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Chris Kuhn

Editor, skirt! Tampa Bay

I'm an outspoken thirtysomething who has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1992, full of useless facts on just about every facet of pop culture. I'm passionate about vegetarianism without passing judgment. I love to laugh. If we can't talk politics, music, movies, sports, TV or current events, you'...

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Finding St. Pete - Finally!

Chris, Editor for skirt! Tampa Bay

I’ve lived in the Bay area for over 16 years now. (Wow, hard to believe it’s been that long.) For all of it, I’ve worked in the Tampa Bay area – from New Tampa to Temple Terrace to Westshore to Rocky Point and now downtown. So I know the commute really well. All too well. And for almost all of that time, I’ve lived on the Pasco side of the street. It’s a slower life out there for the most part. In line at Kmart. Slow. In line at Wendy’s. Really slow. But the pace has recently picked up with the steady growth of new car dealers, new communities, expanded lanes and most important of all – fun places to shop. Woo-hoo!

My family’s gone to St. Pete for baseball games regularly since the Rays burst onto the scene and we’ve ventured out to the Pinellas side for the occasional beach adventure. But ask me to steer off the planned path and I’d clam up immediately, knowing none of the side roads or landmarks well enough to explore freely without a Mapquest print-out.

In this latest gig of mine, I get the privilege to travel across the Bay area and meet interesting people to profile and check out stores for products and skirts to spotlight. I recently met up with House of Ska owner and designer Ivanka Ska at her cute downtown St. Pete shop (very nice).

On that same adventure, I also discovered the Grand Central shopping district for the first time ever... visited Haslam’s Book Store for the first time in, oh about 16 years, and it’s just as I remembered it – and I found exactly what I was looking for (also, just as I remembered it). I’ve dined on quiche and java on Central Ave. and walked through time via a plethora of exhibits at the Florida International Museum.

Yet St. Petersburg always has been a bit of a mystery to me. Historically, I’ve gotten lost there on more than one occasion and worst yet, found myself headed the wrong way on a one-way street in downtown St. Pete. EEK! 

Now that I’m heading over that long bridge more frequently, I’m checking out new groovy places or returning to places I haven’t visited in a while. Recently, hubby and I checked out the current Dali Museum exhibit and I was reminded at how beautiful the setting is for that museum. It was the only thing I was allowed to photograph, since inside my Canon was prohibited... you forget how peaceful and inviting downtown St. Pete can be.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was San Diego.

Recently, my most exciting Pinellas achievement was getting out of the Tropicana Field parking lot in a record 5 minutes and managing to locate a nearby Burger King for the post-game celebration milkshake without getting myself lost. (Yes, it was quite a feat for this direction-challenged individual.) I don’t have the pictures from that milestone however but the game was great and the smooth strawberry victory beverage, mmm...delish.