I’d first looked at the Jewish American Memorial back in April of 2014 and then again in December of 2019 (twelfth photo), but I had never noticed two triangular shaped fountains on the plaza around the monument. Named after the Koplar Family, who no doubt paid for their construction, they are accented by some beautiful…
Tag: Forest Park
After the Tornado: Forest Park and Nearby
The western portion of Forest Park was hit hard, and while the major institutions were not damaged, thousands of trees were lost. At first glance, many trees looked like they had escaped damage from the tornado, but upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious that many trees lost limbs and foliage. North along Lindell Boulevard, where…
After the Tornado: Photographing Destruction
I grappled with whether I should take or post any photographs of the tornado damage that struck St. Louis on May 16, 2025, which a reader noted will now be indelibly linked with the anniversary of the founding of this website on the same day. Is it ethical to photograph destruction, and in particular people’s…
Saint Louis Art Museum, Nighttime
I was up at the Saint Louis Art Museum almost until close and snapped these photos with the night sky behind it.
Francis Preston Blair, Jr. Monument and the Lindell Entrance to Forest Park
Standing at the Lindell entrance to Forest Park, the statue of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. memorialized a Missouri politician that is not very well known anymore, but was once so prominent that he is actually one of two Missourians represented in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Here’s another great writeup about Blair, at a…
St. Louis Award, Forest Park
Donated in 1965, this sculpture commemorates the St. Louis Award. It sits behind some bushes close to the World’s Fair Pavilion and the northeast entrance to the Zoo.
Friedrich Jahn Monument
The Friedrich Jahn Monument is on a stretch of road that was removed in the 1990s during renovations of Forest Park. Jahn founded the movement for gymnastics in Germany, and there were many such Turnvereinen in St. Louis. Most are now closed, but they were once a formidable social and political force in St. Louis.
Joie de Vivre by Jacques Lipchitz
Located north of the skating rink, this sculpture, Joie de Vivre, or “Joy of Life,” is a work by the famous French Cubist sculptor from 1927, and is one of seven copies. It is really wonderful that we have a work by this artist in St. Louis on public display. It is meant to be…
Forest Park Visitors’ Center, Revisited
I photographed the Forest Park Visitors’ Center way back in September of 2012, on what was a cloudy day. I went back on a sunny day and captured these pictures. There were more beautiful flowers out front here, as well. This is an interesting building, which started as a streetcar shelter, suffered a fire, and…
Current Affairs This Summer
I went by the Theophile Papin House on the last Saturday of June. It’s being demolished. It’s sad, but honestly, it had been so heavily altered that it wouldn’t really have been feasible or worthwhile to restore it back to its original appearance. It would have been an ersatz structure. During demolition some interesting stone…