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

Piers and St. Petersburg are virtually synonymous. The city was founded by John and Sarah Williams and Peter Demens in 1888. The Williams owned the land and had visions of a great city. Back then, in order to be a great city a railroad was required. Peter Demens, owner of the Orange Belt Railway, agreed to route his fledgling railroad to the new city in exchange for a prime share of the anticipated new downtown real estate. Part of the deal was that he would extend his railroad tracks out over a pier reaching water 12 feet deep to allow cargo exchange between ships and the train.… Read More

Getting around the bay area without a car keeps getting more interesting. We have scooter and bike rentals, a seasonal ferry, trollies, and even an old-fashioned streetcar. Now, St. Pete boasts an innovative way to whisk residents and visitors through some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Of course, I’m referring to the new SunRunner, the Bus Rapid Transit Route (BRT) that takes riders from downtown to St. Pete Beach.  

Spend more than a few minutes with someone in our house and you’ll start hearing about how much we love the new SunRunner. I’ve been accused of being on the PSTA payroll, but I assure readers that the only thing PSTA has given me is a ride.… Read More

Springtime in St. Petersburg comes early. Trees, flowers, and everything green throw their pollen to the wind like confetti, heralding the season’s arrival. Snowbirds head back north; humidity is on the rise. And the intense sound of “angry bees buzzing” signal yet another springtime tradition: IndyCars and their high-revving engines making practice runs. The trucks, trailers, and roadway detours downtown, along the bayfront, and around Albert Whitted Airport mean just one thing…it’s time for the Firestone St. Petersburg Grand Prix, presented by RP Funding. This year’s racing, and myriad other events, take place March 3-5.

For those new to the sport and rusty on the French language, Grand Prix literally means “grand prize,” so the term is applied to a great many types of races.… Read More

Since I retired seven years ago, volunteering with new English learners has been my passion. I’ve participated in several international programs through Global Volunteers in Cuba, Romania, and Greece, practicing conversational English with students. And, until they closed their doors in December 2021, I had many great experiences volunteering with students from all over the world in ESOL classes for immigrants at the Tomlinson Adult Learning Center at Mirror Lake in St. Petersburg. 

After much research, I recently connected with Dr. Maya Lane, president and founder of NicerFL, Florida Newcomer Immigrant Educational Center, Inc. Dr. Lane manages programs in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Manatee counties with the mission of “helping immigrants overcome personal, professional, and cultural challenges of integration through individual tutoring and mentoring.”… Read More

In October, Mayor Ken Welch and the St. Petersburg City Council named Gloria Muñoz the city’s poet laureate. Muñoz, who was featured in the May/June issue of the Northeast Journal, is local poet, teacher, lyricist, and all-around multi-genre writer who has garnered an impressive roster of local and national grants, fellowships, and awards. Her book of poetry, Danzirly (pronounced “Dawn’s Early”), which explores the American dream from a Latinx perspective, won the Academy of American Poets’ 2019 Ambroggio Prize, and the Gold Medal Florida Book Award.

Muñoz told St. Pete Catalyst in October that she is “thrilled to be the first Latina in this position,” adding that she expects to be a “champion of poetry for the city,” and is particularly interested in highlighting more diversity, from BIPOC to inter-generational voices.… Read More

In October, the City of St. Petersburg announced that the St. Pete Pier was selected as one of six winners of the Urban Land Institute’s 2022 Global Awards for Excellence, a top honor recognizing the best new urban designs in the world. This year’s winners include two from North America, two from Europe, and two from Asia Pacific. The St. Pete Pier was one of just two designs in the United States to be awarded. 

“This is an incredible, meaningful accomplishment for our city and our iconic waterfront,” said Mayor Ken Welch. “The ULI Global Awards for Excellence win puts the St.… Read More

Though sadly First Night St. Petersburg has been cancelled, there are still plenty of creative seasonal events to go around. Here is just a sampling of some artsy stuff to get the good times going during the holidays.

Galleries

Ekeko Gallery: The White Art Party, 290 Dr. M.L.K. Jr Street N. December 10 to January 6.  Opening reception is December 10, 5-9 pm. More at facebook.com/ekekogallery.

Ekeko Gallery, a local community favorite known for its stock of beautiful gemstones and Mexican art, shows that it is possible to have a white Christmas in St. Petersburg. All works in the show are based on the color white.… Read More

It is estimated that the number of people living with aphasia in Tampa Bay could populate the entire Old Northeast Neighborhood. “If you add all the family and friends, and other people impacted by the person they know who has aphasia, that would extend the number of people affected by aphasia to all the surrounding neighborhoods and then some,” says Debbie Yones, executive director of Voices of Hope for Aphasia in St. Petersburg.

Until celebrities like actor Bruce Willis and politician Gabby Giffords went public with their diagnoses of aphasia, perhaps few Americans outside of the aphasia community had even heard of the condition, much less knew about its impacts.… Read More

Florida is full of colorful plants and the Old Northeast can feel even more exotic with all the decorative flowering plants neighbors add to their yard. But one local shrub isn’t just a pretty ornament. The beautyberry is downright magical in that it’s not only safe to eat, it’ll keep the mosquitoes away.  

The beautyberry (callicarpa americana) is scattered throughout the area, but specifically noticeable along Oak Street between 16th and 17th Avenues NE. Birds love the bright purple berries, but they’re also safe for us to eat. They look a bit like a purple blackberry that you might want to gobble by the handful.… Read More