bserver LONGBOAT
Merry Christmas!
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
CENSUS STATS
How does Longboat compare with other communities? PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN
FREE • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2014
MEMORIES AND MISHAPS
DIVERSIONS Black Tie’s best of fashion and fun in 2014. PAGE 13A
food and drink
Readers share their favorite holiday tales. PAGES 5-9A
by Robin Hartill | Managing Editor
Cigar maker to deliver bar, pizza Giacomo ‘Jack’ Guggino plans to bring a bar back to Whitney Beach Plaza in January — but it won’t be a cigar bar.
Sam and the late Sally Shapiro
+ Program to honor Sally Shapiro Longboat Key resident Sally Shapiro loved music, and a special musical program her husband, Sam, organized will honor her memory. “L’dor Vador, a Tribute and Celebration for the Life of Sally Shapiro” will take place at 4 p.m. Dec. 28, at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road. The program will include Mrs. Shapiro’s favorite opera selections, Israeli folk songs and sacred liturgy pieces. A light reception will follow. The Shapiros were instrumental in building the Sally and Sam Shapiro Babies and Children’s Medical Center at the Glasser Schoenbaum Human Services Center, in Sarasota.
Happy days (and hours) are almost here again for those northend residents who have waited for a bar since 2010, when Tiny’s of Longboat closed at Whitney Beach Plaza. Dr. Giacomo “Jack” Guggino
hopes to open Giacomo’s Lounge in the former Tiny’s location in January. Although Guggino — who is also a pediatric ophthalmologist — is the owner/founder of Giacomo’s Cigars, and his family has
a deep history in the Tampa cigar industry, his bar will not be a cigar bar. The bar will sell Giacomo’s Cigars, but cigar smoking will be limited to an outdoor patio, and possibly, a second-floor deck sim-
ilar to the structure the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board approved last week for Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub. Cigarette smoking will be permitted inside the bar. “It will, hopefully, be a wonderful bar that will cater to the people out there,” Guggino said. “We feel
SEE BAR / PAGE 2A
NAUGHTY OR NICE?
+ Key of Sea seeks new voices Key of Sea Chorus, which sings at assisted-living and retirement homes in the Sarasota area, is inviting new members to join. Members of the Longboat Key Education Center who love to sing created their own chorus in 2000, and in January 2001, the Key of Sea Chorus was born. The chorus sings Tuesday afternoons from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. beginning Jan. 6, at The Players Club, 1401 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Performances will take place in March. There is a nominal fee to cover costs. Call Judie at 383-4664.
+ Learn more about LBK Foundation Want to know more about the Longboat Key Foundation, which is embarking on a $1 million fundraising drive, as reported in the Dec. 18 issue of the Longboat Observer? Visit its website at longboatkeyfoundation.org.
Kristen Herhold
Michael Will and Bill Carrick get into the holiday spirit at the Longbeach Village Association’s annual Christmas party Dec. 10, at Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant. To see more photos from the holiday party, see page 20A.
FUTURE VISION
by Robin Hartill | Managing Editor
Developer eyes area for senior homes Luxury senior housing developer Watercrest Senior Living Group is considering the Bay Isles area for a future community. A Vero Beach-based developer of luxury senior living communities sees the Bay Isles area where a town center could be completed as a place of opportunity. Real estate broker Joe Daniels, director of Integra Realty Resources in Tampa, represents Watercrest Senior Living Group and said at a town center
workshop Dec. 18, that the area would be a good fit for an active senior community. Daniels told the Longboat Observer after the workshop that he first met with Town Manager Dave Bullock to discuss the possibility of building a community a year ago. Although discussions at first focused on the 2.8-acre
property that the town has since purchased from Longboat Key resident Joe Wolfer, Daniels said his client is open to any location within the town center area. Watercrest has not purchased property in the area but wants to be part of a future town center
SEE HOMES / PAGE 2A
Robin Hartill
Joe Daniels is director of Integra Realty Resources in Tampa.
INDEX Building Permits...23A Calendar...............16A
Classifieds......... 26A Cops Corner....... 10A
Crossword.......... 25A Neighborhood.... 13A
Real Estate........ 22A Weather............. 25A
Vol. 37, No. 21 | Two sections YourObserver.com