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Tampa Hostel Owner Dead At 56

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By KATHY STEELE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

TAMPA - The small sign with the Lakota prayer greets visitors who come to Gram's Place and wait patiently outside the red door.

Mitakuye Oyasin, "We are all related," says the prayer.

Those who knew Mark Holland would say he believed that. It was his motivation for opening his European-style hostel in 1991 and honoring the memory of country-rock legend Gram Parsons.

"He was such a wonderful person and always drew all kinds of people to him," friend Sara Romeo said. "He was a very, very gentle and kind person. He wouldn't hurt a flea. It's a shame he harmed himself."

Holland, who once described his hostel as Amsterdam meets Key West, was found dead Sunday afternoon in what police and friends are calling a suicide. He was 56.

"Mark was basically a little kid at heart," friend Manny Alvarez said. "I'm dumbfounded. I'll miss him very much."

Holland moved to Tampa Heights when the neighborhood was in decline and many credit him and Gram's Place for sparking a turnaround.

"He was like the cheerleader of the neighborhood," Alvarez said.

The Tampa Heights Civic Association's board will be asked today to consider a petition for the city to rename Plymouth Park in Holland's memory. The park is across from Gram's, 3109 N. Ola Ave.

"As everyone knows he was a pretty unique individual," said Jim Hartnett, the group's vice president. "I certainly think it was worthwhile what he was doing there. I get it. Some didn't."

Friends said Holland seemed to be in a good period of his life.

Business was on the upswing and he had bookings through the end of the year, said Romeo, a former state lawmaker.

She helped Holland file to rezone his property and bring a long-standing code enforcement dispute to an end. At a February public hearing, about 20 neighbors and friends spoke in Holland's support. Many more signed petitions.

Several neighbors said he worked to get streetlights installed and drug dealers out of the park.

From the hostel's opening, code enforcement declared it illegal because it was in a residential neighborhood. Since 2003, Holland had been cited repeatedly for violations including landscaping in the right of way and building a shed too close to the street.

Those problems went away when the Tampa City Council approved his rezoning application.

Holland wasn't fond of government and talked sometimes of conspiracies.

"He never outgrew the '60s," Romeo said.

Alvarez recalled the early days when Holland began creating Gram's after a trip to Amsterdam in 1989. It evolved into a maze of themed rooms with nods to every genre of music from country to jazz to rock 'n' roll.

Alvarez and Holland built a bar from discarded wood from a historical home. Alvarez gave him an old cash register and railroad light, anything that seemed eccentric enough for Holland.

The future of Gram's Place is unclear. Holland's relatives could not be reached for comment, but Romeo said his family is "just trying to sort through and find out what's going to happen."

Funeral arrangements were pending Tuesday. A public memorial service is being considered, probably at Gram's Place, Romeo said.

She's not sure Gram's can survive without Holland; it could easily be called "Mark's Place."

"It was his unique personality that drew people here repeatedly," she said.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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