We're at the Sunshine City antiques show

There certainly are a lot of antiques lovers in the Tampa Bay area. Many of them are at the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg this weekend. And we've had a good share of antique book lovers stop by the booth. We're in the first alcove on the left as you come in. We brought a van load of vintage books, maps, prints and photographs to share.

In this slide show, you'll see some of the treasures we brought to the show and also some of our friends who have stopped by. We hope you will, too.

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See you at the Sunshine City antiques show

We look forward every year to the Sunshine City Antiques & Collectibles Show at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg or "St. Petersburg's historic Coliseum," as the publicity material says, and rightly so. The venerable Coliseum is a beautiful place for a show. (We'll be back there again in March for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. More about that later.)

The Coliseum was built in 1924, amid the Roaring Twenties hoopla that was rampant in St. Petersburg and other places in the state. It was a ballroom. Still is, sometimes, with dances being staged there regularly. In fact, there's going to be a New Year's dance there in a few days – but, as they say, that's another story.

In the old days, The Coliseum was a venue for nationally known talent. It drew the likes of big band leaders Harry James and Paul Whiteman. Boyish crooner Rudy Vallee no doubt made the ladies swoon when he performed there. But the flappers are gone and so is the swing and the jazz (except for New Year's Eve and some other special occasions).

And in their place are the collective memories of our culture and of bygone eras. And, of course, the objects. It is the objects – and the spaces – that evoke for us the feelings of times past. So it is most appropriate that a show like this should be staged in a venue like The Coliseum, with its polished dance floor and its elegant arches.

In the slide show above, you'll see some of the kinds of books we'll bring to the show. In keeping with the venue and the theme, we'll have books that may remind you of your childhood, or of your grandma's childhood. We hope you'll stop by and see us.