There are lots of smaller ice sculptures in front of businesses along Delmar Boulevard during the Loop Ice Carnival. They used to be more complex, full 3-D designs. Now they are 2-D slabs with etchings. Looks like there was a mural festival, whatever that is, last year but it didn’t come to my attention. The reason for the lion face is the two big lion sculptures at the entrance to the city hall of the municipality, University City.
There is always an ice sculpture demonstration at the Loop Ice Carnival. It looks like they start with a block and etch a pattern into it. I wish I had been there later in the day to see the 3-D finish work.
The statue of St. Louisan Chuck Berry in the Delmar Loop. He frequently performed at Blueberry Hill across the street. I had forgotten how old this statue is. It was dedicated on July 29, 2011 and I went to photograph it. I was slightly acquainted with the sculptor, Harry Weber - I had photographed some of his other work - and he got me into the private reception at Blueberry Hill. I’ve photographed Berry in concert but that’s when I got a close-up. https://tinyurl.com/3x9adbaw
Tle Loop is a stretch of Delmar Boulevard reaching across the city limits into University City, so-named because it includes a large part of Washington University, one of the country’s top schools. Years ago, the trolley cars coming out of the city turned around at a track loop at the end of the strip. Now it is full of interesting restaurants, stores and bars. They have an ice carnival every January, more about which to come.
The restaurant, bar and performance venue Blueberry Hill is the anchor. St. Louisan Chuck Berry performed there frequently. We’ll see Chuck tomorrow.
March, 1973: I was a broke law student who went to a bar on St. Patrick’s Day with my roommate, having only pocket change between us. The crowd literally pushed me into a young woman whom I found attractive. One thing led to another and I asked her out on a first date. It wasn’t the norm at the time, but we went to the St. Louis Symphony (cheapest seats) and heard Mahler’s First Symphony, one of my favorites. 52 years later, we are hearing it again today at the SLSO.
The Mahler Ballroom in our Central West End, https://www.mahlerballroom.com/, was a dance academy and center of St, Louis society in the early 20th Century. It has been beautifully restored and is now an event space.
St. Louis STyLe House, on funky Cherokee Street, where you can buy all things St. Louis-y. I have a coffee cup from there, designed in the colors and typeface of municipal trucks, used as a pen holder.
