garage Sale
We usually have the garage sale at the end of the summer. A couple days in advance my wife Kathleen starts preparing food and we pull out different artwork that I've had throughout a season or a couple seasons. I make tables to display things on and we lay the artwork out so it's very much like an actual garage sale. We just invite people we know — museum directors, gallery owners, people from the boat club, everyone. And nothing's priced. People just come and make offers. It's hilarious, a really good time.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.