Carrie and I have been together since 1978. I know that’s 40+ years. I have never liked to do laundry. In those very 1^st years I was so happy to see that Carrie liked to do laundry. He would also get so excited when he would find money in the dryer!!! Charging into the room and announcing “What I find in the dryer I’m KEEPING!!!” So…. SHUUUU Don’t tell Carrie. For the past 40+ years I have been making sure he will find money in the dryer at least once a month. After all these years he still tells me… “What I find in the dryer I’m KEEPING!!!” Hum… and he is still doing the laundry. I think that’s a win win situation!!!

Every 4^th of July we can not help but think of the huge over the top 4^th of July parties at the SunCoast Resort in St. Petersburg. It was to us the center of the Gay Universe. We owned and operated 2 stores there. Mark aka Tea Cup also performed there on stilts and bartended for The Judy B Goode & Paul Thomas Show. The 4^th of July fire works were incredible!!! As you can see in the photo behind the build, next to the interstate was a 2-story parking garage. It was very old and the second floor was not safe to park cars on. There were 4 tennis court here. During one of the fireworks displays a rocket came down and started a small fire. The firemen were so excited to show off the new firetruck and raced up the ramp onto the 2^nd floor. OMG!!! OMG!!! When told it was not safe the firemen actually looked scared. Over the next 2 hours they very carefully backed the truck down. There were firemen talking on radios with the ones below where it was safe to move the truck. Finally, it was down and everyone was safe. Just one of the crazy SunCoast Resort Memories. Happy July 4^th to everyone!!!  Feel free to share your photos here. https://www.facebook.com/suncoast.resortmemories

The 2 Brick Homes

Over 20+ years ago our dear friend and antique dealer, Marie Hall, told us a story about the 2 brick homes on 7^th Ave & 25^th Street. Marie told us that the homes were owned by a couple who also owned a funeral parlor in Tampa. The wife loved to collect Hummel Figurines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummel_figurines Her collecting grew so large that, the husband purchased the home next door to them just to hold the collection. Then the collection went crazy, 10’s of thousands of figurines, filling the whole house. After their deaths the collection was auctioned off. Marie said it could have easily been the largest Hummel Figurines auction in America.

Has anyone else in East Ybor-Gary heard of this?

From Fran Costantino

Yes, that was Mrs. Burks and those were her 2 homes that I sold way back when! Mr. Burks was huge in Democratic circles and guided the Black community in all civic affairs and held huge BBQ’s for candidates from those 2 houses! Mr. and Mrs. Burks never had children of their own but were “foster parents” to dozens over time. He gave her nothing but the best and she had a huge collection of Hummel’s and of Louis Vuitton luggage – every piece – even the big foot locker which she never used because she was afraid to travel! I loved that woman! She had a heart of gold! She moved to Gary near your house – I’ll go by and get the address for you – I don’t know if any of the children are still there! And I never heard her say anything about a funeral home as Mr. Burks had long passed away!❤️❤️❤️om

We were at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. If you have not been there, it is the smaller airport. In terminal A there are only 9 gates. We were sitting there waiting for our Southwest flight back to Tampa. There were also 2 fights going to Texas. The PA system was not working, so the gate attendants were yelling out announcements. Suddenly the people next to us started to get excited and pulling out the camera phones. It was Senator Ted Cruse of Texas and Senator John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana. I took a photo from my seat. Of course, Carrie, being the photographer in our family, jumped up and took a good photo. The open seating for the plane started and John Kennedy walked to the front of the line and Ted was 24. This plane finished loading and I noticed a 3rd Senator waiting for the other plane. It was Senator John Cornyn of Texas with his wife. His plane started to load and John walked to the front of the line. His wife was in line way back. The plane stared to load and John walked on leaving his wife in the back. Humm… If Carrie did that to me, I would have been a very unhappy camper. LOL, I posted these photos on Facebook with the caption “Too close for comfort.” There were 100’s of negative comments.

Everyone LOVES Miss Judy B. Goode!!! https://www.facebook.com/judy.b.goode    At Tampa Pride this year Judy & Paul Thomas performed at the Cuban Club Cabaret.  Notice the dress in this photo. It was a beautiful Rainbow Sequin dress with a fabulous cape too. Here comes the problem… the dress was too long. How do you sew up a hem in sequins? Judy came up with the perfect idea to use duct tape to hold the hem up. That day getting dressed after she put on her nylon stockings the dress was a little too short, especially if she reached over to pick something up. No problem Judy simply on a pair of Granny Panties over the nylons. Towards the end of her show Judy turned her back to the audience and bent over to pick something up.  Judy could feel something going down the back of her leg. She though OH NO!!! the hem of the dress is falling. The room broke into huge laughter!!! Judy looked down and it was not the hem but the Granny Panties had slipped down!!! That’s a show we all are going to remember for a long time!!! LMAO On an EXCITING NOTE… The Judy B. Goode & Paul Thomas Show will be returning to the Hollander Hotel https://www.facebook.com/HollanderHotel Starting July 3rd 2021 from 5-7 and every first Saturday of the month after that!

Split level homes are very comment in Wisconsin where we are from. You enter the front door and walk down a few steps into a ½ basement or up steps into the main living area.  This week our born and raised in Florida, great niece, 5 years old, went to Wisconsin to visit her Aunts. In a very excited facetime calls she told us….. You are not going to believe this!!!! Aunt Linda actually has a kitchen on her 2^nd floor!!! I’m not kidding!!! This is really CRAZY!!! Both of us are still laughing.

One very interesting building in Ybor City is the W. T. Grant Co. building located at 1507 E 7^th Ave. The W.T. Grant Co. started in 1906 and were famous as a 25-cent store. Its biggest completion was Kresge Kmart.  W. T. Grant’s bankruptcy in 1976, was the then-second biggest in US history. The building then fell into very hard times. In the early 1990’s a group purchased the building. The main designer was River Jude Phoenix, American actor, musician, and activist. River wanted to design his Ultimate Club.  Here is where it starts to get very interesting. River wanted the 1^st floor to be completely open with no post to hold up the second floor. The building was gutted and only saved the 4 outside walls. The iron posts that were inside holding up the second floor, were saved and were used outside to hold up the balcony Infront. Inside, the side walls were doubled in side to cut down the sound and to hide the iron beams that went up to the top of the 2^nd floor. The roof of the building was then built like an arch. Coming down from the new arch roof were beams to hold the 2^nd floor up.  The ends of the arch roof were all glass to let light in (now painted over) . In the middle of the 2^nd floor is a large opening so you can see the dance floor and stage below. This opening is all glassed in and even has drapes that can be lowered so you cannot see the VIPs on the 2^nd floor.  On the mezzanine level is the DJ booth and green room. River designed the green room with its own restroom and a separate extra private VIP room. From this level there are also a private stairs to the alley outside. This way tour buses could park out side and the stars could walk right onto stage.  When River opened there was a steak house restaurant on the 2^nd floor with a kitchen on the 1^st floor. The light thru the windows filled the room all day and spilled down to the 1^st floor.  Toward the front was a spiral stair that went to the 1 ½ floors. These stairs were nicknamed the “The Stairway To Heaven.” The stairs were soon removed when it was discovered that cocktails, high heels and spiral stairs just didn’t mix. LMAO The stairs were rescued and today are in the courtyard of a home in Ybor City. In the early 2000’s a young girl was reaching for beads from the balcony during a parade and fell to her death. She had liquor in her system and was a minor. The club closed.  In 2008 The Honey Pot turned this space into a World Class LGBT Dance Club. Many Stars performed here including Andy Bell.  That hot summer July night of GaYBOR Days Concert the owner D. Stephen and Andy met. Later were married. Recently vacated due to covid. It will be fun to see what new memories will be created in this historic and memorable space, rich with history and love.

Good friends of our purchased a home in South Tampa. The seller was also Gay and at the closing table, said that his roommate did not move out. He was also Gay and retired military. He always paid his rent on time and spent most of his time in the garden and his room. Our friends said they would give it a try. John (the renter) and them became good friends right away. John became an important part of their family. We meet John several times and he was always fun and a nice guy. 12 years later John passed away.  In the later years John had made our friends his administrator of his estate. John said he had family but they had not spoken in many years. Some things went to charities and the balance of the estate to our friends. It wasn’t a lot. 1 month later the doorbell rang. It was Johns family wanting everything. All those years the family, that John never spoke of, lived 10 blocks away also in South Tampa.  You Just Can Not make This Up.  

I bartend with an incredible person. April looks like a young Elvira with a Jack Daniels attitude. 2 spring break couples walk into the bar. April smiles and asks what are you drinking. The one guy says “Do you have a drink menu?” April says no. But what do you like to drink? The guys said “Anything on a drink menu!” April, OK I’ll come back to you what is everyone else drinking? She makes the drinks and comes back. The guys said he will have a gin and organ juice. April makes a face and with a big smile said No, I’ll make you a vodka orange juice. Mean while I’m watching all this and laughing to myself. I walk over to the girl with this guy and ask…. “So… do you have a boyfriend?” she looks shocked and says not really.  I pull out my business card and had it to her while say n YOU DO NOW! CALL ME MAYBE (it actually says Call Me Maybe on my card). Everyone breaks out laughing. I then turn to Mr. Drink Menu and ask him the same question. He replied no one has every asked me that question before. Laughing I handed him a card and said YOU DO NOW! CALL ME MAYBE. We all were laughing so hard. Then we told then to stay for the Drag Show. Mr. Drink menu asked what is a Drag Show? I told him the most beautiful women you will ever see in your life. Several hours later they left as our new best friends. I’m sure they will never forget Spring Break, in Florida, when they walking into The Showbar Ybor City and meet Miss April & Tea Cup. LMAO  Here is my card.