Buster Cooper's horn is safe. Ditto the Wednesday night spoken word events. The Garden, co-owned by Emmanuel Roux and Franck Bouvard since 1993, is not to be shuttered this weekend.
"It's an adoption of sorts," said Roux late Wednesday afternoon. "We're passing the baby on to new parents."
The "baby," a Mediterranean bistro housed in a building at 217 Central Ave. that dates to 1890, is one of St. Petersburg's beloved institutions. But despite the fact that, as Roux says, "there's a lot of his…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on December 10, 2009 at 12:05pm —
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St. Petersburg’s Garden restaurant is closing
By Laura Reiley and Luis Perez
tampabay.com
New life at Jannus Landing, the downtown St. Pe tersburg entertainment venue, may mean the end of another.
Tony Amico, the majority owner of Jannus Landing, confirmed Tuesday the downtown landmark is being renovated and that appears to be pushing out the Garden, one of downtown’s oldest restaurants.
“We have new tenants at Jannus L anding in all the venues there. They are remodeling everything,” Am…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on December 2, 2009 at 9:37am —
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Amidst all the holiday shopping craziness, most Americans at this time of year want to see holiday signs that wish them a "Merry Christmas."
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of adults prefer "Merry Christmas," while 22% like "Happy Holidays" instead.
Older Americans favor "Merry Christmas" more than younger adults.
Married adults fancy the traditional greeting a lot more than unmarrieds, although there is virtually no difference in the views of those with child…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on December 1, 2009 at 1:25pm —
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TREASURE ISLAND — If residents and city officials really want to get control of rowdy crowds on Sunset Beach, they have a simple, but expensive, solution — buy Caddy's On the Beach for $8.5 million.
That is the price Caddy's owner Tony Amico put on his property Tuesday during a commission workshop.
It all started several weeks ago during a contentious public meeting when residents threatened to sue the city for failing to halt continuing problems with intoxicated crowds inundating Sunset Beach…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 23, 2009 at 11:06am —
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When the city of St. Petersburg balanced its books at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, it discovered it had $2 million that had been budgeted but not spent. Now the City Council must decide whether to spend the money or save it for a rainy day. A city government exists to serve its residents' needs, and for many St. Petersburg residents, these are very rainy days indeed. The council should spend the money to help blunt the devastating impact of the continuing recession on its neediest residents.…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 23, 2009 at 11:05am —
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ST. PETERSBURG — Within a year, BayWalk patrons could be feasting on steak and shrimp, enjoying a 3-D movie or bowling in a snazzy sports lounge.
But, property managers warn, it won't be a quick turnaround.
Weeks after the City Council ceded the sidewalk fronting the downtown entertainment complex to private developers in a controversial move that pitted commerce against free speech, BayWalk still remains mostly vacant. Property managers have yet to name new tenants, existing shop owners are c…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 13, 2009 at 12:59pm —
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What’s next for Jannus Landing?
November 10, 2009 at 8:00 am by Eric Snider
Photos by Eric Snider
“This didn’t have to happen,” says Rob Douglas, his 6-foot-4 frame slouched on a sofa in his south St. Pete condo, his raspy voice weary and tinged with bitterness. He’s a linchpin of the St. Petersburg concert scene, his tenure as a promoter, venue operator and production manager dating back to the early ’80s, when shows were put on by enterprising locals rather than megacorporations. He spent 2…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 10, 2009 at 11:35pm —
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Tampa Bay Rays 3B Evan Longoria wins Gold Glove
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon challenged his team in spring training, saying they had plenty of players who were capable of earning a Gold Glove, and offering a lofty goal of winning nine.
The Rays didn’t complete that feat, but they did have a Gold Glove Award winner for the second straight year, as Evan Longoria won the award as the American League’s best fielding third baseman (View photo gallery). The award, announced Tuesday, makes Longor…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 10, 2009 at 8:06pm —
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ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor-elect Bill Foster announced the first major decision of his administration on Monday:
He's giving Tish Elston her old title back.
Elston will become city administrator when the new mayor takes office on Jan. 2. But Foster is changing her title, not her job. She'll continue running St. Petersburg's day-to-day operations as she has for the past decade.
She was first appointed city administrator in 1999. When Mayor Rick Baker took office in 2001, he changed her title to fi…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 10, 2009 at 8:04pm —
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Everyone knows Ribfest is essentially one giant classic rock-a-thon. In addition to all the barbecue, you're definitely going to get a lot of solid gold FM rock singles.
Last year, the lineup included Styx, the Doobie Brothers and Asia. In 2007, it was the Edgar Winter Band and Foreigner's Lou Gramm. In 2006, it was the Guess Who and the Marshall Tucker Band. And so forth and so on, year in and year out, until the beginning of time.
We heard this year's headliners included George Thorogood and…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on November 10, 2009 at 8:01pm —
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TAMPA - It can be a lonely stroll through BayWalk, where an entire mall wing now is empty, but several restaurants are considering the project, the mall's leasing agent says.
Curtis Rorebeck, a real estate agent with Equity who is trying to lease out the downtown St. Petersburg plaza, said he's in negotiations with several restaurants and night spots.
He said he couldn't name them and they haven't yet committed to the mall.
One goal is to make sure BayWalk lands name-brand tenants and persuad…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on July 8, 2009 at 6:23pm —
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TAMPA — Billy Mays, the TV pitchman whose trademark voice helped sell everything from cleaning supplies to baking soda, was found dead this morning by his wife at his Tampa home. No cause of death has been reported and no foul play is suspected, according to Tampa police.
Mays, 50, was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m. in his gated neighborhood near the Westshore Yacht Club, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. He told his family he wasn't feeling well Saturday and went to sleep early at 10…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 28, 2009 at 3:54pm —
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Jay Miller - St. Petersburg Times
Sunday June 28th, 2009
Downtown St. Petersburg has seen an amazing and exciting renaissance during the past 15 years. Downtown is once again the city's cultural and social center. Residents of the city's west-side neighborhoods and beach communities who rarely ventured downtown 20 years ago now visit regularly for restaurants, cultural events, movies, baseball games and general urban life. A younger population now mixes pretty comfortably with the city's famili…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 28, 2009 at 3:49pm —
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Here is a totally biased take on the St. Petersburg mayoral candidate forum held Wednesday by the Suncoast Tiger Bay club.
By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist
In Print: Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thumbs up: James Bennett, Kathleen Ford.
Bennett, a sitting City Council member, is rehabilitating himself from his scandal involving the use of city-controlled baseball tickets as a campaign goodie.
He came across Wednesday as equally or more knowledgeable on specific issues than other council v…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 18, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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Dems: Gibbons a 'Republican puppet mayor'
Riffing off Gov. Charlie Crist's endorsement of Deveron Gibbons for St. Petersburg mayor, the Pinellas County Democratic Party has this message on its Web site:
Help Stop the Republican Puppet Mayor
"In order to control the City of St. Petersburg, the GOP establishment is getting behind Republican lobbyist Deveron Gibbons.
"Gibbons, who is best known for his work promoting Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, hopes to deliver St. Petersburg for Bill…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 17, 2009 at 2:31pm —
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Charlie Crist endorses Deveron Gibbons
Gov. Charlie Crist is endorsing Deveron Gibbons to be mayor of his hometown.
"Deveron Gibbons is the story of a hometown kid who's becoming a hometown champion for St Pete," Crist said of Gibbons, who has worked on Crist campaigns. "While many people outside St. Petersburg know Deveron as smart, determined and experienced at every level of government, here in St. Pete Deveron is known as someone who will go the distance to be helpful. His resume of civic…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 17, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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If you are what you eat, Tampa bay diners are made of this stuff. Today we turn the spotlight on the area's iconic restaurants, those that have defined us as much as they've fed us. They may not be the "best," they may not always be the oldest, but these legendary spots have hosted us during triumphant milestones and nurtured us through life's inevitable setbacks.
We have no doubt that there will be little consensus about the top 25 (and we welcome reader feedback at blogs.tampabay.com/dining),…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 17, 2009 at 2:00pm —
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Angry residents persuade St. Petersburg to back off parking meter changes downtown
By Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, June 12, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG — City officials withdrew a proposal to increase parking enforcement hours downtown late Thursday, after angry residents and business owners inundated City Hall with e-mails and phone calls.
Mayor Rick Baker's staff interrupted a City Council meeting Thursday to announce that it would not move forward with the plan, which would…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 12, 2009 at 2:29am —
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ST. PETERSBURG — Bella Brava owner Robert Sanderson predicts it will be the end of Central Avenue.
Rhonda Shear threatened to relocate her lingerie shop, Maison Rouge.
And at Bayfront Tower, Hal Freedman fears he'll have to start warning his dinner party guests to carry pocketfuls of spare change.
The city's plan to expand parking meter enforcement hours near Central Avenue has sparked fury in residents and business owners alike. The measure would require visitors who currently don't have to…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 11, 2009 at 3:03am —
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ST. PETERSBURG — People who park downtown to work, shop or eat soon will be feeding meters for hours longer than they do now in most cases.
The city says it wants to eliminate a confusing array of meter enforcement times and standardize when meters are policed throughout downtown.
But the results mean that visitors who now don't pay after 6 p.m. or on weekends will need to keep plugging in quarters. That will likely mean more money for the city, but officials don't yet have an estimate of incr…
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Added by Kevin Lilly on June 9, 2009 at 11:30am —
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