The Fascinating and Historical Features of Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater is a city on Florida's West Coast near Tampa. Clearwater is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and features picturesque beaches and parks. There are many interesting features of Clearwater that are largely unknown but are worth looking into.

Back many years ago in May, 1965 a British band that was steadily growing in popularity at home and here in the States was visiting Clearwater to play a gig at the city's Jack Russell Stadium. Jack Russell Stadium, formerly the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies (Clearwater still hosts the team, but at the new Bright House Field), contained about 3,000 rowdy teens that night. While they were here, the band members stayed in Jack Tar Harrison Hotel (today it's called the Ft. Harrison) located within the city limits of Clearwater. After the concert, which had to be canceled after the band's performance due to a rowdy crowd, the band members collaborated on a song in their hotel rooms that you may have heard once or twice. The band? The Rolling Stones. The song? Satisfaction. I'm not sure if they were referring to any particular event in their visit to Clearwater when they wrote the words "I can't get no satisfaction," but hopefully they look back on their visit to our city as a satisfying beginning to their long-lived music career.

Another of Clearwater's landmarks, this on the beginning of a nationally renowned (sometimes notorious, depending on who you ask) restaurant chain. The restaurant is called Hooters, and the original family restaurant still flourishes on Clearwater's Highway 60, also known as Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. The Hooters enterprise was started in 1983 by six men of different professions and backgrounds as a result of their search - and lack of success in finding - a restaurant where they could hang out and just be men while watching sports and eating their favorite "guy" foods. From that dream, the Original Hooter's was born. Hooter's has since gone on to develop an airline, casino, and hotels. All that from a group of guys just looking for a plate of good chicken wings here in Clearwater.

As I mentioned earlier, Clearwater is the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team and has been since 1947. Florida hosts many of baseball's best teams during the spring, which is why teams who practice here said to belong to the Grapefruit league. Jack Russell Stadium opened in 1955 so that the Phillies could feel at home here in Clearwater in their own ball park. In 2004, a new stadium was built and opened for spring training and as home to the Phillies' minor league team, the Clearwater Threshers. Spring training games are inexpensive and just as thrilling as going to a major league park during the season to watch a game.

Another organization from right here in Clearwater is a rather controversial one. The Church of Scientology has its worldwide headquarters downtown in the Ft. Harrison Hotel (coincidentally the same hotel mentioned above where the Stones started writing "Satisfaction"). The church has had a sensational history since it was founded in 1953 by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard. Though many regard the Church of Scientology as a cult, leaders of the church itself vehemently deny this classification. The church gained worldwide attention in 1995 with the suspicious death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson. The church has had an ongoing turbulent relationship with the City of Clearwater, beginning with its purchase of the Ft. Harrison Hotel under an assumed name. Much of the world views the teachings of Scientology the same as the City of Clearwater, cult-like, though many famous actors and public figures are members and speak out about the beliefs of the church.

So these are some of the (in)famous historical aspects of our fine little city. I have lived here for 8 years, and recommend for anyone and everyone to visit if you ever get the chance!