St Petersburg Fla’s Run Down Slums “The Uptown Neighborhood”

Mom and Dad and me in 1953

Yesterday i had to attend a class in downtown St Petersburg.

Since i was literally a stones throw from my old birth home and haven’t seen it in years, I decided to tour the old neighborhood. It was and i assume is still called the “uptown area”. I grew up on 5th st and 11th ave north.

Those were the grand old days of St Petersburg Fla.

The big thing to do back then was to go to Webb’s City.

I couldn’t wait to get a hair cut. Webbs had a bunch of barbers, something like 20 or more. It was the quickest hair cut in the world, but as young kid that free double header ice cream cone that you got with a hair cut couldn’t be beat.

In 1925, James Earl “Doc” Webb, a patent medicine man, bought into a small drug store in Saint Petersburg. By 1926 he had bought out his partner and rechristened the place “Webb’s Cut Rate Drug Store,” building a business on the philosophy of “Stack it high and sell it cheap”

It was a formula that would work wonders in the Depression, helping him thrive as other businesses around him failed. Webb began to buy them out and expand — eventually owning more than seventy stores that spanned seven blocks. From 2nd Avenue South down to 4th Avenue South, his empire covered the area between 7th to 10th Street. Drugs, groceries, hardware, furniture, haircuts, plants, clothing, dry cleaning — “Doc” Webb sold it all. He ground coffee and shipped citrus. An Arthur Murray studio taught dancing — on the roof. At its height, Webb employed a staff of more than 1,200 to serve an average 60,000 customers a day.

When low prices and selection weren’t enough, Doc got creative. He sold dollar bills for ninety-five cents (a limited time offer). He shot the Flying Zacchinis out of a cannon in the parking lot. He exhibited mermaids, chimp acts, and baseball playing ducks. He sold breakfasts for two cents.

Eventually, though, the gimmicks just weren’t enough. Saint Petersburg, once the tourist capital of Florida, began a long, downward economic slide. The neighborhood deteriorated around Webb City, and not even dancing chickens or huge newspaper ads would lure the people back. “Doc” Webb tried to expand, to open new stores in Pinellas Park and Gainesville, but it just wasn’t the same.

James Earl "DOC" Webb and Webbs City

Ever the visionary, Doc sold out his majority stock holdings in 1974 (he would die eight years later at the age of 85). The company was bankrupt by 1979 and “The World’s Most Unusual Drug Store” closed its doors forever.

At its zenith, Webb’s City included 77 stores covering seven city blocks, selling groceries, hardware, surgical supplies, electronics, clothes and, of course, drugs. Webb’s City offered a combination of history, hucksterism, and value that can only now be experienced.

Those were the good old days in Downtown St Petersburg Fla. The city government took out the Green Benches that the city was famous for. They knocked down the original “Million Dollar Pier” and replaced it with that hideous upside down pyramid of a monstrosity that is also due to be demolished soon.

And that Bay Walk complex that can’t keep tenants due to all the crime in St Petersburg. Nobody in their right mind would dare go downtown after dark, much less go there to shop or take in a movie!

I locked my car doors yesterday when i toured the old neighborhood.  The City has done what they usually do, put all their emphasis into the downtown area, and let the immediate area surrounding it decline into a SLUM!

Updated – Feb 7 2012. Yesterday after a rather hostile dispute took place in the form of guest blog comments (now-deleted) by two members of the Uptown Neighborhood Association and myself. I realized the post had personally offended some of the uptown residents who are hard at work attempting to clean the area up.

I didn’t publish this article in an attempt to personally offend anyone. I have a very outspoken personality, and as a rule say just exactly whats on my mind, without attempting to sugar coat it. This post is just my personal feelings and thoughts regarding my old birthplace neighborhood.

I now understand that about 50 residents are involved in regular crime watch neighborhood walks. Attending meetings with city officials. Renovating properties. Etc. For that i honestly wish you success restoring the old charm this neighborhood had when i was born and raised there 60 years ago.

But let me just say this. After my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1991 and being the only child, and dad dying when i was a teen. I did what any good son would do for his mom. I moved down from Palm Harbor where i was living at the time, and cared for mom until her death in 1993.

During the time i was there, i also was a member of the Uptown Neighborhood Association that is there today, with the exception it is now referred to as the Historic Uptown Neighborhood Association.

I went on crime watch bike rides weekly with several other residents who were determined to clean up the neighborhood. Attended other neighborhood support walks arranged by the S.P.P.D. Attended city counsel meetings protesting many things. Etc, Etc, Etc. Spent a small fortune fixing the old home up. Basically doing the same thing this new resident group is doing today.

To make a long long story as short as possible. I ended up giving up and leaving the area for good. Had i stayed i would probably be dead of stress long before now, trying to deal with all the problems. The gunshots in the night, the hookers, the drugs, the transients walking down the street with an open quart of cheap ghetto beer, yada, yada, yada. I just could not live like that.

Driving by seeing what my old home looked like almost made me puke. Front door tore off. The house spray painted that baby shit brown color. I’d hate to think what the inside must have looked like.

Mom and Dad would roll over in their graves if they could see what their home looked like now.

God bless mom and dad who loved St Petersburg back when uptown was a nice neighborhood.

One generation dies, and another comes to take their place. If i were young again and starting out in life, that would be the last place i would want to raise my family. But this is my personal opinion. But i do wish all of you success in cleaning uptown up and trying to make it a respectable neighborhood to raise your children in.

Your questions and comments are welcome. And can be made by using your Facebook ID or by registering an account on this blog. Sorry guest posting has been disabled.

Ed Koon AKA FidoSysop.

9th St and 7th Ave North - Heading east on 7th Ave. Old junk car broken down ahead

7th Ave North approaching 5th St. Round lake park ahead on right.

An old apartment building on 6th St North. This is the neighborhood where the Hiccup Girl murdered a suitor.

Grown up weeds are just about everywhere. Building on far left started renovation but is abandoned.

A little house someone has tried to fix up, but looks like it's slipping back into disrepair.

11th Ave North approaching 5th Street. Tell me that garage apartment isnt painted a ghetto color. LOL!

5th St North and 11th Ave. My old home is painted that baby shit brown color.. Uggggg!

My old home on 5th St North. It has a for rent sign out front. Someone was there working on it.

5th Street North driving south from 11th Ave. The brick streets are all uneven and in severe disrepair.

Another run down slum apartment building on 5th St North between 9th and 11th Ave.

9th St North at 7th Ave. Heading south toward Central Ave.

5th Ave North approaching the I-275 Entrance Ramp. I'm out of here. I have seen enough ghetto for 1 day!

BTW: These photos were taken with a T-mobile G2 Android Smart Phone. 

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