Hart’s Landing: The Hidden Gem of Sarasota

 By Gwynne Rohrs

Sarasota Scene is pleased to publish articles written by students at Ringling College of Art and Design. This is part of a collaborative program with creative writing instructor Sylvia Whitman to provide real life experiences to her students, many of whom will undoubtedly be our writers of tomorrow!  

Hart’s Landing is a family-owned bait and tackle shop located underneath the Ringling Causeway that has been supporting the fishing community for over 80 years. When most people think of a bait and tackle shop, they think of an old shack, fish carcasses, seagulls and bad fish smells. In reality, this place is an active fishing supply shop and snack bar, housed in a bright blue cottage with colorful shade sails, hanging baskets of flowers, and an abundance of seating areas on a colorful, waterfront deck. 

Hart’s Landing caters to fishermen and tourists alike, with land and boat access. There is a large fishing and observation pier where you can watch those taking sailing classes practice their maneuvers, and enjoy a variety of boat traffic passing under the causeway, an ultra-modern and artistic playground and pavilion, and a running track. Plus, there’s free parking with access to the bridge for walking or biking across to St. Armand’s Circle. The understated exit to this little park has ensured its hidden status.

Founded in 1934 with “a 100 ft seine net, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, and a bonfire,” this shop was family owned and handed down through three generations until Dennis F. Hart passed away in 2010. Sherman Baldwin purchased it and revitalized it into the Hart’s Landing we know today. I have often seen Mr. Baldwin assisting fishermen with their boats and bait choices, and helping tourists figure out the best places to find certain marine life in the Sarasota Bay.

I decided to hit my favorite coastal haunt to ask one of the employees what it’s like working there. I met a young woman named Audrey helping two fishermen. She is studying to become a captain, with hopes to eventually guide nature lovers around the bay and on Hart’s dolphin tours. Audrey feels lucky to have such an intimate proximity to the dolphin population around Sarasota Bay and she sees them all the time from the dock. I asked her if she’s named any of the birds that roost all around this little shop. She laughed and said no, but several of the fishermen had given them names.

At sunset I bought my little sister an ice-cream and we sat at the bar on the deck, looking over the bay as sailboats glided by. We watched a group of jovial fishermen clean their freshly-caught fish while 30 pelicans bobbed in the water, waiting for scraps. It occurred to me that this business reminds me of the old America, a small corner jutting out into the bay that has remained uncorrupted by the homogenization that threatens to ruin this country. It is an original and its local roots are strong. I am caught between wanting to keep it quiet for myself and the birds, and the desire to make it an under-the-bridge oasis for all Sarasotans.

This little gem of a bait and tackle shop is just that, a little gem, but to its owners, employees and regulars it is a source of income and entertainment tapping into a piece of Sarasota history. In that way it is a source of life for me. There’s an energy at Hart’s Landing that I will never find at the mall. This place is “Old Florida.”

I imagine that Ernest Hemingway probably bought bait here on one of his epic fishing excursions when no one cared that he was Ernest Hemingway. And I also believe that the good people at Hart’s would be the same way if he could stop in today, just helping him pick out his bait and putting him on his way into the sunset.

“Shop local” has become a buzz phrase, and it is shamefully easy to forget in today’s world. But, as is the case with many small businesses, it is so important that the locals in this town remember that Hart’s Landing is an intrinsic part of the anatomy of Sarasota.