IT WILL BE OUR LITTLE SECRET

Another odd wall painting in Cantado Mexican restaurant. The women's shirts resemble Cardinals baseball uniforms, appropriate since the stadium is across the street. I'm not sure what the number 13 on the earring means, other that it was the uniform number of a popular player who retired a couple of years ago. The place serves excellent margaritas in jars such as the one pictured.

The woman on the left seems to be whispering something. Does she have inside information about the team's chances this year with the season starting later this month? The Cardinals finished last in 2023 so they can't get any worse.        

NIGHT IN THE CITY

Downtown St. Louis hasn't been doing well since the pandemic. More vacant storefronts, lower office occupancy. One area that stays afloat is the corporate development known as Ballpark Village, part of which is shown here. The baseball stadium is in the shadows on the right. Part of a two block complex of bars, so-so restaurants, a hotel and a luxury apartment building (can't imaging who wants to live there) are center and left. Not much going on on a holiday weekend.                

PLAY BALL

Change of plan. Yesterday was the home opening game for our baseball team, the much-loved Cardinals. I needed some exercise and took a walk from my office to the stadium and back, trolling for images. I was not disappointed.

Although the team only sold tickets for one-quarter of the seats, there was a big crowd in the plaza and entertainment area opposite the stadium (with maybe one in ten  wearing masks). These two old fans were dressed for the occasion. Love the shoes. And by the way, the home town heroes won so all is well. For today.         

WE ARE THE . . .

I've mentioned Ballpark Village, the real estate development next to the baseball stadium. A couple of years ago they installed a giant replica of the championship trophy in front of the main entrance. Our team has won it quite a number of times. When it was unveiled, many commentators said it looks really tacky, and they are right. In fact, I think it's a bit of an eyesore.

The base is cylindrical. The funny thing is, a bit out of the frame to the left, there is a big dent in it. I'm not showing it today but the shape and distance off the ground makes it obvious that an SUV or pickup truck ran into the thing. There's some poetry in that.                         

ALMOST THAT TIME OF YEAR

It has felt like spring in The Lou lately, and spring brings a long-established activity. I've gone sour on professional sports over time, what with the subject turning mostly to money and marketing. However, I still have a soft spot for baseball. Memories of happy days in the uppermost rows of Yankee Stadium, when a kid could get in for what was in a kid's pocket. (No more!) My home city had deep baseball traditions and my adopted city does, too. No, I rarely go to games - the prices are extortionate. But once in a while I'll put on my red hat . . .

There is a pretty big real estate development across from Busch Stadium (more revenue, naturally), Ballpark Village, that has this little plaza laid out like a diamond. The inscription on these stairs is new this year. Fans stand and sing this song in the middle of the 7th inning game after game. It feels good: let me root, root, root for the Cardinals. If they don't win it's a shame.          

STL

It's our town's standard abbreviation, like a couple of more famous cities use LA and NYC. The airport code is STL. The initials in exactly this type have been on the Cardinals' caps for a century. It's even something of a motto for this blog.

This is a small plaza in the new part of Ballpark Village. The building in the upper right has luxury apartments. Who in their right mind would would want to live here, especially during a series against the arch-rival Cubs when beer soaked fans roam the area?          

MEMORIES

There is an area next to the baseball stadium called Ballpark Village. Its first phase just had restaurants and bars. There is a second phase nearing completion that has a fancy hotel, luxury apartments and office space. An outer wall is decorated with pennants from each year the Cardinals won the championship. These aren't all - there is a second set behind where I was standing. Makes for nice graphics.          

City Daily Photo Theme Day - Laugh

There was a small carnival last Saturday on the parking lot outside Ballpark Village. That's the restaurant and entertainment complex across the street from the baseball stadium. Ellie  loved it but it got insufferably crowded after a while. I did get some good shots, though.

I've been shooting full-size Canon cameras for years. The weight got to be a burden on my old shoulders and neck. A few months ago I switched to something much smaller, a Fujifilm X-T2. It's mirrorless and has an APS-C sensor. The color accuracy and clarity is better than on my full-frame Canon 5D Mark III. This is the direction high-end digital cameras are going. 

Trash Talk

In American parlance, trash talk refers to a member or supporter of a sports team bragging about their prowess and insulting the opponent. The Number 1 gesture above is a mild example. It's everywhere, it's accepted, even if it is a bit juvenile. Oh, and although it's not exactly about sports, Donald Trump is another example.

Ballpark Village is a restaurant-bar-entertainment venue across the street from the stadium. Nice for fans, although it drove some of  the older restaurants in the neighborhood out of business. I don't like this Cardinals Nation meme, though. You see it in a number of contexts but especially sports. I think the term originated with modern references to Native American societies. Navajo Nation. Cherokee Nation. Those are nations. Cardinals Nation is a marketing fiction.

And as I said yesterday, we welcome supporters of opposing teams, even the biggest Cubs fans.

Howl

This post has nothing to do with Allen Ginsberg.

Back home and need to shoot some new local material. The town is going to be boiling this weekend. I wonder if there is anything around that is both air conditioned and interesting. In the meantime . . .

This is a country music-themed bar at Ballpark Village, the newish Budweiser/Cardinals-themed venue across the street from the baseball stadium. I think it would take a lot of the sudsy beverage to get people howling. If they did, I suspect security would get involved.

                                       

Ballpark Village

It finally opened, or Phase 1 did.

We had a new baseball stadium for the 2006 season. It cost about a squillion dollars and much of it was taxpayer money. Construction was right next to the old stadium. In return for the public money, the team owners promised to build a grand complex on the old site to be called Ballpark Village. It was to include shops, restaurants, apartments and offices. So about six years go by and guess what happened? Nothing.

Then someone got some financing and the first part went up. It opened last weekend. We're all baseball fans so we went down for dinner out of curiosity.

It's all about squeezing as much money out of the customers as possible while watching sports on gigantic televisions. There was a feel of Las Vegas. We went to the Budweiser Brew House, whose menu looked okay. Despite being told earlier there would be no problem getting a table at 6, the hostess told me "30 to 45 minutes and we hope less." An hour later as we were getting up to leave they found a table. The food was better than expected (although overpriced) but it was sooo slow. I was about to leave the place when the mains arrived. The servers were wonderful but the front end and kitchen were in obvious disarray. Locals, try them in a few weeks.                                         

Madeleine Monday on Tuesday

Ms. M was put off by the delays, too. Little kids need to eat when they are hungry. So, she perused the menu and found something tasty. When she was finished she gave us the "had enough" sign. Afterward, we got us the cold stare that demanded entertainment. 

Ballpark Villiage

Baseball season opens tomorrow!

I mentioned Ballpark Village in yesterday's post. Ballpark Rubble Dump is more like it. When the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team put its vacuum pumps into the coffers of the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County and the State of Missouri to build Busch Stadium III (motto: Make Baseball Safe For the Wealthy), they promised to develop several acres where Busch Stadium II once stood. There was to be a mix of restaurants, entertainment venues, retail, office space and condos. This picture of the site was taken yesterday, two years after the new stadium opened. The baseball All Star Game will be played in St. Louis in July, 2009. Imagine the reaction of the media when they see our city's beautiful pit.

It's corporate smoke and mirrors, con game and BS. The Cardinals appointed The Cordish Companies as principal developer. Although Cordish has had successful projects elsewhere, not a damn thing has happened here. Last September, a good sized company in the suburbs announced that it would build a new headquarters in Ballpark Village. The dream was resurrected. Last week the deal was canceled. Ballpark Village could not accommodate its needs.

A personal note. In July 1966, young Strangetastes was sitting in his family's apartment in Queens, watching the baseball All Star Game from beautiful new Busch Stadium II in St. Louis. He didn't have a clear idea of where St. Louis actually was. It was a broiling summer day. The playing field was below street level, the circular design cut off all outside air flow and the surface was Astroturf. It was 105 F - 41 C on the field. Casey Stengel, the screwball-sage manager of the New York Yankees and Mets was being interviewed. A reporter asked, "Professor" (that's what people called him), "what do you think about this new stadium in St.Louis?" Casey thought a moment and replied, "Well, I'll tell ya, young fella, it sure seems to hold the heat real good." Little did I know...

TOMORRWOW: National League Champions