A smoker by the side of the road
The local taste for smoked fish has a founder. According to the St Pete Catalyst, Ted Peters, a master plumber from Olean, New York, found an old discarded fish smoker in 1946, a rough wooden box with sliding trays and room for a small fire, and dragged it home. He soon opened a shack on Blind Pass Road called the Blue Anchor Inn, with smoked mullet as its specialty, fueled at first by buttonwood mangrove branches.
Mullet was the obvious fish. It was everywhere in local water and, as the Catalyst notes, it does not usually take a hook, so it was caught by net. Plenty of families smoked fish in the backyard. Setting the smoker up beside the road, where the smell could pull cars off the street, was the new idea.
In 1951 Peters and his half brother Elry Lathrop moved to Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, the small city between St. Petersburg and the beaches. Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish still runs in the open air wooden building they built. Mangrove was outlawed as fuel decades ago, so the fish now goes over red oak, and the mullet and Spanish mackerel are bought from Gulf Coast fishermen. The fish spread is still made to a secret family recipe.
The Saturday Morning Market
Downtown, the other weekly ritual is the Saturday Morning Market. It has run since 2002 and, per I Love the Burg, ranks among the largest markets of its kind in the Southeast, drawing more than 10,000 people a week at its peak with nearly 100 rotating vendors. Expect local farmers, fresh seafood, baked goods and ready to eat food from more than 15 countries.
From October through May it sets up at Al Lang Stadium every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It takes September off and runs a smaller summer market from June through August. The current season opened on October 3, 2026. The market is an independent nonprofit and gives free booths to community groups.
