Super Market

Last weekend, I was cruising around the south side of St. Louis before going to shoot the Pridefest parade. This part of the city was traditionally blue-collar, filled with the descendants of German and Dutch immigrants. Now it's much more diverse, with black, Bosnian, Vietnamese and just free-thinking people (as indicated by the location of the parade in the heart of the area). The closer you get to the river, the poorer it is. This store was just a couple of blocks back from the water.

This is a general neighborhood store. There are fewer of the chain supermarkets around here - fewer customers with money. The store itself must have had better days: the sign has connections for neon tubes over the lettering, now gone. But then there's the satellite dish. The mural seems pretty fresh. Don't know what's with the sailor, though. We're in the middle of the continent. There is a Coast Guard station on the river here but that's definitely a US Navy uniform. Maybe it's the son of the owner.

I noticed something interesting in this area, the laundromat to population ratio. There were a heck of a lot of laundromats around here. In the nice but hardly opulent suburb where I live, there are almost none. Lots of people in this neighborhood can't afford their own washing machines. Almost all of the laundromats have a personality, a look of their own. I might do a series on them. Readers, is it worth the effort?

TOMORROW: CDPB Theme Day - RED. Belly up to the bar. No, not Budweiser.