Westshore Palms is a neighborhood built on connection.
It sits in a highly central part of Tampa, bordered by I-275, Westshore Boulevard, Kennedy Boulevard, and Lois Avenue. With quick access to the city, the airport, major roads, and some of Tampa's busiest commercial areas, it is easy to think of Westshore Palms as simply a convenient location. But the neighborhood is much more than that. It is a community with postwar roots, longtime homes, mature streets, and neighbors who have built their own traditions here for generations.
This Fourth of July, we are celebrating that community with a new neighborhood pride song: "Westshore Palms, Together We Shine." The song is about families coming outside, flags on porches, kids waiting for fireworks, and the shared moments that turn a group of houses into a real neighborhood.
Postwar Roots in the Heart of Tampa
Westshore Palms began taking shape in the 1940s, during a period when South Tampa was rapidly growing alongside military and airfield expansion. Dale Mabry Highway was paved to help connect MacDill and Drew airfields, bringing new accessibility to land that had once been largely covered by palmetto thickets and open terrain.
Some of the neighborhood's earliest homes were built on North A Street in the mid-1940s with Federal Housing Authority support. In the decades that followed, especially through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Westshore Palms grew into a residential community filled with classic mid-century homes, ranch-style houses, bungalows, apartments, and a wide range of families making Tampa their home.
A Location That Shaped Its Future
Its location helped shape its future. The broader Westshore area developed along Tampa's western shoreline, which is where the name "Westshore" comes from. While the neighborhood itself is residential, it grew alongside major changes in transportation, commerce, and nearby development. The completion of the Howard Frankland Bridge in 1960 and the opening of WestShore Plaza in 1967 helped establish the surrounding area as one of Tampa's most connected places to live, work, shop, and travel through.
Fourth of July in Westshore Palms
Still, the best part of Westshore Palms is its neighborhood spirit. On the Fourth of July, that spirit comes alive. Families gather outside. American flags move in the warm summer breeze. Neighbors catch up from across the street. Children look toward the sky, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
The hook of the song captures that feeling:
"Westshore Palms, together we shine, Red, white, blue on a summer night. Westshore Palms, hands up high, We come together on the Fourth of July."
From Kennedy Boulevard to Westshore Boulevard, from Lois Avenue to I-275, and along North A Street, Westshore Palms is a neighborhood that has grown through decades of change while holding onto the feeling of home.
This Fourth of July, turn up the music, wave the flag, and celebrate the people who make this part of Tampa special. Westshore Palms, together we shine. 🇺🇸