DEVELOPMENT COMING SOON

 

A beautiful but derelict building in midtown St. Louis. As with many buildings its age, it has lovely architectural ornaments in danger of ruin. This one, though, is going to make it back. The banner says that redevelopment is sponsored by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. It is a wonderful organization that has restored a swath of our midtown area for the visual and performing arts, including the St. Louis Fringe Festival, with which I am very involved.                     

THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

 

This is the kind of Arch picture I used to post on this blog when I was merely middle aged. After a while, I thought I had exhausted the approach. But time passes, the well starts to run dry, and why not take another run at the idea. The thing is 630 feet / 192 meters of stainless steel in the shape of a perfect catenary arch. It opened to the public in June 1967. I showed up here for college two months later and promptly went for a look.         

SEVEN THOUSAND VOLTS

Truck tractors in a freight yard near the river. The yellow vehicles are what caught my eye. Only when editing the photo did I notice the small yellow sign on the right. It’s hard to read at this resolution, but it says “WARNING Electric Fence, 7,000 V.” So what if an elderly wandering photographer tripped on a rock and fell into it? Or just a bird? I wondered if it was like a sign that says “Warning Vicious Dog” just for show.

A WORKING RIVER

My last office before I retired looked directly over the Mississippi River. When I was tired of pushing paper or clicking screens, I would watch the long barge flotillas drifting up and down. Navigation looked terribly difficult, with powerful push boats at the rear. Think of it as a very big car with rear wheel drive, but also the steering wheels in the back. What we see here is a riverboat and barge facility just south of the Arch.                

THANK YOU, JOE

 

Pictures from a campaign rally in downtown St. Louis in 2020. He is a decent, honest man, unlike his former opponent, and I am grateful for what he did for our country. Now we will do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris.           

THIS IS THE ONE CINDERELLA NEEDS

 

A couple of days ago I ran a picture of a carriage similar to this, but forlorn-looking and parked in a run-down industrial area. I remarked that it would never get Cinderella to the ball. This one will. It is parked at the bottom of the steps leading down from the Arch to the promenade along the Mississippi, waiting for business. Or a princess.             

DOPE CITY

Full disclosure: I’m an old fogey. I don’t pretend to understand all the language of the young. Nevertheless, my understanding is that “dope” is a positive term these days. Thus, Dope City, referring to our town, may be a compliment. Yet the figure between the dollar and cent signs looks like a medication capsule. The red tagging characters under the top of the Arch spell STL (not that outsiders would know), and the red numerals to the right, 314, are the main local telephone code.