Update: The City of St. Louis cut ties with Paul McKee’s Northside in June of 2018. The gas station was demolished in the winter of 2024.

This Saturday I drove by the vacant and burned out gas station owned by Paul McKee in North St. Louis. I’m not going to identify where it is, but many of you probably recognize it. Just about every Saturday a different barbeque truck sets up shop in the parking lot and serves up fantastic pork ribs or hamburgers slathered in sauce and potato salad. It’s cheap, delicious and probably totally illegal. And certainly Paul McKee’s lawyers would blanch at the liability issues inherent to someone running a food stand on his property without his knowledge. But I come anyway, as these people are actually making use of this land, even if its owner refuses to without massive government subsidies and a grand and unworkable plan.