LAKELAND, Fla. — This week, Red Lobster began liquidating, closing dozens of restaurants, including three Tampa Bay-area locations.
That's tough news to swallow for those who love the restaurant chain's food, but also those who take pride in its Tampa Bay roots.
In 1968, restaurateurs Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby opened the first Red Lobster in Lakeland, and it became a near-instant success.
Two years later, Red Lobster was acquired by General Mills, and the chain eventually exploded across the country into what we know it to be today.
Today, the original Red Lobster location on East Memorial Boulevard is home to Lakeland Fishing Outfitters.
Assistant Manager Anthony Angelo showed 10 Tampa Bay the pieces of the restaurant that remain.
"These are the original bar tops from the original Red Lobster," Angelo said. "To salvage a piece of history, we did what we could to refurbish them and put them to use, and now they're kind of a conversation piece around here."
Angelo said the bar tops and the store space itself trigger memories for many who stop by the store.
"I have customers who come in and point to the back corner and say, 'Hey man, I had a first date with my girlfriend and we sat back here and she's now my wife of 50 years,'" Angelo said.
Lakeland native Dawn Brower had the chance to eat at the original restaurant as a teen.
"This is as close as it gets to waterfront dining in Lakeland. Lobster was kind of considered exotic at the time. It was just different," Brower said.
She remembers the original restaurant as being quite different from what we know to be Red Lobster today.
"It was dark, it was fancy, and it had kind of a mystique about it," she said.
Lakeland native Tonya Lockamy agrees.
"It was definitely more rustic. I remember lots of wood. I remember walking in and there was a big fish tank," Lockamy said. "This was definitely the hot spot in the 70s and early 80s in Lakeland."
Lockamy said, as a young girl, it's where her family celebrated milestones.
"I don't think a lot of people realize that, that this was the first Red Lobster," she added. "We're a part of that history and that Lakeland, little old Lakeland, was part of something bigger."