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Barbecue Joint, History For Sale

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By TOM JACKSON

tjackson@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - As landmarks go, the homely red block barn with its face smashed up against U.S. 41's northbound lanes may not look like much. But in the recent history of Land O' Lakes and Pasco County, the global headquarters of Hungry Harry's Famous Bar-B-Que fits neatly between the Old North Church and (appropriately, as we shall see) Wright's Tavern.

That is, it has been a place from which alarms were boldly announced, and where conspirators gathered to plot upending the status quo.

Sometimes the proprietor was waving the lantern himself; after the attacks of 9/11, he ordered the tin roof painted as twin American flags. Sometimes he simply rearranged the tables, then took a seat in a dark corner; it was under the owner's hawkish gaze that Citizens for Sanity took its first organizational breath.

Now, the blooming of a single real estate sales sign suddenly gives the place more connection to the Appomattox courthouse. At hand seems nothing less than the climax of an against-all-odds struggle, the death knell of an era.

Harry Wright, pushing 60 and leaner than close-trimmed pork chops, has put his property - right around six acres in "beautiful downtown Land O' Lakes" - on the market. History gasps, but what's a fellow to do? Says Wright, "Everything's doubled except the price of barbecue."

The Real Deal

Unlike much of what characterizes Wright's biography, this latest tweak of events appears not to be a gambit, ruse or act of performance art designed to expose some facet of local nonsense.

Remember when Wright took a chain saw - because the parks and recreation department hadn't - to oak branches overhanging right-field foul territory at the Land O' Lakes softball field? Or when Wright promised, if county commissioners unanimously passed a school impact fee, to run on the median from his restaurant to the intersection of Land O' Lakes Boulevard and State Road 54 ... naked?

This sniffs of nothing like that. With tough times rattling lots of doors, even some - Wright included - who imagined their enterprises to be recession-proof, have begun to entertain revised business models. "We ain't dialed 911 yet," Wright says. "We're only up to 811."

As this drama unfolds, Wright has a legitimate contract with a respected real estate company and a sales price - $2.3 million - that suggests seriousness. "It's a competitive price," says listing agent Cody Adams, reluctantly stuck in the role of Benedict Arnold.

"Some people are freaked out, I know," Wright says. "But I have never worked so hard to be so far behind ... And we ain't seen the worst of it yet."

22 Years ... And Counting?

In a perfect world, a buyer would lease Hungry Harry's global headquarters buildings back to the business and barbecuing would continue unabated.

Aw, heck. In a perfect world, the Dow Industrials would skyrocket 6,000 points tomorrow, an engineering breakthrough would enable GM to start shipping Volt sport sedans next month, the financial industry would return all the government billions spent so far, plus 20 percent as a goodwill gesture and the American Heart Association would declare a link between chopped-pork sandwiches and healthy blood pressure.

Alas, imperfection rules. As a result, the barbecue-consuming public will suffer in a fretful state, wondering whether Hungry Harry's slogan - "22 Years and Still Smokin'" - survives to see No. 23.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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