Jack Pendola's first custom tailor shop, located at 214 E Lafayette St (now Kennedy Blvd.), opened its doors in 1926. His business not only survived the Great Depression but also became a community pillar, providing quality service and taking on projects such as providing uniforms for the Tampa Fire Department. In the 1940s, he provided uniforms for the armed services to support the World War II effort. Alongside his wife Margaret, they were not just business owners but active community members, involved in several civic organizations. His store even sponsored a winning bowling team starting in the late 1930s. In 1939, he moved to 408 Franklin St.

Pendola served 12 years on Tampa’s civil service board. In 1949, he expanded by moving to the building pictured above at the NE corner of Franklin and Madison Streets (501 Franklin St), taking over the spot formerly occupied by Kings Café. Known as the W.F.S. Building, it was purchased by Col. Wallace Fisher Stovall, a wealthy man and publisher of the Tampa Tribune. Mayor Curtis Hixon attended Pendola’s grand opening in 1950, launching the store by pulling down a seven-foot zipper made especially for the occasion.  Pendola promoted his new store by sponsoring a radio program on WDAE, Football Forecast with Tampa sportsman “Salty” Sol Fleischman.

He sold the building and business to 20-year Tampa retailer Zen Pasternak in 1967, who promised not to change the store branding and clothing lines. Pasternak ran the store for over a decade, but it suffered the same fate as other retailers downtown, falling to a drop in sales as residents moved away from the city’s core. In 1979, Sun Bank began renovating the building and opened its branch there in 1981. The spot has been home to several businesses since Sun Bank moved out. Vale Food Co, a health food-based restaurant, is now open on the corner.

Herbel Wright “Jack” Pendola died in 1974.

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