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Petersburg’s skyline is newly muscular, with high-rise luxury condos,
the $40 million BayWalk shopping and entertainment complex and a
growing assortment of gleaming hotels and offices.
The transformation of the city from a dowdy Florida
retirement haven started modestly 10 years ago, and gradually gained
momentum; since 1998, St. Petersburg has logged six consecutive years
of the busiest construction activity in its history, with more than
$1.5 billion in development projects.
The city’s sudden awakening has been aided by the
influx of high-tech firms staffed with young employees (the median age
of its residents went from a high of 48.1 in 1970 to 39.3 in 2000),
and the handiwork of local entrepreneurs – including restaurateurs and
innkeepers – who found potential in its gentle climate,
pedestrian-friendly ambience and carefully preserved seven-mile
stretch of verdant parkland facing Tampa Bay.
St. Pete’s new streetscapes include orange-haired
skateboarders, jumping late-night clubs and sidewalks crowded on
weekends with shoppers and diners. But it retains the perfumy drawl
and relaxed Southern charm that for decades has drawn vacationers to
its tree-lined streets and to 35 miles of broad, sandy beaches 20
minutes west of downtown.
Events
The city has a special attraction for art lovers: the
Salvador Dalí Museum, 1000 Third Street South,
www.salvadordalimuseum.org,
(727) 823-3767, whose 1,500 works of art (including 95
oil paintings) is the most comprehensive collection of Dalí’s work in
the world. The museum is planning a special exhibition in honor of the
100th anniversary of the artist’s birth next year: from Jan. 9 to
August, [2004] “Dalí Centennial: An American Collection” will
feature objects from its collection never displayed before, new
acquisitions and two stereoscopic paintings on loan from the
Teatro-Museo Dalí in Figueres, Spain. During the year, the museum also
will present original works of poetry, music and dance in Dalí’s
memory. Open daily; general admission, $12.50.
The rock act Alkaline Trio performs at 8 p.m., Nov. 17,
[2003] at Jannus Landing Courtyard, 220 First Avenue North, (727)
896-1244, and
www.jannuslanding.net. Tickets are $14.99 in advance or $17 the
day of the show. The Landing, dating from 1888, is billed as the
oldest outdoor concert venue in Florida, and is host to varied musical
acts - from rock to rap, punk, rockabilly and jazz.
The 26th annual in-water Fall Boat Show features more
than 700 boats, Nov. 20 to 23 [2003] at the Bayfront Center, 400 First
Street South, (800) 874-9015, admission, $7.
The Bayfront Center includes the 2,000-seat Mahaffey
Theater for the Performing Arts, where theater, music and other
entertainment events are held. On Dec. 15, [2003] Skitch Henderson
leads the Florida Orchestra through a program of holiday favorites
with guest vocalists and a choral ensemble at 8 p.m. Tickets are $21
to 45. Information: (800) 874-9015,
www.stpete.org/mahaffey.htm.
The 21st annual Boley Centers’ Jingle Bell Run will
start at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 [2003] at the Pier, 800 Second Avenue
NE. The event – over one- and three-mile courses along the waterfront
– is less sport and more evening holiday party, as runners bring dogs
and babies and wear bells, illuminated necklaces and goofy hats
sparkling with Christmas ornaments. Registration is $15, or $18 on
race day. Information:
www.boleycenters.org and
(727) 821-4819.
Glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly are the subjects of a
joint show at the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, 255 Beach Drive
NE, (727) 896-2667,
www.fine-arts.org, and the Orlando Museum of Art from Jan. 18 to
May 30. General admission, $12. Closed Monday.
Sightseeing
Set among a connected series of keys at the mouth of
Tampa Bay, Fort DeSoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway South, Tierra Verde,
(727) 582-2267,
www.fortdesoto.com, has 1,136 serene acres encompassing miles of
frothy surf and perfect sand, two fishing piers, paved bike and skate
trails, a dog park and beach, picnic areas, nature trails and
campgrounds. Numbered signs along the shore mark a kayak trail through
Mullet Key Bayou, teeming with dolphins, manatees and water birds.
Single kayaks rent for $15 an hour, $35 a day; canoes, $17 an hour,
$40 a day (cash only) at the Fort DeSoto Canoe Outpost in the park,
(727) 864-1991,
www.canoeoutpost.com.
The Pier, 800 Second Avenue NE, (727) 821-6164,
www.stpete-pier.com, sits a quarter-mile out in Tampa Bay, crowned
with a five-story, upside-down pyramid. It has 16 shops and galleries,
restaurants, dolphin sightseeing cruises, surrey bike rentals and a
small aquarium.
In 1999, the city spent $3 million to buy and renovate
a vintage Florida attraction,
Sunken Gardens, 1825 Fourth Street
North, (727) 551-3100. The four-acre plot – as much as 10 feet
below street level – is again lush with more than 500 species of
plants, and its original 1926 historic building has been restored to
its elegant Mediterranean Revival glory, painted pastel yellow. Open
daily; general admission, $7. |
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Next to the garden (and sharing the same entrance) is
Great Explorations, the Children’s Museum, (727) 821-8992, and at
www.greatexplorations.org, which moved there this year. Kids love
its laser harp, which has diode lasers instead of strings that
youngsters touch to create synthesized music; a new exhibit is Great
Splash, with a pinball machine that teaches about the water cycle.
Open daily; $8, ages 3 to 11 $7. Joint admission to the gardens and
the museum, $12.75 and $8.50.
Haslam’s Book Store, 2025 Central Avenue, (727)
822-8616 and
www.haslams.com, now in the fourth generation of the same family,
bills itself as Florida’s largest new and used bookstore. It has more
than 300,000 volumes, including rare titles, and antiquaria jammed
into 30,000 square feet. Closed Sunday.
The BayWalk shopping and entertainment complex opened
three years ago at 125 Second Avenue North, (727) 895-9277,
www.baywalkstpete.com, with a pretty outdoor courtyard, where
bands play alfresco on the weekends, attracting big, noisy crowds. On
its second floor is the popular Martini Bar, owned by former Miami
Dolphins football star Dan Marino, always rocking with young patrons,
who also patronize the state-of-the-art, 20-screen movie theater, and
other dozen bars, shops and restaurants.
Where to Stay
The peak season typically runs from November through
May.
Mansion House Bed and Breakfast,
105 Fifth Avenue NE, (800) 274-7520, fax (727) 821-6906,
www.mansionbandb.com, has 12 tidy rooms, each with different décor
and a dataport and Wi-Fi, in two houses dating to the early 1900’s, a
courtyard garden and swimming pool. Doubles: $99 to $220, with hot
breakfast in the bright, pretty dining room.
Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, 501 Fifth
Avenue NE, (888) 303-4430, fax (727) 894-2270.
Its fanciful turrets and exotic, 1925-era Italian marble front desk,
cypress ceiling beams and glazed quarry tile were preserved during a
recent renovation. There are 360 guest rooms and 15 suites, many with
spectacular water views. The hotel also has a spa, a big pool with a
waterfall, five restaurants, tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course and
a marina. Doubles, $199 to $249; suites, $300 to $600.
Where to Eat
Skyway Jack’s Restaurant, 2795 34th Street South, (727)
867-1907, is a funky local institution with a breakfast menu
featuring, among other things, sweetbreads, orange pecan French toast,
chipped beef on toast and eggs any style you can imagine. Its
clientele ranges from women in Chanel suits to pierced punk rockers to
fishermen on their way home from the docks. Open for breakfast and
lunch daily; breakfast for two, $12.
The chef Christopher Ponte trained at Taillevent in
Paris, and then moved to New York to work with Daniel Boulud and
François Payard. But Ponte and his wife, Jennifer, yearned for their
own restaurant, and they now have it: Cafe Ponte, 13505 Icot Boulevard
in Clearwater, northwest of St. Pete; (727) 538-5768. Lunch is a deal:
Duck egg roll with apricot sauce is $6, a grilled sirloin steak
sandwich $7.50, and the passion fruit taster $7. Open for lunch
weekdays, and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Dinner for two with wine,
$100.
The food at Mattison’s, an American Bistro, 111 Second
Avenue NE, (727) 895-2200, is tasty, if not trendy. You can start with
lobster ravioli; follow that with filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms,
mashed potatoes, vegetables and creamy béarnaise sauce; and finish
with chocolate macadamia nut tart. Lunch weekdays, dinner Tuesday to
Saturday. Dinner for two with wine, up to $100.
The crowd turns up late at Pacific Wave Restaurant, 211
Second Street South, (727) 822-5235, to nibble on fare like Laos
spring roll filled with Thai basil, mango and marinated grilled prawns
and served with bird’s eye chili and cashew dipping sauce, or to have
a late dinner of mixed grill of shrimp, scallops and fresh Hawaiian
fish with chipotle grits and three sauces. Dinner for two with wine,
$120. Dinner Monday to Saturday.
An excellent seafood restaurant is the Maritana Grille
at the Don CeSar Resort and Spa, 3400 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach,
(727) 360-1881, which is famous for dishes like horseradish-crusted
Atlantic salmon with shrimp. Hidden in a service area just off the
kitchen is the Chef’s Table, where the executive chef, Eric Neri,
takes up to eight people through six courses of his staff’s most
creative new dishes, like toasted bread rounds lavished with crème
fraîche and caviar; pan-seared scallops with yellowtail snapper, sweet
corn and English peas; and a chocolate tower imprinted with gold leaf.
These meals are offered Wednesday to Sunday for $125 a person, not
including wine. The main dining room is open daily for dinner, which
runs about $160 for two with wine.
SARA KENNEDY lives in Tampa.
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