TRAPPED

Haven’t been out on the street in several days. It’s just too hot. So, one more from the City Museum. There is a dome on top of the roof topped by a 24 foot / 7.3 meter praying mantis. Slinky-like tubes for kids to climb through are all around. This boy looks like he might become lunch.                 

WIZARDS

The City Museum has a collection of vintage pinball machines. For a small additional charge, you can play as long as you like. I like to think I was pretty good at this in my youth. A friend and I were almost late for our last law school exam because, if memory serves, we had 23 free games racked up on our favorite machine. When I tried again the day this picture was taken, I was just awful. Skills decline.               

WOULD YOU ENTER?

Another detail at the City Museum. The neon sign may have been part of an old amusement park but it sends a mixed message about what may lie beyond.                   

CULTURAL RELIC

 

Ah, American cuisine. This is one of the odds and ends in the City Museum’s collection. Big Boy (originally Bob’s Big Boy in Southern California - no relation) is a fast food burger chain whose fortunes have waxed and waned. I’ve seen a few in Los Angeles. There is apparently one left around here, open limited  hours. The sandwich and the waistline says it all.              

AMUSEMENTS

Still at the City Museum. The sign may be from an old amusement park or carnival. The sign and passage don’t lead to anything in particular, which may be the point.              

WIZARD

Ever since I was a young boy, I've played the silver ball…  Pinball was quite my fancy when I was young. I was almost late for my last final exam in law school because my friend and I had so many free games rung up on our favorite machine. But that was long ago. On Friday, Ellie and I went to our nothing-else-like-it-in-the-world City Museum. For a few dollars, you can play a large suite of antique machines for as long as you like. The kid, a child of 21st Century tech, isn’t interested.              

TEMPORARY TATTOO

Change of scene. As the sometime kid entertainment director, I took Ellie to the ever-popular City Museum yesterday. El made a beeline for an air brush temporary tattoo station. She took a long time deciding among the many designs. She will show it proudly until time makes it fade.                 

MONSTERS OF THE DEEP

Around the corner from the view in yesterday's photo, the ground floor of the City Museum has an area that looks like a bizarre undersea realm. There are tails and teeth and a giant whale mouth to crawl into. Small openings lead into a maze of tunnels on this level and up into the ceiling. Kids can disappear, so now the staff writes their adult's phone number on the child's wristband. It comes in handy.                

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

The main stairway leading up from the lobby into the many wonders of the City Museum. The balustrade is made of industrial rollers, each painted differently. But then there are other marvels on the ground level and even in the basement. One of the many, many slides is in the top background.        

THE OLD YEAR SPIRALS DOWN

The old building that contains the City Museum was originally a big shoe factory and warehouse. (St. Louis used to be the national leader in shoe manufacturing before it all went offshore.) The back of the structure is a 10 story open space containing crazy spiral slides that moved product from floor to floor. Now two of them are full length slides for people small and flexible enough. (I wouldn't dare.) This seems like a fitting image for a year going down the chutes.       

TITLE? I ALREADY GOT ONE.

As set out in the header. The name over the City Museum's ticket desk refers to title insurance, something readers outside of the U.S. and Canada may not have heard of. It covers you in the event someone has a claim on real estate you own. (http://tinyurl.com/367d6m6m, if you care). One of the nice things about the City Museum is the wealth of old St. Louis architectural details it preserves.             

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST

Does this reflect our local psyche? There is a thing going around this year about what are essentially Halloween decorations with a bit of Christmas trim. I've seen it at several houses. This is a dry terrarium at the City Museum with lizards skittering around but it's still creepy.             

MADELEINE MONDAY - A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS

This was taken Friday at the City Museum, which, as I have said, is unique in all the world. They have all sorts of wild lights for the holidays, some of which I'll show later. Ellie's sense of wonder is charming.             

FINAL APPROACH

Another stripped private jet in the Monstro City section of the City Museum. A complex kid's climbing tower, modern sculpture, or both?                

AROUND AND AROUND AND AROUND IT GOES

And where it stops nobody knows.

Hard to top the response to yesterday's theme day picture of the Arch, but it's time to return to earth. This is another part of Monstro City at the City Museum. You can see why kids love it.              

BOO

Halloween is a big deal here, like most of the US, following several decades of commercialization. Leave it to American marketing to monetize fear. This spooky scene is at the City Museum. There is a 11 story open space at the back of the building, originally filled with chutes and conveyors to move materials and finished shoes between floors. Now it contains spiral slides up to the full height of the space. (I wouldn't dare. I'd probably get stuck.) The museum also installed a pipe organ, seen in red at the back. You can almost hear the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, https://tinyurl.com/354rbtz6, by stepping into the space.             

CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF

Another thing to climb and crawl on in Monstro City at the City Museum, the stripped fuselage of an old private jet. It's not going to fly through the buildings any more.           

METAL CRANE

Seen in the outdoor area at City Museum known, for no apparent reason, as Monstro City. There are lots of metal constructions to climb up and through. This metal crane is fanciful and just for decoration.               

UP ON THE ROOF

The City Museum occupies an 11 story former shoe factory and warehouse. (We were the center of shoe manufacturing in the U. S. before it all went offshore.) The roof, which will close in a few days for the winter, has a variety of things for kids to climb/crawl/slide over/under/down/through.         

HTRIM MEHYAM DNA YRETSYM

There is a surprise around every corner at the City Museum. Mirrors may distort your sense of space, stairways seem to go nowhere and phantom photographers lurk in corners.