Update: A devastating tornado ended up striking the afternoon this post was published. The Jack in the Box is now a Mexican restaurant named Antonio’s.
I really didn’t have much planned for the eighteenth anniversary of this website/blog/whatever you want to call it, but then I thought of the bombed out Jack in the Box at the intersection of Gravois Avenue and Russell Boulevard. It’s been sitting vacant now for a couple of years, and it’s sort of amused/depressed/intrigued me. I generally consider Jack in the Box to be the bottom rung on the restaurant ladder, and I don’t fully understand why it closed. City records indicate an emergency structural condemnation from the Building Division, and dozens of Citizen Service Bureau (CSB) complaints of foodborne illness and handling violations, etc. There was always a long line in the drive-thru, where someone was once robbed at gunpoint while waiting for their food. But is any of that really surprising for a Jack in the Box?
Maybe the bombed out Jack in the Box is a symbol of St. Louis right now. For all intents and purposes, this property should be really valuable, sitting right at the intersection of two busy thoroughfares and adjacent to two prosperous neighborhoods (McKinley Heights and Soulard), but yet it sits vacant, despite a gigantic “for sale” sign prominently displayed on the edge of the parking lot. But yet something holds it back. The City of St. Louis is a lot like this Jack in the Box: it should be thriving with all of the assets it has. I have a lot of hope for the future. And I’m hoping that maybe St. Louis will be turning a corner soon just like this former Jack in the Box.
I like your optimism and would love to see my home town (which I left in 1970 when I became a grad student out of state and never returned) return to its past glory. Let’s hope the residents and community leaders work together and bring the City to a rebirth and a growing metro area again.
Congrats on your Blog’s anniversary. I moved away 40 years ago, no regrets, and still think StLouis is a fascinating old city with lots of opportunities. But the cold winters and hot humid summers…Thx for what you’re doing.
Congratulations on the 18th anniversary! Wonder if you have more St Louis ex-pat readers than current residents of metro St Louis?
This anniversary also is the day where a lot of St. Louis patina has been destroyed by storms. It is unfortunate that people lost their homes and a few people lost their lives. I hope you came through it unscathed, Chris.
The graffiti on that South City abandoned Jack-in-the-Box location makes me think of a Continued World Wide Magazine,
Naugles gone, Del Taco gone, and that Soulard bordering Jack Box’s location closed down for more Beavis and Butt-Headland styled reasons than the greater Missouri Route 100 (Manchester Road) Ballwin located location
Plus when will those “Greater Saint Louis” Civic Progress like organizations learn that the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area’s core counties and Southern California don’t mix? (Sarcasm)
Not to brag, but in Weldon Spring our abandoned Jack in the Box is a liquor store now.