No signup required. No Facebook. No comments. No rants. No drama.
It’s just a newsletter -- relax and enjoy. To view previous issues, visit the
archive.
Inside Azaleaville is a neighborhood newsletter, published about once a month.
If you'd like to contribute a story or suggestion, please visit the
contact page.
Azaleaville’s unique charm lies in its double legacy. Our neighborhood played a surprising role in two defining chapters of American life: the glamorous, jazz-soaked Roaring Twenties, when the Jungle Country Club attracted flappers, bootleggers, and even Babe Ruth - and the bold, suburban Atomic Age of the 1950s, when Azalea bloomed with mid-century optimism, sleek modern homes, and the clean lines of mid-century modern architecture, rising beneath television antennas and satellite dreams.
That’s why Inside Azaleaville honors both eras, blending history, fiction, and a little neighborhood mystery along the way.
━━ ⬩ AZALEA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION ⬩ ━━
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT:
Azalea Neighborhood Association Meeting – Wednesday, July 2
π 6:00 PM | Azalea Rec Center | 1600 72nd St N
All meetings are free and open to the public
Join Our Facebook Group:
Azalea Ranked #2 Neighborhood in St. Pete to Buy a Home
According to the latest rankings from
Niche.com, the Azalea neighborhood continues to shine. Listed as the
second best neighborhood in St. Petersburg to buy a home, Azalea stands out for its combination of location, livability, and long-term value.
Niche gives Azalea high marks for housing, family-friendliness, and outdoor activities. The neighborhood earns an overall A- rating, with an A in housing and B+ in public schools. It also receives praise for safety, diversity, and access to parks.
With a dense suburban feel, Azalea offers residents the comfort of quiet streets and the convenience of proximity to beaches, shopping, and schools. Most residents own their homes, and community involvement remains a defining feature of neighborhood life.
Reviewers on Niche note Azalea's great sense of community and its ideal balance between peaceful residential streets and accessibility to the rest of the city. As one resident wrote, “It’s a quiet neighborhood with friendly people and a safe environment.”
If you’re already here, you know why Azalea is special. If you’re thinking about moving, Niche’s rankings confirm what locals have known all along: Azalea is one of the best places in St. Pete to call home.
The Niche.com rankings come from their "2024 Best Places to Live" report.
DDT trucks fogging for mosquito control was a familiar scene in Florida from the mid‑1940s through the early 1960s.
Local recollections from the 1950s and early 1960s describe children chasing these trucks and riding bicycles through the chemical fog.
In Azaleaville, the DDT trucks rolled through on most summer evenings from the early 1950s through the early 1960s, before being phased out as concerns over their environmental and health impacts grew.
━━ ⬩ MARGIE'S TOY DRIVE ⬩ ━━
Margie’s Toy Drive: Bring Joy This Holiday Season
Once again, St. Pete Fire & Rescue is teaming up with local schools to make sure no child is forgotten this holiday season. Through close coordination with school counselors, fire personnel help identify families facing real hardship, ensuring that toys go directly to the children who need them most right here in St. Pete.
Azalea has always been one of the most generous neighborhoods in the city, and we’re proud to continue that tradition. Please consider donating a new, unwrapped gift in the $5 - $10 range (or maybe a little more) - something simple that might mean the world to a child this winter.
The Azalea Neighborhood Association will also gladly accept cash donations, which will be used to purchase additional toys to add to the growing pile of holiday cheer.
Visit Margie's Toy Drive page to find out how to donate, where to drop off gifts, and what items are most needed.
Margie’s Toy Drive is named in loving memory of Margie Griesi, the beloved founder of the Azalea Neighborhood’s holiday toy collection. Margie began the drive with a simple goal: to bring joy to children who might otherwise go without during the holidays. Her kindness, energy, and deep commitment to community made the toy drive a cherished tradition. Today, we continue her legacy by collecting new, unwrapped gifts for local children, honoring Margie’s spirit with every smile we help create.
━━ ⬩ HISTORICAL FICTION: JUNGLE HEAT ⬩ ━━
Set in 1926 at the Jungle Country Club
A subtropical melodrama crafted by artificial intelligence,
then made worse by genuine stupidity
Steve, addressing Kids and Kubs and others in attendance
Steve, who serves as the west St. Pete advisor for the Babe Ruth Centennial, recalled their ambitious plans: a mural in Azalea Park, a grand parade with a Babe Ruth float leading the way down the old Jungle golf course where Ruth once played - both struck down by logistical hurdles. But when Blake said, "I can build a statue," the idea stuck. And on Saturday, that vision was formally celebrated with the installation of a bronze plaque honoring Ruth’s deep connection to St. Petersburg.
━━ ⬩ ILLUSTRATED HISTORY ⬩ ━━
Hole 1 – Jungle Country Club (c. 1927)
Oil-style artwork generated with AI, based on historical photographs and creative direction by the author.
The view captures the green of Hole 1 looking back toward the historic Jungle Hotel, just as it appeared in the 1920s. A handful of golfers are shown in quiet concentration, the hotel rising elegantly in the background beneath a sky softened by painterly brushstrokes.
At 410 yards, Hole 1 was both a scenic starting point and a serious challenge. The artwork blends historical detail with nostalgic atmosphere in a tribute to the golden age of Florida golf.
The Azalea neighborhood was developed in the 1950s on the grounds of the world-famous Jungle Golf Course. The former Jungle Hotel now serves as the main building of Admiral Farragut Academy.
View the complete course layout overlaid on today’s street map here.
━━ ⬩ NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS ⬩ ━━
Review: June 7th Block Party & Azalea Outdoor Family Movie Night
We kicked things off with a block party feast: burgers, hot dogs, chips, and fresh-cut watermelon. The kids proved, yet again, that they may never tire of playing on the giant tree swing.
A pickup soccer game on the street added some friendly chaos - briefly interrupted when the ball went into Jungle Country Club Creek. Ken sprang into action, fishing it out using Steve’s pool skimmer, and the game was back on.
As the sun dipped low, families laid out blankets and lawn chairs under the stars. Our feature presentation, The Incredibles, lit up the screen while the weather was perfect with a comfortable tropical breeze.
Big thanks to everyone who brought food, pitched in, and showed up.
━━ ⬩ NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS ⬩ ━━
Manatees Hold Love Fest in Golf Creek Park near Park St and Dartmouth Ave N
June 20, 2025 - Five manatees were spotted yesterday in Golf Creek Park, just south of Admiral Farragut Academy, according to a post on NextDoor. It’s mating season, and this kind of behavior is typical of manatees, but it is rarely, if ever, seen in Golf Creek. Wildlife rescue was contacted, but the manatees returned to Boca Ciega Bay on their own. This is in the Historic Park Street neighborhood, just south of Azalea.
━━ ⬩ NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS ⬩ ━━
Slava Ukraini! (Π‘Π»Π°Π²Π° Π£ΠΊΡΠ°ΡΠ½Ρ)
The Ukraine National Baseball Team, on a humanitarian visit, played and practiced at Baseball City, located in Walter Fuller Park in the Jungle Terrace neighborhood on June 3, 2025. They faced the Bay Area Pro amateur team and won 8–2.
The tour began in Brooklyn, New York, and St. Petersburg was next on their schedule. The players, a diverse mix including students, soldiers, business owners, spoke about how baseball grants them a respite from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Sergii Shtapura, a pitcher and National Guard soldier, wore the blue-and-yellow “UKRAINE” jersey. His personal story reflects how sports and war intertwine: once pursuing baseball in Germany, he returned home to fight.
The visit is part of a broader humanitarian and goodwill tour crossing multiple U.S. cities. Plans include attending games featuring the Clearwater Threshers and Tampa Bay Rays.
Coach Oleg Boyko emphasized the priceless value of this experience for the team.
"Slava Ukraini!" (Π‘Π»Π°Π²Π° Π£ΠΊΡΠ°ΡΠ½Ρ!) means "Glory to Ukraine!" in Ukrainian. It is a patriotic salute widely used to express pride, solidarity, and support for Ukraine especially in times of struggle or national resilience.
Three beautiful Pinellas County beaches named the best in Florida
The Azalea neighborhood is just a few miles from one of the most beautiful beaches in Florida - Treasure Island Beach. We are blessed!
━━ ⬩ AZALEAVILLE WILDLIFE ALLIANCE ⬩ ━━
And now, a Public Service Announcement from the Azaleaville Wildlife Alliance
Message from Percy Peacock, Esq. (on behalf of local wildlife)
“Dear Humans of Azaleaville,
On behalf of myself, the raccoons, the opossums, the egrets, the turtles, the ducks, the ibises, the herons, the roseate spoonbills, the frogs, the squirrels, and that one coyote with trust issues, please consider skipping the fireworks this year.
We understand tradition. We too have rituals such as moonlit grooming, porch naps, the ceremonial toppling of unsecured garbage bins. But your booms, bangs, and backyard artillery turn our peaceful routines into stampedes of panic. Our nests are shaken. Our tails are puffed. Our dignity shattered.
There are other ways to celebrate. Wave a sparkler. Bake a pie. Hum a Sousa march into the middle distance.
But please… leave the sky out of it.
Respectfully and slightly ruffled,
Percy Peacock, Esq.
Spokesbird, Azaleaville Wildlife Alliance
Meet Your New Favorite Neighbors, the Opossum Family
Opossums are solitary, non-aggressive, and rarely carry disease. If you spot one in your yard after dark, give it a respectful nod. It's probably doing you a favor.
Opossums can be beneficial to native gardens due to their role in the ecosystem as natural pest control.
-
Opossums eat a variety of insects, slugs, snails, cockroaches, and ticks, which can damage garden plants. They are also known to eat venomous snakes like copperheads and rattlesnakes and are immune to their venom.
Capybara Cafe opening this month at 4703 Park St N will let you cuddle capybaras, wallabies, and lemurs (oh, my!)
An exotic animal petting zoo is opening in west St. Pete, including a high-energy Lemur Lounge (equal parts cuddle session and comedy show), a Mini Safari with a wallaby, coati mundi, and armadillo, and an “After Dark” daytime experience featuring nocturnal animals like ringtail cats, fennec foxes, and skunks.
Most encounters range from $45 to $50 for a 25-30 minute session and must be booked in advance.
CALENDAR
π
Monthly Observances
- National Ice Cream Month – celebrates through the entire month
- National Hot Dog Month, National Picnic Month, National Blueberry Month, plus Baked Bean, Corn, Eggplant, Beans, Hemp, Horseradish, Independent Retailer, Bank Account Bonus months, and more
π Other Observances
π Daily Observances
| Date |
Observance |
| July 1 |
National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day |
| July 2 |
World UFO Day |
| July 3 |
Compliment Your Mirror Day |
| July 4 |
U.S. Independence Day |
| July 5 |
National Apple Turnover Day |
| July 6 |
National Fried Chicken Day |
| July 7 |
World Chocolate Day |
| July 8 |
National Chocolate with Almonds Day |
| July 9 |
National Sugar Cookie Day |
| July 10 |
National PiΓ±a Colada Day |
| July 11 |
National Blueberry Muffin Day |
| July 12 |
National Pecan Pie Day |
| July 13 |
National French Fries Day |
| July 14 |
Bastille Day (France) |
| July 15 |
National Tapioca Pudding Day |
| July 16 |
National Corn Fritters Day |
| July 17 |
National Peach Ice Cream Day |
| July 18 |
Nelson Mandela International Day |
| July 19 |
National Daiquiri Day (plus Flight Attendant Day) |
| July 20 |
National Lollipop Day |
| July 21 |
National Junk Food Day |
| July 22 |
National Penuche Fudge Day |
| July 23 |
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day |
| July 24 |
National Tequila Day |
| July 25 |
National Hot Fudge Sundae Day |
| July 26 |
National Coffee Milkshake Day |
| July 27 |
National Crème Brûlée Day |
| July 28 |
National Milk Chocolate Day |
| July 29 |
National Lasagna Day |
| July 30 |
National Cheesecake Day |
| July 31 |
National Raspberry Cake Day |
━━ ⬩ THE BENEDICTION ⬩ ━━
Thank you to all our neighbors who make Azalea a great place to live!
To view previous issues, visit the archive.
News from Around
Margie's Toy Drive:
.png)
