Balconies are big business in Ybor City. The symbol of urban living is a must have, especially at parade time.
By RICK GERSHMAN
Published February 10, 2006
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe ]
Lee Richardson, 23, and Janette McCollum, 26, of get up close and personal on the balcony of Adobe Gila's overlooking 7th Avenue. Many Ybor businesses are renting out their balconies to partygoers who want a bird's eye view of the Knight Parade.
YBOR CITY - She's all grown up now, she says. All of 23.
Which might not seem so grown up to a lot of, well, grownups. But when you've grown up around Ybor City - or to be more accurate, been partying in Ybor since you were 14 years old - 23 can seem awfully adult.
It certainly does to Juliet Adianno. She considers herself a veteran of Saturday's event.
She's been front and center for what many call the Gasparilla night parade, though just calling it that is enough to attract the castigation of many participants.
It's the Krewe of the Knights of Sant'Yago Illuminated Knight Parade, thank you very kindly, that will light up this world on Saturday.
These days it starts downtown, though everyone knows where it ends up, where it belongs. Rocking its way down Seventh Avenue, down the strip. It's an Ybor City tradition. Call it whatever you want, this is Ybor City's parade.
And Adianno, now an accountant, has participated. In every way, shape and form.
"I've been the girl showing her boobs," said Adianno, underscoring her point by cupping her hands under her tank top-clad breasts.
In subsequent years, "I've been bartending, banking while all the girls show their boobs. And now . . . I'm a professional. I can hang out and just have a good time."
Which means?
"I'm keeping my shirt on," she said. "But I'll have beads. I want to see some skin. Boys. Girls. Whatever. These things cost money. You don't get them for nothing."
On Saturday, sweet Juliet will be dispensing beads, in true Shakespearean fashion, from a balcony overlooking Seventh Avenue.
Which one? Earlier this week, she didn't know: "I have a few options. I might hop around."
Which brings us to the balconies. Those wrought-iron balconies that overlook Seventh Avenue, the best "seats" in the house. Where many parade congregants tend toward either exhibitionism or solicitation of exhibitionism.
But to hear Ybor faithful tell it, balconies here aren't only about special events such as the Knight Parade or Guavaween. Even off Seventh Avenue, balconies have become a fixture of many developments here.
"The balcony is the ultimate perk in Ybor," said Tom Keating, president and chief executive officer of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. "Here, it's not a swimming pool. It's a balcony."
Keating knows of what he speaks. He loves hanging out on his balcony at the Fifth Avenue Villas. He can socialize with his neighbors and look out on the diverse community that comprises Ybor.
Other professionals are drawn to the same elements, he said: "Some people want to live in an interesting place."
And Ybor grows more interesting by the day, said Steve Yturriaga of Ybor Realty Group, which developed Fifth Avenue Villas and several other Ybor properties.
"A lot of companies are coming down here," he said. "We have lots of great and vibrant businesses and professionals coming in."
Today's Ybor boasts many more professionals working and living here, said Yturriaga (pronounced ee-turr-ee-AH-gah).
More are coming in all the time, he said. They tend to be social, to enjoy the sense of community and diversity the area offers. And that lends itself to the "balcony culture" of Ybor.
"It seems like everyone wants a balcony these days," Yturriaga said. "I think it all goes back to when people lived above their businesses and there was no air conditioning or TV.
"People would sit outside and look out on the neighborhood, see what's going on. They'd socialize and enjoy the weather."
Or they'd enjoy the festivities, like today's balcony dwellers on Seventh.
"This is like having a box seat at the stadium," Keating said. "And it's also about getting out of the fray."
The mix of balconies and booze have been controversial, however. A few deaths have occurred, most recently a year ago, when a 21-year-old woman died following a fall from the second-floor balcony of Lotus Ultra Lounge.
The Tampa City Council later reviewed whether drinking on certain balconies violated open container laws, but no action came from it.
The Seventh Avenue balconies remain popular, especially during the Knight Parade. At Centro Ybor's Big City Tavern, general manager Brian Cornacchia is one of numerous businessmen who rent out balcony space for the night.
Cornacchia said he's been taking reservations for Saturday's parade since about an hour after last year's parade ended.
"We don't get much dinner business that night, so the income from the balconies balances that out," he said.
Big City Tavern can fit about 25 people on its outdoor patio, and about a dozen on the balconies that circle the second-story restaurant.
He rents out the patio for $1,500 and the balconies for $500 each. It's an amenity Ybor residents are used to having.
"If you're going to live down here, you have to have a patio or balcony," he said. "It's part of the urban lifestyle."
The Krewe of Sant'Yago Illuminated Knight Parade runs Saturday through downtown and Ybor City. It begins at 6:30 p.m. at Kennedy Boulevard and Morgan Street. It proceeds east on Kennedy, then north on Nebraska Avenue to Nuccio Parkway, then east on Seventh Avenue. It ends on Seventh Avenue east of 23rd Street. The consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited on public sidewalks and streets. Glass containers are not allowed during the event. For information, call 353-8072.
