The cafe inside a converted house
Somebody's Coffee, a Chick-fil-A rejection, Waymo in town, and a Boston flight worth waiting for.
A cafe built inside a tiny home, a fast-food expansion that got shut down, and a musical about a sponge closing Sunday. Normal week in the Burg.
A coffee shop in a converted home sounds like a gimmick until you walk into one. Somebody's Coffee operates out of what used to be a tiny home, and the small scale is the whole point. Adrienne Warnsley opened it in August of 2025 and built it around holistic, healthy food and drink. That is a crowded lane in St. Pete right now. What sets this one apart is the room itself, domestic and close, built for sitting a while rather than a laptop marathon. I Love the Burg gave it a full write-up this week. Go early.
A direct flight to Boston is coming
Allegiant announced a batch of new spring 2027 routes on Monday, and two of them land here. St. Pete gets direct service to Boston. Sarasota gets a Providence route. Direct northeast flights quietly change how often family comes down, and how often you say yes to a long weekend up there. Spring 2027 is far enough out that there is nothing to book tonight. But if your people are in New England, this is the connection you have been waiting on. I Love the Burg has the full list of routes Allegiant put on the board.
Chick-fil-A asked for more room and got a no
Chick-fil-A wanted to expand its footprint in St. Pete. City leaders turned the request down. Commissioner Domenico Pontoriero summed up his objection to what the corridor could become: "I don't want it to become another Tyrone. I like the small businesses there." That is the entire argument in two sentences. One side sees a parcel that could work harder. The other sees a slow trade, swapping a block of independent shops for a block you could find in any suburb. For now, the small businesses stay.
Waymo came to town for a meeting
Waymo representatives met with St. Pete officials on Aug. 11, according to city spokesperson Samantha Bequer. That is the whole story so far. A meeting, not a launch, not a permit, not a driverless car idling on Central Avenue. Still, the company is publicly expressing interest in Pinellas County, and the company is already preparing to launch public service in Tampa. Nothing has been decided and no public timeline exists. File it away anyway. The next time this comes up, it will probably come with a proposal attached, and the questions will get a lot more specific.
SpongeBob closes Sunday at freeFall
Tampa's ThinkTank is running The SpongeBob Musical at freeFall Theatre through Aug. 23. Yes, that SpongeBob. It opened last Friday, so you have this weekend and nothing after it. ThinkTank's stated mission is making theater appealing to a younger generation, both for the people who work in it and the people who just buy a ticket. Staging a cartoon sponge in a St. Pete theater is what that mission looks like in practice. Georgia Mallory Guy talked the production through on the Catalyst's Arts Alive! podcast. Bring a kid if you have one. Nobody is checking at the door.
Adopt a Premier League club, St. Pete edition
If this summer's World Cup left you with an itch, the English Premier League is the place to scratch it. It is the top domestic league in the world. I Love the Burg makes a St. Pete-shaped case for picking Brighton, whose nickname is the Seagulls and whose home sits on the water. A waterfront city with an aggressive bird population should recognize itself there. Kickoffs land in the morning on this side of the Atlantic, which is the underrated part. You can watch a full match and still have your entire Saturday. Adopting a club is cheap. Defending the choice is not.