Big in Tampa Bay (Clearwater, Largo: 2014, lease, insurance)

[wsamon]

I moved to the Tampa Bay area in Jan 2014 and in my time here I've been noticing there are certain things that I see a lot of here that I haven't seen nearly as often anywhere else I've been. I'll get this list started, but I'm curious what other people may have noticed.

• Drug stores - I swear, there's at least 2 every 3-4 blocks, and that's not even counting the grocery stores. I've never seen anything like it
• Massage places / therapists
• Medical businesses that advertise massive discounts to those without insurance
• Long traffic lights - 3+ minute lights are all over the place here. I actually plan my route going out of my way to avoid left turns because of this
• Cheap, run-down looking strip malls - they're everywhere and somehow have some nice places in them
• Produce markets
• Thrift / second-hand stores - seemingly almost as common as drug stores
• Lizards - probably more of a Florida rather than Tampa Bay thing
• Churches / places of worship
• High quality microbreweries
• Small, ranch-style houses
• Mobile home parks - especially if you extend that to mobile home parks in an urban setting (I've never seen a single one of those before)
• 20-somethings perfectly content to make careers out of low-skill, low-pay, low-prestige, dead-end jobs
• Lightning
• Houses with outdoor pools - I'm sure there are other areas of the country where this is just as common, but I haven't noticed them
• Extremely close-by cities with entirely separate governments, festivals, etc. (for example, Largo, Seminole, Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Madeira Beach)

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by wsamon

[*]High quality microbreweries

That would be because Tampa is pretty high on the list for craft beer. Tampa Bay Brewing Company hopped on the train as craft beer was starting to take off again, Cigar City came ten years later with amazing beer. The other guys are in the same market and have to be good just to survive.

[Zambon]

Originally Posted by wsamon

I moved to the Tampa Bay area in Jan 2014 and in my time here I've been noticing there are certain things that I see a lot of here that I haven't seen nearly as often anywhere else I've been. I'll get this list started, but I'm curious what other people may have noticed.

• Drug stores - I swear, there's at least 2 every 3-4 blocks, and that's not even counting the grocery stores. I've never seen anything like it
• Massage places / therapists
• Medical businesses that advertise massive discounts to those without insurance
• Long traffic lights - 3+ minute lights are all over the place here. I actually plan my route going out of my way to avoid left turns because of this
• Cheap, run-down looking strip malls - they're everywhere and somehow have some nice places in them
• Produce markets
• Thrift / second-hand stores - seemingly almost as common as drug stores
• Lizards - probably more of a Florida rather than Tampa Bay thing
• Churches / places of worship
• High quality microbreweries
• Small, ranch-style houses
• Mobile home parks - especially if you extend that to mobile home parks in an urban setting (I've never seen a single one of those before)
• 20-somethings perfectly content to make careers out of low-skill, low-pay, low-prestige, dead-end jobs
• Lightning
• Houses with outdoor pools - I'm sure there are other areas of the country where this is just as common, but I haven't noticed them
• Extremely close-by cities with entirely separate governments, festivals, etc. (for example, Largo, Seminole, Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Madeira Beach)

Long traffic lights, yes! They drive me nuts here particularly because quickly changing yellow lights (with traffic cameras) seem to go with all of the long red lights. If you miss two lights, you are adding 6-7 minutes onto your commute, so people run the short yellows, which is not very safe. Would you rather be late, get rear ended, or get a red light ticket? Your choice.

[KPB]

Where exactly are you moving from ?

[Tim Tim Tim]

Sounds more like st. pete/pinellas lol

[mrviking]

Spoiler

Lizards - probably more of a Florida rather than Tampa Bay thing

About 10-15 yrs ago I noticed that the lizards over in South Florida must all be swimming in the same radioactive lake. They have grown much bigger compared to our west coast ones. Over on this coast you just need to be concerned about stepping on them. Over there you can trip over them!

[upgrader]

Originally Posted by wsamon

• Massage places / therapists
• Long traffic lights - 3+ minute lights are all over the place here. I actually plan my route going out of my way to avoid left turns because of this
  

Good list.

[wallyb2013]

I've only been here a few months and agree with many of your observations, especially long traffic lights and urban mobile home parks. I'll add:

*assisted living facilities in residential areas
*gold chains on young children
*personal injury attorney commercials
*specialty medical clinics offering limited and specific services
*traffic accidents
*interracial couples (which I fully support and am glad the community seems open minded compared to other places I've lived)

A lot of the above are attributable to the large geriatric population and general transient nature of Florida.

[Irishiis49]

When I moved here from NYC i was amazed at all the porn and pawn shops!!!

[lwilson80]

Originally Posted by wsamon

I moved to the Tampa Bay area in Jan 2014 and in my time here I've been noticing there are certain things that I see a lot of here that I haven't seen nearly as often anywhere else I've been. I'll get this list started, but I'm curious what other people may have noticed.

• Drug stores - I swear, there's at least 2 every 3-4 blocks, and that's not even counting the grocery stores. I've never seen anything like it
• Massage places / therapists
• Medical businesses that advertise massive discounts to those without insurance
• Long traffic lights - 3+ minute lights are all over the place here. I actually plan my route going out of my way to avoid left turns because of this
• Cheap, run-down looking strip malls - they're everywhere and somehow have some nice places in them
• Produce markets
• Thrift / second-hand stores - seemingly almost as common as drug stores
• Lizards - probably more of a Florida rather than Tampa Bay thing
• Churches / places of worship
• High quality microbreweries
• Small, ranch-style houses
• Mobile home parks - especially if you extend that to mobile home parks in an urban setting (I've never seen a single one of those before)
• 20-somethings perfectly content to make careers out of low-skill, low-pay, low-prestige, dead-end jobs
• Lightning
• Houses with outdoor pools - I'm sure there are other areas of the country where this is just as common, but I haven't noticed them
• Extremely close-by cities with entirely separate governments, festivals, etc. (for example, Largo, Seminole, Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Madeira Beach)

I completely agree with you on the twenty year-old individuals content with working low-skill, low paying and dead end jobs. I myself have been here for eleven years now and have yet to even hit $40k/yr and working in corporate America. I'm just glad my lease is up so I can move back home and leave this God awful city. It's easy to get sucked into this environment because there really isn't much to offer here. So, you get people to work these low-paying jobs because companies know that people need jobs and when you have bills you just have to do what you can.


Unfortunately, from an economical standpoint the cost of living here will never match up with the salary. Therefore, causing those under $50k/yr, to live in less desirable conditions but that's just my opinion.