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Iconic, 81-year-old Tampa Theatre, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of those hometown gems that can easily be taken for granted by locals.

So, any reason to experience the architectural archetype for “Florida Mediterranean,” your basic pastiche of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Spanish, Mediterranean, Greek Revival, Baroque and English Tudor, should do. In fact, any excuse to ensconce yourself amid the alcoves, tiles, mirrors, statuary, stairways, history and ambient light — and under that star-bedecked ceiling — should suffice.

And as good a vehicle as any would be the (3 p.m. Sundays) Summer Classic Movie Series, now in its 14th year. It began May 27 and runs through Aug. 26. The featured fare ranges from “Top Hat” and “The Thin Man” to “Gone With The Wind” and “The Great Gatsby.” The last three are: “Casablanca” (Aug. 12), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (Aug. 19) and “The Thief of Baghdad” (Aug. 26).

Basically, something for anyone wanting to escape unforgiving humidity, bad indoor baseball and too many contemporary movies obviously aimed at a target market of 14-year-old boys.

If you’ve never sampled the summer series at Tampa Theatre, consider putting it on one of those sempiternal “to do” lists. Especially when it’s sub-Sahara hot around here.

“It transports people back to another era,” explains Tara Schroeder, now in her 15th year as Tampa Theatre’s community relations manager. “It’s one of our best draws; we love it.” So much so that for the last six years Tampa Theatre has even added an “Audience Costume Craze,” which encourages patrons to dress in period fashion. “The Great Gatsby” and “Blazing Saddles” were so designated this summer.

And Schroeder also loves the attendance figures. Whereas an average screening in the balconied, 1,446-seat “specialty film house” would attract an audience of 75-100, the summer series’ movies average 700-800.A prime example was last Sunday’s “Hard Day’s Night,” the recently restored print of the 1964 Beatles mockumentary. Attendance, which included my wife Laraine and I, was 714. (That evening’s indie film, “Crazy Love,” did about 700 less.)

We are reminded that rare Grand Dames such as Tampa Theatre were built for cinematic grandeur and must not be relegated to museum status or commercial conversion. They must be experienced collectively — with the life force that is a critical-mass live audience.

Which is certainly the case on any give summer Sunday, including this one. And, yes, we were transported. Alas, murder and cancer have halved the Beatles over the years, but this was 1964 — for everybody. We were all young and carefree and immortal and at the freeze-frame pinnacle of our young adulthood, including those of us who were spastic on the dance floor. And who cares that we didn’t realize then that “Hard Day’s Night” could have been retitled: “The Beatles meet Benny Hill.”

Frenetic and silly worked much better then, to be sure, but the music remains timeless. The Beatles were generational avatars who were gifted musicians and lyricists, a parlay that is much less in favor today.

And even when the sound system malfunctioned, as it did several times, the baby-boomer crowd was more than understanding. Way more.

Fortunately, these brief outages were mostly concert scenes and the crowd responded by seamlessly singing along — “

It’s now official. The Heritage Square at the Armory group has signed a deal with the National Guard to buy Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on North Howard Avenue near Interstate 275. The $98-million project includes an anchor 300-room hotel, a day spa, restaurants, boutiques, a cultural arts center and a farmers market.

Anyone who knows anything about government bureaucracy, knows why this process has been painstakingly slow. And anyone who knows anything about vacant, prominent real estate proximate to key traffic corridors knows how welcome it is to be this much closer to a revitalized Fort Homer Hesterly property.

But anyone who knows anything about this working-class, West Tampa neighborhood and Tampa’s need to diversify its economy — especially when it comes to the creative sector — knows that the Heritage Square scenario is probably not the best way to redevelop the Armory property.

The runner-up developer was Armory Partners Group of Tampa, which had plans to build a video, film and sound studio and develop creative arts businesses. APG’s scenario also included apartments, retail and a grocery store, pragmatic neighborhood complements.

Those in the know already know that this decision has and will continue to cost Tampa creative business, precisely what this city covets and recruits. It’s certainly put a governor on the prospects for being more attractive to the movie/video production industry – beyond the usual “location shoots.”

But West Tampa will get a luxury hotel and a spa.

Since there have been neighborhoods and developers, there have been conflicts and compromises when it comes to new projects. It comes with the territory of developers dealing with municipal governments and their politics and their codes as well as civic associations and, around here, Community Development Corporations.

Developers, understandably, want to max out on their investment, whether it’s higher, wider or pricier. Neighborhoods, of course, want the right fit. Proportion counts, as does infrastructure impact. In the end, enlightened self interest should carry the day.

Tampa’s developer-neighborhood nexus, however, has a quirky CDC component. City Council gave two of them, in East Tampa and West Tampa, special status. They’re de facto development-review players with some leverage. That can lead to the perception of quid pro quo scenarios and accusations of “side deals” or worse — extortion concessions.

Hence, City Council’s recent move to give all registered neighborhood groups the same status.

Predictably enough, the West Tampa CDC, in the cross-hairs of community/developer scrutiny over affordable housing and rehab programs, objected. The board chairwoman, Margaret Fisher, said her group holds no influence with developers, which seemed an overly modest stretch. Fellow board member Joe Robinson, however, nailed it. “This is a racial issue to take us out,” he said.

The irony was palpable.

In striving to make all registered neighborhood groups equally accountable, City Council had made them all equal in standing. Imagine that as a racial issue. Moreover, there’s the matter of the city and groups such as the WTCDC being in compliance with Florida’s open government law.

That’s as black and white as you can get – but not racial.

In 2004, the city of Tampa began enforcing a teenage curfew in Ybor City. The usual reasons: a lot of stuff can happen when teenagers are cruising around in the wee hours, and none of it is good. The curfew currently prohibits those under 18 from hanging out in Tampa’s historic/entertainment district between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday.

Now some Ybor-vested interests — officials and activists — are suggesting that it might be worth adding Wednesdays as well. The usual reasons.

Not everyone agrees.

City Councilman Tom Scott thinks Curfew Wednesdays – absent facts to underscore the need — smack of “Gestapo” tactics. City Attorney David Smith didn’t resort to such hyperbolized blather, but conceded he would need data — the Tampa Police Department kind that would show youth-oriented criminal activity — to warrant adding another curfew day. To date, there’s not enough. Verbal warnings and the off-putting scene of 16-year-olds milling around past midnight don’t count. Neither does common sense.

Just a na