Family, Neighbors Dedicate Bern's Park

Two young granddaughters of famed steakhouse founder Bern Laxer helped dedicate his namesake park on Wednesday, accepting a replica plaque designating the park in his memory and cutting a gold ribbon to enthusiastic applause from about 60 onlookers.

“The Laxer family has established a legacy of excellence for this community,” Mayor Bob Buckhorn said, before presenting the plaque to Elaina “Ellie” Laxer, 12, and Isabella “Bebe” Laxer, 5. “If there’s anything this community is known for … it’s Bern’s Steak House. It’s a community treasure.

“Living in a community is a high calling,” he said. “It’s not just about how much money you can make, it’s what you can do in the community.”

The park at 1400 S. Howard Ave. was called Luna Park until it was renamed by Mayor Dick Greco following Bern Laxer’s death in 2002. A coalition of neighborhood associations, the city, non-profit organizations, the restaurant, and the Laxer family have been working ever since to transform it from a weedy, non-descript triangle of land to a lush threshold between the local restaurant district and historic neighborhoods.

“Bern Laxer, my father, would have enjoyed this park and would have been humbled by it being named for him,” David Laxer said in remarks to the gathering. He’s the father of Elaina, Isabella and 10-year-old Amelia “Aimee”, who couldn’t be at the ceremony.

The family donated the park’s centerpiece, “The Three Graces,” a sculpture of three life-sized young women that sits atop a circular two-tiered fountain. The sculpture is named for the daughters of Zeus in Greek mythology, who represented joy, charm and beauty.

No, said David Laxer, it has nothing to do with his own three daughters.

“We had the (sculpture) purchased. Then in 2005, we had Isabella.”

Others attending the ceremony included Christina Laxer, David’s wife, and Tampa City Council members including Mary Mulhern. A proponent of community gardens, she suggested in her address that the landscape be expanded to include herbs.

“All of the restaurants could benefit if we had a bit of edible landscaping here,” she noted.

Bern’s Park is just south of Bern’s Steak House. After it was renamed, the city contributed hardscaping, including the fountain and walkways, and the Sylvester palms that encircle the fountain. Area residents, working through neighborhood associations, raised more than $30,000, which paid for shrubs and ground covers, wrought-iron benches and memorial bricks. A massive volunteer planting on June 18, following a design created by Laurie Potier-Brown of Tampa Parks & Recreation, finally completed the project.

“This particular park is … a testament to the partnership between the community, the public realm, not-for-profits, and neighborhoods,” said city Parks & Recreation director Karen Palus.

“It’s officially final.”