TotallyOz Posted November 13, 2007 Posted November 13, 2007 Madame Ovary's Gay Travel Guide For Florida Buccaneers! Hello again my darling divas, delicious drag queens, fabulous fags and kinky twinks! It's Madame Ovary again, cumming back to tell you more about the most fagtabulous cities for any great gaycation! Today, I'm going to tell you about Tampa – or as I call it, Tampa Gay – a small gem of queer culture in Southern Florida. Tampa is the Native American word for “sticks of fire†- and the city itself is full of plenty of flaming dicks! While highly closeted for years, Tampa has recently started to come out of the closet and there are now plenty of queerific things and people to do when you get your cute little ass down here! So, darlings, sit back, consult your travel calendar and let Madame Ovary take you on a tour of fabulous Tampa Gay! Ybor Tampa's up and cumming gayborhood is the western end of Ybor – commonly known as “Gaybor†by the locals. While the rest of the Ybor section of town has been in decline for the past decade or so, the gay section of town is growing faster than a hot cock at a Brad Pitt movie! It even has its own lobbying group – the Gaybor District Coalition. This is the one part of the city where gays and lesbians can hold hands and make out in public. It's a heavy cruising area – and day or night, you should be able to find the man of your wet dreams. If you do happen to score, you'll want to head over to the Hampton Inn and Suites on Seventh Avenue, which has a special “gay rate†for men who just need to use a room for a short period of time during the day or night. My innocent little mind simply can't imagine why two men might only need a room for an hour or so! While you won't find any fine dining in Ybor, you will see more than a dozen hot gay bars and clubs and some of the hottest hookup action in Florida. You'll definitely need condoms and lube for any trip to this gayborhood! It's almost enough to bring me to my knees! Gay Beaches Despite having a reputation as a conservative Florida city, Tampa actually has two gay beaches – sadly, neither of them are nude – both of which are filled to the brim with cockaholics of all ages and races. Bedrocks is the older and more traditional gay beach. It's located off of Fifth Avenue, and has more cock than you could shake a stick of fire at! There are also concession stands and bathrooms with locking doors – just in case you and a new friend need a little bit of “private time†together before hitting the sand! The newest and trendiest gay beach is in Fort DeSoto Park. This is where you'll find all the up and cumming gay beach bums competing with each other to see who can be bigger and browner. Obviously, the pick up scene at the new beach is very intense – so you might want to stuff a sock in your Speedo to make sure you make a good first impression! Both beaches are very out and proud, and you won't have to waste a minute of your precious sunbathing time worrying about redneck homophobes. Instead, you can just kick back and check out the fagtabulous eye candy that is almost always on display! Tampa Bay Winter Pride Tampa Bay is one of the only major cities in America to have a winter gay pride festival and parade. Winter Pride is held every February, and attracts more than 10,000 Friends of Dorothy every year. The weather is usually very warm - you should be able to show off your gorgeous legs while watching the parade, or simply cruising through the crowd to find the cock of your choice! The center for the activities is Al Lopez Park on Himes Avenue – but you can bet your britches there will be hot men shouting their pride and flying their rainbow flags all over the city! It's a fagtastic way to beat back winter with a stick – while finding a man to play with your dick! Tampa International Gay And Lesbian Film Festival Since the early 1990s, the city has hosted the annual Tampa International Gay And Lesbian Film Festival every Cocktober. The festival is absolutely fabulous and attracts thousands of queer cinema lovers who like to sit back and relax in the dark. More than two dozen queer-themed films are shown every year, and there are tons of fagulous parties where you can mix and mingle with the stars. Awards are given out, and the film festival is one of the most out and proud events in Tampa. I guess it really is better in the dark! The West Florida Growlers The largest gay organization in Tampa is the West Florida Growlers – a collection of some of the burliest bears Madame Ovary has ever seen! The men meet at least once a month and run several charity events, including a Bear Race and an annual Teddy Bear Drive to collect toys for children around the holidays. Isn't that just adorbs? The Growlers are easy to get in touch with, and will be happy to point you in the right direction if you want to find a hairy mammal to hibernate with on a warm winter night! Guavaween The biggest gay party of the year in Tampa is Guavaween – held Halloween weekend. The fagoulous festival – held in Ybor – is modeled after New Orleans Mardi Gras and features sumptuous floats, scary masks and all night cruising to satisfy the deepest cock cravings of the year. More than 100,000 people turn up for Guavaween every year – which takes its name from the fun fact that Tampa is built on a large guava forest. It's absolutely divine, and will bring out the inner diva or drag queen in nearly any cock-hungry cad who decides to cum down! The Salvador Dali Museum If you want a little culture with your cock, you may want to head down to the Salvador Dali Museum in Tampa. The museum has the largest collection of the artist's works in America – and will leave you looking at the world in a whole different way. In fact, after watching Dali's surrealism one afternoon Madame Ovary herself thought she might be straight! Luckily, this feeling passed after about ten minutes – long before I risked waking up smelling like a tuna sandwich! The museum is open seven days a week, and is full of some of the most divinely fagtabulous works of art Florida has ever seen! It's truly something to write home about! The Gasparillia Pirate Festival The strangest festival – and in some ways the most fabulous – is, on the surface at least, not gay at all! Held in late January, the Gasparillia Pirate Festival attracts more than 400,000 people who dress up and talk like pirates for a day! The festival starts out with a group of pirates – called Gasparillios – who stage a mock invasion of the city while shooting blank pistols and taking some of the residents hostage. Eventually the mayor “surrenders†the city to the pirates, who then take the key to the city and throw an all-day, all-night drunken party through the streets! Then there is a parade complete with floats made to look like pirate ships, and tons of people dressed up like pirates or pirate wenches! It's like the whole city is in drag for a day – and they don't even admit their gay! It brings to mind a story about a river in Egypt... Of course, there are plenty of gay boys in pirate suits and delightful divas like me dressed up as wenches - with a hidden weapon under our skirts! So, no matter what, you can be a pirate for a day – or just surrender to one! Krewe Krewe – pronounced “crew†- is one of the most popular social activities in Tampa for breeders and fags alike! A Krewe is a group of people who get together to help put together a parade or a party for Carnival season. There are literally hundreds of Krewes in Tampa, and each one competes with each other to put on the most fabulous Mardi Gras-style events in the city! If you cum down to Tampa at all during the Carnival season, you'll be apt to spot dozens of Krewe parties in and around the Tampa area! Just be careful – a lot of the boys who dress up for Krewe are straight – all appearances to the contrary! Head Down To Tampa Gay – And Unleash Your Inner Pirate If you want a fagulous Florida gaycation and don't want to be blinded by the gay in Key West, Tampa is a tempting place for you to tart up! You can play with pirates, cruise the clubs, check out the Krewes and bronze on the beaches – and then spend your hot nights sizzling the sheets as you get sexsationally sinful! Just look out for Madame Ovary – I'll be the one with the parrot on my shoulder! Ta-Ta for now! Madame Ovary, Your Fagulous Travel Advisor or comonly known as TotallyOz Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted November 13, 2007 Members Posted November 13, 2007 Notes from a Native... albeit long expatriated. Today, I'm going to tell you about Tampa â€â€œ or as I call it, Tampa Gay â€â€œ a small gem of queer culture in Southern Florida. Actually, it is Central Florida. We leave southern Florida to the gators and those that live south of Okeechobee. While highly closeted for years, Tampa has recently started to come out of the closet and there are now plenty of queerific things and people to do when you get your cute little ass down here! Individuals pretty much, but as a city not so much closeted as enclaved. In my high school days, long before Madame Ovary was herself, languishing in lower case without the title Madame, Tampa had it's high profile establishments: Jimmy White's on then Grand Central Blvd, aka Kennedy Blvd, The Carousel on Cass St (I believe it was Cass), the KiKiKi succeeding Jimmy Whites and today in it's third incarnation -- same street different address. The establishments were infamous and quite busy. I could tell on the occasions I would drive by. Ybor Tampa's up and cumming gayborhood is the western end of Ybor â€â€œ commonly known as “Gaybor†by the locals. While the rest of the Ybor section of town has been in decline for the past decade or so, the gay section of town is growing Not suprising as Ybor always possessed a great character even in decline, which started over 20 years ago as the Spanish population migration to West Tampa was well underway. There was a once opulent movie theatre that, as an older kid, I used to sneek into when it fell on hard times as as skin flick house. But as little as a decade ago the gentrified Gay neighborhood had become Hyde Park, an opulent section of Old Tampa with grand old houses that had become terribly run down. This is the one part of the city where gays and lesbians can hold hands and make out in public. It's a heavy cruising area â€â€œ and day or night, you should be able to find the man of your wet dreams. Quite a change from the old days. That would have been the wrong part of town for such carrying on. While you won't find any fine dining in Ybor, you will see more than a dozen hot gay bars and clubs and some of the hottest hookup action in Florida. Au contraire, senor. The Columbia Restaurant, 2117 East 7th Avenue, was and probably remains the flagship of Spanish Restaurants in Tampa and the Florida West Coast and enjoys a worldwide reputation for its artistically tiled walls and Spanish Cuisine. They have branched out from the old days with sites in several Florida cities. I hope the quality hasn't diminshed as sometimes occurs with expansion. See http://www.columbiarestaurant.com/ Gay Beaches Despite having a reputation as a conservative Florida city, Tampa actually has two gay beaches -- sadly, neither of them are nude -- both of which are filled to the brim with cockaholics of all ages and races. This is actually a confusion caused when the appellation Tampa Bay is applied indiscriminately when speaking of any of the local cities: Tampa, Clearwater, St Pete, etc. This was done solely as a maketing ploy for the local NFL franchise to attract fan loyalty. The two beaches mentioned below lie across Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast. Actually, Tampa does have two beaches of sorts, neither of the ones listed below. There is one on Courtney Cambell Causeway just west of the airport and the other in Port Tampa down past the old Air Force docks. It is called Picnic Island, not actually an island at all. Neither of these beaches are gay, I'm reasonably sure. However, Picnic is sort of isolated and on week days you might the the only one there. Bedrocks is the older and more traditional gay beach. It's located off of Fifth Avenue, and has more cock than you could shake a stick of fire at! There are also concession stands and bathrooms with locking doors â€â€œ just in case you and a new friend need a little bit of “private time†together before hitting the sand! Actually Bedrocks is at the sound end of Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, one of the beach towns directly on the Gulf, west of the City of St Petersburg. The newest and trendiest gay beach is in Fort DeSoto Park. This is where you'll find all the up and cumming gay beach bums competing with each other to see who can be bigger and browner. Located south of St Pete, the city and the beach, and the other beach communities, take the bridges to Tierra Verde and follow the signs. Tierra Verde is an exclusive community started by Guy Lombardo and fellow investors. (For those who remember him.) I used to get in some fine sunbathing at Ft Desoto Park way back when. The Gasparillia Pirate Festival The strangest festival -- and in some ways the most fabulous -- is, on the surface at least, not gay at all! Named in honor of the 'mythical' pirate Jose Gaspar... Definitely not gay!!! Last I knew, and I have no reason to suspect that anything has changed, this is run by Ye Mystic Krewe, the creme de la creme of the upper crust of Tampa Society -- Very Old Money and Very Big New Money. While not a 'gay' festival, I'm sure Kathy Griffin's 'gays' come out for the fun too. Lots has changed, some remains the same. Nice to reminisce about the old neighborhood and times. Thanks Oz for the rekindling the memories. Quote
