Thanks for Your Support
Members are important to us! We think being an SPP member is not only a great way to support keeping St. Petersburg special but its also a great deal with free walking tours and reduced fees to many special SPP events. Thank you to our many members. If you have a question as to your membership status, just
email our membership coordinator!
If you are not a member but would like to become one, just
click here to join and you too can say you are a card carrying SPP member!
Click here
|
|
|
SPP Bicycle Tours!
Oct. 8 & 15
SPP is excited to offer two special Sunday afternoon bicycle tours on October 8 & 15 in partnership with
Coast Bike Share! We have a great city for bicycling with our waterfront, historic & funky neighborhoods and bike paths that have helped the city become designated as a bicycle friendly community.
Coast Bike Share has been rolling for nearly a year and offers a great way for visitors and residents to bicycle around town! They offer the blue bicycles you see around town, available from more than 30 bike share stations.
We think we have made joining our bicycle tour easy as your reservation includes the use of a Coast bike share bicycle. Additionally, all tour participants receive a one month Coast membership, offering daily free ride time!
Each tour will start at the St. Pete Bike Co-Op at Mirror Lake and include parts of downtown and the waterfront as well as some of the 'Burg's best historic neighborhoods. The rides will be leisurely with stops to hear about some of our city's history.
Space is limited on each tour so if you would like to enjoy a SPP bike tour, we suggest you reserve now! Members $15; Non-members $25; Membership special for new or renewing members $35 (tour + individual membership) or $55 (tour for 2 & household membership).
|
|
|
New Downtown Audio Tour Coming!
Thanks to a Florida Humanities Council (FHC) grant, SPP will soon be adding a downtown audio tour as another option for taking a downtown tour!
The tour will be accessible thru the FHC tour app, Florida Stories. You can download it for free to your phone or mobile device.
The downtown St. Pete audio tour will be available by November 1 but you may want to download the app now. It already allows you to choose from ten other tours where you get to meet the dreamers & adventurers, farmers & ranchers, families & individuals who built this state, town by town. Each tour allows you to listen to up to a dozen stories and to see historic photos associated with each.
|
|
|
Check out the Keep St. Petersburg Special Video!
Last month, SPP held at the Shuffleboard Club "Keeping St. Pete Special" where we asked you to shout out about what makes the 'Burg special. The 'Burg is getting ready to elect a mayor and several members to city council and we thought it never hurts to remind them about what makes the 'Burg special!
We are excited about the short event
video. Just click here to watch and to listen to people just like you who love St. Pete and want to keep it special.
|
|
|
October is a busy month for SPP with Movies in the Park, a space at the Saturday Morning Market and other events. It is only with the help of our volunteers that we can make these events happen. If you would like to help and be added to our volunteer list, just send us an email & put "volunteer" in the message title. If you are already receiving our volunteer messages, thank you, and expect to receive another soon!
There are lots of different tasks we can use help with from setting up an event to assisting at a registration table. We do our best to make volunteering a bit of fun and all it takes is a little spare time. Thanks for your support!
|
|
|
|
 |
|
October Movies in the Park
Announcement Party - Sept. 14!
Yes, it's almost time again for
St. Petersburg Preservation's October Movies in the Park!!! And that means, first, our fun & funky Movie & Music Announcement Party! The fun takes place on Thursday, September 14 in the courtyard at downtown's
The Ale & The Witch. And the party is FREE! Thanks go to the Witch & owner Brett Andress for donating a portion of the evening's proceeds to help support Movies in the Park, so be sure to enjoy those wonderful American craft beers!
Don't forget to start brushing up on your movie trivia! As we always do at the party, SPP will offer movie trivia questions as hints to what will be shown on the big outdoor screen in October. Guess a movie & win a prize!
In addition to the movie titles, you will also find out which bands will play each movie night and see the new Movie
 poster by our favorite local artist,
Carrie Jadus. Movie posters & movie poster note cards (great gifts) will be available for a special Movie Party price.
Ask your friends to come to the party too and get ready to start posting on your FB page the movie choices! Don't forget,
the party is FREE and live music in the courtyard at the Witch will follow.
What: Movies in the Park Announcement Party
Date: Thursday, Sept. 14; party starts at 6:30 pm
Where: The Ale & the Witch courtyard: 111 2nd Ave. NE
Bank of the Ozarks
Banyan Café & Catering
Ford & Ford, P.A.
Hotel Indigo St. Petersburg Downtown
Pet Food Warehouse
Smith & Associates Real Estate
Tampa Bay Spine & Injury
The Tampa Bay 100
Total Air
Weidner Law
Whittel & Melton LLC
|
|
|
Keeping St. Petersburg Special
Euclid School/Apartments Celebration Thursday, Sept. 28!
Make your reservation for SPP's next "Keep St. Pete Special" event at the newly renovated historic Euclid School. We are excited to celebrate another preservation success story on Thursday evening September 28!
Some of you may remember our 2014 event at the school. It took place not long after the school board had sold the long
 closed building and Michael Mincberg President of Sight Real Estate had a vision for what the building could become! Michael worked with SPP to designate the building as a local landmark. Now the renovation project is complete and the school's old classrooms are apartments, available in October. Just imagine an apartment with the original large wood 12/12 austral pivoting windows - they are neat!
Back in the '20's St. Pete was in the midst of another boom. The county student population skyrocketed from 5,429 in 1920 to 19,000 in 1927. An ambitious school construction program between 1923 & 1928 resulted in 20 new schools being built, including Euclid. The master plan called for school sites to accommodate the needs of the rapidly growing "suburbs" - the birth of the neighborhood school concept for the 'Burg. Critics complained the new schools, like Euclid, were too far out on the edge of town!
You won't want to miss this celebration and evening of fun with tasty bites from
Banyan Cafe & Catering, cash donation bar and music. Thanks to Michael Mincberg and
Sight Real Estate for bringing Euclid School back to life and for helping to host this event!
What: Keep St. Petersburg Special - Euclid School Celebration
!
Date: Thursday, September 28th
Where: Euclid Schoolhouse Apartments
1090 10th St. N, St. Petersburg, FL
Cost: $10 for SPP members; $20 for non-members; Membership specials (new or renewing) - $30 individual or $50 household, see event for more details. All admissions include a drink ticket!
|
Thank you to our event partners:
 
|
|
|
|
|
SPP Walking Tours
There is Bound to be One (or Two) for You!
Reservations are encouraged as tours fill. Tour starting locations and times can be found on the SPP website calendar. SPP is happy to schedule a private tour for your group, just send us a message and we will arrange the details!
|
|
|
Landmark Updates
The 700 block of 18th Avenue NE set the model this past winter for neighbors wanting to retain the character of their neighborhood by seeking historic district designation. Their application, for a smaller rather than a larger section of their neighborhood, was necessary because of the city requirement mandating a
majority of all property owners within a proposed district
return a ballot favoring application submittal
before the city will review the district proposal. Since the city counts any owner failing to return a ballot as opposed to the application being filed, it is much easier to to reach out to owners of smaller neighborhood areas to encourage their return of the ballot then for neighborhoods as a whole.
Neighbors in a number of neighborhoods have approached SPP about district designation. We are hopeful that additional blocks in the Historic Old Northeast, Historic Kenwood and in Driftwood will soon be applying for district designation.
SPP likes to say historic districts are good for neighborhoods and good for the city. Designation can be an effective tool for protecting what makes a neighborhood special and many studies have shown that district designation also helps to maintain or to improve property values.
Click here to read one of the studies or
here for SPP's Q &A on district designation.
|
|
 |
|
A Young Goldman & Frank Lloyd Wright
|
|
St. Petersburg architect Sanford Goldman will be honored before City Council on Thursday, Sept. 14th at 3 pm in the council chambers at City Hall. Goldman is a St. Pete native who was selected as an apprentice to study under Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957-58. The public is invited to meet Mr. Goldman and to honor his lifetime commitment to the city, the collection of residences and commercial buildings he designed, and his contribution to modern architecture.
Happy 100th to the Open Air Post Office!
 Yes, this month marks the centennial for one of the great civic buildings making the 'Burg special - the downtown open air post office! Its design was a dream of then post master Roy Hanna. He wanted for his rapidly growing city a building designed for the tropical climate, easily accessible at all times and, most importantly, one that would stand out to visitors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
