More Best of the Bay

So who is the Best of the Bay - Best Neighborhood (readers picks)? Seminole Heights!!! Runner ups were Hyde Park and Kenwood.

Other picks:

"Best Place to Find a Hooker: 34th Street and Central Avenue, St. Petersburg
If you want a tranny hooker, you go to Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. But if you want a non-tranny, drug-addicted female hooker, you have to travel to the stretch of 34th Street just north and south of Central Avenue. This area used to have a strong anti-hooker neighborhood presence that kept the working girls/guys in check. But neighborhood sources say that in the past year, the crackdown by residents and cops has slowed and the trade is back. St. Pete crime stats would tend to bear that out: Through July, prostitution arrests in the city are up nearly 32 percent over 2005."


Best Long Kiss Goodbye: Covivant's Carrie Mackin

Since 1998, she brought more than 90 exhibits of cutting-edge contemporary art to an Art Deco garage-turned-gallery in Seminole Heights. She curated Booty, the first contemporary offshoot of the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, and she organized an exhibit of unconventional family portraits in defiance of a homophobic move from the Hillsborough County Commission. And then she said goodbye. After contemplating the prospect for years, Covivant Gallery owner Carrie Mackin finally made the move to NYC earlier this month. Who can blame her? She found a rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan — a stroke of luck that must have seemed like a sign from God. Technically, there’s still reason to hope that Covivant will live on: If Mackin sells her Heights bungalow (suddenly a daunting task in the cooled-down real estate market) she hopes to buy the Covivant building from her current landlord. With Cappy’s Pizzeria going gangbusters next door on Florida Avenue and plans for at least one other restaurant nearby, the location seems more ready than ever to support arts businesses. Keep your fingers crossed.

Best Soundtrack for a Friday Night Drive: WMNF's Soul Party

Shadiest Real Estate Tycoon: Kenny Rushing