Places in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg names seven arts districts and lists historic districts on two registers, and three of the arts districts are also Florida Main Streets.

The City of St. Petersburg names seven arts districts: the Waterfront Museum District, Uptown Arts District, Central Arts District, EDGE District, Grand Central District, Deuces Live District and Warehouse Arts District (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts). The city says most of them are walkable and flow into each other, and it encourages the Downtown Looper, the Central Avenue Trolley and the SunRunner over driving (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts).

Three of those districts carry Florida Main Street designation, Deuces Live, Grand Central and EDGE, and the city says St. Petersburg is the only Florida city with three Main Street areas (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts). Beyond the arts districts, the city's economic development map adds Gateway in north St. Pete, Skyway Marina in the south and the Tyrone area near the beaches (City of St. Petersburg, About the Districts).

The Digital Towns St. Petersburg downtown arts district guide covers the three districts closest to the waterfront in depth, with museum hours, parking and ArtWalk; the historic districts guide covers the protected neighborhoods.

The St. Petersburg arts districts run in a band from the downtown waterfront west along Central Avenue to 31st Street, with Uptown to the north and Deuces Live on the South Side.

The table follows the city's own boundaries and the anchors it names in each district (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts). The Waterfront Museum District also takes in the St. Petersburg Museum of History, American Stage and the Palladium, and the Central Arts District has live music seven nights a week, by the city's description (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts).

Deuces Live has a history the others do not: during segregation it was the heart of St. Pete's African American business, home and entertainment life on the South Side, and it survived decades of blight caused by the construction of I-275 (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts). The Digital Towns St. Petersburg African American history guide tells that story.

Five St. Petersburg neighborhoods are on the National Register of Historic Places as districts, and a separate city register adds local landmarks and local districts that carry real limits on exterior changes.

The city's National Register list, dated as of March 2022, dates Roser Park Historic District to April 1998, North Shore to February 2003, Kenwood to August 2003, Round Lake to September 2003 and the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District to April 2004 (City of St. Petersburg, National Register list). North Shore, for example, is bounded by 4th St N, 5th Ave N, Tampa Bay and 30th Ave N (City of St. Petersburg, National Register list).

The two lists work differently. National Register listing is administered by the National Park Service; unlike that listing, local landmark designation protects a property from unnecessary demolition or unsympathetic alterations by private owners (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). Changes to locally designated properties are reviewed through Certificates of Appropriateness, and historic preservation staff answer at [email protected] in the Planning and Historic Preservation Division, One 4th Street N (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation).

A buyer looking at an older home in Kenwood or Roser Park should ask first whether the house is locally designated, since the city reviews proposed changes to locally designated properties, not to National Register listings as such (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). The Digital Towns St. Petersburg historic districts guide lists the local districts and the review fees.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve is a 400 acre city preserve, and Fort De Soto is the largest park in the Pinellas County park system.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve spans 400 acres and connects to Lake Maggiore, at 1101 Country Club Way S.; admission is $3 for adults and $1.50 for children 3 to 16, and the preserve is closed on Mondays (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve). The nature center's exhibits are closed for renovations, but the preserve and trails remain open (St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve).

Fort De Soto covers 1,136 acres on five interconnected keys, draws more than 2.7 million visitors a year on average and charges the county's $6 parking fee (Pinellas County, Fort De Soto Park).

The St. Petersburg parks hub covers Boyd Hill, Weedon Island Preserve, Vinoy Park and North Shore Park in their own guides, and the landmarks hub covers the St. Pete Pier, Sunken Gardens, the Snell Arcade and the Vinoy hotel.

The free PSTA Downtown Looper circles downtown St. Petersburg every 15 to 20 minutes, seven days a week, and links the waterfront districts with Central Avenue.

PSTA runs the Looper free of charge from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with stops near the Vinoy, Beach Drive, USF St. Petersburg and the stadium (PSTA, Downtown Looper). The city recommends the Looper, the Central Avenue Trolley and the SunRunner for moving between arts districts, and it calls St. Petersburg bike, walk and scooter friendly (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts).

For the western districts, the Pinellas Trail runs through the entire Warehouse Arts District (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts). The EDGE District runs from Dr. M.L.K. Jr. St. to 16th St. and the Grand Central District from 16th to 31st Streets, both between 1st Avenues North and South (City of St. Petersburg, Art Districts).

Two Digital Towns guides sit in the St. Petersburg places section: the downtown arts district guide and the historic districts guide.

• Which downtown arts district to visit, what each museum charges and where to park: the St. Petersburg downtown arts district guide, covering the Waterfront Museum District, Central Arts District and EDGE District.
• Which neighborhoods are historic districts, what local designation requires and what a review costs: the St. Petersburg historic districts guide.

For St. Petersburg homes and neighborhood data, the real estate hub and its neighborhoods guide take over; for history behind these places, the history hub; for preserves and parks, the parks hub.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, for St. Petersburg against the city's art districts, historic preservation, National Register list and districts pages, the Boyd Hill preserve page, the Pinellas County Fort De Soto page and the PSTA Looper page.