St. Petersburg, Florida - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County

Pinellas County, Florida

Pinellas County is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. This county is contained entirely within the telephone area code 727, except for some sections of Oldsmar, which have the area code 813...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St. Petersburg the fourth largest city in the state of Florida

Florida

and the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat. Although the city of Clearwater

Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...

is the county seat of Pinellas County, all county services are available through county offices in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa Bay Area

Tampa Bay Area

The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently...

, which is composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state.

The city is often referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents.

The city is located on a peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

between Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...

and the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

. It is connected to mainland Florida to the north; with the city of Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

to the east by causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...

s and bridges across Tampa Bay; and to Bradenton

Bradenton, Florida

Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...

in the south by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a bridge spanning Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cable-stayed main span, and a total length of 21,877 feet . It is part of I-275 and US 19 , connecting St. Petersburg in Pinellas County and Terra Ceia in Manatee County, Florida, passing through Hillsborough...

(Interstate 275

Interstate 275 (Florida)

Interstate 275 in Florida serves the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, measuring 60.696 miles in length. The southern terminus is I-75 near Palmetto, just five miles east of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a toll bridge crossing Tampa Bay. The highway passes through St...

), which traverses the mouth of the bay. It is also served by Interstates 175 and 375

Interstate 375 (Florida)

Interstate 375 in St. Petersburg, Florida, also known as North Bay Drive, is a 1.34-mile-long spur route from Interstate 275 into downtown. It is also designated as the unsigned State Road 592...

, which branch off I-275 into the southern and northern areas of downtown respectively. The Gandy Bridge

Gandy Bridge

Gandy Bridge is the southernmost bridge spanning Old Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg, Florida to Tampa, Florida. Almost three miles long, it is one of three bridges connecting Hillsborough County and Pinellas County; the others being the Howard Frankland Bridge and the Courtney Campbell...

, conceived by George Gandy

George Gandy

George Shepard "Dad" Gandy was a business executive and developer, best known for constructing the original Gandy Bridge, the first bridge to span the Tampa Bay. He is also known for developing numerous buildings and transportation lines in Philadelphia and St. Petersburg,...

and opened in 1924, was the first causeway to be built across Tampa Bay, connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa cities without a circuitous 43 miles (69.2 km) trip around the Bay through Oldsmar

Oldsmar, Florida

Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,910 at the 2000 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population to be 13,401 as of 2008....

.

With a purported average of some 360 days of sunshine each year, it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City." For that reason, the city has long been a popular retirement

Retirement

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...

destination, especially for those in the United States from colder Northern climates. This reputation earned the city the derisive nickname of "God's waiting room". However, in recent years the population has shifted in a more youthful direction.

History

The city was co-founded by John C. Williams, formerly of Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, who purchased the land in 1876, and by Peter Demens

Peter Demens

Peter Demens born Pyotr Alexeyevitch Dementyev is one of the founders of the U.S. city of Saint Petersburg, Florida.-Early life:Peter Demens was born to a wealthy family in the Tver Oblast of Russia. Demens was a well educated aristocrat who was also liberal-minded. "Demens' father had left him...

, who was instrumental in bringing the terminus of a railroad there in 1888. St. Petersburg was incorporated on February 29, 1892, when it had a population of only some 300 people.

It was named after Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, where Peter Demens had spent half of his youth. A local legend says that John C. Williams and Peter Demens flipped a coin to see who would have the honor of naming the city. Peter Demens won and named the city after his home, while John C. Williams named the first hotel after his birthplace, Detroit (a hotel built by Demens). The Detroit Hotel still exists downtown, but has been turned into a condominium. The oldest running hotels are the historic Pier Hotel, built in 1921, formally Hotel Cordova and The Heritage Hotel, built in 1926.

Philadelphia publisher F. A. Davis

F. A. Davis

Frank Allston Davis was a publishing executive who founded the F. A. Davis Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After moving to the Tampa Bay Area, he introduced electricity to St...

turned on St. Petersburg's first electrical service in 1897 and its first trolley

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

service in 1904. The city's first major industry was born in 1899 when Henry W. Hibbs, 1862–1942, a native of Newport, North Carolina, established his wholesale fish business at the end of the railroad pier, which extended out to the shipping channel. Within a year, Hibbs Fish Company was shipping more than a thousand pounds

Avoirdupois

The avoirdupois system is a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States and is still widely used to varying degrees by many people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other former British colonies despite the official adoption...

(454 kg) of fish each day.

Dredging of a deeper shipping channel from 1906 to 1908 opened St. Petersburg to larger shipping. Further dredging improved the port facilities through the 1910s. By then the city's population had quadrupled to 4,127.

In 1914, airplane

Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

service across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg to Tampa and back was initiated, generally considered the first commercial airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

. The company name was the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line and the pilot was Tony Jannus

Tony Jannus

Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus , was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period. He flew the first airplane from which a parachute jump was made, in 1912. Jannus was also the first airline pilot, having...

, flying a Benoist XIV

Benoist XIV

-References:* * * * Servis, Richard. "". Non Fiction Reader Magazine* from St Petersburg Museum of History executive director Will Michaels printed in the St Petersburg Times 2 February 2004.* -External links:* *...

flying boat. The Tony Jannus Award is presented annually for outstanding achievement in the airline industry. Jannus Landing, a local music/entertainment venue on Central Avenue in downtown, is also named after him.

The city population continued to multiply during the 20th century. Booming in the 1940s and 50s with the advent of air-conditioning and through the 1970s as the town became a popular retirement destination for Americans from midwestern

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

cities, reaching 238,647 in the 1980 census. By that time, however, the population had levelled off, and has grown by only 10,000 since then; this is primarily a result of the city being largely "built out".

Geography and climate

St. Petersburg is located at 27°46′23"N 82°38′24"W (27.773053, -82.639983).

According to the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 133.1 square miles (344.7 km²)— 59.6 square miles (154.4 km²) of it is land and 73.4 square miles (190.2 km²) of it (55.19%) is water.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Rec high °F (°C)	87 (30)	86 (30)	90 (32)	93 (33)	96 (35)	100 (37)	99 (37)	97 (36)	97 (36)	94 (34)	90 (32)	89 (31)	100 (37)
Avg high °F (°C)	72 (22)	73 (22)	77 (25)	83 (28)	89 (31)	90 (32)	92 (33)	92 (33)	90 (32)	85 (29)	79 (26)	74 (23)	81 (28)
Avg low °F (°C)	54 (12)	56 (13)	60 (16)	65 (18)	72 (22)	76 (24)	77 (25)	77 (25)	75 (24)	70 (21)	65 (18)	56 (13)	67 (19)
Rec low °F (°C)	25 (-4)	30 (-1)	32 (0)	41 (5)	55 (12)	54 (12)	67 (19)	68 (20)	61 (16)	43 (6)	29 (-2)	20 (-7)	20 (-7)
Precipitation in. (mm)	2.3 (58)	2.8 (71)	3.4 (86)	1.6 (41)	2.6 (66)	5.7 (145)	7.0 (178)	7.8 (198)	6.1 (155)	2.5 (64)	1.9 (48)	2.2 (56)	45.8 (1160)
Source: Weatherbase

St. Petersburg has a humid subtropical climate

Humid subtropical climate

A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...

(Koppen Cfa), with a definite rainy season from June through September. St Petersburg, like the rest of the Tampa Bay Area, is occasionally affected by tropical storms and hurricanes. However, the last time a hurricane directly struck the city was in 1921. Many portions of St. Petersburg, especially along the bay and in south St. Petersburg, have tropical microclimates. Royal palms and coconut palms, as well as other tropicals, grow to maturity and fruit.

Demographics

17.6%
St. Petersburg Demographics
2010 Census United States Census, 2010 The Twenty-third United States Census, known as Census 2010 or the 2010 Census, is the current national census of the United States. National Census Day was April 1, 2010 and is the reference date used in enumerating individuals...	St. Petersburg	Pinellas County	Florida
Total population	244,769	916,542	18,801,310
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010
Population density	3,964.4/sq mi	3,347.5/sq mi	350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	68.7%	82.1%	75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian Non-Hispanic Whites Non-Hispanic Whites or White, Not Hispanic or Latino are people in the United States, as defined by the Census Bureau, who are of the White race and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity. Hence the designation is exclusive in the sense that it defines who is not included as opposed to who is... )	64.3%	76.9%	57.9%
Black or African-American	23.9%	10.3%	16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	6.6%	8.0%	22.5%
Asian	3.2%	3.0%	2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial) Multiracial American Multiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...	2.5%	2.2%	2.5%
Some Other Race	1.3%	2.0%	3.6%

As of 2010, there were 129,401 households out of which 15.9% were vacant. As of 2000, 23.85% of households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.295% were married couples

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no adult living partner present, and 43.8% were non-families. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.865.

In 2000, the city's population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.24 years. For every 100 females there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.

As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $34,597, and the median income for a family was $43,198. Males had a median income of $30,794 versus $27,860 for females. The per capita income

Per capita income

Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

for the city was $21,107. About 9.2% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Languages

As of 2000, speakers of English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

as their first language

First language

A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...

were 88.53% of residents, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

as a mother tongue was 4.43%, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

accounted for 0.78%, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

made up 0.72% of speakers, Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

at 0.67%, Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian language

Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...

0.52%, and Laotian comprised 0.51% of the population.

Largest employers

According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	Raymond James Raymond James Raymond James Financial is a diversified financial services holding company whose subsidiaries engage primarily in investment and financial planning, in addition to investment banking and asset management...	2,700
2	All Children's Hospital All Children's Hospital All Children's Hospital is a Pediatric hospital located in St. Petersburg, FloridaIt is the only freestanding children’s hospital on the state's Gulf coast. It has consistently ranked among America’s top 25 children’s hospitals in comparative studies done by Child Magazine, which rated All...	2,300
3	Bayfront Medical Center Bayfront Medical Center Bayfront Medical Center is a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bayfront Medical Center is Pinellas County's only trauma center and St. Petersburg's longest-standing hospital....	2,200
4	Fidelity National Information Services Fidelity National Information Services Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. , also known as FIS, is a publicly traded corporation and is a global provider of banking and payments technology solutions, processing services and information-based services...	2,000
5	Home Shopping Network Home Shopping Network Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...	1,700
6	Jabil Circuit Jabil Circuit Jabil Circuit, Inc. is a provider of electronics manufacturing services. Jabil designs and manufactures electronic circuit boards for major OEMs in a diverse group of industries including automotive, computing and storage, consumer products, medical, networking, peripherals and telecommunications....	1,400
7	Bright House Networks Bright House Networks Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...	1,400
8	St. Anthony's Hospital St. Anthony's Hospital (St. Petersburg, Florida) St. Anthony's Hospital is a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.- External links :*...	1,400
9	Times Publishing Company Times Publishing Company Times Publishing Company is a newspaper and magazine publisher. Its flagship publication is the St. Petersburg Times, a daily newspaper serving the Tampa Bay area. It also publishes the business magazine Florida Trend and the daily newspaper tbt* .Times Publishing Company is based in St...	1,000
10	Progress Energy Progress Energy Inc Progress Energy , headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve approximately 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and...	1,000

Attractions and points of interest

The city has a children's museum (Great Explorations), Museum of Fine Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida

The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, opened to the public in 1965. It was established by Margaret Acheson Stuart ....

, a History Museum (which has a full-size replica of the Benoist seaplane and is located near the approximate spot by the St. Petersburg Pier

St. Petersburg Pier

The St. Petersburg Pier, simply called The Pier by locals, is a landmark and major tourist destination in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Some of the activities and sights it encompasses include fishing, boat rentals, weekly festivals, and the Pier Aquarium...

where the first flight took place), a Holocaust Museum, and the Salvador Dalí Museum

Salvador Dalí Museum

The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, houses the largest collection outside Europe of the works of the artist Salvador Dalí and is located on the Downtown St. Petersburg waterfront.-History:...

, which houses the largest collection of Dalí's

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....

outside of Europe, including a number of famous and large-scale paintings such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is the name of a painting by artist Salvador Dalí, begun in 1958 and finished in 1959. It is over 14 feet tall and over 9 feet wide , one in a series of large paintings Dalí did during this era.-Description:This work is an ambitious homage to Dali's...

. There is also a Chihuly Collection at 400 Beach Drive that houses some of the magnificant glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly. There are also various other smaller art galleries and entertainment venues, especially in the downtown area, which has seen a boom in development since the mid 1990s; these include: The Mahaffey Theater

Mahaffey Theater

Mahaffey Theater is a concert hall located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The facility first opened in May, 1965. It is one of the prime venues for the Florida Orchestra and hosts traveling Broadway shows. The theater lobby overlooks Tampa Bay through a three-story glass wall...

complex, American Stage (an equity regional theater), The Coliseum, and Palladium Theatre, and The Midtown Royal Theater, The Arts Center, and the Florida Craftsmen Gallery.

The St. Petersburg Pier

St. Petersburg Pier

is a popular tourist attraction. It contains a small aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

open to the public, retail shopping, adventure activities, and both casual and fine dining restaurants. Various sightseeing boat rides are also offered. The Bounty II

Bounty II

This article is about the replica ship. See for information on the original ship.The Bounty II is a reconstruction of the original sailing ship HMS Bounty, which served in the Royal Navy....

, a replica of HMS Bounty

HMS Bounty

HMS Bounty , famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the...

that was used in the 1962 Technicolor remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty"

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film)

Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh...

starring Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

, was permanently docked near the Pier for many years until the ship was sold to Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

in 1986. The Bounty II, however, still makes St. Petersburg its winter home. In 2010, the St. Petersburg City Council voted to demolish and rebuild the pier within two years.

The city also had a Madame Tussaud Wax Museum between 1963 and 1989.

Downtown is the location of the BayWalk

BayWalk (St. Petersburg)

BayWalk is a shopping, dining and entertainment establishment located in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The complex, which opened in the fall of 2000, includes of retail space plus an movie theater owned by Muvico Theaters, LLC...

shopping complex which contains an IMAX

IMAX

IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

Muvico 20 screen movie theater, as well as many chain restaurants and retail shops, catering to more of a middle and upper class audience. Baywalk

BayWalk (St. Petersburg)

is also a nightlife destination although it is less well attended than the block surrounding Jannus Landing

Jannus Landing

Jannus Live is an open-air concert venue in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, named after Tony Jannus. It plays host to various acts, both nationally prominent and local....

, just south of BayWalk. Central Avenue, from the Yacht Club west to 8th Street, is also both more vibrant and "organic" than BayWalk with the exception of a couple underdeveloped blocks. Restaurants serving ethnic and domestic culinary specialties can be found throughout the downtown area. Every Saturday morning, from October to May, the downtown area hosts a farmers market in the parking area of Al Lang Field (aka Progress Energy Park). Local vendors sell the fruits of their labors (whether edible or decorative) alongside artists of all kinds including live music. As of 2010, Baywalk is virtually deserted, with only Muvico remaining to anchor the complex.

Due west of downtown on Central is a district called Grand Central

Grand Central, St. Petersburg, Florida

Grand Central is an arts-entertainment district in St. Petersburg, Florida, located on Central Avenue two miles west of Downtown. It is located within the boundaries of Kenwood Historic District, a neighborhood of St. Pete...

which is contained within Historic Kenwood. It is known for its artistic community, LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

presence and hosting of the annual St. Pete Pride parade. Like its name implies, Old Northeast is adjacent to downtown from the northeast. It is known for its historic status and eclectic architecture. Roser Park

Roser Park Historic District

The Roser Park Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th and 9th Streets S, and 6th and 11th Avenues S. It contains 146 historic buildings. Roser Park was developed in the early years of the 20th Century by wealthy developer,...

is another historic district, located just south of downtown. It is known for its stately architecture and somewhat dubiously for its proximity to the "South Side." Together, these areas comprise the urban core of St. Petersburg.

North of downtown is Great Explorations, The Children's Museum, an interactive museum featuring a Children's Village with giant pretend stores, Fire House and Pet Vet Clinic, and preschool, science, music, art, and water exhibits. The museum is located next to Sunken Gardens

Sunken Gardens (Florida)

The Sunken Gardens are 4 acres of well-established botanical gardens located at 1825 4th Street North, in the center of St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. The Gardens were a commercial tourist attraction for many years, but are now operated by the city and maintained with the help of volunteers...

. 4th Street as a whole, from Downtown up to Gandy Boulevard, is home to many restaurants and bars running the gamut from fast food to haute cuisine

Haute cuisine

Haute cuisine or grande cuisine was characterised by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe.The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne...

. This area is called the "Garden District", although as of 2010 this name is not widely in use.

Boyd Hill Nature Park located on Lake Maggiore is a 245 acre (0.9914807 km²) preserve where you can see many of the endangered plants and rare wildlife of Tampa Bay. There is a bird exhibit which houses bald eagles

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

, owl

Owl

Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

s, hawk

Hawk

The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

s, and other species.

St. Petersburg is well regarded for its beaches. In 2005, Fort Desoto was rated the number one beach in America by the annual Dr. Beach rankings. TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor.com is a travel website that assists customers in gathering travel information, posting reviews and opinions of travel-related content and engaging in interactive travel forums. It is part of the TripAdvisor Media Group, operated by Expedia, Inc. TripAdvisor is a pioneer of...

also has the beach ranked number one in the nation for 2008. Also noted for its arts community, St. Petersburg regularly places top 25 in the nation among arts destinations Recently, St. Petersburg has become known and regarded as one of America's most livable cities.

Downtown

Downtown St. Petersburg is the Central Business District

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

, containing high rises for office use, most notably the Bank of America Tower

Bank of America Tower (Saint Petersburg)

The Tower at One Progress Plaza is a 28-story skyscraper designed by Jung Brannen Associates located at 200 Central Avenue in downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida. It was completed in 1990, and at , it is the tallest building in the city and the largest tenant occupied commercial office building on...

. The St. Petersburg Times

St. Petersburg Times

The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...

newspaper is headquartered in the downtown area. The Poynter Institute

Poynter Institute

The Poynter Institute is a non-profit school for journalism located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school's mission statement says that "The Poynter Institute is a school dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders. It promotes excellence and integrity in the practice of...

, which owns the paper, is located on 3rd St. S.

The Mahaffey Theater

Mahaffey Theater

complex, the Morean Arts Center, dozens of other art galleries, Haslam's used book store, The Coliseum, Palladium Theatre, and Jannus Landing

Jannus Landing

Jannus Live is an open-air concert venue in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, named after Tony Jannus. It plays host to various acts, both nationally prominent and local....

are among the galleries and cultural venues featured downtown. Several prominent museums are located in the perimeter. Four of them have received notable accolades: Chihuly Collection presented by the Morean Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida

The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, opened to the public in 1965. It was established by Margaret Acheson Stuart ....

, Salvador Dalí Museum, the Florida International Museum

Florida International Museum

The Florida International Museum at St. Petersburg College was an art museum located at the Downtown Center location of St. Petersburg College at 244 Second Avenue N, St...

, and the Holocaust Museum. The city also plays host to many festivals throughout the year.

Downtown contains the University of South Florida St. Petersburg

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg , commonly known as USF St. Pete, is an autonomous campus in the University of South Florida system, located in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida by the Tampa Bay waterfront...

, and a downtown branch of St. Petersburg College

St. Petersburg College

St. Petersburg College is a fully accredited post-secondary educational institution located in St. Petersburg, Florida, serving some 65,000 students annually...

. The downtown perimeter also houses several parks, most of which are waterfront or lakefront. Straub Park is nearly a half mile long, boasts a waterfront location, and is home of the Museum of Fine Arts. The Vinoy Hotel has a waterfront location, a spot on the National Historic Register, and a AAA

American Automobile Association

AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...

Four-Diamond rating. This area also contains Vinoy Park, which is known to hold music festivals, including the Vans Warped Tour. Nearby is the historic Tramor Cafeteria building, now part of the St. Petersburg Times. All of the above are connected via the Looper Trolley.

Most of the dining downtown can be found on or near Central Avenue or on Beach Drive near the waterfront. Central Avenue and adjacent streets also contain most of the active nightlife scene which includes bars, lounges and clubs to suit most tastes as well as two busy concert venues: Jannus Landing

Jannus Landing

Jannus Live is an open-air concert venue in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, named after Tony Jannus. It plays host to various acts, both nationally prominent and local....

and the State Theatre. The nightlife scene is credited to recent demographic and regulatory changes. In 2010, the city council voted to extend bar hours until 3 A.M., identical to cross-bay "rival" Tampa.

Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...

, home of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

's Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...

, is located in the western part of downtown. Until , the team played its spring training games at Progress Energy Park

Progress Energy Park

Progress Energy Park is a 7,227 seat baseball stadium located on the downtown waterfront of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is named in honor of Al Lang, a former mayor of St. Petersburg who helped to bring professional baseball to the city...

, right down the road. This setup was unique, making St. Petersburg the first city that played host to its baseball team during spring training as well as the regular season since the 1919 Philadelphia Athletics

1919 Philadelphia Athletics season

The Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing last in the American League with a record of 36 wins and 104 losses. It was their fifth consecutive season in the cellar after owner-manager Connie Mack sold off his star players....

. At the end of 2007, there was a debate over a new stadium

Rays Ballpark

Rays Ballpark was the name used in project documents for a ballpark in the current location of Progress Energy Park on the Tampa Bay waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays as a replacement for Tropicana Field....

to be built on the downtown waterfront at the current Progress Energy Park site. This new ballpark would have an overhead sail to cool game-time temperatures and catch rain. Tropicana Field would be demolished and replaced with prime residential and retail space. Completion of the stadium was planned for 2012; however, the proposal has been tabled indefinitely while a community-based organization investigates all alternatives for new stadium construction.

Jutting a half mile into the Bay is the St. Petersburg Pier

St. Petersburg Pier

, a major tourist attraction with various activities. Due to its livability and myriad amenities, St. Petersburg's downtown has been rated among the best in the South. The area's beaches are a 10 miles (16.1 km) drive from downtown.

The Wikimedia Foundation

Wikimedia Foundation

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...

had been located in downtown St. Petersburg since its founding by Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....

. On September 25, 2007, the Foundation announced its move in late 2007 from St. Petersburg to the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

.

St. Petersburg boasts the third largest dedicated public waterfront park system in North America, with a waterfront park system that stretches seven miles and is used year round for public events, festivals and other activities. In the early 1900s, citizens and city leaders engaged in a long and boisterous debate over the future of the young city's waterfront space with one side advocating for commercial, port and industrial development and the other side advocating for a long-term commitment to parks and public access to the waterfront. The public access and park contingent won the debate when, on Christmas Eve 1909, the city announced the acquisition of the waterfront land that is encompassed by the waterfront park system.

The city is also becoming one of the largest destinations in Florida for kiteboarding, a relatively new water-sport, with locations such as Ft. Desoto Park, Pass-a-Grille, and Ten-Cent. St. Petersburg locals such as Billy Parker and Alex Fox have gained a reputation for being some of the best kiteboarders in the world.

The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club was established in 1924 and gained attention as the "World's Largest Shuffleboard Club" with 110 courts and over 5,000 members in the 1950s and 1960s.

Neighborhoods

St. Petersburg has more than 100 neighborhoods.

Allendale
Allendale Terrace
Arlington Park
Azalea Homes
Bahama Shores
Barcley Estates
Bartlett Park
Bonita Bayou
Bayboro
Bayou Highlands
Bayway Isles
Bayway Isles
Bayway Isles is a residential neighborhood consisting of two islands in the southernmost part of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida. The islands are home to almost 200 families. The community extends southward from the Pinellas Bayway causeway into the waters of southern Boca Ciega Bay...
Big Bayou
Brighton Bay
Broadwater http://broadwaterfl.org/
Campbell Park
Carillon
Casler Heights
Causeway Isles
Caya Costa
Central Oak Park
Childs Park
Clam Bayou
Coquina Key http://www.ckna.org
Crescent Heights
Crescent Lake
Cromwell Heights
Crossroads
Disston Heights http://disstonheights.org/
Downtown (North Downtown and University Park)
Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District
The Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th Avenue N, Beach Drive NE, Central Avenue, and 9th Street N. It contains 367 historic buildings and 7 objects.-External links:* at...
Driftwood
Eagle Crest
Eden Isle

Edgemoor
Euclid Heights
Euclid St. Paul's Neighborhood
Euclid St. Paul's Neighborhood
Euclid St. Paul's Neighborhood is a residential section of St. Petersburg, Florida which began to be developed in the 1920s in a former orange grove. The neighborhood has a mixture of home styles and sizes, and the Pinellas County Schools headquarters are located there...
Five Points
Fossil Park
Fruitland Heights
Garden Manor
Garden Manor Lake
Gateway
Graham-Rogall
Grand Central
Greater Pinellas Point
Greater Woodlawn
Harbor Isle
Harbordale
Harris Park
Highland Grove
Highland Oaks
Historic Kenwood
Historic Old Northeast/North Shore
Historic Roser Park
Roser Park Historic District
The Roser Park Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th and 9th Streets S, and 6th and 11th Avenues S. It contains 146 historic buildings. Roser Park was developed in the early years of the 20th Century by wealthy developer,...
Historic Park Street
Historic Uptown
Holiday Park
Isla del Sol
James-Clearview
Jordan Park
Jungle Prada
Jungle Terrace
La Puerta Del Sol
Lake Euclid

Lake Maggiore Park
Lake Maggiore Shores
Lake Pasadena
Lakewood Estates
Lakewood Terrace
Live Oaks
Magnolia Heights
Mangrove Bay
Mangrove Bayou
Mariners Pass
Maximo
Meadowlawn
Mel-Tan Heights
Melrose-Mercy/Pine Acres
Methodist Town
Mobel Americana/Americana Cove
Northeast Park
North Kenwood http://www.north-kenwood.com
Oakwood Garden/Pinefield View
Old Bayside/St. Petersburg Marina
Old Northeast
Old Pasadena
Old Southeast
Palmetto Park
Pasadena Bear Creek
Pasadena Vista/West Lake Estates
Patrician Point
Perkins
Perry Bayview
Pinellas Point/The Pink Streets
Placido Bayou

Ponce De Leon
Ponderosa Shores
Renaissance
Riviera Bay
Riviera Bay Subdivision
Roser Park Historic District
Roser Park Historic District
The Roser Park Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th and 9th Streets S, and 6th and 11th Avenues S. It contains 146 historic buildings. Roser Park was developed in the early years of the 20th Century by wealthy developer,...
Round Lake Historic District/Round Lake
Shore Acres
Snell Gardens
Snell Isle
Snell Isle
Snell Isle is a neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida that centers on Snell Isle Boulevard. The street is named after local developer C. Perry Snell , who was the driving force behind the creation and emergence of the Snell Isle neighborhood in the 1920s. A memorial is dedicated to his memory...
Sterling Manor
Sunset Drive
Tanglewood
Weedon Island Preserve
Weedon Island Preserve
The Weedon Island Preserve is an archaeological area near St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is located on 1800 Weedon Drive NE. The preserve, owned by the state, is leased to Pinellas County. The county's Department of Environmental Management/Environmental Lands Division manages the area...
Thirteenth Street Heights
Thirty-First Street Neighborhood
Treasure Island
Tropical Shores
Twin Brooks
Tyrone Landing
Tyrone Park
Venetian Isles
Waterway Estates
West Neighborhood
Westminster Heights
Wildwood Heights
Windward Pointe
Winston Park
Woodlawn Circle
Woodlawn Oaks
Wyngate Townhomes
Yacht Club Estates

Airports

Nearby Tampa International Airport

Tampa International Airport

Tampa International Airport is a major public airport located six nautical miles west of the central business district of Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. This airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority...

provides air transportation for most passengers. Smaller airlines, with destinations to smaller cities and towns, operate at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida, north of St. Petersburg, serving St...

, with most tenants providing only seasonal services. Albert Whitted Airport

Albert Whitted Airport

Albert Whitted Airport is a city-owned public-use airport in St. Petersburg, a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The airport is located on the western edge of Tampa Bay, southeast of downtown St. Petersburg and The Pier. It is also located east of the University of South Florida St....

provides general aviation services near the heart of downtown St. Pete.

Mass transit

Mass transit in St. Petersburg is provided by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority

Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority provides public transportation for Pinellas County, Florida. The authority manages a bus system that encompasses 34 local routes, two express routes, and the Suncoast Beach Trolley .-History:PSTA began in the early 1900s as the St...

(PSTA). A sightseeing trolley, called The Looper also travels to key downtown destinations daily.

Railroads

CSX operates a former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...

branch line which sees daily rail traffic from north Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

though Safety Harbor

Safety Harbor, Florida

Safety Harbor is a city on the west shore of Tampa Bay in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated in 1917. The population was 17,203 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 17,550....

, Clearwater

Clearwater, Florida

, Largo

Largo, Florida

Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, USA and is part of the Tampa Bay Area. Centrally located, it is the crossroads of the county. As of the 2000 census, the City had a total population of 69,371. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was...

. As of March 2008, the portion that ran into downtown St. Petersburg and the adjacent western industrial areas was abandoned. There is a small rail yard to the northwest of downtown St. Petersburg at the new end of the rail line with several spur lines serving industries in the area.

The former Seaboard Air Line branch from the western coastal portion of the county was abandoned in the 1980s and converted to a popular recreational trail called the Pinellas Trail

Pinellas Trail

The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a pathway in Pinellas County in the U.S. state of Florida. It stretches from Tarpon Springs in the north to St. Petersburg in the south, passing through the towns of Crystal Beach, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, Bay Pines, South Pasadena and...

Primary and secondary education

Public primary and secondary

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

schools in St. Petersburg are administered by Pinellas County Schools

Pinellas County Schools

Pinellas County Schools is a school district serving Pinellas County, Florida, USA and based in Largo.-Organization:Pinellas County Schools has about 102,000 students and more than 13,000 employees. Dixie M. Hollins was the county's first superintendent of schools...

. High schools in the city include:

Gibbs High School
Lakewood High School
Lakewood High School (Florida)
Lakewood High School is a public high school in St. Petersburg, Florida operated by Pinellas County Schools. It opened in 1967 with students previously attending St. Petersburg High School and Boca Ciega High School. As of 2006, due to its 54% minority population, Lakewood High was known as one of...
St. Petersburg High School
St. Petersburg High School
St. Petersburg High School, founded in 1898, is a secondary school located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school's current building, a historic landmark, was built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The school was billed as the nation's first million dollar...
St. Petersburg Catholic High School
St. Petersburg Catholic High School
St. Petersburg Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg.-Background:Mission Statement...
Shorecrest Preparatory School
Shorecrest Preparatory School
Founded in 1923, Shorecrest Preparatory School is the oldest independent day school in the state of Florida. A K-12 institution, it serves St. Petersburg as well as the greater Tampa Bay area. Shorecrest hosts the Chargers, the school's teams, for all sports....
Boca Ciega High School
Boca Ciega High School
Boca Ciega High School is an American four-year public high school in Gulfport, Florida, south of the St. Petersburg city line, and is part of the Pinellas County Schools district...
Northeast High School
Northeast High School (St. Petersburg, Florida)
Northeast High School is a high school located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is part of the Pinellas County Schools district. The school mascot is the Viking and the school colors are scarlet, cream, and black...
Canterbury School of Florida
Dixie M. Hollins High School
St. Petersburg Collegiate High School

The non-profit Science Center of Pinellas County educates more than 22,000 school children annually through field trip classes and offers winter, spring and summer workshops for 2,000 more.

Higher education

St. Petersburg is home to several institutions of higher education. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

is an autonomous campus in the University of South Florida

University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...

system. Eckerd College

Eckerd College

Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...

, founded in 1958, is a private four-year liberal arts college

Liberal arts college

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...

. St. Petersburg College

St. Petersburg College

St. Petersburg College is a fully accredited post-secondary educational institution located in St. Petersburg, Florida, serving some 65,000 students annually...

is a state college in the Florida College System. Also in St. Petersburg is the Poynter Institute

Poynter Institute

, a journalism institute which owns the St. Petersburg Times

St. Petersburg Times

in a unique arrangement.

Other colleges and universities in the wider Tampa Bay Area include the University of Tampa

University of Tampa

The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...

in Tampa and Hillsborough Community College

Hillsborough Community College

Hillsborough Community College is a two-year community college, located in Hillsborough County, Florida. The college has six campuses located throughout the county. Locations include: Brandon, Dale Mabry, Plant City, Ybor City, MacDill AFB, and South Shore...

, with campuses across Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County, Florida

As of the census of 2000, there were 998,948 people, 391,357 households, and 255,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 951 people per square mile . There were 425,962 housing units at an average density of 405 per square mile...

Media

The city's main daily morning newspapers are the St. Petersburg Times

St. Petersburg Times

as well as its free daily sister publication tbt*. Other newspapers available in the area are the daily The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune, published in Tampa, Florida, is one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area, second in circulation and readership to the St. Petersburg Times. The paper's tagline is "Life...

and the free weekly alternative newspaper Creative Loafing

Creative Loafing

CL Inc. is the Tampa, Florida-based publisher of three city newsweeklies and their associated websites. Each of the papers focuses on local news, politics, arts and entertainment, and restaurants...

.

St. Petersburg is in the Tampa-St. Petersburg television and radio markets. WTSP

WTSP

WTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida . It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10....

channel 10 (CBS) and WTOG

WTOG

WTOG, channel 44, is a television station in St. Petersburg, Florida. Owned by the CBS Corporation, WTOG serves as the Tampa Bay Area station for the co-owned The CW Television Network. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.-Early years:...

channel 44 (The CW) are licensed to St. Petersburg, with studios in unincorporated Pinellas County in the Gandy Boulevard area just north of the St. Petersburg limits. Bay News 9

Bay News 9

Bay News 9 is a cable news television network located in St Petersburg, Florida. It currently serves the Tampa Bay Area including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Polk, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties...

, the local cable TV news service, is based in northeast St. Petersburg. Independent station WTTA

WTTA

WTTA is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Tampa Bay Area of Florida that is licensed to St. Petersburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Riverview. Owned by Bay Television, the station is operated by the Sinclair Broadcast...

is licensed to St. Petersburg, with studios in Tampa. The city of St. Petersburg owns WSPF-CA

WSPF-CA

WSPF-CA channel 35, is St. Petersburg, Florida's Government-access television cable TV channel, broadcasting City Council meetings and other public service programming for St. Petersburg residents, including the standard 3 hours weekly of children's E/I educational programming mandated by the...

channel 35, which broadcasts city government programming.

Cable television service is provided by Bright House Networks

Bright House Networks

Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...

and Knology

Knology

Knology Inc. is a cable company that formed in 1994 by ITC Holding Company, Inc, a telecommunications holding company in West Point, Georgia that also founded Internet service provider Mindspring. In late 1994, shortly after Knology's inception, two employees made a $600,000 investment to make...

, as well as fiber optic service provider Verizon FiOS

Verizon FiOS

Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...

Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue
FC Tampa Bay	Soccer	North American Soccer League North American Soccer League North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:... (NASL)	Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...	Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	National Football League National Football League The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing... (NFL) - NFC National Football Conference The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...	Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium, also known as the "Ray Jay", is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Tampa, Florida. It is home to the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as the NCAA's South Florida Bulls football team. The stadium seats 65,857 , and it is expandable to 75,000 for special events... , Tampa Tampa, Florida Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...	Hockey Hockey Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...	National Hockey League National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States... (NHL) - Eastern Conference	St. Pete Times Forum St. Pete Times Forum The St. Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, and arena football games, as well as concerts.... , Tampa
Tampa Bay Rays Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...	Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...	Major League Baseball Major League Baseball Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League... (MLB) - AL American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...	Tropicana Field Tropicana Field Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
Tampa Bay Storm Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa....	Arena Football Arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....	Arena Football League (AFL)	St. Pete Times Forum St. Pete Times Forum The St. Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, and arena football games, as well as concerts.... , Tampa
Bay Area Pelicans Bay Area Pelicans The Bay Area Pelicans Rugby Football Club is a men's rugby club in the Tampa Bay Area. The team was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1977....	Rugby Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...	USA Rugby Union USA Rugby USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...	Sawgrass Park, St. Petersburg
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida.-History:Racing in the St. Petersburg area dates back to 1985. The SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race on a downtown waterfront circuit from 1985-1990. Local residents and businesses complained about...	Auto Racing Open wheel car Open-wheel car, formula car, or often single-seater car in British English, describes cars with the wheels outside the car's main body and, in most cases, one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or fenders...	IndyCar IndyCar IndyCar is the trade name of an American-based open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. IndyCar sanctions three racing series, the premier IZOD IndyCar Series with its centerpiece Indianapolis 500, and developmental series Firestone Indy Lights and the U.S...	Downtown Waterfront Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District The Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th Avenue N, Beach Drive NE, Central Avenue, and 9th Street N. It contains 367 historic buildings and 7 objects.-External links:* at...
Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg 2009 Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg The 2009 Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg was the second round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on April 4, 2009. The Acura ARX-02a earned its first overall victory under the Patrón Highcroft Racing team after early...	Auto Racing American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams compete in one of five classes: LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC...	American Le Mans Series American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams compete in one of five classes: LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC... (ALMS)	Downtown Waterfront Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District The Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The district is bounded by 5th Avenue N, Beach Drive NE, Central Avenue, and 9th Street N. It contains 367 historic buildings and 7 objects.-External links:* at...

St. Petersburg is represented by teams in three major professional sports (football, baseball, and hockey), and several minor sports. One, the Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay Rays

of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, plays in St. Petersburg proper, while the other two play across the bay in Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

. All of the teams are considered to represent the entire Tampa Bay metropolitan area

Tampa Bay Area

. The Rays began play in 1998

1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their first season in franchise history. This season, they finished last in the AL East division and finished the season with a record of 63-99. Their manager was Larry Rothschild....

, finishing last in the American League's

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

East Division in first nine of the first ten seasons they had played, including their last year known as the "Devil Rays: 2007

2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays' 2007 season, the 10th season in franchise history, involved the Devil Rays trying to improve on their 2006 season, where they finished last in the American League East Division, and managed to finish the season with a league-worst record of 61-101. During the offseason...

. However, in , their 11th season, they held off the Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

and won the AL East Division Championship for the first time. In the playoffs, they again faced the Red Sox in the ALCS. They defeated Boston and won the American League Pennant

2008 American League Championship Series

-Game 1:Friday, October 10, 2008 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FloridaBoston won a pitcher's duel on a sac fly by Jed Lowrie in the fifth and an RBI double by Kevin Youkilis in the eighth. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was nearly unhittable in Game 1 of the 2008 ALCS. He held the Rays hitless...

. However, they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

in the 2008 World Series

2008 World Series

The 2008 World Series was the 104th World Series between the American and National Leagues for the championship of Major League Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies as champions of the National League and the Tampa Bay Rays, as American League champions, competed to win four games out of a possible...

.

From their inception until 2008

2008 Tampa Bay Rays season

The Tampa Bay Rays' 2008 season, the 11th season in franchise history, marked the change of the team's name from the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays" to the "Tampa Bay Rays", as revealed on November 8, 2007. The change in name also came with a change in logo and uniforms, with new team colors of Columbia...

, the Rays played their regular season games at Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field

and their Spring Training

Spring training

In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

games at Progress Energy Park

Progress Energy Park

, giving them the unique distinction of being the only team in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

that played its Spring Training games in their home city in more than 70 years. However, starting in 2009

2009 Tampa Bay Rays season

The Tampa Bay Rays' 2009 season was their 12th season of baseball on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The team attempted to defend their American League Championship they won in the previous season. Although they missed the playoffs, they still finished with a winning record – only the second in...

, the Rays have held Spring Training at Charlotte Sports Park

Charlotte Sports Park

Charlotte Sports Park is a baseball stadium in Port Charlotte, Florida...

in Port Charlotte

Port Charlotte, Florida

Port Charlotte is a census-designated place in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. The population was 46,451 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

, ending a 94-year streak of springtime baseball in the city.

Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field

, the home venue of the Rays, played host to the 1999 Final Four. St. Petersburg is also home to the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida.-History:Racing in the St. Petersburg area dates back to 1985. The SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race on a downtown waterfront circuit from 1985-1990. Local residents and businesses complained about...

, the inaugural race was held in April 2005. The circuit itself is made of downtown streets passing Progress Energy Park

Progress Energy Park

, the marina, and a runway in Albert Whitted Airport

Albert Whitted Airport

, and streets are temporarily blocked off for the annual Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series

The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...

race, which was last held on April 6, 2008. The race has been confirmed to return every year until at least 2013.

See the Tampa Bay Area

Tampa Bay Area

page for more details.

St. Petersburg is the home of many past and present sports icons. In the area of hails the WBC and IBF Light Middleweight Champion Ronald "Winky" Wright and IBF, IBO, and WBO Champion Jeff Lacy

Jeff Lacy

Jeffrey Scott Lacy is an American boxer. He is a former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion.-Amateur career:...

. Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

is a big interest in the area. Ernest Givins

Ernest Givins

Ernest Pastell Givins, Jr. , was a former professional American football player who was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 2nd round of the 1986 NFL Draft. A 5'9", 175 lbs. wide receiver from the University of Louisville, Givins played in 10 NFL seasons from 1986-1995...

, Stacey Simmons, William Floyd

William Floyd (football player)

William Ali Floyd is a former American football fullback in the NFL.At Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Florida, he compiled a 34 - 4 record and led the Spartans to the only undefeated regular season in school history in 1988...

, and Pat Terrell

Pat Terrell

Patrick Christopher Terrell is a former American football safety in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and Green Bay Packers...

are some of the famous retired NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

players from the city. Shaun King

Shaun King

Shaun Earl King is a former Tulane University and National Football League quarterback.-High School:King is a 1995 graduate of Gibbs High School .-College:...

, Marquell Blackell, Aveion Cason

Aveion Cason

Aveion Marquel Cason is a former American football running back and kick returner who played in the NFL from 2001 - 2009. He was originally signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2001...

, Darren Howard

Darren Howard

Darren M. Howard is an American football defensive end. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Kansas State.Howard has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles....

, Tim Carter, Kenny Heatly

Kenny Heatly

Kenny Heatly is an American and Canadian football cornerback who is currently a free agent. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Detroit Lions in 2004. He played college football at Bethune-Cookman....

, and DeAndrew Rubin

DeAndrew Rubin

DeAndrew Tarjo Rubin is an American football wide receiver and defensive back, who is currently a Free Agent of the Arena Football League. Rubin attended Dixie Hollins High School in Saint Petersburg, Florida and the University of South Florida and was a starting receiver after being redshirted...

are some players currently in the NFL from the city. Major League Baseball pitcher Doug Waechter

Doug Waechter

Douglas Michael Waechter is a former American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Florida Marlins and Kansas City Royals in Major League Baseball. He graduated from Northeast High School and was then drafted by the Devil Rays in the 3rd round of the 1999 Major League...

is also from St. Pete, as well as Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

pitcher Boof Bonser

Boof Bonser

Boof Bonser is a professional American baseball player. He is currently a pitcher in the New York Mets organization of Major League Baseball.-High school career:...

. Indy Racing League driver and 2 time Indianapolis 500: 2005 and 2011 Champion Dan Wheldon

Dan Wheldon

Daniel Clive "Dan" Wheldon was a British racing driver from England. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in both 2005 and 2011...

resided in St. Pete prior to his death in October 2011.

The Bay Area Pelicans

Bay Area Pelicans

The Bay Area Pelicans Rugby Football Club is a men's rugby club in the Tampa Bay Area. The team was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1977....

Rugby Football Club has also made their home in St. Petersburg since 1977. The Pelicans play in USA Rugby's Division II competing against teams throughout Florida and the United States. Throughout its history, the teams have won honors as Florida Cup Champions as well as berths in National Championship Tournaments.

Despite not having a team in the city since 2000 (with the St. Petersburg Devil Rays), St. Petersburg is also home to Minor League Baseball

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

's main headquarters. It is located on Bayshore Drive, adjacent to Progress Energy Park

Progress Energy Park

and its parking lot.

The International Shuffleboard Association

International Shuffleboard Association

The International Shuffleboard Association - ISA - was founded in Saint Petersburg, Florida in 1979. Shuffleboard is a competitive game that is often played on ship decks or other large expanses of smooth outdoor surfaces and also at smaller scales on tables indoors. The ISA promotes Shuffleboard...

was founded in St. Petersburg in 1979.

Sister cities

Takamatsu
Takamatsu, Kagawa
is a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and is the seat of the prefectural government. It is designated a core city by the Japanese Government. It is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea, and is the closest port to Honshu from Shikoku island...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

Notable residents

Mike Alstott
Mike Alstott
Michael Joseph Alstott , nicknamed "A-Train", is a former American football fullback in the National Football League. He spent his entire 12-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football at Purdue...

, retired professional football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
Rolando Arrojo
Rolando Arrojo
Luis Rolando Arrojo Avila was a Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched from to .Arrojo made his mark with the teams from Villa Clara in the Cuban National Series, where he still is the all-time leader in hit batsmen. He was the staff ace on the Villa Clara team that won 3 consecutive Cuban...

, former baseball player; one of the first free agents signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
B5, boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
Special Generation
Special Generation
Special Generation were an American new jack swing/urban R&B quintet that was the brainchild of M.C. Hammer. They sang backup on several of his recordings before becoming major recording artists in their own right in early 1990...

, singing group that started at Lakewood Senior High in the 80's boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
Lynn Barry
Lynn Barry
Lynn A. Barry is an American former assistant director of USA women's basketball and former adviser to the Women's National Basketball Association. Barry is also considered to be the most talented player in The College of William & Mary's women’s basketball program history.-Personal:Born in St...

, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

player
Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...

, actress
Bubba the Love Sponge
Bubba the Love Sponge
Todd Alan Clem is an American radio personality better known by his Legal name Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. He is the host of The Bubba the Love Sponge Show on various Cox Radio and Beasley Broadcast Group stations, formerly on Sirius XM Howard 101, as well as on RadioIO.-Early career and the...

, radio personality
Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...

, Smashing Pumpkins band member
Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...

, former governor of Florida
Linda Crockett
Linda Crockett
Linda Crockett, born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is an American author and teacher, best known for her horror, romance, and psychological thrillers. Linda Crockett published over a dozen books which were translated into as many languages, under the pen names Linda Crockett, Linda Crockett Gray,...

aka Christina Crockett, writer
Megan Fox
Megan Fox
Megan Denise Fox is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a regular role on Hope & Faith. In 2004, she launched her film career with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen...

, Actress
Michael France
Michael France
Michael France is a film screenwriter. He has written screenplays for the action films Cliffhanger , the James Bond film GoldenEye , and the popular comic book films Hulk , The Punisher and Fantastic Four .-Life:He attended the University of Florida in the early 1980s, working as a projectionist...

, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Hobart Freeman
Hobart Freeman
Hobart Freeman was a charismatic preacher and author, who ministered in northern Indiana and actively promoted faith healing.- Early life :Hobart Edward Freeman was born in Ewing, Kentucky, and grew up at St...

, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

and charismatic preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
Ernest Givins
Ernest Givins
Ernest Pastell Givins, Jr. , was a former professional American football player who was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 2nd round of the 1986 NFL Draft. A 5'9", 175 lbs. wide receiver from the University of Louisville, Givins played in 10 NFL seasons from 1986-1995...

, former football player
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
Dwight Gooden
Dwight Gooden
Dwight Eugene Gooden , nicknamed "Doc Gooden" or "Dr. K", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was one of the most dominant and feared pitchers in the National League in the middle and late 1980s.-Career:...

, baseball player
Nicole Haislett
Nicole Haislett
Nicole Lee Haislett Bacher is a former American college and international swimmer who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.- Early years :...

, Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

gold medalist in swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

, leading figure of the beat generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
Casey Kotchman
Casey Kotchman
Casey John Kotchman is an American Major League Baseball first baseman.-High school:He was on the 2001 national champion team of Seminole High School in Seminole, Florida.-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:...

, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

player
Sierra Kusterbeck
Sierra Kusterbeck
Sierra Kay Kusterbeck is an American musician who has served as lead vocalist of the band VersaEmerge since 2007.-Early life:...

, singer of VersaEmerge
VersaEmerge
VersaEmerge is an American rock band consisting of Sierra Kusterbeck and Blake Harnage, originating from Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA, currently signed to the label Fueled by Ramen. They have three EPs - Cities Built on Sand, Perceptions, and the self-titled release. Their debut album, Fixed at...
Jeff Lacy
Jeff Lacy
Jeffrey Scott Lacy is an American boxer. He is a former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion.-Amateur career:...

, professional boxer
John Loftus
John Loftus
John Joseph Loftus is an American author, former US government prosecutor and former Army intelligence officer. He is a president of The Intelligence Summit and, although he is not Jewish, a president of the Florida Holocaust Museum. Loftus also serves on the Board of Advisers to Public...

, former U.S. Justice Department Nazi war crimes prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...

, the president of the Florida Holocaust Museum
Florida Holocaust Museum
The Florida Holocaust Museum is a Holocaust museum located at 55 5th Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. Formerly known as the Holocaust Center, the museum officially changed to its current name in 1999. Founded in 1992, it moved to its current location in 1998...

, and terrorism expert
Gordon Mackenzie
Gordon Mackenzie
Henry Gordon Mackenzie is a former a Major League Baseball player. In 1956, he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Kansas City Athletics. Mackenzie made his major league debut on August 13, 1961 against the Chicago White Sox...

, former Major League Baseball player and minor league manager
Mark Mendelblatt
Mark Mendelblatt
Mark Mendelblatt is an American yachtsman. He primarily sails the Laser, a one-design class of small single-handed sailing dinghy...

, yachtsman, silver medallst at 1999 Pan American Games and 2004 Laser World Championships
Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay
Johnny Nee
Johnny Nee
John Coleman "Johnny" Nee was a major league baseball scout and a minor league player-manager....

, baseball scout
Ron Plaza
Ron Plaza
Ronald Charles Plaza is a former American baseball player. Though he never made it to the majors as a player, he reached the majors as a coach with the Seattle Pilots, Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics. He currently resides in St...

, former Major League Baseball player and minor league manager
Ray Robson
Ray Robson
Ray Robson is an American chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster. In October 2009, about two weeks before turning 15, he became the youngest grandmaster-elect in history who plays for the United States .Robson's norms were gained at the Arctic Chess...

, a young chess master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
Charles Roser
Charles Roser
Charles Martin Roser , also known as C. M. Roser, was an Ohio food maker, Florida real estate developer and philanthropist. He was born in Elyria, Ohio and died in St. Petersburg, Florida...

, cookie maker, real estate developer, and philanthropist
Mark Rotella
Mark Rotella
Mark Rotella is an American author and Senior Editor at Publishers Weekly.-Biography:Rotella was born in Connecticut and grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated from Columbia University in 1992 with a B.A...

, writer, author of Stolen Figs and Amore
Elmo Tanner
Elmo Tanner
William Elmo Tanner, known as Elmo Tanner was an American singer, whistler, bandleader and disc jockey, best known for his whistling on the chart-topping song “Heartaches” with the Ted Weems orchestra...

, whistler, singer, big-band leader
Casey Turner, Big Brother 11
Big Brother 11 (U.S.)
Big Brother 11 is the 11th season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It began on July 9, 2009 and aired on CBS and Showtime 2 for 73 days, concluding on September 15, 2009 when Jordan Lloyd was crowned the winner with four votes from the jury and one vote from the viewing public...

contestant
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....

, Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

founder
Sean Waltman
Sean Waltman
Sean Michael Waltman is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE in their developmental program. He wrestled there under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac off and on from 1993–2002, World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Syxx, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ...

, American professional wrestler
Dan Wheldon
Dan Wheldon
Daniel Clive "Dan" Wheldon was a British racing driver from England. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in both 2005 and 2011...

, Indy Racing League driver (killed in 15-car crash on 16 October 2011)
Ernest Vincent Wright
Ernest Vincent Wright
Ernest Vincent Wright was an American author known for his book Gadsby, a 50,000 word novel which, except for the introduction and a note at the end, did not use the letter "e".-Biography:...

, author of Gadsby
Gadsby (novel)
Gadsby: A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter "E" is a 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, which is revitalized thanks to the efforts of protagonist John Gadsby and a youth group he organizes.The novel is written...

, a 50,000-word lipogram
Lipogram
A lipogram is a kind of constrained writing or word game consisting of writing paragraphs or longer works in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided — usually a common vowel, and frequently "E", the most common letter in the English language.Writing a lipogram is a trivial task...
Winky Wright
Winky Wright
Ronald Lamont "Winky" Wright is an American boxer, the former undisputed world light middleweight champion and a current middleweight contender....

, professional boxer
Omali Yeshitela
Omali Yeshitela
Omali Yeshitela the founder of the Uhuru Movement a left wing, African Internationalist organization based in St...

, civil rights activist

External links

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