The Tropics Restaurant and Lounge started in 1951 when it opened as the Tropics Cuban Sandwich Drive In adjacent to the already-existing Dale Mabry Sundries & Grocery at 301 S Dale Mabry Hwy. Owner Mike LaBarbera had owned the grocery store since 1944 and expanded by adding the drive-in.  It featured Cuban mixed sandwiches, basket lunches, and beer and wine. They also made a sliced ham and cheese sandwich, dipped in a French toast batter, and then fried in butter until golden brown. They later bulldozed the store and built Tropic’s

By 1955, the name had changed to Tropics Restaurant and Lounge, then Tropic’s Steak House. It prospered until 1970 when Malio Iavarone, an established Tampa restaurateur, purchased the place from Mary La Barbera Paskert, becoming Malio’s Tropics featuring the “Heart of Prime Rib”. He would go on to double the size of the building. Malio’s became a South Tampa staple and a place frequented by local and national celebrities. Former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner reportedly made deals in the back room. Burt Reynolds dated the bar manager Pam Seals. Everyone was family, including Mafia undercover agent Donnie Brasco, who allegedly met there with FBI operatives. Big-name sports celebs like Wade Boggs and Michael Jordan were also customers. Malio’s was in business for 37 years and remained a place to see and be seen. In 2005, it all changed. Iavarone sold the biz to make way for an office building for Masonite International that was never built. Malio’s relocated to the Rivergate Tower downtown. In 2012, LA Fitness purchased the site for $4.8 million and soon began construction on the $9 million, 57,000-square-foot LA Fitness center that now sits where Tropics and Malio’s began.

© Chip Weiner. oldtampaphotos.com