What a trip!

I am back in the City of New Orleans.

My more than a week in St. Louis brought me to a couple new restaurants and such: you already heard about Onesto. In addition to that South Side pizza parlor, I went to Pi in the East Loop and tried Bridge and Tunnel downtown.

I visited old favorites like Hodak's and Crown Candy.

Besides eating (of which there was a lot), I just drove around, taking in the change and the unchanged.

The Tudor Building on Washington looked amazing. It's a very tangible sign of downtown's push westward. Some day Downtown West and Midtown will enjoy a seamless blend.

The 14th Street Mall project appears to chug along. But something is missing. What was demolished? I can't remember.

The general life and lushness of the city brought me to a positive realm not typically spoken of on this blog. Each time I visit St. Louis I am reminded of why it is I am so in love with it. It truly is a dusty attic with treasures being rediscovered by the day.

Even when I learned that the Preservation Board had approved the demolitions of the historic home on Lindell (on SLU's campus) and a series of irreplaceable warehouses on the riverfront--I couldn't let it sour my mood as KMOX launched a series of Blairmont stories.

There's an exciting, scary flux going on in this city. We are reaching a point that we must finally come up with a new identity for the city. Not as a fallen World's Fair era beauty, not as a wannabe Chicago, not as an even slower to change KC, and not as the city with the wholehearted embrace of urban renewal. We need to be something much more forward looking.

[Linkage and general post beautification to come; computer is acting up]