Frank Pardo's Super Market, 1809 22nd Street

Frank Pardo's Super Market, 1809 22nd Street.

Employees standing in front of Frank Pardo's Super Market at 1809-11 22nd Street.1925. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Columbia Restaurant parking lot 1809 22nd Street, 2021.. © Chip Weiner

Frank Pardo owned a store at 1015 N. Boulevard in Tampa and was not always law-abiding. In the mid-1920s, he was arrested several times for violating prohibition by possessing alcohol, smuggling aliens from Cuba, and bolita running. In 1928, he was arrested for liquor possession, and in 1930, he was the victim of an attempted blackmail scheme against him and two other Tampa businessmen. In 1931, there was another bolita charge. The following years are peppered with minor crimes for illegal activity, including running a speakeasy in 1932. With so many charges, it seems he chalked it up to the cost of doing business. In 1938, Frank Pardo Jr. opened this grocery store at 22nd St. and 8th Ave.

The store grew and sponsored a Municipal League baseball team. By the 1940s, his sons Peter and Jim had taken over the store. Frank died in 1963 at the age of 67. By the mid-1950s, the store was called Carnival Food Center. There are few records about the leveling of the building that is now a parking lot for the Columbia Restaurant.

From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 2