<![CDATA[Tour St Pete - Blog]]>Thu, 06 Feb 2025 07:49:31 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[2nd Saturday ArtWalk]]>Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:30:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/2nd-saturday-artwalkPicture
 
​     St Pete features an outstanding showcase of the Sunshine City's incredible art scene on a monthly basis.   Ride the trolley, see a new gallery and enjoy an evening out.

    If you haven't checked it out, its a great way to get introduced to the amazing local artists.
        The Second Saturday ArtWalk is held on a monthly basis from 5-9 pm (forgive me for stating the obvious...) on the 2nd Saturday of each month.   It features 35-40 different galleries spread across the Waterfront, Central Ave, Grand Central and Warehouse Districts of St Pete.  
            For over 20 years the ArtWalk has been showcasing many of St Pete's finest artists with the support of St Pete Arts Alliance, a non-profit organization promoting the arts in St Pete.
            You can ride the trolley for free and can catch a ride to the next studio or gallery.   Several of the galleries are within walking distance to one another, allowing you to stroll the streets and see a few at a single stop.  The trolley runs every 30 minutes from 5-9 pm.   Its a great way to explore the downtown and surrounding areas of St Pete, kids and big kids really enjoy taking a ride.  Of course you can opt to drive or ride a bike to the studios and galleries as well. 

        During the 2nd Saturday ArtWalk you can often see a pottery or glass blowing demo.  Special shows are on-going and you often have the opportunity to meet artists.  Several of the the galleries also feature multiple artists, giving you an opportunity to really check out St Pete's art scene over the course of an evening.  Many people live in St Pete and never knew we had such a fantastic FREE monthly art event.  There's a map on-line and info about each month's offerings.  You can find more by clicking  here or check out St Pete Arts Alliance.

           Find out about classes offered at some of the studios.   And during the ArtWalk, galleries might have special treats like live music, wine, snacks and more!   The 2nd Saturday ArtWalk is a great way to spend an evening and perhaps discover a little bit about St Pete's art scene.
]]><![CDATA[The Green Benches of St Pete]]>Fri, 30 Jun 2017 20:30:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/the-green-benches-of-st-peteGreen Benches of St PetePhoto courtesy of St Pete Museum of History
     




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​    Long gone are the original Green Benches of St Petersburg, removed from the city in the late 1960's.  But how did we ever get them, why were they green and who had them all removed?
Green Benches of St PetePopular gathering spot for decades (Courtesy of St Pete Museum of History)
     
      It all started in 1902 with a couple of benches on Central Avenue in front of the Belmont Hotel.  A few years later in 1908 local realtor and showman Noel "the Sandman" Mitchell installed 50 bright orange benches around his office on the corner of Central and 4th Street advertising his realty services.   Soon other local businesses followed suit with a rainbow of colored benches scattered around downtown.

    Future mayor Al Lang declared the multi-colored bright benches an unsightly scourge on the Sunshine City and ran on a campaign in part to clean up the town.  The city passed an ordinance after his election in 1914 that all benches had to be green and of a standard size and shape.   It is from that point our benches became uniformly green and mostly the same size and style.  

     The Green Benches were wildly popular for decades.  You could find hundreds of them in Williams Park alone.  They provided seating for the daily concerts during tourist season.  The benches lined not only Central Ave, but along 4th Street and along the Million Dollar Pier.  

      The benches provided a social gathering spot for the residents and visitors to watch the world go by.  And up until the late 1950's the benches remained a fixture of St Pete.  Things began to change when the city was labeled a senior citizen retirement community and jokes were made about the people simply sitting on the benches.  The city itself also began to view them not as a symbol of leisure, but rather more negatively as "dated".  

     Efforts in the early 1960's to change things included having the Jaycees update the color of the benches to more bright/pastel colors.  The city endorsed this effort but the citizens began noticing many of the benches being removed for painting were not being replaced.   By 1967  in what many saw as a misguided effort to update St Pete, the benches were banned and finally removed by 1969.

      If you know some local old timers you can probably still find an original Green  Bench or two they saved from the dump.  The St Pete Museum of History also has a few of them you can check out.  

      Over the years the Green Benches came to symbolize a part of St Pete that made it a bit unusual.  Today, we have a craft brewery, a flower shop, a local newsletter and many other business named after our famous Green Benches.  

     
]]><![CDATA[St Pete, So Much to Do in May]]>Thu, 11 May 2017 11:00:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/st-pete-so-much-to-do-in-may
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St Pete has so much to offer!
     It seems like there's tons of exciting events going on every day of the week in the Sunshine City.  Just look at the month of May...
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Ben Harper knocking it out at Jannus!
       Ben Harper played an incredible set at Jannus Landing earlier this month and the Sunshine City continues to bring top notch talent to places like the Hideaway, the Ale and Witch and the Ringside Cafe.   


    Last week we  had our 1st Friday Celebration along Central Ave, an unbelievable party in the street!  Live music, food and drink, you can't beat that.   The Museum of Fine Arts has their Porch Party the 3rd Thursday of the month.


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     The 2nd Saturday Art Walk is coming up... for 20+ years St Pete has been showcasing local artists working in a wide variety of mediums and features 40+ studios.  Glass, mixed media, pottery, painting, sculpture, photography and so much more!  
Picture2nd Saturday ArtWalk, ride a trolley free!
     

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​      The Saturday Morning Market, the largest in the SE winds up the month of May at Al Lang Stadium, home of the Rowdies (who also have a couple of home games coming up).   And lets not forget about Movies In The Park for May!   St Pete Preservation has free movies every Thursday with live music and food trucks in North Straub Park.  
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         Florida CraftArt continues to offer Mural Tours every Saturday at 10 AM.   It seems like new restaurants are opening up weekly.   Check out a Rays game while you're in town or maybe catch one of the last shows for American Stage in the Park's production of "Hairspray".  

     
       Check out Keep St Pete Local if you want to experience the town like a native.   There are tons of shops, brew pubs, restaurants, galleries, and just funky places to check out.  

          And if you're looking for an introduction to the Sunshine City... check out a tour with me, Tour St Pete, home of St Pete's Most Unusual Tour!
           
]]><![CDATA[Proposal for New "Virtual St Pete Pier"]]>Sat, 01 Apr 2017 11:00:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/proposal-for-new-virtual-st-pete-pierSt Pete Inverted Pyamid PierOur last pier may be replaced with a virtual CGI pier
     As part of the Community Pier Response, the St Petersburg city council met earlier this week to discuss possible changes to the future pier plans, slated to be completed in late 2018.  

​   One of the more controversial ideas replaces a physical pier with a high tech virtual pier!   Surprisingly the concept does have its backers...
What will the new pier look like in St Pete The slate is clean, what type of pier will we end up with?
    Construction has yet to begin on the new pier and already there is a movement to completely scrap the plans and install a virtual pier.   The futuristic idea was presented by Councilman John Lodwick.


     "Just imagine what we do with a virtual pier!  We could have multiple versions of piers on demand. It's a real game changer.  This VR pier could satisfy everyone's idea of what they want in a pier," proclaimed  Lodwick.

     The Councilman is yet to find concrete support for his radical proposal of a virtual pier among other members, but it hasn't deterred him from requesting a feasibility study.  And the the idea of a study is supported by the St Pete council.   The appeal is in the savings a VR pier represents versus a brick and mortar pier.  

      Several citizens also spoke out in favor of the virtual pier.  Carl Jobs, owner of Tangerine, a local software firm specializing in VR technology enthused "St Pete needs a VR Pier.  Think of the jobs it would create.  I envision children casting lines for VR fish and we could bring back our famous green benches!  Only they'd be VR green benches.  The possibilities are endless.  And St Pete could be the first city in the world with a VR pier experience."

       Others seemed more skeptical.  "I'm all for saving money, but I'm not sure a pier that doesn't really exist would be much of a draw for our residents and visitors," said Councilwoman Megan Wilson.  She doubts the value and impact of a VR pier as does the Mayor.  
         The idea remains on the table until the feasibility study is complete which may delay the current pier plans.
]]><![CDATA[Postal Delivery by Bike]]>Wed, 15 Mar 2017 12:00:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/postal-delivery-by-bikeSt Pete USPS Bike DeliveryDowntown St Pete still uses bikes for USPS delivery
     
     The United States Postal Service uses bikes to deliver mail in three cities around the nation.   St Petersburg, Florida is fortunate to be one of those towns continuing to do so.
   
     And while at first glance it may seem a bit unusual and to some perhaps antiquated, it really does makes sense...
     Delivery of mail by bike started in St Pete in 1917, the same year our one-of-a-kind Open Air Post Office opened.  Service has continued ever since.

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    Think about it...for 100 years St Pete USPS mail carriers have used bikes to dispatch letters, packages the the like in and around the downtown area.  Some may see it as a leftover from a bygone era, a time when milk was delivered door to door or groceries.  But its really not much different than today's Amazon or other such re-invented delivery services.  Below is a photo of some of the original mailmen of the Sunshine City gathered in front of our amazing downtown Post Office.
USPS Bike Carriers of St PetePhoto courtesy of the St Pete Museum of History
     Miami Beach and Sun City, Arizona are the other two remaining municipalities using USPS bike delivery.   It makes sense on several different levels:
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  • Saves gas & money  (a study showed Sun City saved over 7,800 gallons of gas in a year)
  • Less vehicles on the road
  • No added pollution
  • Mail carriers are getting a healthy form of exercise
  • Adds to the character of St Pete
       
     If you chat with the bike carriers they'll tell you its often more comfortable riding a bike than having to frequently get in and out of a vehicle (the jeep style mail vehicles have no AC).   All of the bike carriers I've spoken with wouldn't trade going back to a vehicle, I think that says something about this cool USPS system of delivery.

    Next time you see a mail bike take a closer look, its pretty unusual.   The kick stand is under a smaller front wheel designed for making turns and the mail basket doesn't move with handlebars to avoid making turns a challenge with the added weight.   The bikes are only made in the US as per a requirement from Congress.  

​    While the traditional bikes are yellow, I've noticed a couple of red ones now around town.  Our USPS bikes add a bit of charm to St Pete and make us a little different from other cities.

]]><![CDATA[The Sunshine Skyway]]>Sun, 12 Feb 2017 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.tourstp.com/blog/the-sunshine-skywaySunshine Skyway BridgeYep, I actually took this photo of the Skyway.
  
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  Earlier this month the Sunshine Skyway Bridge celebrated it's 30th birthday.   It was dedicated Feb 7 1987 and opened for traffic in April of that year.  


   This iconic bridge is now 30 years old and is the second version of the Skyway, but what was there before this one?
Original Sunshine Skyway Bridge Courtesy of the St Pete Museum of History


        Prior to the construction of the original Skyway bridge there was a boat service called the Bee Line Ferry which began service in 1926 and lasted until 1954 when the first bridge was completed.  The ferry shortened the trip across the Bay to well under an hour.  It could carry passengers and cars back and forth from Point Pinellas to Piney Point in Manatee County and made 8 trips a day.   The original Sunshine Skyway bridge spanning the mouth of Tampa Bay was built linking St Pete (and Pinellas County) to Manatee County in 1954.


      During the Skyway's history there have been several notable accidents involving the bridge.  In 1980, the US Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn collided with the inbound tanker Capricorn and as a result 23 coast guard crew members lost their lives when the ship capsized.  There is a memorial park dedicated to the crew of the Blackthorn located on the northern side of the Skyway Bridge.


    The same year as the Blackthorn tragedy another calamity occurred directly involving the old Skyway bridge.  During a major thunderstorm,  the freighter Summit Venture hit one of the support pylons and caused the collapse of over 1,200 ft of the southbound span.  Vehicles tumbled over the edge and 35 people died in this horrific accident.  Amazingly, one man survived the fall in his pickup truck when it landed on the ship's deck below.   Some facts about the Sunshine Skyway Bridge:


  • 430 ft tall (clearance under the bridge is 180.5 ft)
  • 1.1 miles long
  • 94 ft wide
  • Ranks 3rd deadliest in the nation in terms of suicide (there are emergency crisis phones installed along the bridge)
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        The current Sunshine Skyway bridge was made to replace the damaged 1954 structure, part of which today is used as fishing piers just to the west of today's structure.   The official name is the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge (former Governor), as it was his design idea that eventually was approved after having considered different plans including a tunnel.


​       Today the bridge stands as a symbol of Tampa Bay and St Pete.   Who knows how long it will last or what the next one will look like...as cruise ships and boats are increasingly built bigger and bigger, the clearance of the bridge will become more of an issue.
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