Hart's Landing—the bait shop established in 1934 by the Hart family—has been demolished.

Hart family lore is that Deamus Hart started Hart’s Landing one cool spring night in 1934 with a 100-foot seine net (for catching shrimp), a bottle of Jack Daniels (for keeping warm at night) and a bonfire on the beach at Golden Gate Point (to attract shrimp to the net). He would sell three dozen shrimp for “two bits” (25 cents) to his fishing customers the next days.

In 1964, Hart's Landing moved to its location at the foot of the Ringling Bridge. Back in the shop's early days, the tanks that held shrimp for bait were placed in the shallow waters near the bridge since there were no pumps to aerate the water to keep the shrimp alive. To fill orders, Deamus would wade out to the tanks, scoop out the shrimp and fill a customer’s bucket. Deamus passed away in 1973 and by 1974, his son Dennis was managing the shop full-time. He inherited it when his mother passed away in 1988; in 2017, the Baldwin family became its operators through a lease with the city. 

Last year, Hurricanes Helene and Milton destroyed Hart's Landings docks. In August, the City of Sarasota told Tampa's WFLA news affiliate that funding for repairs had not been secured and that there were no official design plans for restoration. WFLA also reported that reopening could take up to five years.  

“It’s heartbreaking and infuriating that it’s going so slow,” Sherman Baldwin, the shop's operator, said at the time. “I’m not blaming anyone, but the process is holding things up.”

In an emailed statement on Wednesday, Nov. 12, City of Sarasota communications general manager Jan Thornbug wrote, "The Hart’s Landing building was beyond repair due to extensive damage incurred from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. City of Sarasota staff are actively considering viable options to rebuild a similar structure in the immediate area to carry on the popular tradition of having a recreational fishing-centric concession service along the bayfront."

Now for better or worse, the process has moved forward. No plans have been shared for the site's future, but a piece of Sarasota is now officially part of the past.

Video by Damon Powers