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Archive for the 'Palm Harbor' Category

Palm Harbor art show

I mentioned in an earlier post that this weekend is The Big One — the annual Palm Harbor art and craft show.

This first weekend in December is the traditional date for the Palm Harbor show, which closes down the main drag in Old Palm Harbor for two days. Arts and crafts types from all over the state and beyond come to town to show and sell their wares.
There’s ceramic craftsmen, painters, sculptors, metal workers, jewelers, carvers and more. It’s a great time, and we try to go every year.
For the past two or three years, the show had been moved to the St. Petersburg College campus in Tarpon Springs, mostly because of lengthy road construction in the downtown Palm Harbor area. But this year the show was back in Palm Harbor, and everyone seemed pretty glad about that.

Tags: art show, Palm Harbor

Palm Harbor U. High School gets major award

 Palm Harbor University High School has earned a Silver Award from U.S. News and World Report as part of the magazine’s 2009 America’s Best High Schools edition.

The magazine reviewed 21,000 schools and then gave out 1,900 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention awards. There were 50 Gold awards given to Florida high schools; one of them, Design and Architectural Senior High School in Miami, was ranked Number 5 overall in the nation.

Tags: education, high school, Palm Harbor

Growth in the future?

How can you predict where the most active real estate growth is likely to take place in the future?

In a down market like this one, it’s not exactly a science. But the Wall Street Journal recently wrote about that subject. And one of their sources was William Frey, who studies demographics at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

Frey says Florida is a good bet for a real estate rebound, because immigrants and young people are likely to move to areas that have lower housing costs and good employment prospects. Using that yardstick, Frey likes Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Nevada, Arizona and some interior sections of California.

He DOESN’T like Michigan, Ohio, the Dakotas, Iowa, western Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

Tags: growth

Arts festival is this weekend in Palm Harbor

If you live in North Pinellas County, one of the local events you look forward to is the annual Fine Arts and Crafts Festival, which is held just before Christmas in Downtown Palm Harbor. This year the festival is Dec. 6 and 7 — this very weekend.

This year’s festival is the 34th annual, and it includes a juried art show, some really good food, and a number of special displays and activities. It’s a great place to find some unique Christmas gifts.

I’m planning on spending some time at the festival on Saturday, so look for some stories and photos right here on my blog.

If you want some additional information, visit the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce web site at http://www.palmharborcc.org/

Counters

Tags: art festival, Palm Harbor

Things could be worse…

Are you looking for the abolutely best rock-bottom price on a new home? Do you want to take advantage of the deflating real estate market? Here’s what you do:
Get in your car; drive across the Howard Franklin Bridge or the Courtney Campbell Causeway until you get to Tampa; head for the airport; get on a westbound flight; and don’t stop until you get to Phoenix, Las Vegas or San Francisco.
THAT’S where the real deals are.
According to the Standard & Poor Case Shiller home price index, western housing markets are where the real market collapses are taking place.
According to the index, home prices in the Tampa Bay area declined 18.5 percent between September 2007 and September 2008. That’s a lot, but compare that number to these:

• Phoenix: 31.9 percent
• Las Vegas: 31.3 percent
• San Franciso: 29.5 percent
• Miami: 28.4 percent
• San Diego: 26.3 percent

The national average is 16.6 percent, not really that far away from the Tampa Bay decline. So we should count ourselves lucky. I guess.

Counters

Tags: mortgages

More results from the NAR survey

 Here are a few more findings from the big National Association of Realtors survey that I mentioned a few posts back:

• Commuter costs were really important. Of all those surveyed, 41 percent said commuter costs were very important; another 39 percent said they were somewhat important.
• Buyers spent an average of 10 weeks looking for new homes. They also viewed an average of 10 homes before buying.
• Almost nine out of 10 buyers said their purchase was a good investment. Almost 50 per cent said they thought the investment was better than buying stocks. Remember that the survey was taken BEFORE the current stock market meltdown.
• The typical repeat homebuyer was 47. The typical first-time homebuyer was 30.

Tags: NAR, Palm Harbor, real estate, realtors, survey

Hops is back in Palm Harbor, and it’s good!

 Hops Grill & Brewery is a chain of casual restaurants that also brew their own beers. There is a Hops in Palm Harbor, on the southbound side of US19 between Tampa Road and Nebraska, and we used to eat there quite a bit. They had good steaks that were well-priced, they had an entree called South Beach Chicken that I liked a lot, and they had very good burgers.

Then we got the feeling that Hops sort of lost its way. Their prices went up quite a bit, and they changed their menu. In February of 2004 the chain’s parent company filed for bankruptcy, and about 15 Hops restaurants were closed.

To make matters worse, our local Hops restaurant was struck by lightning a day or two after Christmas, and the resulting fire did about $200,000 worth of damage. The place was closed for weeks, and we wondered if it would ever re-open.

I recently noticed that Hops had re-opened, so last night we gave it a try. And we were plesantly surprised. They were offering a 9-ounce steak for $10.99, and we both ordered it. It was quite good, and more than enough to eat.

We were also glad to see that Key Lime pie was still on the menu. We tried that, too, and found that the Hops key lime pie is still among the best you can find, just like we remembered.

Here is how Hops describes itself on its website: “We are a casual dining microbrewery restaurant that offers fresh, made from scratch menu items in a relaxed atmosphere featuring signature dishes that are created from high-quality, fresh ingredients and prepared in a display style kitchen that allows you to view the cooking process.”

We were pleasantly surprised to see that Hops is open once again, and pleased to note that it has returned to its roots of good food and good prices. Other people must be feeling good about it, too — the place was just about full.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

The snowblower from hell

The snowblower from hell

If you look back in the archive of this blog you will find a picture of an old snowblower sitting out on the front yard of a Palm Harbor house.

I figured the homeowners had put it out there as a sort of short-term joke and that the snowblower would disappear before long. But it’s still sitting out there and, in fact, the homeowners have dressed it up for Halloween, complete with a real creepy snowblower operator. Also, note the feet sticking out of the snowblower’s maw.
Don’t know if you can read the sign on the wall behind the snowblower, but it says “Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much.” These folks must take that motto seriously, at least the “Laugh Often” part.

Tags: North Pinellas County, Palm Harbor

Cody’s Steak House

Cody’s was on hand with ribs and a number of other offerings. Cody’s is a very good steak house that offers good food at moderate prices — a great place for the family. There are a number of Cody’s locations in the Tampa Bay area, but the closest one to us is in Tarpon Springs, at 39870 U.S. 19 N.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

Snapper’s Bar and Grille

Another of the restaurants taking part in the Taste of Palm Harbor was Snapper’s Bar & Grill. I had some spicy chicken wings and some great french fries.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants