St. Louis area

Reflections on St. Louis

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Arch window washer reflection

B&P reader John C. sends along this picture taken from Stadium Hilton Hotel where he was staying last summer.  If you notice the reflection in the window across the street you can see the window washers on the Hilton Hotel.  Of course the South leg of the Gateway Arch is to the left.

Window washer
Taken from John’s room.

John was also one of just 17 people to receive a gold plated ticket form the St. Louis Cardinals commemorating Bob Gibson’s contribution to the 1968 World Series by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers.

Gold ticket Gold ticket info

Thanks John… and congratulations!

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B&P reader Chicken Taffy at the Arch

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Taffy at the Arch

This was taken this past February while he was visiting St. Louis.  He says, “Just wanted you to know I’ve been to the Arch…but no way would I go uptop.” 

And I don’t think he means on the actual top, like to change the light bulb…. I think he means he wouldn’t ride up the elevator to the observation area.  Chicken!

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Extreme Home Makeover – St. Louis airs this Sunday

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MakeroverThe Extreme Home Makeover edition filmed in St. Louis in September, airs this Sunday night at 8 pm EST / 7 pm CST.  They shot 300 hours of video for the one hour show.

It has two different makeovers in one show.  They did a makeover for the Matirez family of Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis.  They have three children, two of whom have rare diseases.  More about the family can be found here.

At the same time the TV program also did a makeover of a coffee shop belonging to Sam Malek.  Sam has cerebral palsy. He was abandoned when he was born.  He was never expected to live.  He opened his coffee shop to give disabled people a place to work, and to give to charities.  He keeps no profits.  Every cent is donated. 

Watch it Sunday, November 9th on ABC.

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Driving around…

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I had a couple interesting things happen today while driving around town. 

BidenPoliticos:  I was running some errands early this afternoon when I ran into the motorcade of Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden.    Actually, he was just getting on the highway and I was heading the opposite way, so I wasn’t held up or anything.  They had stopped the traffic on the interstate behind where he was getting on, so his entourage would have a clear shot to the airport.  Biden was in the area at a campaign rally. 
Barack Obama and Sarah Palin were also in Missouri today.  Obama will be back in Missouri on Saturday.  No sightings of John McCain to my knowledge.

DeerThen this evening, I had run my grandson up to the hight school football game and on the way back to my house a deer darted in front of me.  Right on my little dead-end street.  I can’t believe I didn’t hit it.  It was RIGHT THERE!  I slammed on my brakes and somehow missed it by inches (if that much).  I obviously should have been paying more attention, but it seemed to just appear out of nowhere.  We see deer on our street fairly often, but I’ve never had one run out in front of me before.  Usually they just mosey on across the road up ahead or are standing on the side of the road.

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Brains – Then and now

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Here’s the picture I posted yesterday with the Brains for 25 cents.
BRAINS

After some discussion here and with friends I decided to try and find the location.  The closest I could come was the intersection of Chouteau and Grand Avenues in St. Louis. 
Grand and Choteau

This is now the location of St. Louis University.  Brains are much more expensive there nowadays.  I’m not sure that this is where the cheap brains were, but it’s got to be close.  I scoured the neighborhood and this is the best I could find.

Update: 

Here’s a picture D from California found.  It has a little different view and shows the street signs.
Brains2

Here is a satellite view of the corner as it is now.
Carr and Chouteau
In the picture I took today (second picture above) from the corner of Grand and Chouteau, you can see the Life Care Center building in the next block on the right hand side.

Thanks to all who contributed.

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Stan Kann – Organist and vacuum cleaner collector dies

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Stan Kann died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 83. Stan spent more than twenty years playing the famous Wurlitzer organ at the Fox Theater in St. Louis.  He also made 77 appearances on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson with his collection of vacuum cleaners that seemed to always malfunction during the broadcast.  Here is a segment done on Stan by the local PBS station.

via

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Flooding in the St. Louis area

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My son just sent me these pictures of some flooding last weekend in the aftermath of heavy rains from Tropical Storm Ike. 

N lindbergh 7

These pictures were taken in Florissant MO, a suburb of St. Louis.  This area NEVER floods.  That just shows you how much rain we got in such a short period of time.  Of course it is nothing compared to the damage in Texas.

Waalgreens1

Walgreens2

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