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  1. Life & Culture

History

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  1. Son will reopen the West Tampa library Walter L. Smith Sr. built
    May 23• History
    Walter Smith II poses for a portrait in the chair his that father used to work from at the Dr Walter L Smith Library.
  2. Fox 13′s Kelly Ring says goodbye to Tampa Bay after 37 years
    May 20• Life & Culture
    Co-anchor Kelly Ring pauses during a break in the Fox 13 6 p.m. news segment at the Tampa station on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Ring, who won three Emmy awards and traveled overseas, announced her retirement after 37 years at WTVT. Her last broadcast is scheduled for May 25.
  3. 2 century-old Tampa buildings could be saved from demolition
    May 19• History
    These two century-old buildings - 514 N. Tampa St. and 520 N. Tampa St. - might be saved from demolition.
  5. Russian punk band Pussy Riot to headline St. Pete Pride concert
    May 19• Entertainment
    Russian punk band Pussy Riot, shown here in 2012 after the band first came to the attention of Russian authorities when they performed a scandalous protest song in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in 2012. Lead musician Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in the blue mask, is the only member of the collective confirmed for the June 24 concert for St. Pete Pride.
  6. Manatee County’s Feld Entertainment to bring back Ringling circus in a new way
    May 18• Entertainment
    The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus will be reimagined.
  7. A West Tampa cigar factory is for sale
    May 18• History
    The Samuel I. Davis Cigar Factory at 900 N Howard Ave. in Tampa is for sale.
  8. Florida’s Emancipation Day is this week
    May 16• History
    The Manor House at the Chinsegut Hill Retreat and Museum in Brooksville will host a celebration of Florida Emancipation Day.
  9. Dinosaurs are invading Tampa’s MOSI this summer
    May 12• Kids & Family
    Herrerasaurus, a dinosaur first discovered in fossils in South America, is among the displays in the Dinosaurs Around the World exhibit running May 14-Sept. 5 at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry. The life-like animatronic dinosaurs offer a paleontological journey back in time.
  10. How a retired postal worker helped bring down a Tampa mob illegal lottery
    May 11• History
    With the help of a retired postal worker, in 1958, the Hillsborough County Vice Squad broke up the largest bolita ring in Tampa Bay at the time.
  11. Tampa Theatre to bring back popular summer classic movie series
    May 10• Movies
    Rita Moreno, center, as Anita, in the 1961 musical, "West Side Story." The historic Tampa Theatre is bringing back its longest-running series, Summer Classics, by celebrating a century of films, from silent movies to a sing-along to Moreno's Oscar-winning performance. It starts June 5.
  12. Tampa Housing Authority is rebuilding a historic Black neighborhood
    May 10• History
    The two remaining houses from the Scrub, downtown Tampa’s pioneering Black neighborhood, purchased by the Tampa Housing Authority for restoration with the goal of creating affordable housing that is modern but pays tribute to the history of the area.
  13. Under the minarets, teaching history at Tampa’s Henry B. Plant Museum
    May 7• Tampa
    Interim Henry B. Plant Museum director Lindsay Huban, right, shows Stephanie Carlos a vintage photograph detailing the room they're in at the museum at the University of Tampa campys in May 2018. Carlos was taking a tour to learn why there are minarets on the former Tampa Bay Hotel built by railroad baron Henry B. Plant.
  14. Find your Old Florida treasure at Floridania Fest in Gulfport
    May 4• History
    Clockwise from top left: A Tiki Gardens pennant, a decal depicting the water skiers of Cypress Gardens, orange blossom perfume made in Jacksonville, an alligator-skin handbag and a Weeki Wachee-themed coloring book. All of these items will be at Floridania Fest at the Gulfport Casino on May 21.
  15. 4 East Tampa homes may sit atop a Black cemetery with 430 graves
    May 3• History
    Aerial view of where four homes and a church parking lot in East Tampa's Montana City Subdivision might have been built on top of the St. Joseph Aid Society Cemetery.
  16. Purple jacaranda trees fill Tampa Bay’s landscape this time of year
    Apr. 27• Environment
    Jacaranda flowers are blooming across the Tampa Bay area. (This stunner is in Clearwater.) The fragrant, showy flower of the jacaranda blooms any time from April through August, but around here the purple, trumpet-shaped flower is most often in full bloom in late April and early May.
  17. Newly updated travel books offer Florida staycation and day trip ideas
    Apr. 22• Travel
    Patrons dine at The Ozona Pig as scooters and bicyclists cruise by in Ozona. The North Pinellas enclave is one of the hamlets that the recently revised book "Visiting Small-Town Florida" recommends.
  18. Housing bubbles have hit Florida hard. Is it ready for another one?
    Apr. 20• Real Estate
    The proposed site of Pendry Residences along the Tampa Riverwalk is pictured on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 in Tampa. This lot was formerly going to be home to Trump Tower Tampa, which failed to be built amid the real estate crash in the 2000s.
  19. TV writers love to pick on Tampa. What’s their deal?
    Apr. 20• Life & Culture
    Illustration by Sean Kristoff-Jones
  20. How to know you’re a true Tampa Bay local in 5 easy steps
    Apr. 20• Opinion
    Sitting in heavy traffic on the Howard Frankland bridge is a Tampa Bay rite of passage.
  21. Florida city earns surprise state grant to repair its abandoned Black cemetery
    Apr. 15• History
    Fire Chief Kevin Carroll reads off the faded lettering on a headstone in the Oak Tree Union Colored Cemetery of Taylorville in Groveland, Fla., on Friday, March 25, 2022. The abandoned African American cemetery is estimated to have around 70 people buried in it, according to Carroll.
  22. Wimauma was home to the largest moonshine still in Hillsborough history
    Apr. 12• History
    In 1958, the Hillsborough County Vice Squad discovered the largest moonshine still in the county's history.
  23. E.M. Scott has been building Tampa since 1927. Now it’s closing.
    Apr. 7• History
    Michelle Scott Begue, left, president of E. M. Scott General Contractor, Amelia Scott, project coordinator, and Mark Scott, vice president, pore over memories of the family business at the company’s office at 1614 S 50th St in Tampa. The family business, established in 1927, is closing permanently.
  24. In 1953, nurse rescued patients from horrific Largo fire. Her grave is unmarked.
    Apr. 3• Life & Culture
    Gertrude Warnick was "tall, dark haired," "cheerful and very patient." She died in a 1953 fire and now rests in an unmarked grave in Clearwater.
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