The Chattaway’s is a privately owned restaurant on the corner of 22nd Ave and 4th St. South. Built in the 1920s, people stopped by to buy snacks while traveling to other cities. Owner Jillian Frers claimed that she had been running the business since the 1950s when it officially became a restaurant.
Frers placed a garden on the outside of her restaurant as a memoir of her mother who loved to garden.
Enjoy A Day in the Tea Room with a Reservation
When one makes a special reservation, they can enjoy a day in the tea room. Originally from London, England, Frers stated the tea room was a “representation of her family’s British heritage.” Customers can enjoy the taste of Britain while dining in a more casual and comfortable environment. The design of the room shows many beautiful antiques brought back from Frers homeland.
A much-needed escape into the world of film for the community during tough times
The Royal Theater located on the 22nd Street South, opened it’s doors to the public in 1948. The black community received the opening with great joy and festivities. The theater was kept in operation throughout 1966 and was one of only two movie theaters providing films for African-Americans during the divided time of segregation.
Built in 1926, this historic Midtown St. Petersburg building was once the Seaboard Freight Depot. According to General Manager Valerie Scott Knaust, “everything that came into St. Pete once came in through this space.”
The historic building has been turned into the Morean Center for Clay which is located at 420 2nd Street South. “We are nationally renown, but locally no one knows about us,” Knaust said. The center offers free classes every Sunday from 1pm-3pm, in hopes of expanding the Midtown communities interest in the arts. According to Knaust, they also offer summer camp for children, four major workshops and on Friday nights at a price of $25 adults can join in “if they bring a towel, their favorite beverage, and a sense of humor.”
Situated at 929 22nd Street S. adjacent to a mural showcasing Ella Fitzgerald, Lorene’s Fish and Crab House offers a wide variety of foods such as burgers, jumbo shrimp, and even chicken strips. Owners Lorene and Arthur Office opened the restaurant over 25 years ago, and the business continues to thrive today.
Lorene’s Fish and Crab House expands menu
Including only two tables inside the quaint restaurant on the Deuces, Lorene’s Fish and Crab House receives most of their business from take-out orders. Throughout the years, owner Lorene Office has expanded the menu to customers. The place sells crabs by the dozen with platters also available for purchase.
Black History Month in St. Petersburg had a productive start this 2017.
For the second year in a row, Mayor Rick Kriseman rose the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum flag above City Hall. The event took place on Feb. 1, 2017, to jump start Black History Month.
From left to right. Mayor Rick Kriseman (center) and Deputy Mayor Kanika Thomalin (right) during the rise of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum flag above St. Petersburg, Fl, City Hall on Feb. 1, 2017.
It represented the hard work that Dr. Woodson was able to put forth for the recognition of African American History.
“Dr. Carter G. Woodson is the father of black history month,” Terri Lipsey Scott said.
Black History Month was originally known as Negro History and Literature Week.
According to the attendants, Woodson was the reason to celebrate this month due to his efforts dating back to 1926. The acknowledgment and recognition of this cultural history are integral to the history of St. Petersburg.
In the event, participated members of ASALAH and Omega Psi Phi, two organizations that had tied with Dr. Woodson. There were also students from Mt. Zion Progressive Christian Academy; author Jon Wilson and Gwendolyn Reese from the African American Heritage Trails of St. Petersburg, among many of the community’s entrepreneurs, artists, and public figures.
It is important for the young populace of the community to see that African-American History is recognized and that they learn the rich history that shaped the city as it is now.
With the reminder that there are failing schools in Pinellas County, all predominantly African American, history as powerful as the one of this city should be exalted to revamp those institutions.
GULFPORT — When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, they will decide whether to reward two City Council incumbents with another two-year term.
One incumbent has drawn token opposition. The other has drawn a crowd.
Linda Bailey filed to run in Ward 2 in November, then essentially disappeared. She did not attend two candidate forums and did not respond to questionnaires that the Tampa Bay Times and a community weekly paper sent to candidates. In an interview, she said she is running just to give people “another name” on the ballot.
That suggests clear sailing for incumbent Christine Anne Brown, a community activist and teacher who is seeking a third term in Ward 2, which covers the southeast quarter of the city.
In Ward 4, however, incumbent Michael Fridovich has three opponents. They all criticize him for poorly representing the district, which stretches across the city’s northeast quadrant.
Although candidates must live in the districts they seek to represent, voting is citywide.
Written by University of South Florida St. Petersburg journalism and mass communications students, Ryan Callihan, Tyler Gillespie and Devin Rodriguez, this article was published in the Tampa Bay Times.
The 5000 Role Models of Gibbs High School are providing a biweekly car wash to raise funds for their college tour to Miami, Fla. The program is a dropout prevention, mentoring program that is committed to minority male achievement. The car wash services are available from 12 to 5 p.m. every other Sunday. They had their first car wash on Feb. 5 with the next car wash happening this Sunday.
Coordinator, Javaris Green, hopes they can continue this fundraiser so the students can have opportunities to visit more college campuses. One school on that list is the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus. The date is to be determined, but Green hopes the community will come out to support the young men and help them have a rich college-tour experience.
Partnered with No Limit Detailing, they are offering interior services (cleaning, leather conditioning, carpet shampooing, and wheel and tire care) and exterior services (wash, polish and wax). The charge is $10 per car and $15 per truck. Donations are always welcome. The car wash is located at 534 28th St. South St. Petersburg, FL, 33712. The contact number is 727.648.8540.
Among the different communities and organizations located in the St. Petersburg, Florida, area, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, was a day filled with celebrations, parades and service. Neighborhood News Bureau students covered these different events throughout the day with a few of the students getting their coverage published in The Weekly Challenger.
To view the entire coverage from the Neighborhood News Bureau students in The Weekly Challenger, click the link below.
A bleached-blonde woman sat down in barber Dale Jones’s chair for a free fade on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Hair by Ahsile.
“I wish people would say ‘Happy MLK Day,” Jones said as his clippers buzzed, “like they do ‘Merry Christmas’.”
Barber Dale Jones cuts hair for free as part of Hair by Ahsile’s MLK Day of Service, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
For the past ten years, the shop has offered no-charge services for the homeless community as part of its MLK Day of Service. This year, the event’s “day of pampering” included washes, cuts, and manicures to go along with free food and clothes.
Jones has worked at Hair by Ahsile for a little over a year. The shop at 844 49th Street North in St. Petersburg, Fla. is his family. Literally.
“My aunt owns the shop,” he said. “My uncle is in here, my cousin, another aunt.”
Jones will turn 37 this week and has two days off after MLK day. He’s looking forward to some fun.
“Every year I turn passed 25, the year they say we don’t make it out of the hood,” he said. “We celebrate.”
Friends for over 40 years
Pastor Deborah Hill became friends with Brenda Gilbert in the sixth grade. In the years after their high school graduation, Hill
Brenda Gilbert, owner of Hair by Ahsile in St. Petersburg, Fla., cuts hair as Pastor Deborah Hill looks on. The two have been friends for over 40 years.
left for the military.
After 20 years of service, she came back to the St. Pete area and quickly re-connected with Gilbert.
“Our visions are similar,” said Hill. “We both have a passion for helping those who are disadvantaged.”
By noon on Hair by Ahsile’s MLK Day of Service, Hill’s New Hope of Glory Ministries church van had picked up four loads of 15 people from various homeless shelters.
“When people can’t get their hair done – it does something to them,” she said. “The fact they’re able to receive the service makes a difference.”
Throughout the day, Hill and other volunteers filled multiple roles: ran desk, shampooed, and served food.
“On this day, you fit in where you can,” Hill said. “Everybody has to pull up their sleeves and work together.”
Inner beauty
Pastor Anthony Jones shampoos Carol Kapelke’s hair during the MLK Day of Service in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Pastor Anthony Jones helped Carol Kapelke out of her wheelchair and into the shampoo station. As he began to massage her temples, Kapelke touched a scar on her forehead.
“This is from surgery,” she said, “and this – this is from last night. I fell on the concrete.”
Kapelke closed her eyes.
“I look like an old woman,” she said. “All I see is the lines.”
As soon as the words left Kapelke’s mouth, Pastor Deborah Hill – at the nearby shampoo station – turned to her.
“You’re beautiful,” she said. “That’s just you telling yourself that you’re not.”
Hill leaned closer to Kapelke.
“Say I am beautiful,” she said. “Say I am somebody.”
Kapelke’s voice, quiet at first, grew louder.
“I am beautiful,” she said. “I am somebody.”
Moving to Florida
Dawn Herman, 54, always knew she wanted to become a graphic designer. In the 1990s, she went to one of the first Macintosh
Dawn Herman gets her hair cut by Phylicia McQueen as the stylist’s daughters Anilah and Angalee talk to them at Hair by Ahsile, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
training schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Herman worked at a big printing company after that then moved around the country with her Air Force husband.
The couple ended up in Mississippi, and Herman worked for ten years as a graphic designer at a university. Then, she went through a divorce and decided to move to Florida.
Eventually, she said, she found work in the art department at a newspaper.
“We went through a lot of changes with the internet,” she said. “They thought they could save a lot of money outsourcing work.”
As newspapers around the country re-worked business plans, Herman said she got fired in 2012.
“It really threw me for a loop,” she said. “I lost everything – my job, my house, my car. Everything went to hell in a handbasket.”
Herman had no family in Florida and nowhere to go. She ended up on the street.
“It can happen to anybody, honey,” she said. “It’s one paycheck. It’s so quick.”
Herman found a spot in Pinellas Hope tent city for the homeless. Herman, who has back issues, has had difficulty finding work and is currently applying for disability.
But she has hope.
“Today is the happiest I’ve been in a long time,” she said after she got her hair done. “To be out with regular people doing regular things. It’s a good day.”
