Jeff Klinkenberg is an author who covered Florida culture for newspapers that included The Tampa Bay Times. In 2018 he won the Florida Humanities Council's "Florida Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing," joining previous recipients, the novelists Carl Hiaasen and Patrick Smith. In 2018, the state of Florida gave him its "Heritage Award" for his Florida essays, joining previous recipients Marjory Kinnan Rawlings and Zora Neale Hurston. Klinkenberg's books include "Dispatches from the Land of Flowers," "Seasons of Real Florida," "Pilgrim in the Land of Alligators," and "Alligators in B-Flat." In 2018 University Press of Florida published "Son of Real Florida: Stories From My Life." His writings have also been published in other anthologies.
Klinkenberg was born in Chicago on June 26, 1949. His parents moved to Miami in 1951. He attended St. Rose of Lima Elementary, Archbishop Curley High School and graduated from Miami Edison High School in 1967. He spent much of his youth fishing in the Everglades, the Florida Keys and Miami's Biscayne Bay. He spent two years at Miami-Dade Junior College and graduated from the University of Florida in 1971. In 2009 he was named "an "Alumnus of Distinction" from UF's journalism college. He worked at The Miami News before moving to the former St. Petersburg Times in 1977. He retired in 2013 to write magazine stories, author books, and lecture throughout Florida on subjects related to culture.
In his column, known as "Real Florida," he interviewed and wrote about Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the artist who developed the famous Coppertone sign.[1] He has also written about many other Florida related subjects such as Chesty Morgan, The Highwaymen, Florida panthers, alligators, and snakes.
Klinkenberg has given lectures on his favorite Florida related books in cities across the state.[2]
Klinkenberg, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida and Waynesville, North Carolina, is married to the former Susan King. Between them they have four children.
Pinellas County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107, which makes it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most densely populated county in Florida, with 3,491 residents per square mile. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clearwater is the county seat. St. Petersburg is the largest city in the county, as well as the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the largest city in the state that is not a county seat. Along with Clearwater, these cities are part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an American journalist, author, women's suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for development. Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, she became a freelance writer, producing over one hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. Its impact has been compared to that of Rachel Carson's influential book Silent Spring (1962). Her books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, enabling her to advance her causes.
A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that likely originated in cafes catering to Cuban workers in Tampa or Key West, two early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida centered on the cigar industry. Later on, Cuban exiles and expatriates brought it to Miami, where it is also very popular. The sandwich is made with ham, (mojo) roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and sometimes salami on Cuban bread. Salami is included in Tampa, where there is a large Italian population, but is not usually included in South Florida.
Amalie Arena is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater inflow into the bay is the Hillsborough River, which flows into Hillsborough Bay in downtown Tampa. Many other smaller rivers and streams also flow into Tampa Bay, resulting in a large watershed area.
Charles Joseph Crist Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic Party since 2012; he was previously a Republican before becoming an independent in 2010.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida, that competed in the original North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1975 to 1984. They enjoyed broad popular support in the Tampa Bay area until the NASL folded in 1984, after which the team played in various minor indoor and outdoor leagues before finally folding on January 31, 1994. The Rowdies played nearly all of their outdoor home games at Tampa Stadium and nearly all of their indoor games at the Bayfront Center Arena in nearby St. Petersburg, Florida. Although San Diego played indoors until 1996, the Rowdies were the last surviving NASL franchise that played outdoor soccer on a regular basis.
Al Lang Stadium is a 7,500-seat sports stadium along the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, United States which was used almost exclusively as a baseball park for over 60 years. Since 2011, it has been the home pitch of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL Championship soccer league.
The Diocese of Saint Petersburg is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Tampa Bay region of Gulf Coast Florida.
The Florida Aquarium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, publicly operated institution located in downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is a large scale, 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) aquarium and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This means they are a leader in conservation and education, supporting programs for wildlife and having a strong educational component in the forms of summer camps, school trips, etc. The facility is home to more than 7,000 aquatic plants and animals from Florida and all over the world. The facility is located in the Channel District of Downtown Tampa. The Florida Aquarium opened in March 1995 as a privately funded entity and became a public-private partnership when the city of Tampa assumed responsibility for its debt in 1999. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed the Florida Aquarium on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from the Hialeah–Miami Lakes border, a few miles northwest of Miami, to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I-75 begins its national northward journey near Miami, running along the western parts of the Miami metropolitan area before traveling westward across Alligator Alley, resuming its northward direction in Naples, running along Florida's Gulf Coast, and passing the cities of Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Venice, and Sarasota. The freeway passes through the Tampa Bay area before turning inward toward Ocala, Gainesville, and Lake City before leaving the state and entering Georgia. I-75 runs for 471 miles (758 km) in Florida, making it the longest Interstate in the state and also the longest in any state east of the Mississippi River. The Interstate's speed limit is 70 mph (110 km/h) for its entire length in Florida.
The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. The most notable boss was Santo Trafficante, Jr. who ruled Tampa and the crime family with an iron fist. Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. After the death of Santo Jr. in 1987, the Tampa Mafia family has been controlled by Vincent LoScalzo.
Melvin Holmes was an American football player with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1971 to 1973. He is the father of Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes.
David William Foster is an American attorney and former mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was elected in 2009. Before being elected mayor Foster served on the city council and worked as a lawyer.
Thomas Massey McEwen was an American sportswriter who was born and spent most of his life in Florida. He was a graduate of the University of Florida, and is best known for being the popular sports editor at The Tampa Tribune daily newspaper in Tampa, Florida from 1962 until 1992. After retiring as editor, he continued to write a regular column and occasional articles for the print version of the Tribune until 2001, then for the online version of the newspaper (tbo.com) until shortly before his death in 2011.
The Alice G. Smith Lecture, established in 1989, is sponsored by the University of South Florida, School of Information. The lecture is an annual recognition of a scholar or author whose achievements have been instrumental in the development of librarianship or information studies. The lecture series honors the memory of the School's first director, Alice Gullen Smith, known for her work with youth and bibliotherapy. The Lecture Fund was created with the purpose of memorializing the work of Smith, who was central to the School's first accreditation by the American Library Association in 1975. Florida Library Association archivist, Bernadette Storck has provided an oral history of the development of libraries in Tampa, Florida that details the contributions of Smith including her establishment of the Tampa Book Fair that encouraged thousands of children to foster a love for books and reading
Harvard Jolly is a St. Petersburg, Florida based architectural firm known for its work on school, healthcare and public buildings. It was founded as a solo practice in 1938 by William B. Harvard Sr. With the addition of Blanchard E. Jolly as partner, the firm became Harvard Jolly in 1961. In the 1970s Enrique M. Marcet, R. John Clees, John Toppe, and William B. Harvard Jr. joined the firm, which became known as Harvard Jolly Clees Toppe Architecture for some time. Harvard Jolly has offices in St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Orlando, and Ft. Myers.
Lucy Morgan is a long-time reporter and editorialist at the Tampa Bay Times.
Ion Sessions "Speedy" Walker was a college football and basketball player for the Florida Gators. He served in the Army in World War 2.
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