North Western Motel, Ventilated

The North Western Inn will be out of business for awhile, considering the FBI and other law enforcement fired tear gas canisters through each window of the small, weekly rate motel. Contrary to what the owner said to a news reporter the day of the raid, city records show he did not recently sell it…

Half Century Old Problems

The Grand Motel at 2534 North Grand Boulevard, or as it was originally known, Lisa or Lisa’s Motel, has now been around since the early 1970s in the JeffVanderLou neighborhood. Its construction reflects a sort of fearful worldview expecting outside invaders as it is built facing inward, like a Spanish mission I have seen in…

A Tour of the Sites Mentioned in the Federal Indictment

Update: As of August 26, 2022, all three former aldermen plead guilty to the allegations made by federal prosecutors and have been sentenced by a judge. The text of the following post has been updated to reflect the changes from allegations at the time of the original writing to guilty pleas. By now I’m sure…

Richard Pryor and Peoria

I had known for awhile that Richard Pryor was from Peoria, but I had always assumed it was one of those situations where he was born there and had moved away when he was a small child. That is far…

Wells-Goodfellow, Autumn 2021, Part Two

Just beyond that well kept block of Hebert we are confronted with the abandonment of Clara across from the Horseshoe, which has not gotten any better than when I walked down these streets back in March of 2017. The Horseshoe is gone, of course, and is serving as parking for this church as well as…

Wells-Goodfellow, Autumn 2021, Part One

I got up bright and early on Saturday and thought I would check in on Wells-Goodfellow, a neighborhood that has long suffered from disinvestment, crime and the effects of decades of redlining. I always struggle with how to portray a community such as this: there are many parts of the neighborhood which look great, but…

Reckless Stupidity, Compton Avenue and Arsenal Street, Tower Grove East

Update: A false start of repairs began a couple of weeks after the collision; reconstruction was only largely completely finally in April of 2023. The building was finally rebuilt in the spring of 2023. Well, it finally happened. An insane, totally irresponsible jerk was hurtling through my neighborhood of Tower Grove East and crashed into…

Fireworks Stupidity and Perceptions, Old North

Update: Sadly, the house was not salvageable and has been demolished. The City of St. Louis Fire Department has an excellent and very well-updated Twitter account that I monitor on a regular basis to keep abreast of current events. On the night of the Fourth of July, the Fire Department always keeps a rigorous live…

Kerens Mausoleum, Calvary Cemetery, Revisited

I always enjoy it when readers bring my attention back to a building I’ve only cursorily looked at in the past, or that I’ve never heard about before. The Kerens Mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery is a great example; I took one photo of it back in August of 2013 but I realized, after reading a…