By Herb Hiller

Cottages once lined the shore through five towns from Redington Beach to Indian Rocks Beach. Even as condos rise today, the towns shelter their historic character. “People want to keep the small-town feel and appeal to folks who aren’t just millionaires,” says Margaret Bourgeois at Park Circle B&B in North Redington Beach.

But even Park Circle claims its millionaire connection. One of seven cottages that make up the B&B came across Gulf Boulevard from the old Tides Hotel that once pampered Ty Cobb, Marilyn Monroe and Liberace. In her own pampering way, Margaret each morning hoists a flag to signal that she’s ready to receive guests for breakfast.

In Redington Shores, the Redington Long Pier, which stretches 1,021 feet into the gulf, informs visitors that “The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives the hours spent fishing.”

Where Gulf Boulevard narrows to two lanes entering Indian Shores, the Sun Burst Inn fronts the beach, “Sloppy” John Mahuffer’s the lee side. John Korszeniewski says he gets a lot of “nightlies” from Sloppy John’s. People revel, then decide not to drive home and check in at un-sloppy John’s. As for Sloppy John, who roomed with Dizzy Dean as a St. Louis Cardinals hopeful in 1938, at 86 he presides over a saloon that, cluttered and labyrinthine, has seen its share of big-league parties.

And then, Indian Rocks Beach with its monster crab crawling atop Crabby Bill’s, its kite shop, European bakery and blues café. Town began as a cottage colony in the late 1880s, where Harvey “Dad” Hendrick soon began a mainland ferry before in 1916 becoming tender of the ferry-replacing swing bridge. “Dad’s” worn chair with a lifelike replica of his black and white cat sits in the historical museum. People come up and talk to the cat; some apologizing after they learn it’s not real.

This story is excerpted from The Islas Pinellas, Standout Small Towns, in Florida's Beach, the 2006 Visitor Guide for the St. Petersburg Clearwater area.