Before You Load In: Hotel Flor — Tampa, FL

Hey everyone, 

John here with CJS Live Music & Events.

I started this blog/video series to help bands and event vendors get familiar with new venues. When we first started doing events we had to figure out the logistics on our own. Sometimes it went great. Other times it was plain awful.

Hopefully these videos and blog make your next event a little easier logistics wise. 

Our first visit on the list is Hotel Flor in downtown Tampa.

GETTING THERE

Hotel Flor is located off of North Florida Avenue. The easiest route is to take Exit 44 off 275. Once you get off of the exit, stay as far to the left as you can. You'll go through a couple of traffic lights and then make a left onto East Cass Street. Stay alert because once you get on East Cass the hotel will appear in no time. As soon as you cross North Florida Avenue, make a left into the hotel parking lot.

What I like about this venue is how close it is to the interstate. Easy to get in and easy to get out. Even with the late-night clubbers ( the city was jamming at 10pm) the drive out was painless. 

Loading in. We had a two pm load on Saturday. Anytime we have weekend events I try and leave a little earlier. If you are arriving at this venue in the morning or afternoon you will have no problem. For pickups later at night, things can get a little trickier . The parking lot becomes a valet lot, which can make it difficult to maneuver a truck and trailer through.

If this is the case drive around to East Tyler Street and enter through the back gate. Once you're in the parking lot, get your truck or trailer as close to the building as possible. When we arrived we spoke to the valet attendants and let them know that what we were there for. I find that if you take an extra five minutes and notify the front desk or valet it makes everything smoother. Once you are parked you'll look for the last door by the dumpster. That door will be your access point to the freight elevator.

Let's talk about this elevator. This beast is straight out of a gangster movie. Old-school Tampa at its finest. If you ever needed a great scene shot for a horror or mob movie in Tampa...this is the place to shoot it. My first thought was suitcase city! 

The elevator has two doors. The first door needs to be pulled down and latched. Then there's a second, lighter door that comes down much easier. When you open everything back up, you basically do the process in reverse. The elevator  can hold up to 4,000 pounds.

And whatever you do...Don't touch the red button. That's another story.

The good news is that once you get upstairs, the main ballroom is only a few steps away from the elevator. For us, that made moving 107-pound stage decks a whole lot easier.

Hotel Flor is a great venue to work at and a cool piece of Tampa history.

The hotel dates back to 1927.

At 19 stories tall, the building was Tampa's first skyscraper. It remained the city's tallest building for decades. It was later added to the National Register of Historic Places. During World War II, hotel's Sapphire Room became a popular hangout for servicemen. 

If you ever get the opportunity to work an event at Hotel Flor, I highly recommend it. The staff was great. The venue was accommodating. And from a production standpoint, once you know where you're going, the load-in is easy.

Hopefully this video saves you some time and a few headaches.

See you at the next venue.