"That's not North St. Louis"

I was at a gathering recently near Calvary Cemetary where a group of neighborhood residents were discussing perceptions of the city's north side.

They explained to me that if you are in the know, which I wasn't, you know that much of what is generally referred to as "North St. Louis" isn't considered so by local residents.

By their traditional standards, areas south of Page and west of Union are not considered North St. Louis. Those areas are considered Central or West End.

School Board: "Thanks but no thanks"

Citizen-led effort to build a Southwest City community center hits roadblock as city school board rejects offer to purchase Nottingham School. There are no plans for an alternative location, Journal reports.

Katrina'd Out?

The issue of insurance companies ending earthquake coverage on older masonry buildings has barely made the local radar screen.

The St. Louis Oracle wrote about it in November.

Since ours is a stone foundation built in 1933, we were just talking about this over the weekend. Has anyone else heard about insurance companies dropping such coverage?

Maybe the insurance industry figures better to plan on a federal bailout than provide earthquake coverage near the New Madrid fault zone?

Scene at Ramp Riders

Matt has been getting more into the BMX biking scene, so we've been spending lots of Friday nites lately with the skateboarders and acrobatic cyclists down at Ramp Riders at Salena and Gravois in the Benton Park neighborhood.

Given the warehouse setting, the management invites bands to perform in the space. The bands are loud, metal, and drawing a young, skater-friendly crowd. Most of the ones we've seen so far haven't been very good.

That all changed Friday nite. Not since seeing Tuck and Patti in the Berkeley Hills back in 1985, have I had such a "we saw you when" experience as we had watching Gage Love (guitarist extrordinaire) and the band he plays with, "Torch the Morgue".

Love learned music through song and trumpet and his college major was opera. He's only played guitar for five years, but he's as good as anyone I've seen. He's played with Torch the Morgue for about a year.

The setup at Ramp Riders wasn't the best. The promoter didn't have an adequate PA, so you really couldn't hear the singer. Torch the Morgue normally has two vocalists, but they only had one for this show.

Torch the Morgue comes to St. Louis from the Quad Cities area of Iowa/Northern Illinois, and has a built up a local following there. They were on a tour midwestern towns. This nite they would only make $9 apiece. These guys have a real shot to make a lot more.

Thinking back to that list of possible bands for St. Louis summer concerts...this'd be one that could get a much deserved break with a chance to play in front of a larger audience. I'd recommend them. Not for the baby stroller or 3-wheeled scooter crowd, but definitely a showcase of serious talent in the metal niche. We plan to see them again.

Gage Love's personal music project

"Torch the Morgue's" myspace site

Promontory Point St. Louis, 2008? 2009?

Promontory Point is that desolate place in the middle of northern Utah, where in 1869 two train track laying crews met to connect the nation's first transcontinental railroad.

Everyone's seen that famous picture where the crews are standing on the two locomotives having a toast as the golden spike was driven into the last section of rail.

Why not apply the same principle to the widening of Highway 40 through St. Louis?

Hire two companies, start one on the east end of the expansion, the other on the west end. Build in bench mark and completion date incentives to the construction contracts, and make it a competition between the two companies. The company exceeding the most benchmark goals and the final completion goal date by the greatest number of days gets a BIG final incentive payment. Just think of the gaming possibilities!

Track the competition in St. Louis media. Then sometime during 2008 or 2009 (hopefully), when the job is finished somewhere around Highway 40 and McKnight, recreate the Promontory Point photograph, with the crews of roadbuilders sitting atop massive tractors, along with the County Executive and the Mayor of St. Louis, all raising commemorative mugs of famous St. Louis beverages in a toast to the successful completion of this massive civic endeavor.

Have fun with it!

Oh, and build it so that at least one lane remains open in both directions during construction.

Neighborhood Choices

St. Louis is known as a city of neighborhoods, with each having its own character and various pluses and minuses. There are many great neighborhood choices.

As neighborhoods work to improve, they want to know what potential new residents are looking for in a new neighborhood. If you were thinking of moving, what would be your top three priorities in selecting a new neighborhood?

Postcard Views of Historic Belleville

Follow this link to visit a website offering hundreds of scans of historic postcards and photographs old Belleville.

"Signal Hill", the tiny (unincorporated?) neighborhood on the bluff connecting East St. Louis to Belleville, is a little-known gem from this part of our metro area, with one beautifully-maintained, hillside mansion with that unmistakable, antebellum look. Is it authentic? It sure looks like it.

Jack Snow Dies from Staph Infection

Former Ram player and KTRS sportscaster, Jack Snow, died last night due to a staph infection. Staph infections have become very resistant to antibiotics, and do not only affect older people.

Young athletes are highly susceptible to developing staph infections from bacteria that can grow in their equipment. A few years ago, a young Affton hockey player nearly died this way.

Summertime Concert Series

Every year, the City of St. Louis and other sponsors offer free concerts downtown. One of the challenges in planning such events is signing the best possible mix of artists given the financial constraints.

Given that the concerts are planned for larger-sized audiences (5,000-15,000), which bands would you encourage promoters bring to St. Louis in 2006?

Winnebago Revisited

It was the winter of 1986, and we were about to spend our first night in St. Louis in the vacant and unfurnished upstairs unit of a 2-family on Winnebago, a couple blocks east of Grand, near the old Lindy's Sausage shop.

A couple of months previously, and only a few months into married life, my promising new job working for a prominent Northern California real estate company came to an abrupt end when the company owner drove his 1984 Corvette off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean in the tiny resort town of Mendocino. The company shut down its development arm, and I was given notice about my job ending.

In the meantime, Kerri had joined Citicorp, and was in daily communication with people in their St. Louis offices. She developed a friendly working relationship over the phone with one of the St. Louis staffers, and, as my job was ending, Citicorp was closing down its Northern California leasing operations, leaving Kerri and I both out of work. Citicorp was looking to fill lots of positions in St. Louis, so we figued, why not? Let's check it out.

Kerri's Citicorp telephone-friend encouraged us to visit St. Louis, and invited us to stay with them at their Winnebago 2-family. We booked a flight, and afer a whirlwind tour and Kerri's job interview, we made the decision to relocate to St. Louis.

We were immediately taken in by the neighborhood around our friend's apartment. Coming from the land of frame and stucco, we had never seen so much brick. Even the streets were brick. That was 20 years ago, and our friends no longer live on Winnebago, but we still live just a few minutes away from this building.

One of my morning routes to work goes through the intersection of Chippewa and Gravois. Usually, I'll head up Gravois toward downtown, but it's not necessary, or even faster. So, today I decided to stay on Chippewa, heading east toward Grand.

Crossing Grand, I passed the Keystone Place project. It's good to see a few new homes starting construction. I made a left, and drove one block north to Winnebago. I made a right, heading east. On the second block, I passed our friend's old apartment. Whenever I'm on this block, I check out that old 2-family where we spent our first night in St. Louis. It looked pretty much the same. Brick buildings are pretty slow to change.

I decided to stay on Winnebago and head over to Jefferson. The street is now part of the Gravois Jefferson National Register Historic District, and you can see why. Nearly every original building is intact, with historic live-work commercial buildings on the corners. There are lots of original, faded wall signs painted on the sides of buildings.

One block before Jefferson, Winnebago has been barricaded to through traffic, diverting me north past the historic Lutheran Church where a few years ago we attended the funeral of firefighter Rob Morrison, the father of one Matt's then-classmates, who along with fellow firefighter Derek Martin died fighting a fire in a south city refrigeration company.

I crossed Jefferson, headeding east, entering the south side of the Benton Park neighborhood. There has been a noticeable amount of new, single family, infill residential construction. My route took then me through the Cherokee Antique Row district, where this time of year the place looks its best. The Bradford Pear trees have dropped their leaves, so you can easily see the beutiful detailing of the all the buildings.

The building that housed one of the first "Nickelodian" movie theaters in St. Louis is part of this district. Many of the Antique Row buildings have newly added decorative lighting, which added a warm glow to the brick buildings and sidewalks.

I crossed I-55 at the historic St. Agatha's Church, and hit a traffic jam on Broadway at the Brewery. Being a snob (or smart?) city driver, and loathing traffic tie-ups, instead of sitting in the Broadway traffic, I turned at Arsenal, merged onto northbound I-55, and finished the trip downtown to the office in about the same amount of time that I would have had I made that northeasterly turn back at Gravois and Chippewa about fifteen minutes earlier.

Downtown Improvisationalists

Personally, I don't have much use for car alarms. The sound of them used to inspire a sense of urgency. But now their honking blasts have become so commonplace, that when one goes off, it's less of a call for alarm, and more just unwanted noise pollution.

Car alarms have become so mundane, yet annoying, that they're about as welcome as the sound of someone's cell phone ringing in a movie theater. Often, the reactions on the owner's part are about the same: a frenzied search for the "off" button.

Much more welcomed are the sounds of street musicians, and, lately, there has been a noticeable increase in the amount and talent of downtown street musicians.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended the unfortunate Rams-49ers game at the Dome. Set up and playing furiously was a New Orleans-styled trio, jamming to Christmas music. They sounded pretty good, and were headed towards pulling down a thousand dollars in tips from the tide of football fans walking past them on the way to the game.

Then there's the fellow who plays his saxophone mid-days near the corner of 7th and Olive. From Met Square to the Laclede Gas Building, you can hear him playing a wide variety of jazz standards.

Yesterday his stylings were being crowded out by the dissonant blastings of a car alarm coming from the middle floors of one nearby parking garages. When I stepped out of our office building, he was playing, but not any recognizable tune.

I listened harder, and then realized he was improvising. He was playing accompaniment to the car alarm. He was harmonizing with it. Together, it didn't sound half bad. Now that's what I call a real "street musician".

Making Eye Contact

The Zoo's "Penguin and Puffin Coast" exhibit is a great place for a wintertime visit.

The penguins are always entertaining to watch, and the Zoo has taken great care to make the whole exhibit a positive experience, from the time you're waiting in line, until you exit through a penguin and puffin-themed gift shop. The place reminds you of a major theme park attraction in Florida, except at the St. Louis Zoo, it's free!

In summer, there are long lines to see the penguins and puffins. Sometimes up to an hour or more. Over the winter, you practically have the place to yourself. Last week, we stopped by the Zoo thirty minutes before closing time, just to visit the Penguin and Puffin Coast.

When we arrived, there were maybe ten or so other visitors at the exhibit. And during the winter, it's actually warmer inside the exhibit than it is outside! Plus, with so many fewer visitors, there are way more penguins per person.

Rather than the way the penguins scan out over the huge summertime crowds shuffling past them during the summer, when you visit during the winter, the penguins swim up next to you and look right at you. Sometimes, with them so close, you get splashed when they dive in or pop up out of the water. It's great fun.

The person working at the exhibit told us that sometimes the over-exuberant ones pop right out of the exhibit and land on the floor next to you. That's when he has to bend down and pick them up and help them back onto their side of the glass.

Another interesting fact about the exhibit not obvious to the casual observer is the way the tank holding the penguins is one continuous tank. It connects under the walkway, so the penguins can swim back and forth to both sides of the exhibit.

Suburban Journal Front Pages Blogs

Featuring Urban Review St Louis, ACC, and Joe Frank's blogs

New Year's Resolution

For 2006, adults and parents should resolve to discourage the increasing practice of encouraging specialization in youth sports.

Young athletes should be encouraged to play as many sports as they enjoy, can be afforded, and without conflict with other family priorities and school.

Instead, there is a growing trend for adults and parents to encourage specialization in youth sports, starting with children as young as 8 or 9. This practice does a disservice to young people and should be discouraged by all adults parenting or coaching kids.

KMOX had a baseball coach on the air this weekend promoting a January baseball camp for kids. He said he coaches a "pretty good '9-U' ballclub" (players at or below 9 years of age). He said he sees lots of young players practicing baseball 10 months of the year.

We have had coaches tell us that Matt would not be able to play on their baseball teams if he was not available to attend January baseball practices, forcing him to choose between year round baseball or playing hockey and basketball over the winter months.

Everyone knows that 99.9 percent of youth athletes will never go on to professional sports. Most will never even make it at the college level. Yet while they're in middle schools, overzealous parents and coaches are encouraging them to specialize in a single sport.

Youth sports are supposed to be about exercise, fun, teamwork, and making friends and memories. Let's make 2006 the year when we encourage the only specialization in kid sports to be HAVING FUN!

Water Skating

Our January thaw was right on time this year, with nighttime temperatures in St. Louis close to 60 degrees on the evening of January 1st.

We decided to take the ten minute ride over to Steinberg Rink in Forest Park with a group of friends for some ice skating. When we arrived, the place was packed.

As far as urban St. Louis goes, Steinberg has got to be one of our most urban destinations. The huge outdoor rink is located right off of Kingshighway, on the edge of the largest urban park in the nation, and under the high rise towers of the Barnes Jewish Hopsital complex.

With last nite's unseasonably warm temperatures, the Zamboni was getting a workout. There was so much melting of the ice, they had to send the Zamboni out ever forty five minutes or so to mop up the water. In some places, it was over an inch deep. They could have erected temporary "no wake" signs.

As far as 2006 wishlist items go, an beautiful and functional upgrade to the Steinberg cafe space would be to add a new stone fireplace, similar to the one at the remodeled Boat House.

The cafe area is already much improved, featuring an expanded food and drink menu, and adding a large, 2-sided (possibly indoor/outdoor) stone fireplace would elevate the ambiance to resort-quality status and help warm the chilly toes of Steinberg's winter customers.

Rolen, Edmonds, Pujols

I heard that a local urology group paid $2,000 apiece for the urinals from the Cardinals' locker room at the old Busch Stadium. I wonder what the plans for them are?

Maybe there's inspiration from another downtown institution, the Anheusuer Busch Clydesdales. (click for a great historic view of the brewery)

If you've ever visited the Clydesdale stables at either the Brewery or Grant's Farm, then you've seen the way horses have their names engraved on polished brass plaques affixed to the gates of their stalls.

Now picture you're in the men's room at the same urology practice. They have installed the urinals on the wall, decked out the room in Cardinal red, and attached the names of famous Cardinal players on brass plaques above each stall.

Well, they will have to do something to distinguish these from plain old fashioned garden variety urinals, right?

Nottingham Community Center Updates

Bill Burnes, committee member for the project, updates us on progress and further project details with this recent entry (scroll to the bottom to read Bill's comments).

Also, according to an article in the latest edition of the Suburban Journal, the organizers of the effort have recently submitted an offer to purchase Nottingham School.

www.gotostlouis.org

The RCGA has introduced an infomative new program to market the St. Louis area.

Midnight Run

At 2:00 am, we were awakened by the sound of Matt whimpering in pain in the bathroom. The sound of your own child in real pain is something that pierces right through you, and a sound that wakes you right up. He couldn't swallow, and was having difficulty breathing. A trip to the ER was pretty much a certainty.

By about 2:10, we were on our way to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. It always amazes me to think about the wonderful medical facilities available to residents of the St. Louis area.

I'll never forget the time, about 8 years ago, when my mom was visiting from out of town. She wasn't feeling well, and needed to see a doctor. Unfortunately, she did not have medical insurance. I remembered hearing how the old Alexian Brothers Hospital on South Jefferson would treat patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

It was Christmas day when we went down to Alexian Brothers. My mom had worked in hospitals in California, and was immediately impressed with the appearance of the facility. She did not believe me when I told her the care would be provided to her at no cost.

They took her in, gave her a private room, and treated her with dignity, kindness and repect. The doctor was wonderful, cracking jokes and flirting with her. When everything turned out okay, the staff all wished her a Merry Christmas, and sent us on our way. No charge. Mom was floored. She had never heard of anything like this happening in California.

6 months later, she received a note from the hospital, checking in with her, suggesting a donation if she could afford one, and that was it. No pressure. No demand for payment. Zilch; nada. It was another of those experiences we've filed away under "St. Louis Moments".

Alexian Brothers is no more, and at Children's, you have to pay. Fortunately, we have insurance. The place is wonderful, and was Matt's second trip there. His first was about 6 years ago on New Year's Eve. He had an accident, cutting open an inch gash in the top of his head. The ER doc stapled it closed and he was fine.

Children's is the same hospital where the kids washed away in last week's dam failure at Johnson's Shut-Ins were treated. We talked with the nurses about it, and they all said it was stories like those that make their work the best. Given the miraculous nature of it, we figured someday the story would be turned into a network TV event.

3:00 am in the ER is a nocturnal world of strange events. A lady was arguing with the desk nurse about urine test results on her ten-year old daughter. The test showed crack cocaine in her urine, but the mom insisted "there were two 'urines' on the counter" and that the hospital had switched the vials.

She looked over at Matt and me and warned us: "You better watch your urines!". Then she raised her voice, and announced that she was contacting her attorney. She flipped open her cell phone, and left a 3:00 am message on her lawyer's voice mail to file a complaint.

For some reason, the ten year old needed to be seen at another hospital. Even though they were all walking around normally, and appeared to be completely fine, an ambulance and ER team was on its way to drive her to her next hospital stop.

Meanwhile, we were waiting on Matt's test results. When the doctor came in, she told us he was suffering from a bad case of strep throat. A 10-day Rx for penicillin, and he should be fine.

We got back in the car and made the 10-minute ride home, passing the very strange site of seeing the Berra Park athletic fields on the Hill fully illuminated at 5:00 o'clock in the morning.

By this time, Matt was starting to feel better. Call it good luck or bad luck; his Christmas vacation starts today.

What Matters

Last night, I phoned a friend about the developing situation going on in his old St. Louis neighborhood. For forty-plus years, he lived on Columbia, just around the corner from St. Aloysius church. Last year, he and his family moved to a big new home across the Missouri River, over in St. Charles County.

He graduated from St. Aloysius in the 70s, and knew a little about the plans to demolish the church for a new subdivision. He thought the project would be an improvement to the area, and supported it. He couldn't understand why the Preservation Board denied the demolition request. What would happen now? Would the old church complex remain vacant indefinitely?

He went on to say how he thought most of the housing around the church was "dilapidated", and how new homes would bring up the area. New homes built on the St. Al's site would encourage other developers to come in and tear down dilapidated housing around the church, and a whole new neighborhood could be built, just like what is happening at Botanical Heights.

I explained how a group of historic preservation and pro-city advocates testified to save the buildings to preserve the historic fabric of the neighborhood and how they thought the buildings could be converted to some other use, such as loft condominiums.

My friend didn't understand how a church could be converted to housing. I mentioned a few examples of how it had been done before, and he said he thought whether the church would be demolished for new homes, or rehabbed, the two choices gave the city a "win-win" set of alternatives, and that either option would be good by moving new families into the area.

I could tell he really wasn't that interested in discussing the St. Al's situation. What he really wanted to do was catch up on how our two sons are progressing in sports. His son is a real strong kid, with a rocket for an arm. He told me how this off-season, he's making arrangements for him to have private pitching lessons with former Cardinal pitching star, Danny Cox. He assured me that the lessons would be expensive, but he wanted the best for his son. The boy does have a lot of potential.

Our sons started out growing up together, attending Lutheran shools and playing on the same sports teams. My friend's experience is just the opposite of ours. He grew up Catholic, and converted to the Lutheran faith as an adult. Kerri and I on the other hand were both raised Lutheran, but then converted to Catholicism a couple of years ago. It really doesn't make much difference now anyway, since Lutherans and Catholics are kind of becoming the same thing.

This winter, we're thinking of setting Matt up for some private pitching lessons too. I doubt he'll have a former Cardinal as an instructor though, that is unless they have some of them working down at the St. Louis Baseball and Fast Pitch Baseball Academy. However, I have heard that another former Cardinal pitcher is dating a woman that lives in Magdalen parish, and how we might be able to get him to give our kids some free pitching lessons. Now, that would be cool.