Tampa - What to see??

I'm heading to Tampa next week on business and was wondering what I should see LCN-wise.

I've done some research and it seems that the La Tropicana is a must but I'm wondering about the Char-Pal Lounge. Is that a "rough" crowd and in a bad area or what?

Anyone suggest anything else that isn't a $$$ restaurant??

Thanks

Scott Deitche is an author that posts on this forum and the RD forum. He's written a couple books on the Tampa mob. He'd be the best to answer this question.

Let me put it to you this way. Don't start fights in Florida, especially with Italian-looking guys, other than that, you'll be fine. Haha

Ybor City! Columbia Restaurant. Across the street is la Tropicana which is excellent. Also a very cool place to just visit.

In terms of "LCN-wise" there is really not much. As mentioned, Ybor City is the historical stomping grounds of the Tampa mob, and a few places remain from the old days, such as the Columbia Restaurant(Trafficante's favorite restaurant, but that area is now mainly ghetto, and the historical 7th ave strip is a bunch of night clubs, etc. But as mentioned, very cool place to visit in the day, however might not be your type of place at night unless you are younger.

Another place you might wanna check out is the Tahitian Inn on Dale Mabry, old hotel owned by an associate where meetings, etc., used to go down. If you are looking for more recent places, there is the Mirage nightclub on the corner of Himes and Hillsborough. The manager there was some Gambino associate who was indicted a couple years back alongside Gotti jr., believe his name was Cadicamo. I was suprised when I heard this because the club is a ghetto shithole, to put it nicely. Very ghetto, constant fights and several shootings in the parking lot, so obviously I wouldnt recommend going there either, lol.

Sorry I couldnt be of more help, but truthfully, I think what youre looking for no longer exists for the most part.

Cannolies, think its worth the ride for him to see the little guy at the golf coarse? Will let you insert names!

Considering I doubt he does much of anything these days besides manage the course, I would say no

True! Can see him when he's behind the bar anyway! You just see a head of hair going back and forth!

Off the Mob trail I was going to tell him to try Hat Tricks for a drink! Plenty to look at there!

Thanks.guys. i'll probably just stick to the Tropicana and maybe a photo outside the Char-pal lounge. I appreciate all the help and welcome any more suggestions.

Ivy, tip of the cap and Scott is on my list to contact.

Andrew, thanks for the heads up but I'm not the fighting type. I would be interested in chatting with you some more in the future

Thanks again

Yea Hat tricks is a nice place, couple of nice places opening up downtown recently.

As for the OP, another place you might wanna check out restaurant-wise is Donatello on Dale Mabry. Old mob hang out, and good italian food, at least for Florida

Olddirty- will you be there through March 9th? If so, I'm doing my monthly Ybor Mafia walking tour that night:

http://www.cigarcitymagazine.com/events/137-the-mafia-tour

Here is an article I did with addresses of some places of note:

http://www.cigarcitymagazine.com/articles/history/item/tampa-s-mob-spots

A lot of the Ybor places you can walk around to. The rest, especially on Kennedy and Dale Marby- you need to drive.

And if you are in town for a while I highly recommend taking a short jaunt to downtown St. Pete- the best DT on the west coast of FL. Lots to do- great bars, restaurants, shops galleries museums, all in walking distance.

The Char Pal is easy to get to- it's right across from the entrance to Busch Gardens , on Busch Boulevard. Drive there, grab some photos, and drive on- nothing to worry about.

I also HIGHLY suggest , during the day, the L'Unione Italiana Cemetery. Almost every major Mafia figure from Lumia to Trafficante to Diecidue is buried there.

http://wikimapia.org/20370786/L%E2%80%99Unione-Italiana-Cemetery

Here is an easy site to find the graves:

http://www.italian-club.org/cemetery.asp


The gates are open during the day, drive in and park on the grass. In the mausoleum, you'll see:

ON your left when you walk in:
Santo Trafficante Jr.
Jimmy Longo

along the front wall facing the gates:
Frank Diecidue
Tom Diecidue
Frank Ippolito
Angelo LoScalzo

around the side:

Sal Lorenzo

In standalone tombs in the cemetery:

Jimmy Lumia
Antonio Diecidue
Ignazio Italiano
Santo Trafficane Sr.

With respect to my honorable colleague ScottD, let me suggest you re-read "Donnie Brasco" and the pseudonymous book by the SA who was Tony Rossi (name is eluding me this second) and do the Pinellas Cty/southern Pasco tour from St. Pete to Holiday. Not everything is still there but plenty is and you still get a good sense of the geography. Meet the right folks and you can hear some Greek gangster stories also... You can also do some Jack Kerouac tourism in St. Pete if so inclined.

I'm surprised nobody here's joked about Tampa strip clubs, massage parlors or Nebraska Ave hookers yet but I guess we're all clean living! Still if like bbq now and then, don't miss Eli's in Dunedin -->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=But2-xFdIQY

Still some fine Cuban food in Tampa too.

EastHarlemItal, when I'm in down in Fla, I bike ride Gulf Blvd through IRB all the time!

All this Florida talk ..I'm thinking about taking off..*for good

Scott,

Unfortunately I'm only in town from 2/27-3/3 so I'll miss the tour. Thanks for the heads up on the char-pal, I'm literally staying right around the corner from it... If you had a minute for coffee or something, PM me.

With the time I have, it's probably only going to be the La Tropicana and Char-Pal. I wish I had more time for touring.

Thanks to everyone for the help!!

Dan