Kress

I will admit that today's blip is a bit on the boring and rushed side. The weather wasn't very cooperative (drizzling rain) and I was a little pressed for time.

I really love St. Petersburg because of its wealth of historic buildings and architecture as well as the stories and tales hidden beneath its modern day makeup. It's an old city and it is slowly becoming internationally known as the Bay area's artistic hub (mostly thanks to the Dalí museum) - of which I am very thankful and fully support.

While driving home from an interview today, I happened to glance up at an old brick building to discover a fading trademark of yesteryear, that of an old Kress department store sign. Being a lover of all things old and historic, I naturally had to pull over and snag a shot of it. You just don't see 5, 10, or even 25¢ stores these days.

For those that don't know, Kress department stores started around 1896 and lasted until around 1981. They got their start in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania by Samuel H. Kress. One of the things the company was known for was their fine and unique architecture designs used for their buildings - so much so that some have become widely known landmarks, especially in New York and California. Crazily enough, the subsidiary chain survived the parent company and it is still operational in Puerto Rico today (Tiendas Kress).

Like I said, there are tons of old treasures throughout the city of St. Petersburg. Sometimes they are hidden behind the walls of businesses and residential structures while others are in plain sight - one just needs to look beyond the ordinary to see them. If I land this job, I'll be in the neighborhood more often and will hopefully have more time and opportunity to unearth and preserve more of these hidden, and not so hidden, gems of the past...