Downtown St. Louis 365

181/365: Peace Out

2011-06-30T00:01:00.004-05:00

Downtown St. Louis 365 is going on sabbatical for a while. I need more time for other things. My intention is to post occasionally when I have a picture that's worth it. The St. Louis Daily Photo juggernaut continues. So for now, peace and joy, and keep your feet cool during the hot months.

The Thursday Arch Series has a military twist on St. Louis Daily Photo.

180/365: I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke

2011-06-29T00:01:00.002-05:00

Possibly a street person, maybe just someone hanging out in the Old Post Office Plaza. He's got one good arm to lift a bottle of Coca Cola.

I am suspending Downtown St. Louis 365 for a while after tomorrow's post. Made it to half a year. It gets little traffic, some of the work is below the standard I want and it's taking more time than I anticipated. My summer will be very busy at work. I may bring it back in the future or post intermittently. If anyone would like to persuade me to do otherwise, let me know.

Street portraits of unusual people on St. Louis Daily Photo.

179/3365: Analysis

2011-06-27T22:02:00.006-05:00

Analysis: breaking things down into their component parts, looking for structure and patterns to achieve a deeper understanding. Could be Freudian, Jungian, philosophical or political. In this case I think it's chemical. Check the lettering of the top line. Evidently, no expense was spared in the development of this facility.

St. Louis Daily Photo is definitely out of the closet.

178/365: Watch Out, Guys. They're All Lawyers

2011-06-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

This looks like it might have been taken by our friend Steffe.

Sauce Magazine, the local weekly newspaper and website for foodies, has an annual tasting and pouring at this time of year in a blessedly air-conditioned venue. This year it was at the swanky Four Seasons Hotel north of the Arch. There were yummy tidbits from some of the best local area restaurants (this is a wonderful city for eating) and samples from regional wineries. Yes, Missouri makes wine and some of it is pretty good.

The group attending the event in the iPhone picture above might get the attention of young men on the prowl. Be careful, guys, they are all lawyers. I can vouch for it - the one on the left works for me. Behave yourselves. You don't want to be slapped with a writ.

St. Louis Daily Photo does gentle combat.

177/365: Street Combat

2011-06-26T00:01:00.003-05:00

We couldn't imagine this in the relative safety of America but there are plenty of places in this world where you could round a bend in the road and walk right into it. Be grateful.

These Marines rode up to the edge of the Mississippi in inflatable Zodiac boats, jumped into the water and waded ashore with automatic weapons at the ready. Makes me want to watch Mary Poppins or something.

There are daredevils on St. Louis Daily Photo.

176/365: Drop On In

2011-06-25T09:48:00.007-05:00

At the beginning of the Marines' mock assault yesterday, six men jumped out of a helicopter and - what's the right term? - used paragliders to float down to the lawn under the Arch. The announcer said they do this with great precision and are able to land on a 10 square meter target. As Muhammad Ali used to say, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

175/365: Fast Way Out

2011-06-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned today on St. Louis Daily Photo, these pictures stir up memories of images from the Vietnam War. The circumstances are utterly different, but this one makes me think of the last helicopter leaving the roof of the American embassy in Saigon at the end of the conflict, No one is firing on the Arch grounds, though.

St. Louis Daily Photo has a big, mean copter coming out of the sun.

174/365: Happiness Is A Warm Gun

2011-06-23T00:01:00.003-05:00

John Lennon said so, so it must be true. When was the last time you looked down the barrel of a tank? (I hope for all our sakes that this is a purely rhetorical question.) You can do it this week in Ballpark Village, next to Busch Stadium, the local baseball venue. This theme will continue here and on St. Louis Daily Photo with an explanation on Saturday.

Speaking of which, the Arch's metal is a point of emphasis on St. Louis Daily Photo.

173/365: Sneak Preview

2011-06-22T00:01:00.002-05:00

There is a big public event going on downtown this week. This is just a preview. More on St Louis Daily Photo late this week and into the weekend.

St. Louis Daily Photo remembers Anthony Gano.

172/365:Ynlo Gal Htron Ta

2011-06-21T00:01:00.003-05:00

Look back at last Friday's post - this is where the sign would point you. That's the edge of the north leg of the Arch at the top. No entry.

St. Louis Daily Photo is still way out on the prairie.

171/365: Mish Mash

2011-06-20T18:47:00.004-05:00

Most cities have a blend of old and new buildings with a variety of styles. This shot was taken from underneath the Arch looking west into downtown. From right t o left, we have the zippy International Style of the AT&T Building, the Neoclassic Old Courthouse and the who-the-heck-knows Civil Courts Building.

170/365: The Uncertainty Principle

2011-06-19T00:01:00.001-05:00

You can know the position of something very accurately, you can know the momentum of something very accurately, but you cant know both at the same time. Shot under the Arch, by the Mississippi.

St. Louis Daily Photo has a portrait of my wife's 92 year old mother.

169/365: Slow Business

2011-06-18T07:56:00.004-05:00

There have been a couple of posts here and on St. Louis Daily Photo about the horse-drawn carriages that prowl downtown, looking for visitors. This one is parked on the street by the river (barely above water for the moment) directly under the Arch. No takers.

168/365: Lies And Misinformation

2011-06-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

Most visitors enter the Arch by the entrance at the north leg. It's closest to the garage. But last weekend there were signs all over the place directing people to the south leg. Problem is, that side is closed for construction work (we'll have a picture sometime soon). So, uh, who's in charge here?

St. Louis Daily Photo sees red.

167/365: Other things To Do At The Arch

2011-06-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

This gentleman was lying in the grass right under the Arch, peacefully reading a book. It could feel like having a gigantic, high-tech security system surrounding you, repelling all forces of danger. The great steel hoop is simply that powerful.

A Photoshoperized image of the big wicket is on St. Louis Daily Photo.

166/365: I Am Wearing Silly Bunny Ears But I Will NOT Smile

2011-06-15T00:01:00.004-05:00

This family of walkers was resting on the wall surrounding the World War I Soldiers Memorial. They will not have fun and you can't make them. You may have noticed the pink rabbit ears in other pictures in this series. Energizer Batteries has their headquarters on the edge of downtown and was a sponsor of the event. Their advertising theme for ages has been the Energizer Bunny who keeps going and going and going. The company was giving away the ears to anyone who would take them.

The reason for this event is summed up in a portrait on St. Louis Daily Photo.

165/365: Ninty Seconds Of Fame

2011-06-14T00:01:00.004-05:00

Andy Warhol said that in the future everyone would have fifteen minutes of fame. Television news gives its subjects a small fraction of that. A little piece of info-candy, nothing taxing. Nevertheless, these people raising money for breast cancer research deserve some thanks.

Hey, I know the guy with a beard near the middle! Hi, Jeff!

The best viewpoint for shooting the parade is on St. Louis Daily Photo.

164/365: Grape And Lime

2011-06-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

Pink wasn't the only color on display at the Komen Race For The Cure. I think the color palette came off a psychedelic poster.

The swell of marchers was overwhelming, as illustrated on St. Louis Daily Photo.

163/365: Komen Race For The Cure

2011-06-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

A few drops in the sea of people at the Komen Race For The Cure supporting breast cancer research that took place downtown yesterday. The main reason why I was out shooting it is on St. Louis Daily Photo.

162/365: Mixer

2011-06-11T00:01:00.002-05:00

The sound engineer at Party On The Plaza this week. It looks like a very modern version of the phantom of the opera at the latest kind of organ keyboard.

Crime fighting buddies? No, chefs de cuisine on St. Louis Daily Photo.

161/365: Spectators

2011-06-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

Another shot from yesterday's Party On The Plaza. I suspect these men live on the edges of downtown, literally and figuratively. They say you're never too old to rock and roll but I don't think age is the question here.

St. Louis Daily Photo likes the lead singer's haircut.

160/360: Prophets

2011-06-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

It's a little song all American schoolchildren know: If you're happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap). Some local wit turned it into a question about epistemology and theology on the graffiti-permitted part of the floodwall south of the Arch. A short distance away, another painter has no doubts about what he or she knows.

It's horse, buggy and Arch time on St. Louis Daily Photo.

159/360: Patience

2011-06-08T00:01:00.004-05:00

Sitting on the north steps of the Old Post Office in front of the library entrance, waiting for something to happen. Could be a while.

St. Louis Daily Photo is prescribing relief.

158/365: Bridge To Darkness

2011-06-07T00:01:00.003-05:00

Not far south of the Arch, an old train trestle climbs upward from the ground and seems to disappear into blackness. It actually bends right at the top, merging onto a bridge across the river to Illinois. It is still used occasionally.

St. Louis Daily Photo pretends to be steamboating, but the thing really runs on diesel.

157/365: I've Been Asking Myself That Question

2011-06-06T12:43:00.005-05:00

There are few answers to the question at this specific location. Forward, you plunge into the Mississippi. Backward, you crash into the floodwall. Left or right just takes you along the street by the river, if it's not underwater. (Parts of it were the day this was taken.) There is a way out, but you need to know exactly where you are going. Sartre would be confused.

156/365: Guitarist Available

2011-06-05T07:36:00.002-05:00

Just a quicky, uploaded from our lodgings in Hannibal, Missouri, two hours up the Mississippi from St. Louis. There's that certain rock and roll guitarist look and attitude, which is going strong here. From one of The Project for Downtown St. Louis' Parties In The Plaza.

155/365: Believe - What?

2011-06-04T00:01:00.007-05:00

From the graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi floodwall just south of the Arch. I'm not real good on popular culture, but isn't the stenciled face a character from the animated movie Toy Story? Then there's the question of what we should believe, and why. Animated movies, maybe.

I posted this to balance today's picture on St. Louis Daily Photo.

154/365: What's Wrong With Stan?

2011-06-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

Stan Musial is considered the greatest player in the history of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. There is a monumental statue of him on the west side of Busch Stadium. I think it's very unflattering. The back and shoulders are huge, out of proportion, a Frankenstein look. Well, maybe poetic license is allowed to show his strength. But the face is so misshapen (notice how the jaw is way off center), the expression is so dead and it doesn't look much like him, anyway. The team could have done better.

Still more cute Chinese kids on St. Louis Daily Photo.

153/365: Dark Entry

2011-06-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

Stupid photo tricks: the gap at the eastern edge of Richard Serra's Twain with the Civil Courts Building behind, heavily back-lit and Holga-ized in the computer. It's got sort of an edgy German Expressionist feel. I like it, particularly the bare patch of earth where people walk in. But, as the investment ads in this country say, your results may vary.

The same dark attitude runs through St. Louis Daily Photo today.

152/365: Caught In A Vice

2011-06-01T07:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a day when you felt like this, a vise squeezing your temples, grim and sickly expression staring out at the world? I sure have but I don't know that it was any worse than Pinocchio's position in Tom Otterness' Kindly Geppetto, located in Citygarden.

St. Louis Daily Photo is doing some stretches.

151/365: Not Again!

2011-05-31T00:01:00.008-05:00

I hadn't been down to the riverfront in a couple of weeks. Sunday was a good time to go image trawling. My usual approach is to enter from the south, up Lenore K. Sullivan Boulevard (life was so much more simple when the city called it Wharf Street) from the foot of Chouteau. When I arrived I found barricades across the street. I parked, walked up a hundred meters and found this.

Hadn't it it had all gone downstream, leaving us and infesting Louisiana and Mississippi? No. The river was the highest I've seen it this year, inundating the street and sidewalk below the Arch. Mrs. C. and I have a weekend road trip coming up in a few days to Hannibal, Missouri, (with no elephants to cross the Mississippi, let alone the Alps). We are hoping to do all the Tom, Huck and Becky stuff on the Mark Twain pilgrimage, but we intended to do it all by car, not boat.

St. Louis Daily Photo is back to gratuitous cuteness, with the slightest imperfection.

150/365: Lou Brock's Empty Eyes

2011-05-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

The Memorial Day long weekend marks the beginning of summer season activities in the US. It was hot yesterday; my legs didn't carry me and my gear as far as I would have liked. One thing I did was walk by the corner of the baseball stadium with its statues Cardinal greats. Maybe there was a new way to look at them.

Sure, in their faces. There's no good way to do eyes on statues. Greco-Roman sculpture had plain spheres. Later, many artists adopted the technique of gouging depressions to represent the iris and pupil. It may look more natural at a glance but when you get up close and stare in the face, it's like no one's there.

St. Louis Daily Photo is on parade.

149/365: Dorsa

2011-05-29T00:01:00.005-05:00

The Dorsa Lofts are in are in an early 20th Century commercial building on Washington Avenue downtown. I like the off-kilter Art Deco-ish design and color. The name is that of a dress manufacturer from decades ago. There was a theater on the ground floor often used for fashion shows. Now you can look at the neighborhood hipsters and flocks of out-of-towners from the nearby convention center.

St. Louis Daily Photo takes the oriental cuteness competition up a level.

148/365: The Joy Of Cop

2011-05-28T00:01:00.002-05:00

This St. Louis motorcycle policeman looks happy, and why not? He gets to ride around all day on this big, black Harley with flashing lights all over it, make a lot of noise, bust bad guys and protect the citizens of the city (at least in theory). People get out of his way. He gets to drive real fast sometimes. No wonder he's smiling.

It's gratuitous cuteness, Chinese division, on St. Louis Daily Photo.

147/365: Cheer

2011-05-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

A cheerleader from one of the high school marching bands in the Annie Malone parade. This beautiful young woman has a tu tu that doesn't quite fit with the hard lines of her top, shaking green and gold cornflowers for pom poms and a dreamlike expression. Maybe not something to inspire the football team but nonetheless expressive.

The sun is made of glass on St. Louis Daily Photo.

146/365: Take Cover

2011-05-26T00:01:00.003-05:00

This was taken from my office at 4:35 PM yesterday afternoon. Tornado sirens were going off in the street while the building's PA system warned people to go to the stairwells. I was following the situation minute by minute online and knew there was nothing bad downtown for the moment. So, considering what I think is important in life, I stood at my window and kept shooting.

This formation crossing the Mississippi looks like it was trying to turn into a tornado. Didn't quite make it. It looked like it had rotation. I like how the autofocus got caught on the raindrops on the window, leaving the background soft and dark.

The storm looked like it might pull the Arch up by its roots, as illustrated on St. Louis Daily Photo.

145/365: Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order

2011-05-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

A senior Shriner glides down Market Street in an old fire truck during the Annie Malone parade. The phrase in the caption is the start of the official name of the group (more info here). I've never understood why the Shriners, a branch of Freemasonry, adopt all these Arab (and by extension, Muslim) trappings. And the fez is Turkish, not Arabic, isn't it? It's a puzzler, but then all that stuff is supposed to be secret.

St. Louis Daily Photo strikes up the band.

144/365: St. Louis' Finest

2011-05-24T00:01:00.004-05:00

I have a lot of respect for the St. Louis Police Department. Urban cops have a hard job. The ones I've run into have been helpful and courteous. Reports of corruption are very rare here. Locals don't have a reason to fear them - unless there is a good reason to do so.

Slap hands with a burger pusher on St. Louis Daily Photo.

143/365: Quo Vadis?

2011-05-23T00:01:00.005-05:00

One of these targets is 630 feet tall and made of stainless steel. The other is the largest river in North America. Visitors with a poor sense of direction can fuel up on a big steak, then follow the arrows. They're straight ahead, can't miss 'em.

St. Louis Daily Photo offers refreshment for slow cyclists.

142/365: Trinkets

2011-05-22T00:01:00.002-05:00

Back at the Annie Malone parade, a couple of these vendors worked the crowd. Nothing better to celebrate African American cultural identity that a cheap inflatable Spiderman.

By the way, the tattoo of a housefly crawling down his neck creeps me out.

Speed and skids on St. Louis Daily Photo.

141/365: Hey, Camera Boy!

2011-05-21T00:01:00.003-05:00

Wandering around at the Party In The Plaza, shooting the crowd. This man saw the big lens pointing at him and invited me in.

St. Louis Daily Photo asks if we've got the stuff or not.

140/365: Txt

2011-05-20T00:01:00.003-05:00

Two strangers on a staircase in Roberts Plaza. Is any communication taking place?

St. Louis Daily Photo looks inside and out.

139/365: Forward, March!

2011-05-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

Part of the University City marching band at the Annie Malone parade. The tuba says Jupiter on it but it could use a Great Red Spot.

St. Louis Daily Photo wonders if Ronald McDonald has Buddha nature.

138/365: Ain't Too Proud

2011-05-18T00:01:00.003-05:00

After the Annie Malone parade last Sunday there was a free blues and R&B show in Kiener Plaza. The chilly, damp night kept the crowd small but those attending were rewarded. I didn't get the name of this group but they were playing The Temptations classic Ain't Too Proud To Beg with more energy than the original. These guys were slick.

St. Louis Daily Photo considers screaming monsters and the consumer society, and tries to tell them apart.

137/365: The Band Goes Tropical

2011-05-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

For some reason the singers in this band make me thing of minor characters in the old Miami Vice TV show. Quite the tropical look and never mind that they were standing in the middle of downtown St. Louis, playing at the first of the summer's Party in the Plaza events.

It's Befriend A Biker day on St. Louis Daily Photo.

136/365: Annie Malone Parade

2011-05-16T00:01:00.003-05:00

The annual Annie Malone Parade celebrates an agency that has been serving the black community since 1888. It's huge. colorful and full of drums. These boys may find themselves marching in the event for decades to come. The weather was miserable yesterday, chilly and drizzling, but it had no effect on enthusiasm.

St. Louis Daily Photo is not skilled in reading palms.

135/365: Happy Together

2011-05-15T00:01:00.007-05:00

Now I can't get that song out of my head. It came out the year I graduated from high school. The best version, though, was when The Turtles lead singer briefly toured with Frank Zappa and belted it out on The Mothers of Invention Live At The Filmore East. I still cherish my copy.

Anyway, this was at the Party In The Plaza last Thursday. Most people are happy to let me take their picture when I ask, a few decline (like the crew in the 5 Hour Energy booth at the Tour de Grove yesterday who were horrified by the suggestion, but you shouldn't be drinking that stuff anyway) and some insist that I photograph them, like this young lady. But there is more she wanted the world to see. Find out what on St. Louis Daily Photo tomorrow.

Today's post on St. Louis Daily Photo is about the few, the proud.

134/365: Awww...

2011-05-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

Gratuitous cuteness returns! These are two happy members of the crowd at Thursday's Party In The Plaza. You can barely see the label on the little dog's sweater or workout top or whatever it is. The brand is called Puppia. Isn't that cute?

St. Louis Daily Photo has the cutest human in the crowd, hands down.

133/365: Party In The Plaza

2011-05-13T01:15:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note since Blogger's problems have forced me to post this at work on Friday afternoon. Last night was the first of a summer series of Parties In The Plaza (the one in front of Roberts Tower) sponsored by The Partnership For Downtown St. Louis. A really good R&B group called Fat Pocket entertained the crowd. As you can see, everyone had a good time. If Blogger doesn't restore yesterday's post I'll try to reconstruct it to keep my 365 day sequence in order.

132/365: God Bless

2011-05-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

This diner has been at 14th and Olive for decades. The owner seems to have some strong views on theology and politics. He or she keeps up with British news, too, but seems uninterested in anyone but the mother country and her unruly child.

This place has a strange back story. Extreme movie fans may remember the film White Palace, in which a young Jewish advertising copywriter from St. Louis falls is love with a middle-aged, red-neck White Castle waitress played by Susan Sarandon. (If you don't know what White Castle is, check the link. It will become obvious.) They couldn't use the actual name White Castle so they called it White Palace. They couldn't shoot it in an actual White Castle restaurant (Sarandon's character was supposed to work at the White Castle at Grand and Gravois, as blue collar as it got at that time) so the producers took this beat-up old diner and transformed it into the movie set. The movie was based on the wonderful novel by the late Glenn Savan. I was Savan's lawyer at one time, and a more intelligent, literate and tragically ill client I may never see again.

There's a double arch, metal and ephemera, on St. Louis Daily Photo.

131/365: Got A Spike?

2011-05-11T00:01:00.003-05:00

This is the last of the three strange murals on the front of the Alder Frame Lofts building. The graphics on all of them are arresting but creepy. Our eyes are drawn to the woman in the foreground of this one. Her eyes, hair and wine are all black, her piercing gaze fixes the viewer. Sections of the image have been torn away. I think the building has vampires.

Yes, St. Louis Daily Photo has bananas.

130/365: If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now

2011-05-10T00:01:00.004-05:00

This is the second of the three strange murals made of weatherproof sheets, hung on the side of the Alder Frame Lofts building toward the edge of downtown. There must be some marketing idea behind it, however strangely expressed. Maybe it's trying to tell hip, young professional women that this is a good place to live, or men (young, hip, professional or otherwise) that you could live down the hall from someone like this. I don't know if the approach has been successful.

St. Louis Daily Photo is jumping for joy.

129/365: Up Against The Wall, Baby

2011-05-09T00:01:00.004-05:00

But why?

This mural, for want of a better word, is on the front of the Alder Frame Lofts at 21st and Washington. It is one of the many old commercial buildings in the neighborhood converted into residences. The image seems to be printed on sheets of vinyl and bolted to the facade. What does it mean?

There are two other murals to the right on themes that seem more appropriate to yuppieville. We will see them Tuesday and Wednesday.

St. Louis Daily Photo is on the march.

128/365: Dark Waters

2011-05-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

And I'm not talking about the Mississippi this time. Just one of the fountains in Citygarden near sunset on a showery day. The water comes down and the water goes up.

St. Louis Daily Photo is eating Mexican ice cream.

127/365: Desolation Row

2011-05-07T00:01:00.003-05:00

Bob Dylan sang Desolation Row so long ago that I was in high school. We all thought it was really deep, although we didn't understand a bit of it. This plot of land in the southeast corner of downtown could have been one of the stops along the way. It's under the elevated section of I 55 just south of the Arch. The chain link and barbed wire fence is baffling - somebody needs to keep people out of here? Or was something/someone once contained inside?

I like how the morning sun lights up that little bit of grass in the foreground. Maybe the place is salvageable.

St. Louis Daily Photo wonders about a 19th Century gymnast and perhaps proto-Nazi today.

126/365: Wet Feet

2011-05-06T00:01:00.003-05:00

There are usually traffic lanes through those first two arches of Eads Bridge. The levee should be under the third and a long way off to the right of the frame.

The Mississippi is dropping here but a great surge is heading south toward Memphis and New Orleans.

Today's post on St. Louis Daily Photo plots the escape route.

125/365: Flood Watching

2011-05-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

Everyone who goes by the river is fascinated by the flood. It's more entertaining than watching corn grow, I suppose.

The Arch towers over the flood waters today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

124/365: The Sacred And The Profane

2011-05-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

Just behind the Arch looking back into the city: the Old Cathedral, framed by spring-fresh trees, standing before the building that has the local office of Deloitte, one of the world's largest accounting firms.

St. Louis Daily Photo turns around from this view and observes a servant of the Lord protecting our city.

123/365: Visit Your Arch (By Boat)

2011-05-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

Another view of the flooding on the Mississippi. The street under the Arch next to the river is completely covered. The water goes three or four steps up the grand staircase from the street to the base of the monument (we've seen much worse). I wouldn't plan a visit arriving by canoe, though. The current is wicked.

Today's picture on St. Louis Daily Photo is a lot more wet than this one.

122/365: 10 Blocks, 400 Millimeters, 1.6 Crop Factor

2011-05-02T00:01:00.006-05:00

Union Station and its surroundings on the western edge of downtown. The silver building with the long, black horizontal windows is the HQ of the Metropolitan Sewer District. I bet you're glad I told you that.

This was shot facing west from my partner's office using a Canon 7D, which has a 1.6 crop factor, and a zoom telephoto at its maximum 400 mm length. The near side of the Station is exactly 10 blocks away. That's compression.

St. Louis Daily Photo is still kicking robot butt.

121/365: Thunderdome

2011-05-01T00:15:00.006-05:00

This is the inside of the Edward Jones Dome, where the robotics playoffs were held. It is the home of the St. Louis Rams football team. This view would be from behind the end zone. You could dock several dirigibles in here. The idea of so much open but covered space would have been inconceivable a few decades ago.

The robot wars themselves are on St. Louis Daily Photo.

120/365: Center Field

2011-04-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

The view from Clark Avenue, looking into the center field entrance to Busch Stadium and the grandstands beyond. Lots of symbols and icons. I wonder what, if anything, the public absorbs from them.

Territorial warfare continues today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

119/365: Seizure

2011-04-29T00:01:00.003-05:00

Advice found just to the right of the wall painting in yesterday's post and the tagger even knows some Latin. People's reaction to graffiti varies a lot. I don't like defacement of buildings but it's permitted on this wall and the work often has a lot of energy. This one has great visual pop. Sometimes it can be witty, like here. To quote another worn Latin phrase, de gustibus non est disputandum - there's no disputing taste.

The guys in today's St. Louis Daily Photo's post took this suggestion seriously.

118/365: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

2011-04-28T00:01:00.003-05:00

That's one of those songs that can just get stuck in your head. Maybe it is the idea behind this new bit of painting on the graffiti-permitted part of the floodwall near the Arch. You're not likely to find the companion of your dreams in the industrial barrens around this site. The young man looks quite lonely, or maybe just stupefied.

St. Louis Daily Photo illustrates why the Arch may get its feet wet.

117/365: A Walk In The Rain

2011-04-27T00:01:00.002-05:00

One of Julian Opie's kinetic light sculptures in Citygarden, This Is Bruce and Sarah Walking, on their existential amble to nowhere. It was raining softly and near sunset. The out-of-focus dogwood blossoms look like low-hanging clouds.

St. Louis Daily Photo is just as wet today.

116/365: A Wheel For Giant Gerbils

2011-04-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

I was wandering around Citygarden between rain squalls Sunday afternoon, trying to find some downtown material. The Cardinals baseball game was letting out nearby. Two young ladies were taking pictures of one another in part of Bernar Venet's 2 Arcs X 4, 230.5 Degrees Arc X 5. It looks like one is racing through a very abstract gerbil wheel. I hope it's not a prediction of her career path.

River's rising. See St. Louis Daily Photo for details.

115/365: In The Company Of Rabbits

2011-04-25T00:01:00.005-05:00

Looks like I have a not-quite-the-Easter-Bunny theme going on. This rabbit in repose is the Citygarden companion of the one in yesterday's post. It seems to be guarding the way for this family to return to their car after the baseball game.

More bogus bunnies on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

114/365: Easter Bunny

2011-04-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

Well, it's that day in the Christian calendar so we gotta have something appropriate. What kind of eggs will this bunny bring to Citygarden? He or she (no way to tell!) might bring some in painted bronze, just like itself. Maybe chocolate ones, covered in white in a white sugar shell and whatever other seasonings the downtown sky brings. I'm not going egg hunting today, but I may go searching for images.

St. Louis Daily Photo is staying quiet and dark. Maybe it's because of our incessant rain.

113/365: Dogs Can Be Episcopalian, Too

2011-04-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

I told you I was out of downtown material. Where does the time go? (Answer: work). So, back to the Blessing of the Animals at Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral, where this little Westie has his dogma down.

And speaking ow which, it's raining cats and dogs on St. Louis Daily Photo.

112/365: The Official Drink

2011-04-22T00:01:00.006-05:00

As I said on St. Louis Daily Photo today, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for material. It's appropriate, then, to pop open a large serving of STL's favorite local beverage and contemplate plans for the future. This field is adjacent to the baseball stadium. When the new ballpark was being planned, the taxpayers were promised the site would soon contain a major retail, office and housing complex. Well, we have some grass and a parking lot. That's a start.

There is a little romance on St. Louis Daily Photo today, found when dumpster diving in the archives.

111/365: Toynbee Tile

2011-04-21T00:01:00.005-05:00

Arnold Toynbee, 2001 A Space Odyssey, resurrection on Jupiter? Yes, that's the key idea in Toynbee tiles. This one is in the pavement near the northeast corner of 6th and Olive, beside the Starbucks.

They are found here and there across the northeast quarter of the US, most of all in Philadelphia, where they are believed to have originated. There were four in St. Louis. The city paved over two of them a couple of years ago during regular street maintenance, oblivious to their value (I would have paid the city streets department to save them for me).

The back story is complicated and uncertain. I did a series about them on St. Louis Daily Photo about them four years ago. The first post with as much information as I could find is here. My second find, the one pictured above, has more research and can be found here. This post, with info about tiles in other cities in in this post. The badly deteriorated fourth one is here.

Have any of you seen Toynbee tiles in your city?

There is an unusual Thursday Arch picture on St. Louis Daily Photo.

110/365: The End Of The Road

2011-04-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

They say that Wall Street starts in a graveyard and ends in a river. (It's literally true.) St. Louis' Washington Avenue starts in, um, a cul de sac and ends in a really big river right here. Eads Bridge is on the left and East St. Louis, Illinois, across the Mississippi. Note the telephoto-tiny statue of Meriwether Lewis behind the wall.

We're doing art appreciation testing on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

109/365: Old Fashioned Justice

2011-04-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

I've been complaining about not having fresh downtown material. So, when going into the hotel where the Flashbus program took place, I stopped at the corner and took some snaps of The Old Court House across 4th and Chestnut. It has a certain elegance that some of this burg lacks.

The genuine Flashbus itself is on St. Louis Daily Photo.

108/365: Open Freeman

2011-04-18T00:01:00.003-05:00

The manhole cover to a sewer or utility tunnel or I don't know what on the Arch grounds. Would free people escape into it or out of it?

Final images from Chicago on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

107/365: Attention Gov. Walker Of Wisconsin

2011-04-17T00:01:00.003-05:00

Readers outside of the U.S. may not have heard of Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. A radical conservative, he led a battle to revoke the collective bargaining rights of almost all state workers (boo, hiss). The Democratic members of the state senate prevented a vote as long as they could by leaving en masse for neighboring Illinois, preventing a quorum. I share the reaction of this participant at the working families rally downtown a few weeks ago.

St. Louis Daily Photo experiences a gray day in Chicago.

106/365: A Voice For The People

2011-04-16T00:01:00.002-05:00

So, here I am in Chicago and, um, a bit out of new downtown material. On this weekend when the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a budget eviscerating the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled while demanding low taxes for the rich, I decided to use some pictures from the working families' rally last month.

This is Rev. Teresa Danieley, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in St. Louis, who gave the invocation. She is a tireless advocate for economic and racial justice. She's also been a close friend of our daughter since they were 12. They were high school classmates. Teresa officiated at our daughter and son-in-law's wedding four and a half years ago. She wields the light side of the Force.

St. Louis Daily Photo is on tour, eating its way through Chicago.

105/365: Serving St. Louis SInce 1880

2011-04-15T00:01:00.002-05:00

Almost midnight on Thursday as I write this. Long, good day on our anniversary but it's time to snooze.

This blog has been serving St. Louis since 2011 but we're not preaching anything.

It's Le Roi Saint himself today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

104/365: No Fun Allowed

2011-04-14T00:01:00.003-05:00

A sign on a lamppost facing the Milles Fountain, featured here over the last few days. Looks like the city fathers and mothers are a bunch of old poops. Cricket doesn't seem to be prohibited and you can set it up almost anywhere (I've seen it played in the most unlikely locations in India). So let's set up a little scratch cricket match beside the fountain and see what the authorities think of that. It should weird them out pretty good. Anyone know a fast bowler who doesn't mind some water spray in his face?

It's Thursday Arch Series day on St. Louis Daily Photo.

103/365: Blog Goof Off Day Part 2

2011-04-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

Lots more nothing, people goofing off, taking it easy, refusing to produce. It may appeal to you or not (it would drive me crazy.) The theme is shared today with St. Louis Daily Photo.

This chap in snoozing on the marble wall surrounding Milles Fountain and its pool, which we have seen in the last few day's posts.

Here's the companion goof off on St. Louis Daily Photo, an inert young woman in Forest Park.

102/365: The Mississippi And Its Posse

2011-04-12T00:01:00.002-05:00

A wider view of Milles Fountain, showing the western half half of the work. The tall man in front represents the Mississippi River. The female Missouri is just out of the frame to the right. The unveiling of the statue in 1940 set off quite a scandal among the local wealthy prudes. It was originally called The Marriage Of The Waters. The bride and groom were nude (the composition of this picture has taken care with the placement of Mr. Mississippi's right hand). Unconscionable! So the city called it The Meeting Of The Waters thereafter. Must have been a hot date.

Union Station is in the background.

The topic is art and decline on St. Louis Daily Photo.

101/365: Opposed To Bathing

2011-04-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

Like yesterday, another detail from Milles Fountain. The overall theme of the work is celebratory - the great meeting of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers - but some members of the retinue on each side are positively miserable. This one looks like a little boy who really doesn't want to take a bath.

Another treacly springtime postcard on St. Louis Daily Photo Blog today.

100/365: River Monster

2011-04-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

A detail from Carl Milles' fountain The Meeting of the Waters, between Market and Chestnut Streets. It's about the union of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers just north of here, each with his or her fishy attendants. More of this over the next few days.

I am not getting up today for the 7 AM start of the St. Louis Marathon.

St. Louis Daily Photo is on a little float trip today.

99/365:No Swimming

2011-04-09T00:01:00.002-05:00

The city lets children splash around in the fountains at Citygarden. That's a wonderful and surprising thing, given the usual attitudes of insurance companies. The water is on now, the weather is getting warmer, so what's with the sign? It's not like they have a lifeguard.

We are supposed have summer-like weather today, with temperatures in the upper 80s F. or 30 - 31 C. I'll walk by and see if the sign is being ignored. Question authority.

St. Louis Daily Photo needs a sense of direction.

98/365: Mother of Invention

2011-04-08T00:01:00.009-05:00

This has nothing to do with Frank Zappa, although I wish it did. Never saw him perform live. Damn.

But back to the point. In yesterday's post, I was whining about how I was out of downtown material. Necessity being the mother of invention, I went down to Citygarden at lunch time with my point-n-shoot (there's always something to shoot). I noticed that the city had just turned the fountains back on. Eros Bendato sits on a wide circular plinth of granite, tilted just a degree or two down and away from the face. (You can get a better idea from this old post.) In the warmer months, a thin sheet of water trickles from the face to the edge of the plinth, increasing the overall feeling of strangeness. This is how it looks from ground level.

Do you know how many women Don Giovanni wooed in Spain? Then check St. Louis Daily Photo today.

(Answer: mil e tre.)

97/365: Walk/Don't Walk

2011-04-07T00:01:00.003-05:00

Well, make up your mind. Julian Opie's This Is Kiera and Julian Walking violates the Don't Walk sign 24/7. The couple are on an endless existential walk to nowhere, a stroll that has no beginning and no end. I hope the artist didn't mean this as a metaphor for the relationship.

I am desperately low on downtown images that aren't about the Arch. Might have to post a picture of the pen and pencil holder on my desk, or something similarly dire. Maybe I could use that thought as a springboard.

It's the Arch, free soda pop and public nuisance today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

96/365: Save Us, O Lord

2011-04-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

The graffiti-allowed section of the Mississippi River flood wall is constantly being overpainted and changing. Here's a new bit. The illustration is a little over the top (I doubt that we are a first-tier target for nuclear attack) but the image still has meaning. We have a city that's not fabulous but not a complete dump. We have a large array of civic, cultural and arts organization that keep up real vibrancy, while our governmental leaders, as a group, are short-sighted and self serving. We just keep losing corporate headquarters, our suburban and now exurban sprawl is appalling, but the city itself still has a strong beating heart. What's in the future? Salva nos, O Domine.

St. Louis Daily Photo is trying to whistle the Ode To Joy after sucking a lemon.

95/365: Just What Makes A Stove Majestic?

2011-04-05T00:01:00.003-05:00

The residences in the loft district of Washington and Locust Avenues are in old commercial buildings, most of which have kept their original names. So I assume this one used to make, distribute or sell stoves. A stove is a prosaic object. Even the stoves in the Palace of Versailles were work-a-day tools. So what's with calling some of them majestic? Just 19th Century marketing.

How many ways can you look at a daffodil? A few suggestions today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

94:365: Color Field

2011-04-04T00:01:00.005-05:00

Blocks of color on a cloudless day at the baseball stadium. Not as simple as color field painting but you get the idea. Some of that style of art can be intellectual but occasionally the high concept gets to be a bit much. I once heard Ellsworth Kelly give a talk with Richard Serra at the opening of the Pulitzer Foundation museum here. He insisted that he could tell within 1/16th of an inch (25 mm) if his commissioned painting for the museum was hung correctly. Serra laughed at him.

Spring is sprung on St. Louis Daily Photo.

93/365: Zoom Zoom

2011-04-03T00:01:00.004-05:00

The steps under the Arch, Old Courthouse, bland office building housing The World's Largest Coal Company and the Civil Courts Building, shot with that Big Honkin' Telephoto I'm so fond of. Zoom, zoom, zoom.

This was taken from the the Arch and downtown overlook in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Need a shower? Check St. Louis Daily Photo today.

92/365: The Red Sea

2011-04-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

The statue in Kiener Plaza of the runner who parts the waters has been on St. Louis Daily Photo a few times. For the opening of the Cardinals baseball season, the contents of the fountain were died red. All that color could be a slaughter or big blocks of red hard candy. The sanguine loyalty of Cardinal fans even runs through the city water pipes.

The same red radiated from the fans themselves on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

91/365: Fast Ball

2011-04-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

At the pre-game party in Kiener Plaza before the Cardinals home opener yesterday. This young man could have major league talent.

St. Louis Daily Photo is flying today.

90/365: Photo Stalking

2011-03-31T00:01:00.002-05:00

One calendar quarter down, three to go on this year-long project.

I took on a challenge in limiting the subject of this blog to downtown St. Louis. This is not the city center of Chicago or Atlanta. I prowl the less-than-bustling streets on weekends in my faithful Honda, looking for something that gets my eye. This view, looking east on Locust from 18th Street on a Sunday, is dead empty. Apocalypse now?

The Thursday Arch Series is up today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

89/365: Upload

2011-03-30T00:01:00.003-05:00

This is an AT&T data processing center close to my office. They have had Chestnut Street closed for a few weeks, filled up with a big crane. (Most of it is below the bottom edge of the picture.) I haven't been able to figure out whet they are doing.

The outer roof of a cafe in Citygarden is in the upper right, just for some extra geometry.

Today St. Louis Daily Photo is talking about climate change, sort of.

88/365: Spring Snow

2011-03-29T00:01:00.002-05:00

The snow had just begun to fall Saturday afternoon when I shot this picture downtown. You know how sometimes a song gets into your head and won't leave? (Mine has been occupied by random bits of Die Walküre, which I've been listening to in the car while commuting. Hojotoho!) But looking at these pictures keeps bringing me back to Yukio Mishima's exquisite novel, Spring Snow. Worth checking him out if you don't know him, as well as the bio-pic Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters, with score by Philip Glass.

The scene today on St. Louis Daily Photo today also has Japanese overtones.

87/365: The Effect Of Sugar On Art

2011-03-28T00:01:00.004-05:00

Sure, our old pal Eros shows up on my blogs a lot but I kinda like this one. It was shot during Saturday's snowstorm. The face has powerful features but it is less potent for having powdered sugar sprinkled all over it. It doesn't have a sweet cream filling but that would sure be nice.

The American Society For Prevention Of Cruelty To Flowers has its say today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

86/365: A White Whacking

2011-03-27T00:01:00.005-05:00

We're a week into spring but this was what was going down in Citygarden yesterday afternoon. Does a white cloak make Geppetto's violence toward Pinocchio less obscene?

The same thing was going on the the Botanical Garden yesterday, as seen on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

85/365: Goodwill

2011-03-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

MERS Goodwill is the major not-for-profit rehabilitation agency in our area. It started out in 1940 as Jewish Employment and Rehabilitation Services. The name was later changed to Metropolitan Employment and Rehabilitation Services (MERS) to reflect their service to the entire community. It eventually merged with Goodwill Industries, a similar organization. This is their old main building at 18th and Locust.

These people do some serious good. They work with those who have physical or mental impairments of their ability to work, testing and evaluating them, providing training and education, leading to job placement services. They put people to work who would otherwise be dependent on family or the state. Two thumbs up.

St. Louis Daily Photo is overexposed today.

84/365: Lifeline Factory

2011-03-25T00:01:00.006-05:00

This building is a half block east and across the street from the one featured on St. Louis Daily Photo today. Like many of the buildings on this strip, it's an old light industrial building converted to loft apartments. Sometimes the original use of the building is obvious, like the Bee Hat Factory Lofts but what does this mean?

I immediately think of the TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or the movie Slumdog Millionaire but the possibilities are so broad. If you are afraid of our most likely natural disasters, earthquake or tornado, this might be a comforting place to live. The nearest nuclear power plant is 100 miles away (although upwind) so St. Louisans don't need a lifeline for that.

So here's that other building I was talking about on St. Louis Daily Photo today.

83/365: Wascally Wabbit

2011-03-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

I can't look at a picture of a rabbit without thinking of Bugs Bunny tormenting poor Elmer Fudd. (The clip in the link has Elmer studying photography.) Bugs was frenetic. Not So with Tom Claassen's Two Rabbits in Citygarden (the companion is just outside of the frame). It looks so simple, but I think this is a complex work. At first, the rodent seems stolid and sedentary. When I consider it more, it makes me think of a sumo wrestler about to explode with force. The stance could be that of a guardian, big and strong enough to crush you. But then again, it's just a bunny. It's this kind of stuff than makes contemporary art interesting.

Thursday Arch Series today on St. Louis Daily Photo.

82/365: Batter's Eye

2011-03-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Same picture of Cardinals' outfielder Matt Holliday as yesterday, different point of view. This is looking through the eye/headhole/whatever of Kieth Haring's Untitled (Ringed Figure) in Citygarden. May Holliday's focus be sharp and concentration be strong when he faces Tim Linsecum and Roy Halladay this year.

St. Louis Daily Photo defies gravity today.