You’re walking through St. Pete’s Crescent Lake Park on a Wednesday afternoon and you see a particularly colorful rock. Unable to resist, you pick it up. This is no ordinary glittery stone. It’s painted orange and pink and blue with a goofy cartoon bird winking at you from its smooth surface. Is it game piece? A lost toy? You flip it over and there’s a message: Go to St Pete Rocks Facebook page.

Before you can even pocket the stone, you’ve got your phone out. That’s when you learn that there’s a whole community – a seemingly secret world – of “painters, hiders, and posters” of painted rocks sharing their art and telling stories about their finds. … Read More

In “Exploring St. Pete’s Jewish History, Part 1” historian Monica Kile introduced many of St. Petersburg’s early Jewish families and how they helped to shape the culture and economy of the city. In part two, we take a closer look at their challenges and successes. Read part one here.

In the last issue, we met Old Northeast resident Jay Miller, and learned about how his and other Jewish families came to live and build successful businesses alongside each other in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 20th century. But, particularly in the early years, they also faced widespread antisemitism. … Read More

We are now well into the 2023 hurricane season, though St. Petersburg thankfully has not seen a direct hit since 1921. Known as the Tarpon Springs Hurricane, the 1921 hurricane was a Category 4 while over the Gulf, with winds declining to a Category 3 by landfall. A six-to-eleven-foot storm surge flooded low-lying areas throughout Pinellas County, including St. Petersburg. Since then, there have been many near misses, two of the most recent being Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Ian just last year. Irma, a Category 5 over water, brushed St. Petersburg with a negative surge that emptied the bay.… Read More

A century ago, St. Petersburg was in the midst of a massive real estate boom. Empty lots changed hands multiple times a day and developers took large groups of visitors on bus tours to inspect the newest neighborhoods. Snell Isle was taking shape, but the area beyond Perry Snell’s development was considered a wild and distant place. The first house in Shore Acres sold in 1923, and on March 4 of this year, residents celebrated their neighborhood’s centennial with the dedication of the new Shore Acres Rec Center followed by a 1920s-themed block party. Attendees clamored for seats on a historic trolley tour, highlighting the lesser-known, but fascinating, history of Shore Acres. … Read More

Many residents noticed that last year’s Hurricane Ian brought down several of the medjool date palms along Coffee Pot Bayou. The popular winding promenade was already patchy as storms and other factors have felled at least 16 of the majestic palms since they were planted more than 20 years ago. But there’s good news for fans of the exotic trees: The city of St. Pete has plans to restore them to their frond-ish glory. 

Brian Eichler, assistant director of St. Pete’s Parks and Rec department, says that the city will replant. “The city is in the process of receiving quotes for replacement of the palms and reviewing the current conditions of the areas that the trees were planted in to make sure they are suitable for replanting,” he said.… Read More

If a person playing the game when St. Pete’s shuffleboard club first opened 99 years ago encountered glow-in-the-dark courts, they wouldn’t believe their eyes. But don’t worry, purists – the look is only temporary. 

In March, St. Pete Shuffle, at 559 Mirror Lake Drive North, lit up downtown after volunteers and staff painted eight of the courts with glow-in-the-dark paint and blasted the area with UV lights. “It looked really cool, I have to admit,” said club member and volunteer Doug Dozark. “Like cosmic bowling, but outside, for shuffleboard.” 

Dozark’s such a fan of the club, he and his wife had their wedding there.… Read More

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

Sometimes the most common plants can do amazing things. You’ve probably seen places where bright green grass grows in the thin cracks in between our Augusta Blocks, while a nearby lawn struggles to grow in rich irrigated soil. Oak tree saplings often find rain gutters to be a fine place to begin their life. Fruit trees are known to emerge where its ancestor was removed many years ago. 

This edition’s yard oddity is actually one of the most popular house plants in America. The golden pothos (and its sister, the heartleaf philodendron) are loved for how easy they are to care for.… 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

In what some might call a debilitatingly single-minded passion that seized me somewhere in the first wave of the pandemic, I’ve grown increasingly local-minded. This has little to do with the plague and more to do with having a lot more time in my head. But this one grand idea had many rippling repercussions, not the least of which was my fascination with pollinators: specifically, bees. More specifically, Florida bees. According to the University of Florida researchers, of the 4,000 different types of bees that call the United States home, more than 300 of those species make their home in Florida (and who can blame them; despite our sometimes-sensational press, Florida’s pretty great).… Read More