(Lassing Park in south St. Pete).

Christmas at the Vinoy

For out-of-town and international readers, the Vinoy hotel in downtown St. Petersburg is one of the area's stately pink hotels -- the other being the Don CeSar on St. Pete Beach. The Vinoy, built in 1925, is on the National Register of Historic Places. From 1974, when it closed, to the early '90s, when it was re-habed, the once-luxury hotel became a shelter for vagrants. After regaining its luxurious cred, it is now the home to one of the priciest Sunday brunches in town, and according to this Boston Herald blog, is where former Red Sox pitcher Scott Williamson saw a ghost (near bottom of post).















































And those St. Pete city elves: where DOES that attitude come from?

St. Pete Clay Co.

The St. Pete Clay Company, housed in the historic Seaboard Train Station, is home to all things clay: studios, galleries, education, and retail. Until Jan. 13 of next year, they're hosting a collection of art created on sections of the Berlin Wall...




...three Russian artists were invited to take part in the project to create art from sections of the wall on the East German side. Originally created to provide funding to build a Checkpoint Charley museum...




...the 114 sections were eventually sold to a U.S. businessman who had them shipped to Maine, before changing hands to a second owner, but one without means to market and promote the collection which languished for the next 15 years, before the Outdoor Arts Foundation acquired it in 2004.



The plaque behind this piece is a quote from Walter Ulbricht, leader of the GDR, from June 15, 1961, two months before the Berlin Wall construction began: "Nobody intends to put up a wall".

A workspace adjacent to one of the galleries.

One of the kilns.

Pieces from the company's annual holiday sale, where some real bargains for some quality work can be snapped up.

Sunset Attest

(Clearwater Beach)

Pigeon Scatter

(Downtown St. Pete)

(Bait House, Clearwater Marina)

(Pass-a-Grille Beach)

Tent City

St. Pete's Saturday Morning Market

Spookseses

North St. Pete

Poe Garage, downtown Tampa.

Is this where the control in controlled burns comes from? (Boyd Hill Nature Park, St. Pete)

Ybor Valet

Dual-image composite
animation of jarhead wall
figure in Ybor, watching
you park.

Tampa Urban Tour of Homes

Title card for very long blog post on last Saturday's Urban Tour of Homes in Tampa...














...poolside at Grand Central at Kennedy...



















...behind the cabanas at Grand Central...
















...inside the Box Factory Lofts in Ybor, converted from a cigar box factory. Great stained concrete floors...











...the bathroom in a $1.1 million unit at the Victory Lofts...













...and at Ventana. After the tour, a stop-off in South Tampa at Tun-Du-Ree -- no photo of the trailer with the magical Indian grill, but it's as good as they say.

Tampa Hose & Rubber Co.

Their website slogan is "An inch or a mile," plus some street art in Channelside.

Everything's Gone Green

A brown palm near an abundance of water sits at the edge of Lake Maggiore Island in the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve.

Downtown Promises

The faded sign on the side of this building along First Avenue S says:

"Downtown
It's a Whole New Ballgame
Go Devil Rays"

It can barely be seen from the street, now blocked by a building in the next lot: a new condo.
A new sign of progress overshadows the old one, but will the new one follow the old?

Salt Creek

A boat shelter on Salt Creek,
looking from Thrill Hill Bridge.

Old Southeast

Neighborhood info from the city's site:
here.

With past incidents in mind, Baywalk corporate heads are confronted with their latest challenge:
stationary gangs in lycra and spandex.

The Beacon

"St. Petersburg's Top Apartment"

(Third Street S, St. Pete)

Aloft in the Boat Yard

Near Salt Creek in St. Pete, w/ the Orton Effect.

The Dreamers, 02

Parking space No. 13, below-ground, in the Curtis Hixon Garage, Tampa.

West Tampa

West Tampa - old cigar factories and revitalization:

The Regensburg Cigar Factory at Albany and Cherry

"Coming 2007": windows, sans plywood!

Some Local Signs

Sunken Gardens, in St. Pete, a 100(+)-year-old garden and Florida roadside attraction since the 1930s...

















...at the North fishing pier on the Sunshine Skyway...


















...Centro Ybor's big cigar sign...














...and Haslam's book store, in St. Pete, home to Jack Kerouac's ghost.

Trolley Hub

In Ybor, taken a few weeks ago while residual wildfire smoke still darkened the sky.

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