The Old Fort opened in the late 1930s, following several other restaurants on the spot since 1921. Built on the former Fort Brooke site, it sat on the corner of Franklin and Platt Street (now Channelside Drive) at 301 Franklin St. It was a restaurant, tavern, and drive-in. In the 1950s, owner Charley Gregory added an inside dining area called the “Dungeon Room,” along with the regular dining room. The lounge was paneled in dark wood; there were jukeboxes on the bar and Spanish Colonial table chairs. Notice the stone at the curb in the lower left corner of the photo. It was a plaque commemorating Fort Brooke placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1928. The cannon mounted on the roof featured neon lights resembling cannons firing at night. Old Fort became a place for social gatherings and politico meetings. By the late 1950s, this section of town deteriorated as waterfront warehouses and businesses moved away. In the mid-1960s, downtown businesses began declining as people preferred suburban living, and trade here suffered. Owners decided to add go-go entertainment to their lounge and publicized it by putting scantly clothed dancers in the windows for cars driving by to see. It reportedly increased business briefly by twenty-five percent. The boon didn’t last. In 1972, the building was leveled and used as a car lot.

The Tampa Convention Center opened in 1990, taking over the spot. A tunnel now stretches from the Platt Street bridge to Franklin St., where this photo was taken. The circular lights in the photograph are part of the 31 LED ring lights installation in a permanent project called Circles Unity, 2021, commissioned for Lights on Tampa 2021. The original plaque from the stone on the corner is affixed to the center column at the entry to the convention center.

© Chip Weiner. Old Tampa Photos