st. petersburg: a walk through history

For more than 100 years visitors have traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to soak up the rays of the Sunshine City. This rich history shapes the city landscape that greets tourists today. St. Pete’s walkable downtown is full of Mediterranean Revival architecture, historic churches of every denomination, old dance halls and cafeterias, grand hotels, miles of waterfront parks, and the world’s largest shuffleboard club. These historic treasures are nestled amongst hip new restaurants, cool coffee shops, trendy boutiques, and thousands of new apartments and condos in a booming residential downtown. Explore St. Petersburg at your own pace with local historian and popular tour guide Monica Kile. Her passion for historic architecture, urban design, and cultural history helps the reader understand the city’s evolution, from a place ridiculed as ＂God’s Waiting Room＂ in the 1960s to one of the most desirable downtowns in the country today. You’ll learn about the city’s most colorful characters and most beautiful buildings, and discover hidden stories that often go untold.

Monica Kile has been leading tours of St. Petersburg for nearly 20 years. During the pandemic, her ＂virtual tours＂ of St. Petersburg exposed her passion for the city’s history to a wider audience and turned her into a local history ＂influencer＂ (which embarrasses and delights her children in equal measure.) Monica has a master’s degree in Florida Studies and has served as the Executive Director of the local historic preservation organization and a lifelong learning program. She now creates historic content and leads tours for I Love the Burg, Tampa Bay’s largest independent social media outlet.