Old NE in St Pete? Also--Cuban restaurant? (crime, hotels)

[Seaturtle18]

So I found a couple places in St Pete but I live out of state and i don't know the area. I'm not even sure what streets exactly are downtown?? (if someone could explain which streets are the main strips, that'd be much appreciated). I found a few in the Old NE area and I want to know how close that is to the main bars, restaurants, etc of DTSP. Is it close enough to ride a bike? One of the places is on 10th ave NE, near Oak st. I want to be in close proximity to cool local places to eat and the like. I don't want to drive everywhere.

Also, I found another place on 2nd St N. Between 4th Ave N and 5th Ave N. How's that area in safety as well as proximity to the aforementioned bars?

Lastly--this is a weird question, but when I came to St Pete 7 years ago, I remember eating at a cuban restaurant that was connected to a live music venue. Like it was in the back side of it. Anyone have any idea of what I'm talking about? It may not even be there anymore but it's bothering me.

[wsamon]

Downtown is more-or-less centered on Central Ave, on the bay. Central Ave is one of the main strips and has various shops, bars, restaurants, etc. for quite a ways west of downtown. There are several others as well, but that should give you a good "center point" to shoot for. I'm not really certain what's considered the main downtown action area, but I'd say that you have at least 8 streets West, 5 or so north, and 2 or 3 south from that center point and you're still in that area. It may be bigger. Someone who's lived here longer, and/or closer to downtown can probably answer better than I.

The roads here are named either Ave for east-west ones, or St for north-south ones. Aves start from Central, with 1st Ave N and 1st Ave S each being one block off of Central. 1st St is really close to the bay and the larger numbers take you further west. So a house on 10th Ave N in historic old northeast should basically put you 8-10 blocks from the center of downtown action. I'd call that a fairly easy bike ride myself .

[franniejacks]

Go to google maps for DTSP and widen or zoom as you need to; you can add "sites" and "restaurants' and "hotels" etc. As the above poster wrote: other than a few 'named' streets, it's pretty much a grid of numeric streets and avenues, north and south.

On google you can choose 'directions' and get them in minutes for driving, biking and walking between any spots on the map (or type in addresses). You can switch from 'traffic' map to street view...it's a fun tool!!

[Seaturtle18]

Originally Posted by wsamon

Downtown is more-or-less centered on Central Ave, on the bay. Central Ave is one of the main strips and has various shops, bars, restaurants, etc. for quite a ways west of downtown. There are several others as well, but that should give you a good "center point" to shoot for. I'm not really certain what's considered the main downtown action area, but I'd say that you have at least 8 streets West, 5 or so north, and 2 or 3 south from that center point and you're still in that area. It may be bigger. Someone who's lived here longer, and/or closer to downtown can probably answer better than I.

The roads here are named either Ave for east-west ones, or St for north-south ones. Aves start from Central, with 1st Ave N and 1st Ave S each being one block off of Central. 1st St is really close to the bay and the larger numbers take you further west. So a house on 10th Ave N in historic old northeast should basically put you 8-10 blocks from the center of downtown action. I'd call that a fairly easy bike ride myself .

Thank you for the clarification!! I was looking at a map and thinking it was 2nd ave, I guess the pier threw me off and made me think that was "main street". So that definitely answers my question of how close 2nd st between 4th and 5 th ave is to the main strip.....now how would you define it in safety? I don't need to live in the the upper crust of st pete, i just want to be able to walk my dog around and feel pretty safe. would you recommend the 2nd st area or the old NE area I mentioned?

Thanks again for your help!

Originally Posted by franniejacks

Go to google maps for DTSP and widen or zoom as you need to; you can add "sites" and "restaurants' and "hotels" etc. As the above poster wrote: other than a few 'named' streets, it's pretty much a grid of numeric streets and avenues, north and south.

On google you can choose 'directions' and get them in minutes for driving, biking and walking between any spots on the map (or type in addresses). You can switch from 'traffic' map to street view...it's a fun tool!!

Thank you for the tip as well!!

[SeaSpur]

The restaurant could be gone, but I'm sure it was a place connected to Jannus Live downtown. Don't know of any Cuban restaurants on that block though? Ringside Cafe is new there. Also there is The Kitchen. Maybe Calypso?

[wsamon]

Both those areas are good and safe. In general, you probably don't want to live much south of 6th Ave S. Otherwise, you should be fine within a bike ride of downtown. You can always bring up Trulia or a similar crime heat-map sight to take a look. Remember that a lot of the crime in the heart of downtown isn't necessarily violent. It's your typical public drunkenness, bar fight, minor vandalism, etc. that you get anywhere there's lots of night time commercial activity.