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Tampa columnist HOOPER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 12, 2001

Look at the list of cities where Lladro owns stores selling its porcelain artwork: Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, New York, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, Calif., Valencia, Spain, and ...

... Tampa?

It reminds me of that old, old Sesame Street song: one of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not the same.

Yet Lladro managing director Jose Luis Perez will tell you International Plaza is an ideal location for his company's newest store. Florida is Lladro's top U.S. market, and the state's Spanish heritage was an added appeal for the company.

"Florida is a place to relax, a place to vacation, a place to retire," said Perez, who was in Tampa Thursday with some of the company's top executives to visit the store.

"People here have time to enjoy Lladro."

Lladro (pronounced Ya-dro) has tagged its Tampa store as a prototype for future stores. It's unique because the sculptures are in the open instead of behind glass cases. Curved walls, multimedia displays and soft lighting make the sculptures more inviting.

The sculptures, which have been handcrafted in Valencia since the three Lladro brothers founded the company in 1953, range in price from $40 to the $31,000 English coach (which still leaves me stunned).

But to me, it's the range of cultures depicted by the artwork that is most impressive. Cultures spanning five continents have influenced the Lladro artists, so for me, it was extra-special to see some faces that looked like mine.

Recent headlines from the New York Post: Osama, Call Your Mama; Kabulseye! and Tali-Bam!

And on a story about "heartless" people selling phony ash and rubble from Ground Zero to the families of victims: Ash-Holes.

Speaking of Osama, did you notice the "Wanted: Dead Or Alive" billboards with his menacing face were taken down after being up for only two days? I didn't like them, and apparently neither did a lot of other folks who complained to Clear Channel Outdoor, formerly Eller Media.

No one will go on the record and say who put the billboards up, but it's not a big leap in logic to assume it was one of Clear Channel's radio stations. They have been putting up controversial billboards for at least as long as I have lived here.

Anthrax at the tabloids, Rush Limbaugh going deaf -- what's next, Dick Greco actually firing an employee?

Having read about my shock and dismay over the incredibly high prices you find on some items at International Plaza, Junior League officials concluded I was the perfect guy to tell you all about its 38th annual thrift sale.

This year's sale is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tampa Convention Center, and I'm told serious shopaholics began salivating around Wednesday.

Okay, see if you're confused as I am. There is a non-profit group in South Tampa called 13 Ugly Men, but it's actually 18 men who aren't ugly (I'm told) and their promotional director is one tall blond named Brooke Palmer.

See what I mean?

Palmer explained the legend behind the "ugly" label. After years of indulging in acts of sin and depravity, a group of party boys was cursed and turned into hideous troll-like creatures. To retain their looks, they have to continually do good deeds.

The membership, which consists of doctors, lawyers and other business professionals, deflects attention from the individuals in an effort to make the sum of their efforts more noteworthy. They basically party with a purpose, using money from various get-togethers for charity.

On Saturday, the group will donate $10,000 worth of Gateway computers and educational software to benefit the county's 21 Boys and Girls Clubs.

-- Ernest Hooper can be reached at (813) 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com. His column appears on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

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