The GaYBOR District Coalition Members are pulling out all the stops for you this Gasparilla Pirate weekend!! The party starts at 5 PM Fridays and goes continuously until 3 AM Monday! All of GaYBOR is a buzzing!!!  Honey Pot & G.BAR will have top DJ’s, Porn Stars, Masculine Magazine release party, TV celebrities and even a Drag Pageant!!! The El Gancho Circuit Party will have parties at The Ritz Ybor, The Castle, Hamburger Mary’s & Gaspars Grotto, with after hours parties at the Don Vicente Inn,  Ybor Resort & Spa (all are GaYBOR members). But wait there’s even more….Mamma @ the Reservoir Bar,  RISE Sundays, Green Iguana, Bernini’s, Play, Bonnie @ The Crow Bar, JJ’s, Fresh Mouth, Centro Canteen, King Corona, Joffery’s Coffee, Mema’s Tacos, Singing Stone, Tribeca, Becky’s,  Ny Ny Pizza, Bricks, Charlie’s, Stone Soap, Agora, Island Flowers, Sharon @ Wear Me Out, MC Film, Larmon Furniture, Muvico Centro Ybor 20 Theaters (all GaYBOR members) & more are all offering Specials for this incredible Gasparilla Weekend.  It’s rumored that all of the Ybor Hotels are SOLD OUT this weekend already. Our suggestion is to stay at the Hyatt Regency or Sheraton Riverwalk Downtown Tampa and ride the trolley car to GaYBOR. Get your Pirate RRRRRRR gear on! Viva La GaYBOR!!!

FMI visit www.GaYBOR.com  www.YborClubs.com  www.ganchotampa.com

The RuPaul Drag Race crazy is sweeping Tampa Bay! A kick off “Pink & Black Ball” was held at Chelsea Nightclub. The celebration in honor of “RuPaul Drag Race Season 3,” was lead by local favorite Alexis Mateo. WOWing the audience in an original RuPaul Start Your Engines outfit, complete with race helmet! In case you are the only person in Tampa Bay not to know this…… Alexis is a contestant in this season’s show!!! Also appearing on stage were, Amy DeMilo,  Yara Sofia, Mariah, Al & Chuck and in Pink Feathers with Sexy Black Cocktail dress, was club owner DIVA Nikki!!! In the audience were the who’s who of the Central Florida Community. The newly remodeled  Chelsea Club looked fantastic!!! New floors, new patio, new paint & decorations, even a surprise new door!!!   Our two favorite places to view the show are The Chelsea & Hamburger Mary’s. At the Chelsea every Monday you will have a chance to win a Suite on the MSC Poesia cruise with the RuPaul contestants in March 2011, as well as Offical Logo TV Prizes. At Mary’s there will be a special drag show every Monday night.  May the best Diva win! Now ladies… Start Your Engines!!

Starting last Sunday being a guest candidate speaker at MCC TAMPA. A very nice social followed the service. Politics, Equality and Diversity all go hand in hand! Everyone has been coming down with the “cold bug” of the season. I am no exception.

 

 I was going to the MLK Breakfast early Monday but I had a fever and coughed all night. A busy scheduled week ahead, a cold rain outside, and I not up to par, so I rested and read all day Monday. Tuesday, the monthly Barrio Latino Commission was canceled because of many being sick. A great day to get ready for the busy week.

 

Wednesday, D Stephen Moss held a Meet & Greet Carrie West One on One Party at One Laurel Place. Over 60 residents attended the reception and I was grateful for insight on the residents isues living in Tampa’s downtown area. The Bricks held a mixer for the Ybor Chamber and I was greeted by many of the local business owners and members. We all want a better Tampa and historic Ybor City!

 

 Friday was the Tiger Bay Club Luncheon with all the candidates running in Tampa City Council Districts 4, 5 and 7. You can image the usual shenanigans that the civic minded members usually pull on the running candidates but this event at Maestro’s at the Straz Performing Art Center was very tame! I feel the change in Tampa’s newly elected council and mayor are going to be a major directional transformation of present Mayor Pam Iorio’s years as Tampa’s leadership. Again all for the positive!!!

 

Get ready for a wild time at Steam this Friday. Meet the run way models from Masculine Magazine & calendars. Drag show at 11:30.

The recession has deeply affected all of Tampa but Jimmy Kalamaras over at Larmon Furniture has had his family go through the ups and downs of the changing economy for decades. Located on the West end of 7th Ave in Ybor City the local furniture and appliance center services and caters to all walks of life. Coming back from a furniture show, new arrivals of Victorian, French reproduction and traditional living room sets and bedroom sets have started to arrive for spring. Now is the time to make the New Years upgrades to your home. The staff is always a pleasure to work with and the choices are out of this world. I guess for over 80 years it says something. Larmon Furniture has a 2nd location in Town & Country also. Congratulations and thanks for your well attended customer service.

It looks like soon there will be an announcement about 2 new neighborhood LGBT Bars will be opening in GaYBOR!! Both clubs will be open in the afternoons 7 days a week. Only in GaYBOR do we call 3 story clubs neighborhood bars!!! The “In Place” to be for Wednesday Happy Hour is the Crow Bar with Bonnie. The club is packed with locales and visitors alike. If $2.00 martinis don’t get your attention how about truly 1/2 meals? Check out Bernini in GaYBOR for this special! The bands at Centro Canteen have been incredible!! Joe has been booking some of the best bands in Tampa here! Also across the street at JJ’s Cafe the food is WOW and music is too!

Miami Fashion Designer & Fashion editor. You will catch Jonathan out & about in GaYBOR on the weekends. Viva La GaYBOR!!!