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.
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.
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.
Looking west on Clark Street toward Union Station, with the hockey arena in the shadows on the right. Lots of big trucks because the main post office is in the background.
Downtown St. Louis hasn't been doing well since the pandemic. More vacant storefronts, lower office occupancy. One area that stays afloat is the corporate development known as Ballpark Village, part of which is shown here. The baseball stadium is in the shadows on the right. Part of a two block complex of bars, so-so restaurants, a hotel and a luxury apartment building (can't imaging who wants to live there) are center and left. Not much going on on a holiday weekend.
It seems like every city of any size has a big Ferris wheel. We have had one at the Union Station complex for a few years. The lighting is all computer-controlled LEDs. It pulses and changes constantly. I think it looks best at night.
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.
