THE HIGH ALTAR

 

The biggest memorial altar at the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the history museum. I note the skeleton in the St. Louis Cardinals baseball uniform, which may reflect the team's performance last year.                   

SOMBER WATCH

A few people dressed and made up as catrinas mingled with the crowd, posing for pictures with visitors. Late in the afternoon, they came out on the building's portico for a bit of a fashion show. Her makeup seems unusually sad and, strictly speaking, catrinas are female.             

RED WINGS

 

More color from Dia de los Muertos at the history museum. I can't say which was more engaging, the choreography or the costumes.                 

LA CATRINA

 

La Catrina is the face of Dia de los Muertos. The origin and popularity of the figure is a bit murky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrina) but it is now inescapable during the November 1 - 2 period of All Saints and All Souls Days. This example at the History Museum festival stands in front of the flag of the City of St. Louis.              

ALTARS AND ICE

One of the most touching customs of Dia de los Muertos is the building of altars that memorialize the dead but, even more, keep the living in communion with them. It can be an individual, an entire family or something much wider. At the History Museum's festival there is always an altar for the entire local Peruvian community. This one strikes particularly deep. The circle at the bottom center says "Perished In ICE Custody or Encounters, 2025-2026." ICE, of course, is the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. I don't need to repeat its story.              

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

 

There is an annual Dia de los Muertos festival at STL's Missouri History Museum. (Which should be called the St. Louis History Museum, since you won't find a thing about the Ozarks or Kansas City. I suppose there are old legal reasons.) One of the main presentations was an hour-long program of old and new danza mexicana. More to come.               

NO ROOM AT THE INN

 

More Route 66 neon. It would not occur to me to travel anywhere with an overnight stay without booking a hotel online in advance. It didn't used to be so. I remember a family road trip in my early teens up through New Hampshire to Quebec City. My father, who was, um, a bit of a character, drove up to the door of the Chateau Frontenac, expecting to put us up in style. Je suis désolé, monsieur, mais nous n'avons pas de chambres disponibles. Then we drove around for what seemed like a long time before ending up at Helen's Motel (sic., in English), which I recall being a bit of a dump but the kids loved it because they had a big trampoline. Vacancy.                  

ROUTE 66 NEON

 

Possibly signs that appeared along old US Route 66, or maybe just neon from a bye-gone era. Now the displays are all LEDs and Route 66 has been replaced by sections on the Interstate Highway system. More from the Missouri History Museum.                    

LA VILLE, C'EST MOI

 

The classic cars I've been showing for the last few days were part of a program at the Missouri History Museum. It's a pretty interesting place but more about our local area than the whole state. A sign in the central hallway sets the theme. The graphic is a section of the city's flag, representing the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as the fleur-de-lys of our French origin.                            

AT THE WHEEL

 

The cockpit of a 1929 La Salle. I thought that its age and monochrome interior made a B&W rendering appropriate. Strange controls. The spiky thing in the center is for the headlights. There is another dial to advance or retard the spark (who can remember that?). And not a lot of us Americans know how to drive a manual transmission any more.                   

'57 Chevy

 

Another entry at the Missouri History Museum's classic car show. The cafe au lait brown color is unusual.  Note the top center, with the 50s-early 60s fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Since I am a Frank Zappa fan, the meme reminds me of one of my favorite Mothers of Invention tracks.                    

ULTRAMATIC

 

This is the rear of the automobile seen in yesterday's post, identified as a Packard by a friend. The antique car license plate indicates 1949. Just what Ultramatic means was left to the imagination of the buyer. Marketing hooey has old roots.                   

THIS THING COULD KILL YOU

Big, elaborate hood ornaments used to be a thing. I remember that my family's first car, a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air (we lived in NYC and didn't use it every day), had one that looked like a chrome jet plane with twin vertical tails. I'm sorry that I didn't note what this car was, but you can imagine how it could eviscerate a pedestrian in an accident. Now the marques are all flat.                              

IT'S IN THE DETAILS

 

I don't have any special skill in photographing automobiles. but it seems to me that sometimes you can get more interesting images from the details rather than the whole. If you squint, you might see me in the red jacket reflected in the letter I.              

BACK IN THE USA

 

There are lots more images from our Central European expedition to edit, and I'll probably put more on Facebook, but it's time to be home. This weekend is the 100th anniversary of the official designation of Route 66, sometimes referred to as America's Mother Road. It starts in Chicago, passes through St. Louis (quite close to our home), and then gradually southwest to Los Angeles. Readers may know the song, with popular covers by St. Louisan Chuck Berry or the Rolling Stones. 

There was a weekend festival to mark the occasion at the Missouri History Museum. One feature was a line-up of classic cars that may have plied the road. This is a 1939 Cadillac La Salle ambulance. Make way.                   

LOVE IT AND LEAVE IT

Perhaps due to a lack of good sense, Mrs. C and I are flying today for the Thanksgiving holiday. We get to change planes in the chaos of Chicago O’Hare International Airport on one of the busiest days of the year, ending up in Midland, Michigan, where our son and his family live. We get to see our two other grandchildren, who are too far away. The sign is in front of the Missouri History Museum. The heart shows the center of the city’s flag.            

GOOOOOOOOL!

 

Another figure at the History Museum’s Dia de los Muertos event, dressed in the uniform of our local soccer/football team. St. Louis City SC's record this season is somewhat well represented.                   

ALTAR DETAIL

 

One of the features of Dia de los Muertos is elaborate altars, usually in honor of a particular deceased family member. This is a small detail from what I gather was a family’s abuela, or grandmother. The photos may be great grandchildren.               

GRATEFUL DEAD?

 

Technically, Dia de los Muertos was yesterday. In the Roman Catholic calendar, November 1 is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day. (You are only obliged to go to mass on the former.) Only a few people at the Missouri History Museum who were not official participants in the event did the full makeup or costume. If you look closely at his clothing, when the day comes I don’t think the man on the right expects to end up in heaven.                 

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

 

Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican festival that celebrates our connections to the beloved who have left us. Despite the imagery we will see in coming days, it is not morbid. The Missouri History Museum (a lot more interesting than it sounds) has a weekend event observing the occasion.