page 8 • features
City Museum
April 21, 2006
Museum’s exciting atmosphere captures teen interest Lauren Ashman • Reporter
Like kids in a candy store, visitors enter the City Museum. Upon arrival they are immediately struck by the giant jungle gym towering above. The “most monumental. monolithic, monstrous montage of monkey bars in the world” eggs them on to come and play. However, the historical and architectural magnificence that is the City Museum cannot go unappreciated. The City Museum has captured and preserved the essence of the history of St. Louis. However, unlike traditional museums, the City Museum allows visitors to become a part of these exhibits. “A traditional museum to me is some place that you can see art, observe it, and learn from it,” junior Chris Clayman said. “At the City Museum you have the choice to sit and really understand the thought and creativity that has gone into the place or can run and crawl around recklessly and have a fantastic time doing so”. The City Museum opened its doors to the
public in 1997, and costs visitors $12 per person to enter. It is built within the walls of the old International Shoe Company. The building itself, and everything from a yellow school bus dangling off the roof, to an old green and gold elevator in Architecture hall, is recycled from around the area. Although it has become loved by young and old alike, it was “conceived by adults for adults,” Paula Mandel of the City Museum said. Yet, it is hard to escape the Museum’s child-like atmosphere, that master mind Bob Cassilly created. “It seems to be like a McDonald’s play place for adults,” Clayman said. “Seeing the creative things that they’ve placed there is one great thing, but being part of them is a whole other, and better thing.” As Mandel put it, “Bill has a social consciousness. He tapes into everybody and makes things fun, makes you want to do it, to think outside the box.”
As a result of this social consciousness, Cassilly created an eclectic museum of recycled material as unique as those who visit. “In the City Museum you definitely feel a strange connection to St. Louis itself. It always seems like a huge party with other St. Louisiana, all eager to discover what the museum has to offer,” Clayman said. Enchanted caves wind throughout the museum. Her children and adults can climb, explore, hide, and seek, left and right, up and down. Animals from jellyfish to alligators, from the Mississippi to the Amazon, all reside in the World Aquarium. This part of the museum adds a unique zoo like flare, smell, and all. The World’s largest pair of underwear hangs along with other oddities in the museum of Mirth, Mystery and Mayhem. A bearded lady, a fun house, the smell of corn dogs and carnival music all come to mind in this circus like atmosphere. Red, blue, green, yellow,
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glitter, glue, crayons and markers, clay, paint, scissors and tape are strewn about in a city made for everyone’s inner artist. “Each of the exhibits has its own theme, and these themes lend the Museum its uniqueness,” Clayman said. Yet the most important part of visiting these exhibits is going in without expectations, Mandel added. Visitors can take the museum for what is to them, not what is to those around them. A plane flying high above the ground, transforms children and adults into pilots. Other visitors sit and appreciate the mosaics that span across the ceiling, floor, and pillars. Still others appreciate how the museum caters to both their inner child and appreciation for art. “As an adult, I have the choice to contemplate what recycled material the pillars are made of, or as a kid I can drive into a gigantic whale and find whatever nooks or crannies will lead me to new places,” Clayman said.
photos • Alexis Myers
•Crazy Creatures. During a visit to the museum, one will find lots of exotic creatures from parrots to sharks to alligators. The museum is filled with exciting exhibits and games. Best of all, most all of the museum’s attractions are educational.
