"You could build a piano bar in the middle of the woods and people would come."
Another Friday night and Clearwater's Cleveland Street was dead. Then came the music and singing from inside The Nash Keys.
Couples on date nights, a 40th birthday party, friends who had traveled all the way from Tampa and Tarpon Springs, all filled tables in front of a pair of piano players belting out requests from the audience. Strangers sang along together — Sweet Caroline, Only the Good Die Young — and got under the rose-colored lights and danced.
Right outside, blocks of storefronts, lots and buildings, all controlled by the Church of Scientology, sat dark and empty. With no event that night in the waterfront Coachman Park, six restaurants and bars nearby served a smattering of customers as the sun went down.
With the grand opening this month of The Nash Keys dueling piano bar and restaurant at 520 Cleveland Street, co-owners Robert Cepeda and Tonatiuh Tello are attempting to use the last block of the downtown core not controlled by Scientology or local government to convince people not to give up on the area.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times