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Whaley's Loss Is A Sign Of Our Disappearing Neighborhoods

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 11, 2008

Last week's column about the closing of Whaley's Market in Hyde Park brought in a lot of mail and much of it touched on the loss of neighborhood institutions.

"Crimson 13" wrote, "Sad to say, most people in Tampa do not want neighborhoods. Many people still think of themselves as transplants and, sorry to say, but many of the natives here do not care either. Wal-Mart may have cheap prices, but it's not like you do not pay in other ways."

Bill Williams of Tampa wrote, "The Tampa I remember growing up was one where there were small markets, usually with Italian names, everywhere. I used to go to Lazzara's on Nebraska and you could find out everything going on in your neighborhood by just spending a few minutes standing around the register. These days people worry more about whether they can sneak through the '10-items or less' line at the grocery store and don't have time to get to know their neighbors."

"Smokeman" wrote in, saying, "I don't know. I think a lot of folks have forgotten where the best times of their lives were spent. That's in a neighborhood. The small town has got to come back and the family business has got to survive. I will never work for Wal-Mart."

Todd Whaley wrote in to explain that it was only a business decision that caused them to leave the plaza they shared in Hyde Park and why he feels almost obligated to find another site and rebuild Whaley's.

"One Saturday afternoon," he wrote, "when I was selling BBQ out in front of the store, a cab pulled up and an elderly, well-dressed man stepped out. He straightened his clothes and walked over to where I was next to the grill. He said, 'This is different; what you got going on here?' I explained that we had added a little BBQ to the store - some smoked salmon, ribs, chicken, pork, and I asked him if he would like to try anything, but he respectfully declined and said, 'No thanks, I just came in to get a Whaley's Cuban and to get my head on straight.'

"I asked one of the kids in the store to watch the grill and I proceeded to ask the man, 'Well, what's wrong with your head?'" He laughed and said, "'I can tell you don't just work here do you?'

"I said no and told him who I was. He smiled and said, 'Let me tell you; I am a poet by trade and when my mind starts to get fuzzy and I start having a difficult time putting pen to paper, I get on a plane to Tampa where I grew up and I come straight to Whaley's to get a Cuban sandwich, like I did when my grandmother brought me here as a child. I have so many great memories of this place. I come here to make myself feel right. I walk up to these doors and I see the worn path in the concrete going into the store and I see myself and my grandmother coming and going. I also see all of the souls of everyone who has ever come here leaving with the things they came for, smiling as they walk out the door. This place takes me back home to a perfect time a long time ago. When I leave here, I go back to the airport and fly back to the place I now call home.'

"He went into the store, browsed around a bit and purchased his Cuban. When he came out he asked me to call him a cab. We chatted some more and I learned he lived in New Orleans. While I was listening to him, I admit, I thought he was nuts. But when I turned from him as he got back into the cab, I looked back at the entrance and saw the same worn path. But not as I had seen it before. I saw those foot prints that he spoke of and those same souls coming and going and I am forever grateful and I am honored to have spent the last 30 years being a part of so many lives."

There's A Ford In Your Past

Friday's column about the new history center going up at Channelside included a Henry Ford quote suggesting history was bunk. Donald Knapp writes in that "Henry Ford may have said that but he sure did not practice it. The Henry Ford, which consists of Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, contains the largest collection of Americana outside the Smithsonian. The Village has Edison's Menlo Park lab, the Wright Brothers' bike shop and many other buildings of historical value. The museum has the largest collection of items we use in our everyday lives. It also has the chair in which Lincoln was sitting when he was shot."

Mr. Knapp is right. We visited Greenfield Village and it is America's greatest collection of stuff.

It also houses one of the weirdest exhibits - Thomas Edison's last breath.

Apparently, Ford convinced Edison's son to attach a test tube to Edison's mouth in his final hours. I don't know how the great inventor felt about it, or how they are so sure it was his final breath, but that same tube is mounted in a case in the museum.

For more Steve Otto, go to Tampa Bay Online and hit keyword "Otto Graphs."

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