My daughter Aurora and I are plannning to visit the University of Tampa. What’s your opinion on things to check out, both on campus and in Tampa in general? I’ve heard of the Ybor district, just vaguely however. Is there an art community there? Any small coffeshops with poetry readings, open mike nights? Different places to eat? What’s a good place for students to live? What to watch out for? Etc. Opinions welcomed about anything & everything. Thanks in advance!
When come bring pie!
UofT is very pretty, architecturally and is just to the west of downtown Tampa. I’m not sure where students live, or how much on campus housing they have. Seminole Heights is a nearby neighborhood that is being revitalized, and Hyde Park is not far but might be pricey for a student. She might be able to find a room with a family there and exchange some light housework for free or reduced rent.
There are a few good restaurants downtown, a small entertainment area called Channelside which is on the other side of downtown, and then Ybor and Hyde Park are the most convenient. Hyde Park doesn’t really have any chain restaurants, so you could say that everything there is different. Ditto Ybor (which is sort of like the French quarter… you just missed the Gasparilla Knight parade, but maybe you can time it for the St. Patrick’s day parade. Lots of people dressed as pirates on floats throwing beads). Ybor was the Cuban quarter, then went in decline, then was rejuvenated as an artist colony. Now there are lots of bars and clubs, still a few galleries, but many are gone as the rents have gone too high for them. Depending on how long you’re in town you can check out the beach, too. It’s just a shade under 80 F today and sunny here. Gorgeous, actually.
What else do you want to know?
Shibb
“How to get a good feel for a town in four hours or less” 
Just kidding. Basically, if you were thinking of going to UT and you were going to be over 700 miles from home, what would you check out before you enrolled? How best to use limited time in Tampa to help make a decision?
Plus: I’m going to drive 12 hours to get there, and I’d like find places to have a little fun to justify the trip. 
And: do you feel like adopting a student for two years, Shibby dear? Or, mebbe I can talk the Turk brothers into it.
Well, there’s also Busch Gardens here (and their waterpark) if amusement parks are your kind of thing, and there is the Hard Rock Casino on the outskirts of town. If you like nightlife at all you should check out Ybor City, which is interesting on the weekends for sure. Go to Hyde Park for the upscale quaint experience, and check out some of the older homes along there and Bayshore Blvd. Downtown Tampa is a bit boring, IMO. Drive over the bridge and go to a restaurant along the beach somewhere and have a grouper sandwich and watch the sunset and the pelicans. She won’t be at the beach every day, but it’s nice to know it’s there in case you need it. Maybe check out International Plaza for some glitzy shopping and beautiful people. If nature’s your thing there are lots of nice parks nearby, or take a boat ride to look for manatees or dolphins. I can show you where the osprey hang out, too. If you’re more laid back then you might consider going to Skipper’s Smokehouse where you might hear reggae, blues, or other eclectic music.
If I had more space I’d take her in for a couple of years in exchange for occasional kid herding duties.
I was just in Tampa for a four day weekend and had a great time. My wife and I have discussed possibly moving to the area upon retirement (which is absolutely no help to you, I know).
FWIW I saw one of these very close up (it flew in front of my car) during my drive home. I saw it before it got in front of me, and she(?) pulled up a bit as I drew near and slowed down. She was clutching a small, silvery fish in her talons. I was about 15-30 feet away as it flew by.
plnnr where did y’all stay (if you don’t mind my asking)? We definitely are going to try to get to the Dali musem.
Here is a pretty good entertainment guide for the Tampa area:
http://tampabayentertainment.com/
The U of T is just around the corner from the Performing Arts Center:
I don’t think downtown Tampa is a good place to walk at night, I would drive, take a cab.
There’s also the cute little Tampa Trolley:
http://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/home.html
http://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/news/new_events/inventing_the_future.pdf
And this will be one of your biggest rivalries:
- Find a Weekly Planet magazine ASAP
- Introduce your daughter to a wonderful local liaison such as Dan Turk if she decides to move here.
- Leave no visible valuables in your car anywhere near Ybor after dark.
Dan I would SO love to see you. I’m gonna e-mail you (hope you’re still on this Roadrunner addy).
And thanks CC for the links!
BTW, on the drive to my daughter’s soccer practice this afternoon, I spotted a big (7-8 foot) gator basking in the sun next to a pond along the side of the road. Not that you see them every day, or even that often around here, but they are there. Maybe she should go to UF?
Seriously, I don’t know much about UofT, but what does she want to study? What other schools is she looking at? And where are you coming from? (700 miles, maybe Charlotte, Knoxville, Nashville…)
Shib, we’re no strangers to alligators here in Central Mississippi. One of the pluses about UT is that she won’t have a big seaonal adjustment to make.
Study? She’s interested in Art Therapy, where artists help people overcome disabitilies, emotional problems, or assist with therapy for mental illnesses thru art. Which I think is pretty grand. UT is one of the few schools which offer that.
NinetyWt and kid! Welcome to the bay! My brother is still at that e-mail, and I am going to do what I can to get out of work so we can all get together at least once. I do highly recommend the Dalí museum, and its immediate surroundings are gorgeous also – it’s more or less on the campus of USF - St Pete, where I go to school. As to Tampa itself, I don’t know it very well. It is the center of our nightlife for the 18 - 34 crowd, but daytime Tampa is kinda boring. Pinellas, the county across the bay, is really the population center of the area – less populated than Hillsborough (Tampa’s county), but much denser. We don’t really have a whole lot to do, but I think that anyone who lives in a place feels that way eventually.
You absolutely have to watch the sunset over the water while sitting in front of an absurdly tropical drink and a grouper sandwich at a beach restaurant along the Gulf while you are here.
Not to hijack the thread, but have you considered Florida Southern College in Lakeland? It’s a small, private school as well. FSC is about 50 miles East of Tampa; Lakeland has a more “small town” feel than Tampa. FSC is the rival of UT :D.
If you consider it, get in touch with me to sign the application. If an alum (I’m c/o '95) signs it, then the application fee is waived.
Here’s a link.
While you’re in the area you might also want to check out the Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota. I don’t know if they have an art therapy program or not, but I’m having dinner with a friend who’s an alum tonight so I’ll ask him about it.
Carm, you’re in Plant City, right? I got out to Parkerdale’s Farms with my son, the strawberry fiend a couple of weeks ago. We munched strawberries until we could munch no more.
Everyone: want to hijack their visit into a TampaBayAreaDopeFest?
Caliente - a clothing optional resort (which may make for an interesting stay on your behalf).
Check out the affordable housing in the area. Do it once during the day, then drive through the same neighborhood at night (full disclosure: not to be a wet blanket, but I lived in Tampa for three years and consider it to be a real armpit of a city. So I’m biased). UT is located between downtown (which when I lived there was abandoned every night by 7p.m.) and the greatest concentration of dollar-stuffed garters in the hemisphere. The two largest bookstore/coffeeshops in the city are found at the north end of the latter.
Ybor City is two miles of tightly concentrated bars, which to be fair is heavily policed. This has been both praised and condemned by UT students. The area surrounding Ybor City can be a little dangerous.
Actually, Tampa can be a little dangerous. It pretty much doubles the national average in most categories of crime, and in certain areas it considerably outperforms even that, as seen here: http://tampa.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
I won’t go on - I’ve admitted my bias against the place. UT has not the stature or reputation to make it worth its unfortunate location. Any place in the University of Florida system, or any other state’s university system, has it beat even without the weight of Tampa on the scales.
plnnr: heh.
You know what’s funny about that? Hubby and I went to DopeStock in Georgia last summer for our honeymoon. I guess I draw a crowd wherever I go. 
Bambi: for some odd reason I thought you were moving out of the area. I’m glad to see I was wrong!
King of Soup, thanks for the input. It looks like Jackson doesn’t stack up much better than Tampa on the crime stats; so, live here or live there, not much difference.
If you travel from Tampa to St. Pete to visit the Dali museum or any other St.Pete/Clearwater sights, avoid traveling the bridges during rush hours.
I suppose that’s just common sense but you’d be surprised how quick the trip can be if you time it just right. Otherwise, it can be verrrry sloooow. But you can always sit on the bridge and watch the birds if you get stuck in traffic.