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Sleek and swanky tops stale, sweaty

By SHARON KENNEDY WYNNE
Published November 9, 2005

A few weeks ago we prodded readers to share their memories of the old Northwest Youth Center gymnasium in St. Petersburg, which will soon have a date with a wrecking ball thanks to a sleek and swanky new recreation center that opened this week.

I was the one that prompted the call because I was starting to feel a little sentimental about the place where I learned to play dodgeball and jump on a trampoline (back before lawsuits scuttled both of those reckless but totally fun pastimes).

I was a little sheepish about laying my memories on the line, worried that I was the only nerd who had a fondness for that onion-shaped oak roofline or the polished wood floors. But dozens of readers, including Lars Hafner, who went on to serve in the Florida state House of Representatives, admitted feeling a rush of memories when they drive by the old gym on 58th Street and 22nd Avenue N.

They shared touching stories of favorite coaches, kickball, sweaty basketball games, lifelong friendships and romances.

Even the writer on the big package Neighborhood Times did last week on the recreation center, Jon Wilson, grew up nearby and told me about his high school rock 'n' roll band that played a gig or two for Friday night sock hops.

What prompted the sentiment for me was that my 7-year-old attends afterschool camp there now and already has his favorite coaches and games. The teenagers have been given permission to spraypaint on the walls of the old gym because they are coming down soon, and I realized the time for the old place was fleeting.

So our family walked down to the ribbon cutting at the new recreation center on Saturday, along with hundreds of others. The mayor was there, and plenty of other suits.

In my nostalgia, I had said the new building, with its hard angles and air-conditioned chilliness, didn't seem to hold the same warmth and charm of the old 1957 gym.

I have a new take on the old place: I'm so over it.

Wowwee wow wow, is this new place cool - and I'm not just talking about the sweet air-conditioning that the old sweatbox lacked.

Tommy, my 3-year-old, was hard to pry from the "Discovery Room" with its puppet theater and blocks and dinosaurs and a replica of the solar system. But then the art room kept him enthralled for a good while with its long tables of art supplies, a reading corner and play houses and kitchens.

Meanwhile in the game room, Will, my 7-year-old, and his cousin were entranced by Chuck E. Cheese quality video games, skee-ball and basket throwing.

It's also just plain prettier, with a public art installation by Philadelphia artist Ray King. He combined glass arcs in a skywalk and glass cylinder "jewels" inset in the floor tiles to bend and break up light, throwing off different colors and reflections, depending on the time of day.

The result is bright, inviting and surprising in its appeal. You are surrounded by glass and steel, but you feel like you are outdoors.

Don't hate me, old gym, but it's time to hit the showers and let the new kid take over.

Sharon Kennedy Wynne can be reached at wynne@sptimes.com or 727 893-8595.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:39:17]