PLENARY INDULGENCE

 

 

The caption above might not mean much unless you were brought up Catholic like me. A plenary indulgence was something of great value. Rather than going into theological arcana here you can check the link if interested.

But Catholics have a wonderful concept of absolution - do this, think that, and all your sins are washed away. I didn't pay attention to the business under this awning - it could have been a bar or ice cream shop - because the concept on the awning was so good, sort of a spiritual Groundhog Day. Do all the nasty you want, come in here and emerge in saintly white.  

HARD CURVES

We have been looking at Laclede's Landing for the last few days. Its southern border is Eads Bridge, the old stone structure on the left. The view here is in the new northern extension of the Arch grounds that replaced a garage. It wasn't pretty but it also wasn't very noticeable. It was the closest, cheapest parking to the monument and the clubs and restaurants in the Landing. What's there now is, well, odd. It feels like it has paths to nowhere and a you-can't-get-there-from-here feel. There is a lack of seating. The landforming and landscaping is not particularly attractive, IMHO. There are some nice views of the Mississippi, though.                

A MORE ATTRACTIVE EXAMPLE

Same sign as yesterday but in a more pleasant setting. There must some significant business activity in Laclede's Landing to have someone caring for the flowers.

I keep thinking about where this church the sign mentions might be, even looking on Google maps. There is nothing at all in the immediate area. However, if you walked 10 or 15 minutes south across the Arch grounds you would come to what we call the Old Cathedral, the oldest church in town. That has to be it.       

FRENCHY-FIED

An affectation. It's true that we were founded by the French trader-explorers, Pierre Laclede and August Chouteau. (No one here except a real Francophone can come close to pronouncing the names correctly. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2014-02-27/pard-my-french-st-louis-peculiar-way-of-saying-local-street-names ) They both have streets named after them but Chouteau, the second banana, got the more important thoroughfare. 

Anyway, the city mothers and fathers decided to give second names in French to several streets around the Arch, Old Courthouse and Laclede's Landing. They still have common American names, Broadway, Chestnut Street and so on. This placard is on the 19th Century stone foundations of Eads' Bridge. There is no church anywhere close, although there might have been one ages ago. Alors ça va.     

WE DO

And many other things that wouldn't surprise you in the least. Sometimes we take pictures.         

LEVITATION

 

This would make my knees wobble. I think he was installing windows in a building in Laclede's Landing that was undergoing restoration. I'm also glad he saw me taking his picture.       

HUBRIS

I guess the owner has never been to Harry's Bar in Venice or the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis in New York.         

THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

I've been complaining about having nothing to shoot. I was at the office part of the day yesterday and, while looking out my window, realized that I have not been to the Laclede's Landing area in a long time. It is a district just north of the Arch that contained old commercial buildings, some from the 19th Century. There was extensive restoration maybe thirty years ago. The area filled up with restaurants, bars and clubs, along with some office and residential space. The place was hopping on weekend nights.

Then, a few years ago, the foundation that supports the Arch renovated the whole grounds. Work on the north end shut off the main vehicle access to the Landing. Most of the businesses quickly withered and were given no compensation for the damage done to them.

Now access is some better if not as good as it was. A few businesses have come back but there is still a lot of empty space. I took this photo through one of the alleys. It's quite unoriginal - everybody takes this shot. Still, there is a bit of drama.              

AND THEY MEAN IT

Big Muddy is on a big rise. This was the scene in Laclede's Landing yesterday afternoon. It's been raining a lot in the region and some towns upstream are in serious danger. A distance beyond the water line here is a street with sidewalks on both sides and a cobblestone levee that is usually uncovered for some way down. The forecast is for more rise until Monday.

 

I have worked a short distance from the Mississippi for more than 40 years. I believe that it breathes, but oh so slowly - in and out, up and down. Right now it's doing a big inhale, swelling its chest. The circle continues. 

That's Entertainment

This is the big video advertising board at the Lumiere Place Casino. It stands beside I 70, distracting drivers and me, too, since it's easy to see from my office window. So come to the show room in St. Louis. You can catch Winonna Judd or the ladies' beefcake show. If you prefer, contact me if you would like something more edifying.             

Heartbroken

Or howl at the moon, whatever you'd like to call it. There is a bar here called that. These musicians, probably hired by the local business association, were playing on the sidewalk in Laclede's Landing outside of the defunct Heartbreaker's Rock and Roll Saloon. A number of bars and restaurants in the district have been shuttered because the fine folks renovating the Arch grounds blocked the most convenient access with construction. And no compensation offered.                        

On the other hand, the owners of the Four Seasons Hotel and Lumiere Place Casino did a better job with the French flag last night. No cedar of Lebanon sighted, though.

Turn Around. Bring Back The Color.

Yesterday's pictures were grim and monochrome. I had only to turn around to see the International-Style-gone-goofy Four Seasons Hotel atop the Lumiere Place Casino. That cock's comb some architect stuck at an angle is, well, a bad idea. (S.C., your view?) It has an LED matrix woven onto the surface, showing very low resolution displays appropriate to the season (like this). But in the foreground we have some century-old buildings in Laclede's Landing, including a cast-iron facade structure, so common in lower Manhattan. 

A short way back toward the river, a main railroad track disappears into a tunnel that runs under the Grand Staircase that leads from the Arch to the river. No idea what happens to it during the renovations but, unlike the garage, it has to stay in some form.

Thought I was going to get caught up on comments tonight but my daughter and granddaughter came over.                                    

Disoriented Some-Day-Or-Other Arch Series

I read an awful lot of medical records in my job. Part of a standard quickie psychiatric screening is whether an individual is "oriented X 3," that is, to person, place and time. 1 - Who am I? Who are you? 2 - Where are you? 3 - What time/date/year is this? How long have you been in this room? When I put together yesterday's post on Wednesday night, I flunked Number 3. I lost track of the day of the week. We could attribute the problem to a run of days in which I was exploring new dimensions in overwork or to creeping dementia. You pick.

As a result, the Thursday Arch Series appears on Friday. Everyone's entitled to an occasional mistake, right? This view of my favorite monument is from an alley in Laclede's Landing. It is an area of old warehouses north of the Arch from the days when the Mississippi was our chief means of transportation. It's been redeveloped into restaurants, bars, nightclubs and, lately, our most enormous casino-hotel complex. Pierre Laclede and August Chouteau were the French fur traders and explorers who founded St. Louis is 1764. The alley plays peek-a-boo with the the side of the Arch.

TOMORROW: Brother-Hood