Bayshore Boulevard and Hyde Park, Tampa
Have you been burned out from nature hikes? Not completely, of course, but just for the moment. With week after week of sandy trails, weathered boardwalks and an endless sea of scrub, hammocks and pine flats, an antidote to the temporary blahs of abstract nature can be found by venturing into an orderly landscape of precise concrete, shorn lawns, and harmonic traffic noise.
Wait. Hear me out. I know the city seems like just the thing you’re trying to escape, but is it entirely? Or is it the hectic nature of daily life that just so happens to coincide with the urban setting? Is it the toil and drudgery of work and life in the city and it’s choked suburbs that have you clawing at the walls.
Relaxation, a pause from routine and responsibility is what you’re really after, and this can be had in the city as much as in the country. Well, a fraction as much, but it’s there if you look for it. Traffic can be a concern, too, but I’ve blown a few gaskets in rural traffic, so the country isn’t exactly a panacea. Try being stuck behind an Amish buggy on a long, curved, uphill road.
After a few months of stomping through the seen one palmetto strewn field shaded by live oaks, seen ‘em all of the state and local parks, I figured trading rough paths for smooth pavement with an urban hike could be a healthy and enjoyable way to bring some variety to our weekly excursions. Rumors and recommendations abound for Bayshore Boulevard Linear Park Trail, so I did some online research and shaped a loose plan.
A map revealed Hyde Park Village to be within walking distance of Bayshore and I had been wanting to check out both. Though our love for malls was left with our adolescence (and crushed by herds of shoppers six abroad with no agendas), if there are interesting shops and the crowds are thin we don’t mind getting sun and fresh air while window shopping.
Maybe I’ll find a candy store–I’m out of Australian licorice.
The Plan
A sort of triangle can be plotted with Hyde Park Village at the square formed by Rome and Swann Avenues and with Bayshore Boulevard as the hypotenuse. I figured we could walk that path starting on Bayshore and pay a visit to Hyde Park Village at the halfway point. At roughly two and a half miles, and some meandering at the mall, it should make for a stimulating activity. Though, maybe not as stimulating as Euclidean geometry–a rabbit hole I went down when looking up hypotenuse.
We dressed for the weather, put on our walking shoes, hopped in the sporty little runabout, and we were off on a Wednesday adventure. The itinerary was loose and simple:
- Walk down Bayshore Boulevard Linear Park Trail
- Walk north up Rome Avenue toward Swann Avenue
- Stop and check out Hyde Park Village shops
- Walk Swann Ave. east to the car and head for lunch
Blue skies reigned and a cooling breeze swept over the greenway off Hillsborough Bay as we exited the West Platt Street bridge onto Bayshore Boulevard. The walkway looked clean and inviting, with little pedestrian traffic. Sunlight glinted off the concrete sent a tapering white snake along the seawall to a faded shoreline in the distance.
I hung a right onto brick-paved Bay Street and whipped a u-turn to snag an open space along the curb—is what I wished I had done. Driving too fast, I missed the spot, came to a one-way heading the wrong way and, in trying to loop around the area, accidentally crossed the bridge to Davis Island. After several circumnavigations of the area to find Bay Street again we finally pulled into the still-vacant spot. Success.
Silently I stifled an eruption for sake of my wife. I excel at making the simple things appear difficult. I create chaos from order.
We looked both ways before crossing over the four lanes of Bayshore Boulevard to the pedestrian pathway that raced the bay. The sun followed on our left, casting short shadows onto the white concrete that restrained the manicured lawns of palm, oak, and magenta-blossomed azalea. I regretted not applying sunscreen.
Guarded from the bay by a classical concrete balustrade and from the busy traffic of the parkway by a thick swath of emerald lawn, Bayshore Boulevard Linear Park trail is a mouthful of a name for a footpath that offers 4.5 miles of uninterrupted rambling from Platt Street at the north to Gandy Boulevard in the south (that aforementioned faded shoreline in the distance). We would not walk the entire trail this time, but I promised myself a return trip, with a go at some vittles in Ballast Point. Stay tuned.
The history of Bayshore Boulevard and park begins 1891 as a feature of Chester W. Chapin’s trolley car system. The path was expanded by Colonel Alfred Ruben Swann and Eugene Holtsinger in 1907 and by the WPA in the ‘30s. The grassy median that divides the north and south lanes of the Boulevard are all that remains of the trolley car system.
Dubiously boasted as the world’s longest continuous sidewalk, it’s balustrade gives a Mediterranean cast to a quite scenic stretch of sidewalk. Vistas across the water include neighboring Davis Island (been there, done that), a glimpse of Pendola point peeking ‘round from behind, and the man-made and clumsily named Tampa Port Authority Spoil Island 2D and Tampa Port Authority Spoil Island 3D (co-functioning as bird sanctuaries). To the right of these can be glimpsed MacDill Airforce Base at the bottom end of the Tampa peninsula and the neighborhood of Ballast Point, just south of the white serpent tail of the seawall.
Bayshore Linear Park Trail – Bayshore Greenway
312 Bayshore Blvd
Tampa, FL
East Side of Bayshore Blvd, along the balustrade between Platt Street and Gandy Boulevard
Hours: Sunrise to Sunset
Parking:
Bay to Bay Park
Ballast Point
Fred Ball Park
- 4.5 miles (with one interruption) from Columbus Statue Park to Gandy Boulevard
- A bicycle lane starts at Rome Ave. and runs the remaining length to Gandy
The Bayshore Boulevard trail is used by walkers, joggers, bicyclists, and I’ve heard tell of a remnant tribe of rollerbladers still active in these parts, though none were to be seen this day. The official hours state sunrise to sunset, but that seems strange. Does the sidewalk close to pedestrians at nightfall?
We strode along the esplanade, soaking in the sun and sights: reading the occasional plaque, noting the sundry flora and scarce fauna and, more enthusiastically, digging the distinctive array of picturesque homes across the street.
Forming the outer defenses of the Hyde Park neighborhood, these chateaus command fantastic views through multi-paned Queen Anne wood sashes and large single-plate Bauhaus panes. The architectural styles range from Italianate to International Modern and every revival that falls in between. Front yards tease ornate facades behind low, stretching limbs of live oak and magnolia. Manicured grasses and juniper frame the walks and drives.
As well-appointed joggers wove around us, we dream shopped for our favorites of the micro-estates.
“How would we manage both a bay-front estate and a Gulf-front villa?”
“We’ll find a way, Muffy, but we may have to give up summering in the Vineyard.”
“I’ll shuffle some assets with our accountant tonight.”
A mower roared to life as a landscape crew poured from a truck cab and jumped to tasks. I flashed to my days mowing campus malls and athletic fields in Lancaster and laughed myself into reality.
At Rome Street, we bid alla prossima to Bayshore Blvd., took advantage of a lull in traffic to cross the speedway and ventured inland into Hyde Park.
The same architectural hodgepodge comprised the inner neighborhood. Mini-mansions with gated lush gardens gave way to Arts and Crafts bungalows. As we progressed, brick parking garages and stucco office buildings appeared amongst Mediterranean style apartments and townhomes. I picked up on a southern California vibe. Come and knock on our door….
Beyond the bulwark of Bayshore Blvd. we were welcomed by leaning brick monoliths that suggest Hyde Park’s moldering opulence. It takes wheelbarrows full of dividends to prevent nature from reclaiming the borrowed clay, limestone, and timber (ask me how I know) and the owners aren’t the DIY types. They appreciate the division of labor. Whatever their motivations, they have served well to maintain a beautiful collection of homes.
Mankind’s idiosyncratic wants have treated us to some nicely preserved buildings that are inspiring to see especially when living in an age and area where new structures are being created at astonishing rates. Few can afford to maintain such aged abodes and I’m pleased to see not all men and women of means choose the McMansion route. Hyde Park is a museum of sorts, free of charge and rich with air, sun, and massive works of three-dimensional art.
Quenching jets of water erupting from a paved courtyard where a gated public park appeared at our cross of Morrison Avenue. We took the detour—a cool, arboreal retreat from sun-soaked sidewalks. Children shouted, played, and wore out the equipment and their chatting chaperones. A reasonably clean public bathroom was found and appreciated and we continued toward Hyde Park Village.
A nearly half mile walk from Bayshore brought us to the south-west corner of Hyde Park Village, an upscale open-air shopping mall flush with the usual spectrum of lavish boutiques, eateries, salons, and galleries. We window-shopped our way up Snow Avenue, around the Village Circle and out to Swann Avenue, surveying the out-of-our-price-range fashions, home decor, services, and wares.
The Wednesday noon pedestrian traffic was light and we crossed paths with hardly a soul and even less traffic. There were a dozen or so people in the Village Circle and the surrounding bars, bistros, and cafes were abuzz with plenty of folks, though there didn’t seem to be any waits for tables. Our lunch plans were already decided for across town.
The Village Circle is a well attended to (square) plaza of trees and flowering plants with benches and tables shaded by large canvas umbrellas. It’s a nice central location to escape a radiating sun and rest your feet while enjoying a takeaway treat from one of the surrounding places to eat. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but the alluring shade of the green canopy lured us toward. We skirted the circle and hugged the doorsteps and windowsills as we made our way through the mall.
While my wife browsed eclectic greeting cards in a paper shop, my stomach consulted my brain about a pre-lunch lunch. To afford our weekly explorations, we stick to a fairly tight budget. Though all the restaurants pulled at my belly strings, none were on our Must Eat Vittles short list anyway, so I wrote them off and stuck to our plan for sandwiches at White’s Gourmet House after our walk.
That very morning I also learned that a thatch-roofed Irish pub exists on Platt Street, so, of course, I’m stopping in at Four Green Fields Irish Pub for a restorative Guinness on our way to lunch. (Indeed it was restorative and I will return soon to give it a proper go and a fleshed out review, but it’s a cool little spot.)
We will return to try some of the Hyde Park restaurants, such as Goody Goody, Bartaco, CineBistro, Timpano, and others. They aren’t going anywhere, but if they do perhaps we will have missed nothing. The Hyde Park restaurants’ prices would have had us pushing that week’s envelope. We refreshed ourselves at Hyppo with a splurge on $4 popsicles (very tasty), instead.
We exited the Village Circle and looped around West Swann Avenue. A walk down West Snow Circle to scan its secluded storefronts and then back up to Swann finished our course. It was time to move on.
Hyde Park Village was a pleasant experience, with much to see, plenty to buy, and enticing aromas. After our tour of the mall, we wound down our visit with a trek back to the car, following Swann to Magnolia, to Bay.
With two blocks remaining, we agreed that our legs were nearing that line where casual stroll becomes arduous journey. This loop was near perfect as an active sightseeing outing, though walking on concrete for extended periods strained the southern extremities. A short respite at one of the cafes or bars would likely have given a boost had we taken it. Well-appointed joggers should have no trouble.
As a change of pace and scenery from the nature trails and wilderness of the surrounding counties, Bayshore Boulevard Linear Park and Hyde Park Village was a refreshing experience. The pavement takes its toll on the soles, but the architecture, parks, sights, and tastes make up for the wear.
I remain favored to wilderness trekking, although the occasional Guinness spring would be a grand compromise.
I never did get any licorice.
Thanks for reading!