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Just got back from my first visit to St. Pete, and have finally recovered from my bad airbnb stay (read the reviews very, very carefully before picking a host to stay with). Although my visit time was cut in half due to those airbnb problems, I got a good feel for St. Pete. What a neat place. Sketchy in a lot of areas, and often w/ no clear demarcation between the good and the bad, but there were so many wonderful areas of town it was just great. We're moving there in December.
Buses tend to be a little old, but run often and cover the city well. Some even had Wi-Fi. The expensive, yuppie parts of town didn't do much for me, but the somewhat seedier areas downtown had so much soul and character it wasn't funny. Overall, I felt the vibe in many areas was totally old time liberal w/ quite a bit of anti corporate activism. A healthy environment for us. Corporate takeover is rapidly heading to St. Pete though. The writing is on the wall, so hopefully the grass roots activism can slow it down at least. If you're downtown by Williams Park and go just a few streets on the other side of Central, you start to get into serious money, w/ signs warning not to walk on the grass or even let your pooch walk on it. They can have that area. Who would want to hang there? Well, we know who hangs there, which is why I wont be in that mix.
What really impressed me was the friendly nature of most people. What a refreshing change from the Daytona area where we are now! You can get a little crappy New York attitude in the Edge District, but it's mild compared to what is actually in New York. Being in a city where some people say hello or good morning on the streets is a big plus for me. I wish the buses didn't go through so many ghetto areas, but even those areas could be a lot worse, as they are in many cities. Our goal is to find a place to live that will get us out of that sort of bus experience (probably have to live out of downtown quite a bit) and just deal w/ the ghetto thing on trips in and out of downtown when we go out for entertainment or food. I never even bothered to go down by the Pier w/ it's inverted pyramid that was being demolished while I was there. That area looked like the home of serious money, and being originally from the New Orleans area, funky and soulful are where we're at.
There's so many neat neighborhoods, and they often have tons of trees and wide streets w/ big sidewalks, which is important as I like to bike. In many ways, St. Pete is the nicest place I have ever visited, and if we plan it right, it just might be the best place we ever lived. It has a feel of San Diego in some parts (before San Diego became a home for the 1%ers), and other areas remind me of New Orleans 40 or 50 years ago. Portland is in there too, but thank goodness the uptight Portland vibe isn't around (although some people dress as if they just left Portland). But St. Pete really is it's own city.
Having Tampa next door is a positive. We can get to the several Zen Centers for our spiritual practice/meditations via the buses, and meet other people on our path. I had hoped that St. Pete would cover those bases, but the Buddhism there seems, for whatever reason, to be more about Tibetan type stuff, which is fine. We'll go, but we're Zen all the way. There is probably some authentic Zen happening in St. Pete that I just don't know about yet. This has been a real problem in the Daytona area for us, as there is nothing happening here. We can't wait to get get moved, take a month off and stay in temp housing until we find out where we should be home based, and get back to living our lives. Thanks to all the people who pointed us in this direction.
Yes I think there is something Portland in this city too. Especially the downtown and Central arts district. I don't plan on ever leaving. St. Pete is pretty much my perfect utopia. Checks enough boxes that I don't think anywhere else can.
Just got back from my first visit to St. Pete, and have finally recovered from my bad airbnb stay (read the reviews very, very carefully before picking a host to stay with). Although my visit time was cut in half due to those airbnb problems, I got a good feel for St. Pete. What a neat place. Sketchy in a lot of areas, and often w/ no clear demarcation between the good and the bad, but there were so many wonderful areas of town it was just great. We're moving there in December.
Buses tend to be a little old, but run often and cover the city well. Some even had Wi-Fi. The expensive, yuppie parts of town didn't do much for me, but the somewhat seedier areas downtown had so much soul and character it wasn't funny. Overall, I felt the vibe in many areas was totally old time liberal w/ quite a bit of anti corporate activism. A healthy environment for us. Corporate takeover is rapidly heading to St. Pete though. The writing is on the wall, so hopefully the grass roots activism can slow it down at least. If you're downtown by Williams Park and go just a few streets on the other side of Central, you start to get into serious money, w/ signs warning not to walk on the grass or even let your pooch walk on it. They can have that area. Who would want to hang there? Well, we know who hangs there, which is why I wont be in that mix.
What really impressed me was the friendly nature of most people. What a refreshing change from the Daytona area where we are now! You can get a little crappy New York attitude in the Edge District, but it's mild compared to what is actually in New York. Being in a city where some people say hello or good morning on the streets is a big plus for me. I wish the buses didn't go through so many ghetto areas, but even those areas could be a lot worse, as they are in many cities. Our goal is to find a place to live that will get us out of that sort of bus experience (probably have to live out of downtown quite a bit) and just deal w/ the ghetto thing on trips in and out of downtown when we go out for entertainment or food. I never even bothered to go down by the Pier w/ it's inverted pyramid that was being demolished while I was there. That area looked like the home of serious money, and being originally from the New Orleans area, funky and soulful are where we're at.
There's so many neat neighborhoods, and they often have tons of trees and wide streets w/ big sidewalks, which is important as I like to bike. In many ways, St. Pete is the nicest place I have ever visited, and if we plan it right, it just might be the best place we ever lived. It has a feel of San Diego in some parts (before San Diego became a home for the 1%ers), and other areas remind me of New Orleans 40 or 50 years ago. Portland is in there too, but thank goodness the uptight Portland vibe isn't around (although some people dress as if they just left Portland). But St. Pete really is it's own city.
Having Tampa next door is a positive. We can get to the several Zen Centers for our spiritual practice/meditations via the buses, and meet other people on our path. I had hoped that St. Pete would cover those bases, but the Buddhism there seems, for whatever reason, to be more about Tibetan type stuff, which is fine. We'll go, but we're Zen all the way. There is probably some authentic Zen happening in St. Pete that I just don't know about yet. This has been a real problem in the Daytona area for us, as there is nothing happening here. We can't wait to get get moved, take a month off and stay in temp housing until we find out where we should be home based, and get back to living our lives. Thanks to all the people who pointed us in this direction.
I always thought you would like St. Pete, smarino. Very different animal from Daytona, right? I too fear that one day it won't be flying under the radar so much like it does now and be invaded by the big money. The fact that so much of it IS old, and a bit run-down works in its favor, IMO. I've seen so many parts of Florida become too "slick", where all the soul is gone. Things need a bit of "seediness" to keep it real. That way the artists and bohemians can have their indie businesses and co-exist not far from the upscale areas. Anyway, I am a native Floridian, and St. Pete is pretty unique as far as any Florida cities and towns go. Even though I never spent much time in LA, it kind of reminds me of how maybe parts of LA were decades ago in its look and feel.
Just got back from my first visit to St. Pete, and have finally recovered from my bad airbnb stay (read the reviews very, very carefully before picking a host to stay with). Although my visit time was cut in half due to those airbnb problems, I got a good feel for St. Pete. What a neat place. Sketchy in a lot of areas, and often w/ no clear demarcation between the good and the bad, but there were so many wonderful areas of town it was just great. We're moving there in December.
Buses tend to be a little old, but run often and cover the city well. Some even had Wi-Fi. The expensive, yuppie parts of town didn't do much for me, but the somewhat seedier areas downtown had so much soul and character it wasn't funny. Overall, I felt the vibe in many areas was totally old time liberal w/ quite a bit of anti corporate activism. A healthy environment for us. Corporate takeover is rapidly heading to St. Pete though. The writing is on the wall, so hopefully the grass roots activism can slow it down at least. If you're downtown by Williams Park and go just a few streets on the other side of Central, you start to get into serious money, w/ signs warning not to walk on the grass or even let your pooch walk on it. They can have that area. Who would want to hang there? Well, we know who hangs there, which is why I wont be in that mix.
What really impressed me was the friendly nature of most people. What a refreshing change from the Daytona area where we are now! You can get a little crappy New York attitude in the Edge District, but it's mild compared to what is actually in New York. Being in a city where some people say hello or good morning on the streets is a big plus for me. I wish the buses didn't go through so many ghetto areas, but even those areas could be a lot worse, as they are in many cities. Our goal is to find a place to live that will get us out of that sort of bus experience (probably have to live out of downtown quite a bit) and just deal w/ the ghetto thing on trips in and out of downtown when we go out for entertainment or food. I never even bothered to go down by the Pier w/ it's inverted pyramid that was being demolished while I was there. That area looked like the home of serious money, and being originally from the New Orleans area, funky and soulful are where we're at.
There's so many neat neighborhoods, and they often have tons of trees and wide streets w/ big sidewalks, which is important as I like to bike. In many ways, St. Pete is the nicest place I have ever visited, and if we plan it right, it just might be the best place we ever lived. It has a feel of San Diego in some parts (before San Diego became a home for the 1%ers), and other areas remind me of New Orleans 40 or 50 years ago. Portland is in there too, but thank goodness the uptight Portland vibe isn't around (although some people dress as if they just left Portland). But St. Pete really is it's own city.
Having Tampa next door is a positive. We can get to the several Zen Centers for our spiritual practice/meditations via the buses, and meet other people on our path. I had hoped that St. Pete would cover those bases, but the Buddhism there seems, for whatever reason, to be more about Tibetan type stuff, which is fine. We'll go, but we're Zen all the way. There is probably some authentic Zen happening in St. Pete that I just don't know about yet. This has been a real problem in the Daytona area for us, as there is nothing happening here. We can't wait to get get moved, take a month off and stay in temp housing until we find out where we should be home based, and get back to living our lives. Thanks to all the people who pointed us in this direction.
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