At ABC Action News, we know it's the combination of all the communities that make Tampa Bay great to live in. That's why we've started a new series of reporting highlighting good things happening around town, discovering cool gems you may not know about, and uncovering the big news events impacting those areas.
On Friday, the Good Morning Tampa Bay team focused on Palma Ceia.
Complete Coverage: GMTB Local Spotlight
Toffee to Go celebrates 20 years in South Tampa
Take a drive down Bay to Bay Boulevard, in the heart of Palma Ceia, and a bright green building will welcome you.
Jim and Lisa Schalk started Toffee To Go inside their South Tampa home years ago. It started off as gifts for family and friends and turned into a business a short time later.
Tampa Garden Club helps beautify Hillsborough County for 94 years
The Tampa Garden Club is a beautiful venue that sits right on Bayshore Boulevard next to Fred Ball Park in the heart of Palma Ceia.
The Tampa Garden Club started in 1928 was organized for women to have a voice.
With safety in mind, Tampa nears completion of 30-year transportation plan
Brandie Miklus, the City of Tampa’s Infrastructure and Mobility Program Coordinator, said the city remains committed to Vision Zero, an overarching goal to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries to zero.
“About 73% of those crashes on our high-injury network occur on only 24% of the roads, so we know it’s something that we can achieve,” Miklus said.
Part of that effort, Miklus said, is a relatively new initiative called Tampa MOVES.
The initiative will serve as the city’s mobility plan and will guide safety improvements over the next 30 years.
Celebrating the history of MacDill Air Force Base
Thousands of men and women from all branches of the military are right here in South Tampa because of MacDill Air Force Base.
In the late 1930s, the area that is now MacDill was pretty much a wasteland.
It took more than 20,000 civilian employees to make this area what is today.
South Tampa family works to promote low-speed vehicle fun and safety
We're seeing more and more of them popping up across South Tampa, pulling out of driveways, sitting at red lights and parked in front yards — we’re talking about golf carts.
Damion and Heather Davis say one of their favorite past times is taking a lazy afternoon 23-mile-per-hour drive around the community.
Datz launches new menu, brings back old favorites
One of the most well-known casual restaurants in South Tampa is located right in Palma Ceia.
This original Datz location opened in 2009 on MacDill Avenue.
They just recently launched a new menu, bringing back some old favorites and introducing some new ones, too.
Cru Cellars finds 12 years of success in Palma Ceia
Cru Cellars started right on South MacDill Avenue. In the beginning, it was cheese and a love for wine.
That was nearly 12 years ago. Since then, they've expanded this location to a full-service restaurant.
Palma Ceia considered 'quintessential' South Tampa
For 96 years the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce has worked with business owners and the community.
Recently, they moved their building right off Bay to Bay Boulevard in Palma Ceia.
Reminiscing on the start of Outback in South Tampa
"First opened up there wasn't a lot of traffic, and that we didn't advertise it first. So what we used to do is everyone worked every day and so they'd let some people off and they'd make us sit by the windows and they pull our cars in the parking lot and make it look like it was full," explained Richard Menendez, bartender at Outback Steakhouse.
Menendez has been behind the bar at the Original Outback Steakhouse on Henderson Boulevard in South Tampa for the past 35 years.
The first week or so of the opening of Outback was tough. The Australian theme wasn't a hit right away.
Academy of the Holy Names celebrates 140 years in Palma Ceia
Drive down Bayshore Boulevard in Palma Ceia and you're sure to notice the beautiful building of the Academy of the Holy Names.
The school first moved to Tampa in the late 1800s from Key West.
