Odyssey 2001 'Spaceship' – Tampa, Florida - Atlas Obscura
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Odyssey 2001 'Spaceship'

Tampa, Florida

The strip club's VIP lounge is actually a rare repurposed Futuro House. 

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The "spaceship" on top of 2001 Odyssey in Tampa. cspata a3b37122 (Atlas Obscura User)
The "spaceship" on top of 2001 Odyssey in Tampa. cspata a3b37122 (Atlas Obscura User)
Apparently aliens have landed in Tampa and they're looking for a good time. J Ginsberg (Atlas Obscura User)
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The Odyssey 2001 strip club has become a Tampa landmark due to the “spaceship” on its roof. The strange structure’s multicolored lights have been blinking over Dale Mabry Highway since 1971.

The flying saucer was not built as a strip club gimmick, but is actually one of several dozen remaining Futuro Houses around the globe. The rare Futuros were designed by a Finnish architect and national team volleyball player in the 1960s as portable ski chalets, but were later pitched as a futuristic housing solution.

The prefabricated fiberglass homes, which could be delivered by truck or helicopter, were entered via a retractable, button-operated hatch with stairs. Options included shag carpeting and wraparound couches with storage beneath.

The homes were a dud with homebuyers, but a mobile home salesman who sold Futuros placed one atop the Odyssey 2001 strip club in Tampa when he opened it with some business partners. The architectural oddity is now the club’s VIP lounge. Jerry DeLong was apparently a big fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Know Before You Go

Visitors can go inside the spaceship. Fifteen minutes up there costs around $200.

retrofuturistic design architectural oddities architecture
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