![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/drunk_tampa-45.webp\")
Manny Leto at Shuffle in Tampa, Florida on July 15, 2025. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nManny Leto at Shuffle in Tampa, Florida on July 15, 2025. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot to love, and a few things to loathe<\/a>, about Tampa. Manny Leto expects to help history lovers through all of those emotions and more when his now infamous Drunk Tampa History Talk returns to this month.<\/p>\n After launching to much fanfare in 2024<\/a>, the show was forced into a ticketed format in 2025 and sold-out yet again<\/a> thanks in no small part to Leto\u2019s ability to give a no-holds-barred, wholly entertaining, and intelligent (not belligerent!) presentation in between shots and beer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s everything natives and newbies want to know about the city without getting too deep\u2014and without playing nice just to be police.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not representing any particular organization, so there\u2019s a certain freedom in that,\u201d Leto, a lifelong Tampe\u00f1o who is now Executive Director at Preserve the \u2018Burg, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n Just looking at the past for what it is on paper doesn\u2019t tell a community how it got to the present.<\/p>\n \u201cWe study history to understand what\u2019s happening today,\u201d Leto added. \u201cWe study history to understand what\u2019s happening today. That\u2019s the goal\u2014making those connections.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s lecture included a broad overview of Tampa history, with short deviations into details and easter eggs not included in 2024. Leto told CL that guests this year will get primer info, noting that his 2026 presentation may dig into how the Hillsborough River acts as a connective thread running through Tampa\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom early First Peoples, to the establishment of Fort Brooke, to neighborhoods like West Tampa on the west side of the river, Seminole Heights along the river, Sulfur Springs\u2014you can see the city growing up along the river as its spine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And yes, the mobsters, pirates, corruption will all be mixed in there with the pro wrestlers and death metal bands because in Tampa all those things are somehow connected.<\/p>\n Tickets for Drunk Tampa History: Tampa\u2019s 139th Birthday Party happening Wednesday, July 15 at Shuffle Tampa are still available for $10.<\/a> There will be raffles, trivia, prizes, and, of course, cake.<\/p>\n This writer will play emcee and host.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in July 02 \u2013 08, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t\t\t