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Nephew of the Week: Paul Sams

This former US Navy guy is now working hard at a local hospital. He still sneaks time in for wild fun in GaYBOR!

 

You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

In the early 2000s we had our store at the Suncoast Resort. Mark was a bartender at The Grand Central Station on Central Avenue in St. Pete. The owners of the club were very creative and fun! One day, one of the owners came in with a large bowl-shaped vase that he had just found at a junk store. He was so very excited about this. Then, in a burst of excitement, he proclaimed, “This will make the world’s most perfect fish bowl!” Off he went, and he purchased gravel and a goldfish. He put the fish bowl on the bar top and was so very proud of what he had created. Several hours later the same day in walks this drunken bartender from a different gay bar. He was always very drunk and obnoxious. This night he was already over the top. Finishing his beer, he slides it down the bar and hits the new fish bowl, smashing it. Water goes everywhere. Of course he was tossed out of the club. Mad and out of control, this guy stands in the middle of Central Avenue, whips out his d–k and starts to take a pee! All the time, he’s screaming “F-U, P-ss on you all! #@&%$#!” But wait! That is not the strangest part!

About five years go by and we receive a phone call at our then-new store in Ybor City. It was a bail bondsman calling. He said that our good friend was in jail for a DUI. He didn’t want to bother us so he has been there for five days. We asked him to repeat the name several times. Then the bondsman said he was the bartender at “____” in St. Pete. It was the same guy.  We politely said no thank you, all the time thinking in our heads, “P-ss on you too!”

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People Are Talking

The biggest conversation in the area since the well-attended St. Pete Pride is having a  “TAMPA PRIDE.” All we can say is get your colors in order for a great springtime event! A new (possibly gay) bar is opening in the old Laughing Cat Restaurant banquet room. Right across the street in the old Roosevelt, a new restaurant and bar is opening, by the people who own Cigar Brewing Company. It will be called Cigar City Cider and Mead. The message is up at the last major cigar company in historic Ybor City and America’s oldest family operated cigar maker. The JC Newman Cigar Factory with the fabulous clock tower along I-4 has its message flying: “Don’t close us down.” The FDA may put the nail in the coffin of the only surviving cigar maker left in Tampa on August 8. Public comments are in the works and being considered by the FDA.

 

GaYBOR Freedom Crawl

It was a hot and rainy weekend but the GaYBOR Coalition had its 6th annual “Freedom” Bar Crawl that attracted locals and many visiting out-of-towners. Headed up by the Mistress GaYBOR Mama, they tramped through, showing colors at eight bars and clubs in Ybor City. Adult sampling stops included Hamburger Mary’s, Ybor City Wine Bar, Tequilas, Dog’s Bollocks, Reservoir Bar, Bradley’s on 7th, Liquid Lounge and GBar.

The GaYBOR officers want to thank all the bar owners and staff for a successful and fun event. This annual event is a summer fundraiser sponsored by GaYBOR in historic Ybor City. The weekend had many GLBT visitors from outside the area exploring GaYBOR! The next GaYBOR-sponsored bar crawl is Labor Day weekend.