We were talking with some people in Ybor City. The one guy had an unusual phone on his belt. Me with my big mouth says…”That’s a fun phone. What kind is it?” The guy smiles and says “You don’t want one of these. I’m under house arrest.” OPPS LOL

I remember one Father’s Day weekend when a lady walked in with her Father. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed they were making out very heavy. Humm… I say to myself. (Well you go Girl, he must be your Daddy.) Then 2 of her dunked friends walk in with a pitcher of cocktails already in their hands. The one says to me. What the F*ck!!! Tea Cup is not your name. What the F*ck is your real F*ucking name? I just said “China” and walked away. I go back to check on the table and Daddy girls asked “Where the F*ck is the ladies room” I just smile and say “where you first walked in.” Then she actually says “What the F*uck you mean I have to walk all the F*cking way back to the parking garage!!!” Me… no girl it is when you 1^st walked into the restaurant. (Thinking to myself they sure do like to use the F word. Classy Very Classy LMAO) Then I take Daddy the bill. He looks a little upset. I say “Looks like you’re having a great day. Being out with 3 beautiful women.” He gives me a drop dead look and says “I have only 1 girlfriend and it her!” I say “of course and she is a lucky girl”. Then to change the subject I turn to the other 2 who I had noticed were wearing bar paper ID bracelets that say VIP. “I like your VIP bracelets where were you all partying at” She says the “XYZ Club on Friday Night.” Me WOW lucky you.” As I walk away thinking this is now Sunday you have worn those dirty club ID bracelets for 3 days. You Just Can Not make This Up.

This cute guy who speaks bad English said to me. “Can I bare back you to night?” I just smiled and said, “What do you want to do?”  He said. “You know get you ice and things for the bar.”   Me… “OH YOU WANT TO BAR BACK!!!!”    LMAO LMAO

It’s the week after Gay Days at Disney. When we had our store it was the week of swimsuit returns. LOL There were guys who would come in and try on dozens of suits. Then finally pick one for the Big Pool Party. After a weekend of pool & party he would not get a date and blame it all on the swimsuit. Lesson learned….  there is always someone younger and cuter than you. Beauty is from inside. Then there were THAT GUY!!! The guy who would come in and try on dozens of suits and take photos. Because he just could not decide. Humm…  he was actually going on line to find them cheaper. Some actually tried to return their purchases from online to us. LOL Even with the designer names spelled wrong!!! If a swimming suit was worn one time you bought it.  There is actually a color dot we put inside each suit. When wet the dot went away. Swimsuit returns, one part of Gay Days that we do not miss. Sorry No Returns and we are still laughing at you for buying that way too small suit. LMAO LMAO

http://www.mcfilm.co/category/you-just-cant-make-this-sht-up/

Every Memorial Day weekend I think of this story. Our Gay Uncle Tom made the very best potato salad ever! Everybody loved it. He would not give us the recipe. We would guess things and he would always say “Not Telling You”. Then one night we had Uncle Tom & his partner Mark over for dinner. We made the Best Shrimp Scampi you ever had! Uncle Tom asked for the secret recipe….. Hum here was our chance. We agreed to share secrets. BUT DID NOT TRUST EACH OTHER!!!  So there was a bartender at The Suncoast Resort who was also a very good cook. We agreed to meet at the bar and give him our recipes. If he thought they were sharing the correct recipes would then give then to us. Sooooo…. Since Uncle Tom & Mark have both passed away I think I can give out his secret. Are you ready???? It was unbelievable easy. To the mayonnaise he would add a spoon of “Better Than Bouillon – Chicken Bouillon”. When you give it a try, I’m sure you will see why it was so good!!!

One day I was talking with a HOT DADDY.  I asked where he was from. He said he had just arrived from Switzerland. I then asked if he came over on Edelweiss Airline. With a big smile he said “Why yes I did.” Me with my big mouth then told him that many of the flight crews stop by and party with me. Did he know any of them? With an even bigger smile he said “Yes I know all of the crew. I am the Captain.” WOW what a small world!!! LOL LOL LOL

I just love it when people ask me to take a photo of them on their phones. A couple good ones then I ask them to thru their hands in the air like you don’t care! A couple more then I turn the screen around and say give me a SEXY one! Click and take a photo of myself.  I did this one time with a family from up north. The lady looked at the photos and yelled “You took a photo of yourself!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” I replied magic.  No really How did you do that? I showed her how to turn the screen. She said “Thank you I didn’t know my phone could do that!”

2 nice gay guys from Boston came to the balcony yesterday. The one said with a smile “the last time I was here I had one of your Shazam drinks I blacked out. When I woke up Trump was the President! ” I laughed and said ” would you like another Shazam when you wake up this time  Roseann Barr might be president!”  I jokingly tell people that they are so strong that the police will only let me serve them on Sundays and after 3 your cloths will fall off!!!  Here is how the Shazam was born. In the early 1980’s when we were in collage at USF, Mark bartended at a famous restaurant. Every Sunday after brunch the restaurant would tell the servers to take home the mimosa home. Claiming that it would go bad. The servers would all chip in to buy a bottle of vodka to add to the mimosa. Then by accident we added grenadine to kill that taste of the cheap vodka. So was born…… SHAZAM!!!! It is fantastic!

Kay Thompson and Bobby Smith

This famous Tampa lesbian couple were educating the community about transgender people long before we even knew the word. You see Bobby lived his/her life as a man. The couple were founding members of The Metropolitan Community Church – MCC Tampa. Together with Dr. Walt Banks & his partner Jack Busciglio. The 2 couples took mortgages on their homes to purchase the 1^st MCC building in the 1970’s. Bobby would laugh when telling the story about “The priest came to his parents’ home one day to talk about why the Tampa Tribune had done a story about the hard working paperboy!”

Kay who was Bobby’s 2^nd girlfriend, would call Bobby her hot “Butch”. Kay was a true southern belle who owned and operated her Florist shop across from the Palma Ceia Country Club.  When we were in church Bobby liked to be called she. “It was under the roof of God.” He’d say. Outside of church would be called he. Bobby worked his whole life at The Gold Triangle Photo Developers. His photos of the LGBT Community went back to the 1940’s. All the parties back in the 1940’s & 50’s had to be hidden and very private. Bobby would stay after work to develop his own private photos. He told me that at that time 2 gays or lesbians together, even drag photos were against the law and considered pornographic.

Shortly before Bobby died our friend Rex Maniscalco and us got together with Bobby & Kay and their historic Tampa Bay LGBT photos. We tried to remember times and days of the people in these photos. Our plan was to make a traveling exhibit of the collections. Then later that same year Rex died 4-4-2009 . Here is part one if his funeral, notice his camera on his coffin https://youtu.be/2ksgf8UwMgY     https://youtu.be/mAqgqwinrAM  .  Shortly later that year Bobby passed away Kay did too.  In the name of Rex we took his collection of Bobby & Kay’s photos along with 16 boxes of photos & VHS pride events tapes of Rex’s, to the University of South Florida Special Collections Library.  Today this collection is available online.

To Bobby & Kay and Rex we all miss you and still love you all… Mark & Carrie

http://digital.lib.usf.edu/maniscalcor/all/brief

http://www.lib.usf.edu/special-collections/lgbt-collections/

This week we all say a good bye to the Dr. Trelles Clinic – Ybor Resort & Spa

The building was original built in 1917 as a coffee roasting building. In the 1930s’ Dr Telelles converted the building into the clinic. With the help of his second wife, Concha the clinic was the birth place of many famous people. Including in this list is Miss Esme Russell https://www.facebook.com/esme.russell3 In the buildings later years it was closed for over 20 years. We remember during this time there was an albino man who lived in one of the rooms. His hair was white and eyes were pink. He would only come out in Ybor after dark. In 2008 Fred Sshwartz & Vince Pawlowski purchased the old medical building.

At first it was to be a guest house on the 1^st floor and upstairs a private men’s bath house. The building came with many ghosts. One of which was Conciha. There were even ghost TV shows that toured the building. In the court yard Miss Arica Love https://www.facebook.com/arica.love2 and others would perform in the pool. Then the YRS became a total men’s club. Shortly after its sale in 2018 the building was the victim of not one but three arson fires. We wonder if the ghost will be in the new building too. Many people (including us) stopped by the demolished building and were picking up bricks as souvenirs full of history. Below is part 1 of 5 part video from the building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCTiRFissKw

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More videos can be found on our channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/MCFilmFest/videos?flow=grid&view_as=subscriber&sort=p&view=0

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence 2009

39 years ago on March 31^st ago three men dressed up in dead nuns’ habits, “borrowed” years before and delighted/terrorized the citizenry of San Francisco. On March 31 we celebrate the founding of the Worldwide Order of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and We are so proud and honored to be a part of it. During GaYBOR Days 2009 the local chapter became a Fully Recognized Order in the Sisterhood. After the good sisters raised over $50,000 and 1,000’s of hours of donated community service. We (Mark & Carrie) were recognized and entered into the Sainthood during this celebration.

In the present Czar’s parking lot was the GaYBOR Days Carnival. At one point every seat on the Ferris wheel had a sister in it! We so wish somebody had caught this on film.  Happy 39^th birthday to all our Sisters/Guards around the world.

https://youtu.be/kRMJcIsGccA

Scott Morath

We found the photographer of our favorite Tampa Pride photo. His name is Scott Morath and he is allowing Tampa Pride to use his photos. A BIG Thank you to Scott. Visit his facebook page to de more photos

https://www.facebook.com/smorath