Tampa Taxi Shots

This art film was taken on New Years Eve at the blessed grounds of Weedon Island. Archeologist believe Native Americans were living there before the Pyramids were built. I believe there is a back story to humanity that we are only now just beginning to understand.

This documentary was with George and Kevin of Enigmatic Anomalies. They are dedicated paranormal researchers and it was a fun day. They place is creepy as hell and its hard to not think there is some presence here. The software we were using seemed to support that fact.

There she is with two heads The two headed alligator is an iconic symbol in Tampa. This was something lost on the Florida BFRO when they did their paint job on the character of the men who took the best video footage ever of a Bigfoot. It was take in the Florida swamps off the Hillsborough River. This was a fact the BFRO could not live with. So, they assassinated the character of the individuals involved without ever addressing the video itself. At the time of this "hoax," the BFRO was involved in a popular television show that was shooting in the Myakka area. The report of the Skunk Ape sighting was getting all the news. This was something that they had to stop. Money and power were involved. If you can't shoot down the message...shoot down the messenger. One of the guys that took the video did this statue that is visible on Nebraska ave in the Seminole Heights area.

Uncle Toby was very proud of what he was cooking up. If you drove cab in Tampa in the late 1990's and early 2000's, you may remember "Uncle Toby's HOT & ALOT" diner. It was home cooked gourmet diner food. I used to eat there because I  like that type of food. Toby would pile it on and I was in my glory. Toby was a retired Navy guy who always wanted to open a restaurant. He found the vacant building three blocks down from United can, and just around the corner from Yellow Cab. The location was ideal for many industrial business were in the area and many lacked a chow hall. Toby would pack them in for breakfast and lunch. The place did well for a long time. Toby had a simple formula. Feed people decent portions without a high price and they will come back. Repeat customers will make or break a business. His claim to fame was meatloaf on Tuesdays. This photo of me is eating his award winning meatloaf with mash potatoes, green beans, and roll. ...

In the ghost town area of Port Tampa is an old building that is now a public library. The residents that live here may be unaware of the history of this building, and the Port of Tampa. This building used to be a bank and it held all the payroll money for the ship and dock workers. That is why it became a robbery target for Bonnie and Clyde, who were depression era bank robbers. Their plan was fairly sound with the port not having been annexed by Tampa and a dirt road being the only way in and out. It worked. They got away with it. Too bad for the workers. There was no FDIC back then and I imagine many guys did not get paid that week. Conditions were hard back then, much less, to have it compounded by being broke. Port Tampa has a rich history that I am now researching.

Take one cab driver, one digital camera and one computer and you end up with Tampa Taxi Shots written by Tim Fasano. This is really cool. He share cab driver insights, and photos he has taken as he goes around the city. There are photos of models C.J. and Raquel Gibson (who just hit the big time), actors in period costumes in a History Channel production at Plant Hall, Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission Regulationsvarious waterfront photos and others, including an interesting insight into the Tampa Trib's newracks. He advised us where are the best places to flag down cabs. We all have our daily routine, seeing the same things every day. As a cab driver he cuts across those routines, giving him the opportunty to show us slices of Tampa, that we might not see. The *TBT! or the Weekly Planet need to do a story on him. ----------------------------------------- This was posted about the original TAMPA TAXI SHOTS by the Seminole Heights blogger when it was new...

Many think this historic cigar factory is haunted. It once employed hundreds of cuban and Italian cigar rollers decades ago. The tobacco was brought to Tampa from Havana because of its natural port and skilled labor. Tampa known as the Cigar capital of the world. Now, these factories ate empty or used as art studios. Several paranormal groups have investigated for energy or spirits. Enigmatic Anomalies did a live remote from there last year. The results were inconclusive.

I hear they want the old Floridian hotel reopened by the RNC in August. They were working on remodeling it in 2008 before the economy collapsed. Then, it sat idle. Its claims to fame are that it once was the tallest building in Florida and that Elvis stayed there in the 1950's.

Tom and I recently went to Oaklawn cemetery in downtown Tampa. This was in July and I ended up changing my shirt! This was in the Catholic section Tom knew there were many Civil War veterens and Jose Martinez Ybor, amoung others, buried here.  Tom taking my photo!  The tomb of Ybor of Ybor City fame  Tim Fasano checking it out   The entry to Oaklawn Cemetery Tampa