Matthew Bane

Johnny Green: St. Pete’s Forgotten Flier

Johnny Green was a notorious pilot, smuggler, and barnstormer for a decade in the Golden [...]

The Vinoy: The Hotel That Almost Wasn’t

The impressive Vinoy Hotel is loved in St. Pete but has a dramatic and rocky [...]

St. Pete’s Famed Festival of States: Part I

Read about the early days of St. Pete's most loved event, the Festival of States. [...]

Freaks and Geeks: Tampa Bay’s Sideshow Town

The town of Gibsonton, Florida is falling from the radar but was once well known [...]

The Flying Thunderbird of Treasure Island

In 1973 four Golden Girls got to ride their Thunderbird to new heights while crossing [...]

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The Oddly Unsuccessful History of Madeira Beach

I’ve always kind of wondered about the history of Madeira Beach. Traveling the beach road [...]

The Don Ce-Sar: A Castle Made of Sand Pt. 2

Part 2 of a history of the iconic Don Ce-Sar Hotel near St. Petersburg, Florida [...]

The Don Ce-Sar: A Castle Made of Sand Pt. 1

The hidden history behind the iconic and beautiful Don CeSar hotel on St. Pete Beach. [...]

The Rolyat – “America’s Most Distinctive Hotel”

Part I in a series: Grand Hotels of St. Pete Author’s note: The mid 1920s [...]

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Passes, Pirates, and Treasure: The Story of John Leviche

A fun look at the pirate turned turtle farmer whose name lives on at John's [...]

Pass-a-Grille: The Name Mystery Solved?

New research and findings might point to how the unusual and romantic name Pass-a-Grille located [...]

The Princess and the Castle

Eccentric outcast royal builds amazing 1920s home in Pinellas Point, in St. Pete Florida: the [...]

Frank Pulver: St. Pete’s Most Eccentric Mayor

In the early to mid 1920s, the heyday of the Golden Age of St. Pete, [...]

St. Pete in the 1930s: Tan Lines Optional

Did you know that back in 1930 the city of St. Pete, in its never [...]

Reeling in the Sun Seekers – 1920s Style

In the heyday of the 1920s, St. Petersburg marketed itself effectively with marketing pamphlets like [...]

Jack Kerouac: The End of the Road

Jack Kerouac, iconic author and Beat Movement protagonist, died at 5:45 am on Oct. 21, [...]

Benoist, Jannus, and the Flying Boats of St. Pete

The story and rare details about the first regular commercial air service in the country [...]

Into the Jungle

A single St. Pete location with remnants of ancient tribes, Spanish explorations, a Speakeasy, bootleggers, [...]

Hurricanes of the Pinellas Peninsula

History of the known hurricanes of Pinellas County and St. Petersburg area from stpetewiki.com. [...]

Treasure Island’s Golden Name

An interesting tale connected to an eccentric fellow named William D. McAdoo and Treasure Island [...]

Let’s Bowl St. Pete Style

Check out the fascinating, healthful, clean sport called lawn bowling that was brought to the [...]

The Whimsical Shell Fence of Owen Albright

Way back in 1901 a rather eccentric British fellow named Owen Albright found his way [...]

Florida Crackers: Here’s the Beef

Just about everybody has heard the nickname "Florida Cracker." What's the origin? Find out on [...]

Before the Train: The Pinellas Frontier

When you read about the history of St. Pete it is not uncommon to assume [...]

Noel Mitchell, The Huckster With Heart

Noel Mitchell is without question one of the most colorful personalities to have left a [...]

Planes, Trains, Boats & Cars – Part I

Researching early St. Pete from it’s inception through the 1940s has shown me, perhaps in [...]

Peter Demens: Building Railroads is Hard, Part 2

In the first part of this series (found here) things were going fairly well for [...]

Peter Demens: Building Railroads is Hard, Part I

Peter Demens is often referred to as one of the founding fathers of St. Pete. [...]

The Eccentric Works of Edwin Tomlinson, Part 2

This is part 2/2 about St. Petersburg benefactor Edwin Tomlinson. Part 1 can be found [...]

The Eccentric Works of Edwin Tomlinson, Part I

Background Edwin H. Tomlinson was a northern industrialist from Connecticut who had made a significant [...]

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St. Pete’s Oldest Street

The oldest road in St. Pete has an interesting history and predates the current city. [...]

George Lizotte and Early Pass-a-Grille

I think most of us would agree that of the St. Pete area beaches, one [...]

Urban Myth: Classy Haunted Downtown Potty

With certainty you have at some point stumbled upon, or in fact thanked someone above [...]

Baseball Parks of St. Pete

Summer is upon us, and that means baseball season. You may or may not be [...]

The Curious Case of St. Pete’s First Mayor

Way back in the 1890’s the young village that would become St. Petersburg only had [...]

Shifting Architecture into the Golden Era

St. Pete (before it was known as that!) was an agrarian community that primarily raised [...]

The Sunshine City Nickname

Ever wonder how the “Sunshine City” got it’s title? Starting in about 1910 St. Pete’s [...]

Coffee Pot Bayou Name

If you, like me, have wondered at some point why someone named Coffee Pot Bayou [...]

Pasadena Estates Downtown Office

The Pasadena Estates field office was in the building that is now the Alesia restaurant [...]