Skipper’s Smoke House deserves it’s own book. I’m obviously not the guy to write it.
The Skipperdome (one of its nicknames) is the crown jewel of North Tampa. If you want a reputable account of the many talented acts that Skipper’s has to offer or its storied history in Tampa lore, just go to their website.
I’m writing about Thursday night.
Thursday Night is Greatful Dead night. There’s nothing quite like it—a mix of college kids, old hippies, young hippies, burnouts, hiplets (or hippie kids) and drunks (you know, the salt of the Earth) listening to a cover band. Okay, maybe there are a lot of nights like it, but there’s only one Skipper’s Smoke House.
Now, Skippers may look, sound and feel like a rundown dive, but it doesn’t taste or drink like one. It looks like it was made out of plywood and four-by-fours, and I’m sure the project engineer would agree that there wasn’t a hell of a lot more to it than that. But don’t let that fool you. Skipper’s is a classy place. Solely because the people who go there, work there and play there don’t think that class is something you can buy.
They serve hot fermented cider on cold nights. People don’t do that enough in Tampa. Some of you northerners are probably laughing at the idea of a Tampa winter. Screw off. It gets cold.
They cook mad good seafood and barbecue. Mad good. That’s like really, really good. And they don’t try to overprice you and pull all that faux-dive crap. They ain’t a faux dive, they a nice dive.
They get good bands.
They spare the good bathroom graffiti, have a semi-secret entrance that only several hundred people know, and a toilet/ashtray. The interior décor tips its hat to old school Florida and the exterior straight-up gives it up to the funk.
Me: Do you need any incense, glass pipes, tie-dyes, rolling papers, junk-jewelry, crystals, tom-toms or shirts?
Scotty: No.
Me: Do you want to join an environmentalist movement?
Scotty: Um, No.
Me: How about a beer?
Scotty: That’s the one.
Best of all though, is the feel of Thursday night. I don’t think there’s been a fight on a Thursday in Skipper’s history. I’ve never seen one. People are generally nice, peaceful, social and non-threatening on Thursdays. You need that sometimes. You really do.
Not for nothing, but I recommend the other nights, too.