A Life Well Travelled

If you’re looking for free things to do in St Petersburg Florida, then consider a self guided mural tour of downtown St Petersburg, Fl & the 600 Block. There’s a lot of famous street art in the area and local artists have managed to much of downtown St Petersburg, Fl into a kind of open air gallery complete with beautiful multicoloured pieces of art adorning the walls and even bins & security cameras. The 600 Block, which must be the coolest block in the area, should be top of your list.

Start at the back of the Craft Art Centre on the corner of 5th St North opposite Cottage Café. The initial idea here was to decorate the fire escape, but the project actually turned into a much large project involving humour and expressive colour. Commissioned by the craft centre and funded by a local bank the design shaped like a man next to a jellyfish with a brain. Much of the street art in downtown St Pete, Fl. takes a look at society and the artists have created pieces that may give different messages to each viewer.On the other side of the same car park is the Sunken Gardens Mural. This piece includes a memorial to St Pete Grand Prix driver who tragically died, Dan Wheldon. Whilst the whole mural is not dedicated to him, he will be forever remembered in this piece. Also seen in this design the famous Don Cesar Hotel.

A lot of the street art in the 600 Block of St Pete is actually adorning whole buildings and commissioned by the building owners themselves. St Pete brewing company is a great example of this. It’s spray painted to look like a banyan tree and includes a design showing a plane flown by Tony Janis, this is to commemorate the first commercial plane flight which was from St Pete to Tampa.

On the corner of 1st Ave North and 6th St North is an electrical box. Decorated You may notice the P logo at the bottom of the design, this is a link to an app called Pixelstix. Pixelstix is working alongside Shine Mural Festival and you can actually use the app to find the best street art in downtown St Petersburg Fl. and actually make your self guided mural tour even easier to follow.  

One of the most famous areas of downtown St Petersburg, Fl & the 600 Block for street art/murals is between Central Ave North and 1st Ave North. This whole street was meant to be regenerated but after the financial crash this unfortunately never happened. Instead however local artists took to the streets and painted each building and even wheelie bins and garages with some of the best murals in St Pete. USATop pieces include Frieda Kahlo, a giant shark with a cage you can appear to stand in and some beautiful Russian dolls. 

Other downtown St Petersburg Fl favourites include a piece on the side of the Morean Arts Centre. This mural is both welcoming and foreboding in equal measures and represents the war in Eastern Europe as remembered by the artist. It’s generally considered one of the top pieces in St Pete and is the work of AKuT / Damir Tabakovic.Old school graffiti styles can also be seen around downtown St Petersburg Fl. On 714 1st Avenue North two artists, one local and one from Bulgaria designed some colourful pieces that fortunately are usually in shade so have lasted well. These designs include the 3rd eye triangle which is often seen on pieces around the town. There have been a few debates as to what this represents. Is it their imaginations?On the South side of Central 600 Block is a huge black and white mural designed by St Pete favourite, artist Bask — aka, Ales Hostomsky. His work attracted the attention of Robert Downey, Jr. who ended up calling to request his work for Iron Man 3! The story goes that when Bask originally got the call asking for his work to be in the movie he actually hung up the first time as he thought it was a prank!What to pack for your downtown St Petersburg day out.

• Comfy shoes – You’ll be doing plenty of walking around downtown St Petersburg so make sure to wear some comfortable shoes or sandals.
• Sunglasses & sunscreen – It’s often hot, hot, hot in downtown St Petersburg and there isn’t that much shade so be sure to pack your sunglasses and sun protection so you don’t end up getting sunburnt. 
• Camera – With so many incredible pieces of art around the streets of downtown St Petersburg you’re bound to need your camera to snap some of the famous murals
• Water – Obviously there are plenty of lovely cafes & bars around downtown St Petersburg but it’s a good idea to bring a refillable water bottle as it’s quite easy to get dehydrated when you’re walking around in the hot Florida sun. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to the street art in downtown St Petersburg, Florida. It’s a vibrant, arty place with a lot going on, but if you want to save some money and find free things to do in downtown St Petersburg, Fl then a walking tour is highly recommended.