Opening in 1932, The Seabreeze Restaurant took advantage of the new causeway constructed on 22nd St in 1926 for the massive but failed Tampa Beach project. Located on the east side, close to the water and shrimp docks, it served Spanish and Italian meals that included seafood and Cuban sandwiches. For decades it served as an area favorite, and many folks thought their devil crab cakes and Miss Lucy Potatoes were the best. It was far enough away to make visiting a special outing, yet close enough that most people in Tampa could easily access it. Run by the Licatas, a locally renowned restaurant family, Sea Breeze also offered an orchestra and dancing in the 1930s. Tony Licata is listed as the proprietor in the early days. The restaurant had at least six iterations, with this one most likely in the mid-1940s.

By the 1960s, George Licata (Tony’s brother) ran it as it was still family-owned. Like other local restaurants, the popularity of the place waned. Author Jeff Klinkenberg, in his 1993 book Real Florida, suggests that more than a few criminal activities were concocted at the Seabreeze, but for most, it was just a seafood favorite. The building was demolished probably in the early 1990s. Around 2000, George Lorton of Trans-Continental Marine Repair bought the former Sea Breeze property and surrounding area and considered building a 900-unit, seven-story condo complex but then changed his mind when the Port Authority purchased the 41-acre waterfront in 2005 for $15 million. It is now a marshaling yard for container ships, a place where cargo is offloaded onto trucks.

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