This is the second of a two-part article based on an extensive interview with former mayor Don Jones. Don Jones was mayor during a time of intense infrastructure improvement, and a watershed period for St. Petersburg’s civil rights history.

Upon his election as mayor in 1967, Don Jones announced three goals: the creation of small parks in needy areas of the city; transfer of Mound Park Hospital (now Bayfront) from city operation to a non-profit corporation; and increasing wages for city employees. During his first year in office, the first two goals were achieved. But in the midst of these progressive steps, a major city crisis was soon to erupt and it had to do with Mayor Jones’ third goal, adequate wages for city employees.… Read More

This is the first of a two-part article based on an extensive interview with former mayor Don Jones.  Don Jones was mayor during a time of intense infrastructure improvement, and a watershed period for St. Petersburg’s civil rights history.

Don Jones was city councilman from 1963-1967 and mayor from 1967-1969. In a recent interview, he described his tenure as ‘the best of times and the worst of times.’ “Five of those years were years of dramatic progress, accomplishment and growth. The sixth year was a time of stress, tension and confrontation due to the racial climate at that time in St.… Read More

A 1961 Times editorial entitled “Everybody’s Target: Al Capone,” stated “St. Petersburg and Pinellas County have been fortunate over their lifetime because our citizens have elected sheriffs and appointed police chiefs who have seen to it that racketeers moved on and never got a start here. That’s the way the citizens wanted it when Pinellas broke away from Hillsborough 50 years ago and that’s the way they want it today. In their heyday Al Capone, Johnny Torrio and other gangsters came to St. Petersburg, but their welcome was so cold and their stay so brief that the incident is hardly a footnote to history.”… Read More

Over the years, there have been numerous rumors, reports, and stories about Al Capone in St. Petersburg. This article is an exploration and new look at those stories.

“Al Capone Pays Vist to the City” reads the caption on the front page of the St. Petersburg Times on February 10, 1931. The article reported, “Al ‘Scarface’ Capone, reputed king of Chicago’s gangland, paid a visit to Pinellas County Monday, spending a few hours in St. Petersburg and later motoring to Tarpon Springs, where he spent considerable time looking over the sponge industry. Capone, with a party of five, including one woman, was seen here by several persons.… Read More

This is the second of a two-part series on the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel. The first part told the story of the Vinoy’s restoration, reopening in 1992. The second part deals with the Vinoy restoration’s impact on the revitalization of downtown St. Petersburg. The current era of downtown revitalization may be divided into four phases: The Events Prior to 1999; The First Wave of Downtown Condominiums; A Second Wave of Downtown Construction; and The Present Boom Period.

Phase 1: The Vinoy Restoration Era

The restoration of the Vinoy is credited by many with being a major catalyst for the downtown revitalization, particularly near the waterfront.… Read More

The historic Vinoy Park hotel was built by Aymer Vinoy Laughner in 1925. The architect was Henry Taylor, who also designed St. Mary’s Church, Comfort Station No. 1, the Jungle Hotel (now Admiral Farragut), the Jungle Prada, and the Florida Theater. The cost of construction was $3.5 million – at the time, the largest construction project in Florida history. The Vinoy was the largest and most luxurious of St. Petersburg’s boom-era hotels.

According to historic hotel author Prudy Taylor Board, the Vinoy was sparked as the result of a wager made between Laughner and 1920’s golf champion Walter Hagen. At a party at Laughner’s house on Beach Drive near the present site of the Vinoy, Laughner bet Hagen that he could not hit golf balls off the top of Laughner’s watch without breaking the crystal.… Read More

A new chapter is about to open in the story of Bruce Watters Jewelers. Bruce Watters is about to move, but not far. In fact, this legendary St. Petersburg business has never moved far over the course of the last 109 years from its original location near Central Avenue and 2nd Street in downtown St. Petersburg. Bruce Watters is the city’s oldest business. Distinguished for its high-quality diamonds, jewelry, and watches, it is the place where generations have bought their engagement rings, wedding bands, anniversary gifts, holiday presents, and Valentines remembrances. It is the city’s most prestigious jewelry business. It is the place where four generations of the Watters family have practiced their profession, and from which they have given back to our community.… Read More

Florida Ranch-Style Architecture

The Bahama Shores Neighborhood is located just south of Little Bayou. It is bounded on the west by 4th Street and on the east and south by Tampa Bay. Little Bayou is located just south of Big Bayou, adjacent to the Driftwood Neighborhood. A bayou is a water body tributary to another body of water, or simply a marsh. Little Bayou merges with Tampa Bay and is fed by Little Bayou Creek, which originally began from springs that now feed Lake Vista. At one time Little Bayou was a marsh, but little of the marsh exists today.

Both Bahama Shores and Driftwood were first settled by Native Americans, but few vestiges of theses original settlers remain.… Read More

On New Year’s Day, St. Petersburg celebrated the centennial of the World’s First Airline. Now there is a second centennial to celebrate, the 100th anniversary of Major League Baseball. Major League Spring Training began in St. Pete on February 27, 1914 with the St. Louis Browns (now the Orioles). While the Browns were here only a year, St. Petersburg was host to eight other Major League teams over the next one hundred years. Among these teams was the New York Yankees who held spring training in St. Pete for 30 years beginning in 1925 and ending in 1961, with a few gaps in between.… Read More

What was St. Pete like before the automobile? It was a city of horses and wagons, of course. One of our earliest settlers, David Watt, left an account of traveling from what is now Gulfport to the St. Pete area: “…they jogged along slowly behind the sleepy old horse for mile after mile through the unbroken forest, without seeing a clearing or a house… He notices that the soil was all sand – nothing but sand everywhere. The horse went along over the road silently, his hoofs making no noise, and the wheels rolled silently too in the loose material, except when they bumped over a palmetto or a tree root.… Read More