Cathryn Sweatt has lived in her house on Sixth Avenue North for over 70 years. She moved into her two-story home with her mother, Thelma Cleo, her father, Pearley, and her brother, Paul Wayne in 1946. Cathryn was born in Inverness, Florida, and then moved with the family to the south side of St. Petersburg in 1943 where she attended Southside Junior High School before finally settling in the Old Northeast three years later.

When the Sweatt family moved into the neighborhood in 1946, the block the house is on didn’t look too much different than it does now. “The apartment building on Sixth Avenue and Second Street wasn’t there, but most of the homes and bungalows were already there,” said Cathryn.… Read More

There is a group of citizens who love St. Petersburg so much that they volunteer their time to approach, guide, and assist complete strangers while out strolling their beloved downtown streets. These friendly and knowledgeable residents are part of the Sunshine Street Team (SST), a program that the Downtown Business Association (DBA) launched just this past October. It is quickly growing and proving to be mutually beneficial to the visitors, local businesses, and volunteers alike.

This volunteer program is designed to help everyone have a positive experience while visiting downtown St. Petersburg. Metrics collected from reports focused on the volunteers’ encounters will also help the DBA and the City to understand why people are choosing to come to downtown and what they’re looking to do while here.… Read More

After 58 years, The Granddaddy of all Sailboat Regattas Returns

Snell Isle resident Bill Ballard was 16 and a junior in high school when he sailed into Havana, Cuba, as part of the six-man crew on the Celia, the late George Pearson’s 39-foot sailing yacht. It was 1954, during the heyday of the classic St. Petersburg Yacht Club-sponsored “St. Petersburg to Habana” Sailboat Regatta. First launched in 1930, the regatta was widely recognized as the premier “granddaddy of all sailboat races.”

“Havana was an off-the-charts good destination for a sailing race,” says Bill. “It had a wide natural harbor with a protected entrance.… Read More

Being known as the Sunshine City didn’t happen by accident. It’s a badge the city wears with pride, averaging 361 days a year of warm, welcoming sunshine. Along with an abundance of sunshine comes sunburns and equally painful summer electricity bills, but there’s also opportunity. Specifically, we can explore rapidly growing clean energy initiatives, especially solar. Recently, St. Pete was proud to announce that we’ve joined 19 other cities, stretching from coast to coast, in dedicating ourselves to a goal of “100% clean, renewable energy for all.” Our mayor, Rick Kriseman, issued the following statement regarding the Ready for 100 campaign, “The Integrated Sustainability Action Plan builds on my executive order on sustainability by creating a roadmap to achieve the City’s long-term sustainability goals.… Read More

In Honor of Susan Woods Alderson
December 7, 1944 to November 10, 2016
Managing Editor and Photographer of
the Northeast Journal

How does one capture the spirit and life of the original ‘Original’ – that being the title of a new series of articles about St. Petersburg natives, invented by Susan Alderson? I wrote the first in the series for the November/December 2016 issue of the Journal.

As I was doing that interview with our first individual, Helen Dewalt, asking questions and furiously scribbling my notes, photographer Susan enthusiastically circled around us – nonstop clicking, up and down, right and left – except when she giggled with excitement each time Helen’s recollections reminded her of something she loved.… Read More

In a city with an amazing number of talented artists, Ya La’ford stands out. A visionary artist with a BFA in painting from Florida State and an MFA from the Art Institute of Boston, Ya is also a professor at St. Petersburg College and the University of Tampa.

But she has a law degree, too, from the University of Florida. In fact, she practiced law for a while in Washington D.C., mostly advocating on behalf of children and education, before her husband Victor encouraged her to pursue the passion she’s had for art since childhood.

While law and art might seem like career paths that are worlds apart, for Ya, they’re not.… Read More

After 25 years of marriage, three children, a few career changes, and a wealth of marital and parental experiences, Martha Maddux was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the young age of 50. The love affair Carlen Maddux had with his wife continued to grow deeper. Maddux shares his story of the journey he and his family took over the course of the next 17 years, in his book, A Path Revealed: How Hope, Love, and Joy Found Us Deep in a Maze Called Alzheimer’s, published in October 2016. It is a story of love, faith, and growth, told through the eyes and heart of a devoted husband and father, and a most unassuming gentleman who simply wants to share his story.… Read More

The Knights of Columbus organization puts an emphasis on serving one’s church, community, and family with virtue. That is exactly what is going on at their chapter 10157 at St. Raphael Church on Snell Isle.

Father Kevin Mackin visited Pinellas Hope and saw the sad state that the tent shelters were in. They leaked when it rained despite being covered with tarps, and they offered little in the way of comfort and safety. At a fundraiser dinner for Pinellas Hope held at St. Raphael parish on Snell Isle, Father Kevin approached The Knights of Columbus chapter with the idea to find a better option for sheltering people at the facility.… Read More

Once again, some are debating our Pier raising the question, “Do we still need a new pier?” Reasons for a new pier are many. For example, there are economic arguments. In 2001, the Klages Group did an economic study of the Pier and determined an economic impact for the city of $42 million annually ($56 million in today’s dollars). However the focus of this article is on how the new pier harmonizes with our Downtown Waterfront Parks and bay – two defining features of St. Petersburg’s sense of place.

The New Pier design was originally called Pier Park. Due to another party having copyrighted that name, the City no longer refers to it as Pier Park, but simply as the New St.… Read More

A building’s identity is not characterized solely by its architecture or construction.

More often than not though, a city’s structures outlive the public they serve. Built in 1927, the Historic St. Petersburg YMCA was a flourishing center of activity for the community.

So, if in all its majestic beauty, the building could recount thousands of stories, what would they be? Would they include the laughter of a little girl at a swim lesson with her parents? Melodic chirps of sneakers synchronized with rhythmic dribbling echoing through the gymnasium? Intense badminton and racquetball matches between circuit judges and attorneys at lunchtime? Lively socials where young men and women gathered?… Read More