What makes St Pete different? (Miami, St. Petersburg: live, restaurants, gardens)

[ByeByeLW]

Originally Posted by VanHalen5150

If you are referring to Webb City, then yes, but it's been gone since the early 80's. It too, was a victim of the white flight out of St. Pete

Yes, it is. I see now that it closed down in 79. Glad I got to see it as a kid.

[vaughanwilliams]

Originally Posted by VanHalen5150

I'm not talking about Bay Plaza. I am talking about long-gone shopping centers down Central Ave. Gone since the early 70's.

Just about the time Tyrone and Countryside malls were built. You think maybe THAT had something to do with the downtown shopping centers closing? Sheesh.

[VanHalen5150]

Originally Posted by vaughanwilliams

Just about the time Tyrone and Countryside malls were built. You think maybe THAT had something to do with the downtown shopping centers closing? Sheesh.

Countryside Mall has nothing at all to do with the racial issues in downtown St Pete... it was built so people could have a mall out in the hinterlands of pinellas county

tyrone mall was built BECAUSE downtown and the surroundings were getting so shady and dangerous...

[dothetwist]

Originally Posted by VanHalen5150

Till the Uhuru's get another spur up their asses and burn down Central Ave again... My great uncle was a developer who lost a ton of money in St. Pete after the riots when people left en-masse, they had a house on beach drive, sold it in the late 70's. Neatest place too.

St. Pete is currently the cool, trendy place, but it's just one police shooting away from chaos. Been here for years, seen it happen time and again...

Not true in other inner cities and won't be true in St. Pete.

My partner is a DC native; was there for riots in 1960s. That corridor sat untouched and boarded up for 20+ years. However, once gentrification set in, the inner-city poor were forced out due to increased housing costs.

So, if there is an instance of rioting, it will be where those poor people moved TO, not where those poor people moved FROM.

Just like in Baltimore where we have friends who own a restaurant downtown, the riots started in the 'hood and the police contained it so that the gentrified/upscale areas of Baltimore were not impacted.

[VanHalen5150]

Originally Posted by dothetwist

Not true in other inner cities and won't be true in St. Pete.

My partner is a DC native; was there for riots in 1960s. That corridor sat untouched and boarded up for 20+ years. However, once gentrification set in, the inner-city poor were forced out due to increased housing costs.

So, if there is an instance of rioting, it will be where those poor people moved TO, not where those poor people moved FROM.

Just like in Baltimore where we have friends who own a restaurant downtown, the riots started in the 'hood and the police contained it so that the gentrified/upscale areas of Baltimore were not impacted.

Except it didnt happen like that.

Yes, Central ave was a ghost down until the mid 90's, then things started picking up just in time for the 1996 riots, then they burned it down again. Things sat for almost 10 years before things were rebuilt. Now it's nice again, it's a cycle in st. pete

They dont burn down midtown or south st. pete, they have a habit of going uptown and downtown and burning ****...

Your example of Baltimore is bad because such a huge percentage of the city is complete ghetto, it's hard to tell what's been gentrified. Even the supposedly nicer parts of Baltimore CITY looks like slum to me

[dothetwist]

Originally Posted by VanHalen5150

Your example of Baltimore is bad because such a huge percentage of the city is complete ghetto, it's hard to tell what's been gentrified. Even the supposedly nicer parts of Baltimore CITY looks like slum to me

When's the last time you were in Baltimore???????

Beautiful and dynamic neighborhoods with more and more young professionals, such as Fell's Point, Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, Mt. Vernon, Little Italy, Harbor East.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by dothetwist

When's the last time you were in Baltimore???????

It should be stated that said poster has made the same claims about the entirety of Tampa. They clearly don't get out much.

[VanHalen5150]

Originally Posted by dothetwist

When's the last time you were in Baltimore???????

Beautiful and dynamic neighborhoods with more and more young professionals, such as Fell's Point, Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, Mt. Vernon, Little Italy, Harbor East.

2010 was the last time I was there. If street after street of neglected row house is your idea of nice, then, I guess you are right...

Also, street after street of gutted, burned out and condemned row houses too on the other side of the Amtrak tracks up by Penn Station

Inner harbor is nice enough, but it's also isolated from the hood. Fells Point, I found kind of ghetto, Canton too and Mt. Vernon was downright scary

I spent about a month there for a project I was working on.

[dothetwist]

Anyone who judges a city by the neighborhood around its train or bus stations isn't being fair; in many inner cities those were and sadly remain, some of the worst parts of many cities. Though even that is changing as more and more people want an urban lifestyle v. suburbs and exburbs, especially young professionals and the newer younger retirees.

Fells Point has been upscale since the early 2000's....we'd drive over from DC and spend weekends at Fells Point at various luxury B&B's. It was much nice than the over-touristed Inner Harbor, which is good for families with kids going to ballgames or their great Aquarium, but Fells Point was and remains one of the best neighborhoods. On the water (we'd take water taxis from FP to other parts of the City).

Mt Vernon is the hipster and LGBT fave neighborhood now; amazing selection of restaurants and clubs.

I guess some people just look for the worst and sadly, it's all they can see.

[VanHalen5150]

Oh, also, I went there for a wedding in 2003, and I have no idea where we were, but somewhere between BWI and the hotel we were staying at out on 695 somewhere, the taxi drove us past some abandoned golf course, complete with clubhouse which looked to be boarded up and partly burned down, drug dealers all around... classy joint