RUNNING THROUGH FIRE

That's how it feels to many of us in St. Louis when we are out in the street, and certainly in much of the rest of the country. The picture is a bit of a tease, though. This locally famous statue in a downtown plaza is in the middle of a fountain whose water is colored for various occasions. Looks like a hot foot, though.             

RED MEANS GO

Kiener Plaza is named after Harry Kiener, a St. Louisan who was a U.S. track star at the 1904 Olympics. (Which was held here. We used to be somebody.) Most people don't know that the model was a rabbinical student who was an acquaintance of the Lithuanian-Jewish sculptor. The plaza was completely redone four or five years ago, this statue being the only carry-over. The lights are now LEDs that change colors for occasions like a Cardinals game.               

ENDLESS RACE

The statue known as The Runner in Kiener Plaza. He's been in the same race for many decades and never reaches the finish line. It has an interesting history. Harry Kiener was on the U. S. track team in the 1904 Olympics, held in St. Louis. The sculptor, William Zorach, was a Jewish Lithuanian immigrant. The model for The Runner statue was Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein. He posed as the lithe young runner when he was a 22-year-old rabbinical student.

Some Things Don't Change

Late post. I left my laptop at my office last night.

Our iconic statue, The Runner, is back. I think it came from the 1904 World's Fair. (To paraphrase Marlon Brando, we used to be somebody.) The circular pool is now much smaller, giving the sculpture more of a direct impact.  In the old installation, persons unknown used to dump red or blue dye into the water if something special was going on with the baseball or hockey teams. Now it has infinitely variable LED lighting.

And, of course, Fredbird, the Cardinals' idiotic mascot, often hangs around. Here, he is challenged by a fan of the San Fransisco Giants who were in town.

There is a good photo how the eastern half of the plaza used to look here.  Pretty bland and often unkempt. Also, there is an overview shot of the new plaza here. Hard to tell from the picture but that big lozenge of grass is hump-backed. The developers claim that if will provide seating for 2,000 people for concerts. I'm sceptical but we will see. Otherwise, it doesn't look very useful to me. Only a bit of shade around the edges and our summers are hot.