Martin Luther King Dr, Between Burd and Hodiamont Avenues

Here is the Wellston Loop, which stretched from the actual town of Wellston into St. Louis. It is in transition, and only the future will show what its fate will hold.

Come on Down! Beggin Pet Parade in St. Louis

There really are parts of Mardi Gras that are totally family friendly–and even dog friendly. Yes, it’s time again for the Beggin Pet Parade in Soulard! (Woof! Woof!) Yes, Mousse, it’s time to dress up–you’re going to be in a parade!  The St. Louis Beggin Pet Parade is Sunday, February 8 and runs from 10am […]

The post Come on Down! Beggin Pet Parade in St. Louis appeared first on StLMotherhood.

I Scream

One of those new businesses on Cherokee Street. If you are Anglo rather than Latino, the scene is definitely hipster. This store wouldn't draw me in, though, with the horror movie logo. Does the staff wear hockey goalie masks? Is there something crawling inside the cakes?

Ropa Vaquera

I'm brushing up my Spanish for reasons that will become apparent on Sunday. These days, when I try to think of a word in Spanish, French comes into my head. When we were in France last summer, I would often remember the Spanish term for something. It's fortunate that I'm not planning a trip to Italy.

We have a small Latino population by US standards but what we have is centered around Cherokee Street. There are a few Mexican clothing and beauty supply shops. You can buy outrageously ornate cowboy boots. (Ropa vaquera means cowboy clothing.) At one shop they have on offer, in descending order, exotic boots (as above); Texanas, which is just the feminine form of Texan, so go figure; cowboy clothing; work shoes; and exotic jewelry from New York. Use your imagination.

You can also review upcoming Mexican musical events. Here's a video from the band headlining the show, which, for reasons that completely escape me, is set in Brooklyn.

Super Bowl Heroin Ad Stirs up St. Louis

Last night’s Super Bowl commercials contained a lot of tear jerkers–especially in the St. Louis TV market where football fans were treated with a jarring local ad, “That’s How I Got Addicted to Heroin.” Here it is again, just in case you haven’t been humming the snappy tune all morning… A lot of my Facebook friends […]

The post Super Bowl Heroin Ad Stirs up St. Louis appeared first on StLMotherhood.

Drive Through Pay Phones, Hodiamont and Ridge Avenues

I have never seen a parking lot with actual drive-through lanes for pay phones. At first, we thought the circular brackets served as mounts for the phones, until we realized they were originally there to...

CDP Theme Day: If you had to leave forever the city from which you usually post, what would you miss most?

You thought I was going to say the Arch. Nope, the Cardinals.

The Arch is my totem, my colossus, my interplanetary monolith. I get to see it almost every day but most people in the region, away from downtown, do not. They may be more likely to find it as a logo on a delivery truck.

But the Cardinals, that's different. I've often referred to the team in these posts as the state religion. It's more than that, though. They are absolutely the unifying element of metro St. Louis. Everybody loves the Cardinals. There are 30 major baseball teams. We are the 18th largest market and we consistently rank in the top two or three in annual attendance. The team wins more than its share of championships - only the Yankees have won the World Series more often. In the 21st Century, the Cardinals are the Spirit of St. Louis.

These shots were taken over the last several years, mostly in and around the stadium, including one month old Madeleine attending a game. The cult is carried world-wide as in the last picture, with me and Mrs. C wearing our Cards shirts at Mt. Everest base camp in Tibet.

And it doesn't hurt that they have the best looking uniforms in baseball.