First came BlueLucy’s “Paris London Tokyo St. Pete” shirts for Keep St. Pete Local, which quickly became the cool kids’ (and discerning tourists’) souvenir garment of choice, churning up t-shirt envy wherever they were worn (which was everywhere.) Then the Venture Compound came out with a somewhat sinister variation on the theme, producing “Jonestown Hindenburg Chernobyl Venture Compound” T-shirts which were made even more distinctive in the way they got shipped out: in old, smelly LP jackets from unknown psychedelic rock bands, ensuring that the goods inside were as weird as the horse they rode in on. 2621 Fairfield Ave. S., St. Petersburg, 901-619-1519, facebook.com/theventurecompound
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2014.