My family moved to St Petersburg from New Jersey in February 1957 due to my dad’s health issues.  He was a tailor by trade, and had no job when we arrived.  Being it was winter and the height of the tourist season, finding a place to live was difficult.  We rented a small frame house on Essex Dr.  The realtor told us about this new development called Holiday Park so my parents bought a lot on 64th St and 24th Av and had one of the first homes built in the development.  We moved in our new home in May 1958.  It is the best built home I have ever lived in.  I remember my parents teaching Latin dances in the model home on 64th St and 22nd Ave to the new home owners of Holiday Park. It was a way of meeting neighbors and having a good time.  I think the salesman for the development was Bob.  Holiday Park only went as far as 26th Ave at the time.  The property north was woods and undeveloped.  My dad started his own tailor business on Maderia Beach (Nino the Tailor) and we started our lives in Florida.  My parents lived in the house until they passed away, at which time I moved back in 2012.  It is such a blessing to be back in the hood and have so many fond memories. Just thought I’d share my story with you.

 

Laura Wheeler I have so many memories. Nobody had fences and we could walk through the yards to Tyrone Middle then cross over the sewer pipe over the ditch to get to the Sundries on Tyrone & 22nd. When I was in Jr High at Tyrone we would walk to crossroads shopping center after school and have fries and Vanilla Coke at Liggetts drug store. They had the old juke boxes on the table and we would play our favorite songs. Same at the Sundries. I  remember my friend dancing on top of a table at the Sundries. 66th St was a 2 lane dirt road and we could walk all the way to 38th Ave to visit friends.

​

Friday night was ALWAYS at the Holiday Park Dances where the Elks club is now. Life was so simple.