When we heard the news that Sunken Gardens’ welcome sign was down and a work crew with a bulldozer was on the move, a lot of people were alarmed that yet another iconic piece of St. Pete history might disappear. With all the development underway, it’s hard to not to overreact. What might be next on the chopping block? First Wilson’s, then El Cap changed hands, and now our favorite historic garden?

But as we now know, there was no need for concern. According to Jennifer Tyson, Sunken Gardens education coordinator, the previous Sunken Gardens welcome sign had some structural damage and was well beyond repair after decades of Florida’s sun and storms. … Read More

Snell Isle mom and St. Pete native, Catherine Nelke, is stepping up to the plate for youth baseball with Hit the Mitt, a baseball academy she founded to make the All-American sport fun and accessible to more kids.

And she definitely means fun. Picture a young player learning proper batting stance by taking a swing and connecting with a baseball that explodes, sending out a brightly colored cloud of chalk dust. Hearing their own “walk up” song as they step up to the plate, like the professional ball players. Or meeting baseball celebrities like Emmanuel Rosario, a former pitcher for the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition team known for entertaining “on-field hijinks” with music, dance skits, and stunts.… Read More

Back in New England, Zoe Kopp and Thom Namaya usually took a break from the long, cold winters by volunteering. For years they worked with local leaders of small community development projects around the world that they support through their nonprofit, GRACE Cares. But in 2020, COVID lockdowns prevented international travel and they spent some time in St. Petersburg. Just a year later, the two moved here, trading their 27-year home in Vermont on 13 acres of land for a house in the Old Northeast with an art studio out back.  

Why the move? They fell in love with the city’s charm, waterfront, the arts, and the strong sense of community.… Read More

Kathy Turner Lee remembers hollering to her mother, “Going over to the gardens,” as she ran out her front door on 18^th Avenue and to a side gate that led into Sunken Gardens. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Sunken Gardens may have been one of the most famous roadside attractions in Florida, but to Lee, the four-acre tropical oasis was just the family business that her grandparents, George and Eula Turner, Sr., founded decades before. It was like an extension of her own backyard.  

“The gardens were a big part of my childhood,” Lee recalls. “My brother and I would run around by ourselves and no one thought anything of it.”… Read More

Ed Baird was 9, and Allison Jolly was 10 – two local kids looking for something to do on summer vacation – when their parents enrolled them in “learn to sail” lessons at the St. Petersburg Sailing Center. Both would go on to be superstars in the world of sailing. But at the time they were just having fun, hanging out with friends on the water. 

“The Sailing Center was our home away from home,” Jolly recalls. “It was a very safe and welcoming environment.”  

St. Petersburg was still a small town not yet discovered, then.… Read More

For most of the year, Old Northeast resident Margaret Ann Burtchaell is hard at work in her commercial kitchen on 4th Street, where she and her team are busy creating everything from specialty cookies to gourmet comfort food. 

But in the summer, her kitchen is in a villa in Italy, where she teaches cooking classes to guests enjoying a week-long vacation in the Sabine hills just outside of Rome. The villa is part of a 150-acre estate that includes orchards full of cherry, fig, orange and lemon trees, olive groves, and rosemary bushes.

“It was one of those unexpected blessings in life that come along,” says Burtchaell.… Read More

Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Girl Scout camp was the highlight of my summer. Two weeks away from home living in the woods was a dream come true. It’s where I learned to sail a Sunfish, paddle a canoe, and never leave my sleeping bag unzipped after finding daddy longlegs taking a nap inside. Camp is also where I landed my first journalism “job” as a reporter for the little newspaper we published each week.

When an invitation came from the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida to visit Camp Wai Lani in Palm Harbor, enjoy some of the activities and sample this year’s lineup of Girl Scout Cookies, I jumped at the chance. … Read More

It must have been quite a sight to drive by the Museum of Fine Arts and see 120 Boston Terriers and their owners posing for a photo on the museum steps. Definitely a reason for a double-take. But this is St. Petersburg and we love our fur children so, it’s not really that surprising.

The occasion was the 4th annual Boston Terrier Pet Parade, held in December on the weekend closest to the anniversary of the Revolutionary War-era Boston Tea Party. Last year was the 248th anniversary of the infamous day when the ‘Sons of Liberty’ boarded a British ship and tossed a shipment of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest.… Read More

Stepping into Alli Arnold’s cozy bungalow in the Old Northeast feels like walking into a charming English cottage. It’s filled with artwork, a mix-and-match of colors and textures, comfortable furniture, lots of books and a menagerie of animals. Sophia, the Boston Terrier; Honey the Morkie (Maltese & Yorkie); George, the little Green Cheek Conure parrot; and two gerbils – Gronk (for Rob Gronkowski of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Tzatziki (for Alli’s favorite Greek-style condiment) are all eager to greet me.

“I’m happy my husband Ken is on board with all of this animal madness,” jokes Alli.

A native New Yorker and illustrator, Alli moved to St.… Read More

Disgraced ex-police detective Jane Byrne is on the run. After surviving a brutal excessive-force civil lawsuit that scarred her with PTSD, she blows into New Orleans on her Ducati motorcycle looking for a fresh start, never expecting to uncover a hate-crime serial killer targeting NOLA’s inclusive LGBTQ community.

After reading this description of the fictional crime thriller, Love Power, I’m intrigued to meet the author, Martha Reed, who lives in Crescent Heights and retired last year as a senior project consultant for a local financial services firm.

It’s hard to imagine working in the financial world by day and writing mystery and crime fiction by night.… Read More