What Is Guava Culture?

Our latest project, Guava Culture, is hitting the pavement running, but what exactly is it? Why did we make it? What do we hope it will become? All that and more will be answered if you just scroll down a little bit.

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I am a Tampeño (Tampan? Tampanian? It's been 150 years and we still have really decided on the name. Nevertheless, I have lived in Tampa for the majority of my life and I have been reared in it's St. Augustine grass fields and cobblestone streets. I have made friends with the dragonflies and stingrays and lovebugs, too. I have laid awake long at night listening to the rumble of freight trains and piercing passing sirens and I have been woken up by my neighbor's chickens who were, mysteriously, stolen one day never to return. I've been to Crowbar concerts and shuffleboard clubs and knitting circles and city council meetings. I see people I know everywhere and everywhere I go I see a person who knows me. Tampa has my heart and I gave it willingly.

But I feel the change coming, and if I was any less optimistic I would say the change is here. If you're someone who has been in Tampa Bay for any significant period of time, I'm sure you feel it too. Everything is changing. Forests and wetlands are being replaced with concrete shopping malls. The highways are filled with twice as many cars. Neighborhoods are being assigned new names out the blue. And long-time establishments and people are disappearing faster than you can notice.

On one hand it's the Florida-way. Florida has been America's Dreamland for as long as air-conditioning has existed. People move down here on mass, start new lives, and bring new additions to the local culture, making it something fresh and new. The term "Old Florida" is essentially a cliche at this point, and it means something different to everyone you ask, but there is some truth to it. Florida did used to be different.

I'm not saying The Bay (and Florida by extension) should stay some sort of sclerotic tribute to a nostalgic noplace, but some preservation and celebration of the local culture should be taking place. That's what I want Guava Culture to be. There are so many people in The Bay who's love for their community has driven them to the supreme act of love: creation.

The Bay is blessed with legions of peoples doing cool things. Local print shops. mahjong clubs. Indie bookstores. Metal bands. Jazz trios. Authors. Artists. Actors. Anything you want is here and any one who lives here should have a chance to participate in it. In my mind, The Bay is a "if you know, you know" sort of place. Unlike New York City or L.A. or Atlanta where you can find something to do just by walking down the street, The Bay's coolest spots are typically something you have to be told about. If you know the right people, then you'll always have something to do. Of course, that can be pretty cumbersome when you've just moved down here and you don't know anybody.

Guava Culture is a solution to that. Go to our wgcproductions.com/guavaculture. See the events the tastemakers are putting on. Learn more about the people who make The Bay special through our interviews. Become apart of the culture.

There's a place for everyone in Tampa Bay, no matter where you are from. Whether you've just moved here or you're a lifer, with Guava Culture there is always a chance for you to get offline and make those connections with other people in The Bay who's love for the local culture flows like Gulf water.