Old Businesses 6:08 PM

Part of any city's history is its stock of local businesses--the kind that have remained planted despite decades of, for lack of a more colorful yet still bi-directional word, change.

St. Louis has plenty of ancient businesses still hanging on. Sadly, Hamilton Jewelers, formerly located downtown, is no longer one of them.

Can you help me expand my list? It doesn't even attempt to be exhaustive. Just a couple that came to my head and still more that I found through Googling something to the effect of "old" or "historic businesses in St. Louis"...

THE LIST
Name / Date / Current Neighborhood (may not be original)

John Baumann Safe Company / 1843 / Midtown on Locust

A.E. Schmidt Billiards Company / 1850 / The Patch (720 Koeln)

Luytie's Pharmacal Company / 1853 / Central West End (4200 Laclede)*
Note from reader: This business closed in 2001 and was turned into condos in 2004.

Hoffmeister Funeral Company / 1858 / Not sure where they're based currently...

South Public Super Market / 1870 / The Patch (7701 S. Broadway)

Fehlig Brothers Box and Lumber Co. / 1873 / Carr Square (1909 Cole)*

Carondelet Bakery / 1875 / The Patch (7726 Virginia)

Marx Hardware and Paint Company / 1875 (1891 at current location / Old North St. Louis (2501 North 14th)*

Hopmann Cornice Company / 1883 / St. Louis Place (2573 Benton Street)*


Rathbone Hardware / 1885 / The Patch (7625 S. Broadway)


Levine Hats / 1887 (at 923 Washington) / Garment District (1416 Washington Since 1987)*

Southern Commercial Bank / 1891 / Carondelet (7201 S. Broadway)

New Market Hardware / 1910 / Central West End (4064 Laclede Ave)*

Crown Candy Kitchen / 1913 / Old North St. Louis (1401 Saint Louis Ave.)

Gioia's Deli / 1918 / The Hill (1934 Macklind)

Gus' Pretzels / 1920 / Benton Park (1820 Lemp)^

The Hi-Pointe Theater / 1922 / Hi-Pointe (1005 McCausland)

Merb's Candies / circa 1930 / Dutchtown (4000 S. Grand)^

Trader Bob's Tattooing / 1930s / Fox Park (2529 S. Jefferson)

Dad's Cookie Company / 1938 / Dutchtown South (3854 Louisiana)^
Note: This one is interesting. This was actually a national franchise (I never knew) with over a dozen location in major cities across the country. Dad's St. Louis is the only one remaining as an independent business. All others have been closed or bought up by a larger company.

Globe Drugs Stores / 1939 / Gravois Park (2626 Cherokee)^

As I said, please help me add to my list! I'll update the post and give you credit.

UPDATE - Reader Submissions

* = Contributed by Andrew Faulkner. Read his excellent blog, Exquisite Struggle, here.

^ = Contributed by Toby Weiss. She, too, has an excellent blog, B.E.L.T..

St. Louis Photography Projects Capture the Soul of the City 1:25 PM

The Urban St. Louis Forum's famed member "JuiceinDogtown" unearthed this gem of a project: Forest Park 365. Photographer Edward Crim has pledged to visit what he continually refers to as America's greatest urban park every single day of this year. His photography is spectacular, capturing flora, fauna, architecture, weather, and the human activities that enliven the park. If you didn't already appreciate Forest Park, this photography project should give you a boost.

Here's an example, from March 29, 2009:

As if this weren't enough St. Louis photography, yet another Urban STL forumer (DeBaliviere, or Brian, author of Downtown St. Louis Business Blog) alerted us to dArt St. Louis.

From their website:

On April 30th, 2009, one hundred St Louisians stepped up to the line and threw their dart at the giant map of St Louis City. They then had a month to visit the block where their dart landed and make a photograph. And here are the results!

And here's a sample shot, from Curt von Diest, of Kennerly and North Taylor, his dart throw's chosen block.

What great, yet divergent, windows into our photogenic city.

Homegrown Art to Come to Southwest Garden's Streets 12:41 PM

As part of the Southwest Garden Streetscape improvements along Vandeventer and Southwest, local artists Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo will be providing the Southwest Garden neighborhood with one of their famed TreeHugger art installations.

From the artists:

The Tree Hugger project is an ongoing work of Environmental Art designed to help us re-discover our relationship with nature at a very personal and intimate level. Made from twigs, branches, sticks, vines, and other natural materials, these playful sculptures remind us that we humans are still very much a part of our natural surroundings.

The Southwest Garden's Communicator reports that the neighborhood will be purchasing one (they cost $1,500 each) while seeking donations to provide more throughout the neighborhood.

I am excited to see St. Louis artists' work being featured internationally. I've seen a TreeHugger at Forest Park's Earth Day Festival and found it intriguing and whimsical. It would be even better to see this art on a city street, where it would by default make St. Louisans stop and consider the wonderful effects of trees on their city. Whether it's shade, beautification, energy cost reduction, urban runoff collection, protection of pedestrians on sidewalks, raised property values, cleaner air...trees are heavy on benefits and low on costs.

I'm no tree expert, but the TreeHugger project forces me to ponder the state of St. Louis trees. The trees imported to the soon-to-be-opened Citygarden were relatively large. Yet the typical streetscape project includes trees so small and young that they're easily destroyed by the elements or vandalism. This is especially a problem on some of St. Louis's main streets. Ever see an aerial of the city? You can spot Kingshighway, Gravois, and others by their uninterrupted expanse of gray, contrasted from surrounding verdant residential neighborhoods.

Maybe the TreeHuggers can convince the city to spend the extra amount for more mature street trees that will one day tower over the streetscapes they're meant to improve.

Kentucky Fried Chicken to Fill City Potholes Via Competitive Bid Process (?) 6:50 PM

File this one under bizarre.



Via a press release from Kentucky Fried Chicken:

LOUISVILLE, KY – For more than half a century, KFC has “filled up” its fans with the Colonel’s world famous, freshly prepared fried chicken. Today, in a marketing first, KFC is celebrating its continued dedication to freshness by launching a pilot infrastructure renewal program, becoming the first-ever corporate sponsor of “fresh”ly “filled up” potholes in up to five major cities across the U.S.

The press release continues:

The KFC Colonel and his professional road repair crew got started in their hometown of Louisville by filling up potholes and re-freshing roads around the city. KFC also issued an open offer to mayors of cities nationwide, asking them to describe their city streets’ state of disrepair. Four of these lucky cities, chosen at random, will receive KFC’s road re-“fresh”ment, promising citizens a smooth drive that is fit for a Colonel.

Will St. Louis be one of the lucky few cities to benefit from the Colonel's gracious pothole filling/mini-2-D-on-the-ground-billboard promotion? Time will tell.

I'll tell you one thing: New Orleans should get a nod! Anyone thinking St. Louis has bad roads should visit down New Orleans. Some roads are death traps for bikes, scooters, etc.

The Archdiocese says the San Luis could be gone in two weeks 12:32 AM

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch's Building Blocks Blog comes this quote re: demolition of the San Luis Apartments on Lindell:

Dan Jay, the architect on the archdiocese’s plan to replace the building with a parking lot, said today a demolition contractor could be hired by the end of the week. And after utility connections are cut, demolition could begin in about two weeks, he said.

Despite this statement, there still might be time. The Preservation Ordinance states the following:

SECTION FORTY-FOUR. Appeal on actions or determinations: Demolition, Construction,
Alteration - Historic District or Landmark/Landmark Site.
Any person aggrieved by, or any officer, department, board, bureau or commission of the City affected by, the action of the building Commissioner with respect to a requested permit based on the Cultural Resources Office’s application of the Landmark or Historic District standards to a requested permit or based on the recommendations or determinations by the Preservation Board or Cultural Resources Office pursuant to Sections Thirty-Nine through Forty-Three, may appeal the action of the building commissioner to the Preservation Board for review and hearing. Such appeal shall be known as a preservation appeal and shall be taken within thirty (30) days after the action of the building commissioner by filing a notice of appeal with the Cultural Resources Office specifying the grounds of such appeal.

SECTION FORTY-FIVE. Hearing on filed appeal: Demolition, Construction, Alteration -
Historic District or Landmark/Landmark Site. Within forty five (45) days after the filing of appeal to the Preservation Board, the Preservation Board shall hold a hearing thereon. The Preservation Board shall hear the recommendations and evidence submitted by the Cultural Resources Office and by any officer, department, board, bureau or commission desiring to be heard thereon and shall permit the appellant and other parties to the appeal an opportunity to appear and be heard by the Preservation Board and to submit evidence. The Preservation Board may permit any other interested person an opportunity to appear and be heard by the Preservation Board. The Preservation Board may continue or adjourn the hearing or schedule additional hearings to permit a full hearing of the appeal. The Preservation Board shall cause all proceedings in a preservation appeal to be suitably recorded and preserved.

If the appeal fails, the aggrieved party can always take the case to the Circuit Court. Apparently, this all needs to happen fast!

San Luis Demolition Approved 10:50 PM

According to a Tweet by Steve Patterson around 9:45 p.m. tonight, the Preservation Board has approved demolition of the San Luis Apartments for a surface lot.

I am more than interested to hear how this lot adheres to ordinance standards.

Is a lawsuit possible?

Updates to come...

7 Reasons to Save the San Luis: #1 Increasing St. Louis's Civic Awareness 7:10 PM

There's just one more day before the Preservation Board meets to decide the fate of the San Luis Apartments on Lindell Boulevard. And now I'm up to my #1 reason that the San Luis should NOT be demolished for a parking lot.

One thing I have noticed with the San Luis controversy is the idea that St. Louisans can rise up and demand a better physical environment in their city. We do have a say in decisions that make our city less livable in the long run.

A successful defeat of a very ill-conceived parking lot at a high profile corner in the city will send the message to developers, politicians, and other residents that St. Louis is no longer operating in the old manner. No longer will citizens put up with bad plans hatched by people with no clue about what makes great cities--and what unmakes them.

The San Luis controversy is a part of a fledgling movement in St. Louis of urbanists, preservationists, and other civic activists affirming and reclaiming the squandered urbanism of the city. A victory is important in conveying that we're serious, we're dedicated--yet we won't stop even in the face of defeat. Cities, after all, aren't made or broken by a single corner or intersection--it's the whole panache, the tableau. But we recognize that those corners are crucial in painting the whole image. We will no longer accept people carelessly extracting the myriad images that make up our urban mosaic.

The San Luis has already been instrumental in increasing St. Louis's civic awareness and confidence. A victory in defeating a bad plan to replace a monument with asphalt will only broaden the stride.