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In Tune With Guests

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Andrey Kryuchkov, 22, of Russia makes use of Wi-Fi, one of the hostel's amenities.

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By KATHY STEELE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

TAMPA HEIGHTS - Impromptu jam sessions are in swing again at Gram's Place.

Friends and guests of the European-style hostel gather on the Little Amsterdam patio enveloped in tropical splendor and fellowship.

On a CD player, a song from Mark Holland, who brought Gram's Place to life, is always played first. Holland, 56, committed suicide in November.

The music is a remembrance that Holland's older brother Bruce wants to keep going as he finds himself the host and greeter for weary travelers looking for somewhere off the beaten path.
They find Gram's Place, an oasis of music at a quiet remove from the outside world at Ola and Plymouth avenues.

It's a destination and a role Bruce Holland never expected to step into. Gram's Place was the quirky dreamscape that sprang from his brother's creative juices.

"I never quite understood it," he said of the Tampa landmark that is Mark Holland's legacy. "But this place just draws you in. There's always something going on. You don't want to leave because you're going to miss something."

The real estate agent helped his younger brother buy the first of two side-by-side homes that became Gram's Place. They first had to chase off the gang members and squatters.

Mark Holland started by renting rooms. He opened the hostel in 1991 after being inspired by a trip to Amsterdam and a need to honor the music of Gram Parsons, a rock 'n' roll legend and Winter Haven native who died at age 26.

Holland sometimes described his hostel's style as Key West meets Amsterdam. He added themed outdoor sections for Quebec, Little Montreal and the Tampa Heights Train Station and a fanciful climb on a "Stairway to Heaven" to a treehouse loft.

Over a decade, Gram's Place evolved into a kaleidoscope of music-themed rooms, brick pathways, tropical patios and kitschy art.

"He had a wild imagination," Bruce Holland said.

Visitors come from Minnesota, California, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Russia and around the corner. Neighbors drop by for the jam sessions and to make new friends.

"It seems everyone had a different story and everybody contributes in a different way," Bruce Holland said.

Andrey Kryuchkov, 22, is settled into the hostel for a couple of months.

"This one is very unusual," he said. "Here you talk to people and meet different people. It's much more communication."

Holland said the first thing Kryuchkov did when he arrived was sit at the piano and play "classical music like he was playing at a concert."

Mark Holland's friends, including neighbor Marlene Dusz, worried Gram's Place might not survive without his spirit. Now Dusz is back joining in jam sessions on ukulele and guitar.

"I feel healed," she said. "You feel that's really what Mark wanted. It's about the music and about having fun."

Music is all around. There is the piano and, against the living room wall, guitars, a banjo and a mandolin belonging to Mark or visitors who left them. Most aren't playable, but Bruce Holland plans to repair them and add more house instruments.

Two electric keyboards are on the porch, and Holland recently bought harmonicas.

"It's our intention to leave it the way it is but shore it up," he said.

His family has done repairs big and small, from upgrading electrical to repairing a pump for a waterfall fountain. They will paint, replace some wood on the "Stairway to Heaven" and possibly complete another dorm room atop the stairway.

Pitching in are brother J.W. Holland and his wife and children, and Bruce Holland's son.

"It all depends on how busy we are," Bruce Holland said. "It is kind of overwhelming if we have a full house. We're slowly getting it together."

He plans to offer day trips or boat tours that aren't the usual tourist fare, say a visit to Picnic Island in Port Tampa.

"That's not going to be there in a mainstream guide, little stuff like that," he said.

He thought about adopting a cat for the hostel because he remembered his brother's cat, Juanita. Dusz said no, wait for the cat to find you.

Two weeks ago, Holland spotted a stray cat — white with a pair of black blotches — lounging on the roof by a skylight above his brother's former bedroom.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Gram's Place, a European-style hostel

WHERE: 3109 N. Ola Ave.

INFORMATION: (813) 221-0596; www.grams-inn-tampa.com

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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