The story
Manuel Beiro opened the Valencia Garden in 1927 as a Spanish restaurant and lounge near downtown, in a storefront at 811 Grand Central Avenue, now West Kennedy Boulevard. Over the decades it became a gathering place for political and business leaders. Beiro appeared weekly on Channel 13 with sportscaster Andy Hardy, just before Shock Theater, and the two toasted the cameras with "Salud and happy days."
In April 1966 a fire destroyed the building and the Beiros' living quarters upstairs, along with prized things brought from Spain. It also took the Fellow Motors building next door. The restaurant reopened that October with a new interior, and the empty neighboring lot became its parking. In 2009, after 82 years, the University of Tampa bought the property and the restaurant closed. The university demolished the building in 2010.
What's There Now
The site became the University of Tampa's Maureen A. Daly Innovation and Collaboration Building, which opened in 2015.
Everything that was here
- 1927–2009
Valencia GardenRestaurant
Manuel Beiro's Spanish restaurant ran 82 years, survived a 1966 fire and closed when the University of Tampa bought the lot.
See the map in 1928 →
Did you know?
Nearby history
University of Tampa
The Big Orange Drive-In
Tampa Tribune Building (Parker Street plant)
Palladium Ballroom
Curtis Hixon Hall
Wallace Stovall Tampa Tribune Building (GTE Building)
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