Riverfront Times City Guide 2019

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THE REAL DEAL

EVERY CITY HAS its highlight reel: the monument you must visit, the museum that’s a point of local pride, the landmark restaurant that earned a James Beard award. You can find all the above in St. Louis. But in a city with more than its share of nooks and crannies, you’d miss a lot by sticking to the guidebook version.

And so in this year’s City Guide, we’re hoping to inspire longtime residents and visitors alike to push past their comfort zones and into the real St. Louis.

We’ve surveyed all the unusual places where you can find art flourishing. We’ve walked the streets of Little Bosnia and Ferguson. We’ve gotten recommendations for the places real chefs eat and drink, the bars that stay open well past 2 a.m., the canoes that will get you right on the Mississippi.

That doesn’t mean you should skip the highlight reel. We’ve got twenty tourist destinations we’ve personally vetted and are thrilled to recommend, including Cherokee Street’s Antique Row (see “Sights to See,” page 44, for nineteen more).

But why not make that list just one part of your exploration? Why not also take a walk on the wild(er) side?

—Sarah Fenske

PHOTO BY RYAN GINES COVER PHOTO BY PAUL SABLEMAN CITY GUIDE ART DIRECTION BY EVAN SULT riverfronttimes.com

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Where the Art Is

If you want to see what St. Louis’ best artists are up to

BY E VA N S U LT AND PAIGE BRUBECK //// PHOTOS BY R YA N GINES 10

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ommendations to get to City Museum (750 North 16th Street, 314-231-2489) that they may think we’re unduly proud of our civic history. No, no, no: what we’re proud of is the most innovative, joy-inducing, wondrous structure anyone could hope to clamber on. Housed in an industrial building, and bursting out of the rooftop and windows, City Museum is the profoundly hands-on masterpiece of late artist and local legend Bob Cassilly. Inside the building, you can crawl through mystical caves, roost in a human-sized birdnest and slip down a ten-story slide. You’ll come upon rooms full of architectural relics and vintage opera posters, and you may stumble upon a graffiti-come-to-life sculpture by CAWS — part of a collection of cutting-edge gallery art secretly proliferating inside City Museum. It’s a place where you’re meant to get lost,

While St. Louis isn’t stuffed with major internationally recognized art galleries and museums, it does have a thriving arts community. And that might be one of this city’s secret strengths: Here’s where you can find the grit, authenticity and — crucially — the affordability that allows artists to create and develop.

Here, art doesn’t only happen in museums. The city’s scrappiness not only allows but demands innovation, and artists, artisans and curators have responded to this unique situation by embracing a key resource that this city offers: an abundance of space and previously underutilized buildings. Relative to larger cities, it’s far more possible to rent a space to make or display art… which means that untraditional art abounds in St. Louis.

So with that: First things first. New arrivals will hear so many urgent rec-

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found and lost again. There’s nothing else like it on Earth.

After (and only after) that essential experience should you turn elsewhere.

And in that case, the best place to go for an artistic orientation is the graffiti wall (Chouteau Avenue and South Leonor K Sullivan Boulevard) that stretches along the western bank of the Mississippi.

The city’s gritty edge is literal here: This is exactly the kind of thing that many other cities would have already covered up. We’re fortunate that hasn’t happened in St. Louis, because what exists here in the lawless margin is a constantly evolving document and timeline of graffiti writers and artists who live in or pass through the region. Drive down this mile-long stretch of flood wall and you’ll see everything from quick one-color tags and phrases to fully realized murals. Like the city itself, it’s always changing — parts fade, elements get painted over, feuds and alliances unfold, artists revisit with new work. Take your time and take it all in… and come back the same time next year to see what’s transpired since you left.

Not far geographically but worlds away culturally is Citygarden (801 Market Street), where glorious landscaping and attention-grabbing flora nearly mask the huge sculpture gallery

subways, but here is responsible for the large bronze sculpture Kindly Geppetto.

There’s a fourteen-foot video wall with a rotating roster of time-based arts, often curated by Cinema St. Louis, as well as a more traditional piece by renowned French figurative artist Aristide Maillol, and a whimsically oversized giant empty pink suit by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm. With a canopy of bright green trees whispering above gently curving paths, waterfalls and a child-delighting splash pad, Citygarden is the definition of a family-friendly environment — for seeing art or making it yourself in the dappled light.

For the last decade-plus, the south city blocks of Cherokee Street have been a hot spot for artists to get to work.

Sheppard Studios (1925 Cherokee Street) is both the workshop and storefront of local art denizen Mark Sheppard.

Creatures both realistic and fantastic populate his work, alternately cute and

e up to, you’ll want to check out some non-traditional venues tucked within. This two-by-one block of outdoor green space is free to the public and home to a robust collection of sculptures. You’ll find pieces by contemporary heavy hitters such as Igor Mitoraj, whose dramatic mythical head Eros Bendato compels the viewer to contemplate scale (while composing the perfect Instagram shot), and Tom Otterness, who is best known for his quirky work adorning New York City

foreboding — bats and opossums gotta trick-or-treat too! Fans of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey will find themselves right at home.

A few blocks west is Reese Gallery (3410 Wisconsin, 314-954-7638), a small but sophisticated space tucked unobtrusively within a historic two-story brick building. The art on display tends to be a combination of 2- and 3D art — much of the three-dimensional work is ceramic, though the materials and approaches are consistently innovative and unexpected. They feature artists both local and national, and the graceful layout of the gallery allows for surprisingly intimate encounters with the work.

Cherokee Street Gallery (2617 Cherokee), the Luminary (2701 Cherokee, 314773-1533) and Untitled Fine Art (2920 Cherokee, 618-694-1018) are all more traditional streetside galleries. Luminary founders Brea and James MacAnally consider the space an “incubator” emphasizing “art, thought and action,” engaging in dialogues with the arts community and hosting shows by artists both from within and without the city.

Untitled, by contrast, is a curated array of art from across the country, specifically intended to entice art collectors.

Firecracker Press (2838 Cherokee) is a letterpress studio founded by Eric Woods in 2002 (it later expanded to a second, north city location as well, at 2612 North 14th Street). Woods and his team of artists and designers do custom work for hire, but the storefront also doubles as a gallery of their efforts. It’s a great place to go to pick up an affordable art print or marvel at these printers’ mastery of the art of letterpress, which combines hand-carved wood prints with a vast collection of metal type. If you’re

Above: Sheppard Studios is a dark delight along Cherokee Street’s creative strip. Below: The flood wall that runs along the edge of the Mississippi River is a vibrant palimpsest of street-level art.

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lucky, someone will be making prints during the shop hours, but regardless, the handmade posters justify a stop all on their own and cover a variety of subject matter — backyard chickens, St. Louis landmarks, even “robot undies.”

Across town, Hoffman Lachance Contemporary (2713 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; 314-960-5322) brings a potent combination of academic rigor and banging street-level style to Maplewood. In addition to being creatively prolific artists in their own right, Alicia LaChance and Michael Hoffman curate a beautiful space that does what galleries were meant to do: present powerful artworks in a new context, to discover additional information within. Their gallery has been a fulcrum in the careers of many of St. Louis’ most significant artists, including Screwed Arts Collective, Lauren Marx, Phil Jarvis, Jeremy Rabus, Basil Kincaid, Peat Wollaeger and many more.

Third Degree Glass (5200 Delmar Boulevard) is a beacon of the glassand-sculpture scene in St. Louis. Despite glass being such a popular form for art lovers and collectors, it’s often hard to find a place to work if this is your medium of choice. Third Degree not only provides studio space to the

It will take more than one visit to Venice Cafe to get your fill of art.

veteran makers who work there, but also hosts classes for all levels and all ages. For spectators, its monthly Third Fridays open house is a great way to see glass-blowing demos in a social setting.

If there’s an informal folk art this city specializes in, it’s probably the mosaic. You can of course goggle at the splendors of traditional mosaic work at the Cathedral Basilica (4431 Lindell Boulevard), and of course you should… but afterwards, make sure to swing by

Venice Cafe (1903 Pestalozzi Street, 314772-5994) for a taste of the St. Louis version. Every layer of every surface is covered in a crazy quilt of carefully grouted porcelain shards, toys, tinwork, glass, mirrors and other beautifully shattered ephemera. Venice Cafe isn’t a gallery, of course, it’s a bar, but it’s only a matter of time before you realize that you are, in fact, enjoying a drink inside one of the world’s largest single pieces of art. What could be more St. Louis?

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If you’ve never had Korean-style wings, O! Wing Plus will set you straight. | JENNIFER SILVERBERG

A

BY CHERYL BAEHR

sk a random sample of St. Louisans where to eat, and chances are each will give you a similar-looking list of the fine-dining mainstays, the press darlings and the institutions that have put the city’s food scene on the map — in other words, the places everyone already knows about.

If you ask the city’s chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs, however, chances are your answers will not only be quite different, but will lead you on a culinary journey. Their selections may not have a high-priced publicist, but they’re the kind of hidden gems that keep true food lovers coming back for seconds. Check out their suggestions for places that shine even more brightly for being outside the spotlight.

Bernie Lee

low me to perfect the concept.’ Hats off to her positive energy!”

Owner, Hiro Asian Kitchen 1405 Washington Avenue, 314-241-4476 “Liling Wemhoener formerly operated Shu Feng restaurant for years and now is the new owner of Asian Kitchen Korean Cuisine (8423 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-989-9377). I’ve known Liling since I was a student at UMSL; she’s happy, funny, super hard-working, caring, open-minded, reliable and genuine.

She is always learning to do better in life.

“Liling is from Taiwan, and after taking over Asian Kitchen, she realized that there are no healthy, tasty and affordable late-night restaurants around town for students, restaurant industry folks or whoever needs delicious food late at night. From that, her Taiwanese-style individual hotpot was born, and it has changed St. Louis late-night culture. She serves a simple menu of bone-broth hotpots with your choice of proteins and tons of vegetables. Beef, lamb, seafood and vegetarian options are available.

“She doesn’t promote her late-night program on social media or to the press; it’s all word-of-mouth. I often asked her, ‘Why not?’ Her responses is always, ‘Why rush? Slow, cold winter nights al-

Natasha Bahrami Owner, the Gin Room 3200 South Grand Boulevard, 314-771-3411 “I know that people already know about

BYOB, we usually just bring in a bottle of whiskey and finish it.

“Bar-wise, the Heavy Anchor (5226 Gravois Avenue, 314-352-5226) can be a dive bar, but it’s not fully one. Recently, they got a good cocktail menu, and it’s definitely the spot to be. Also, Pagan Wine Bar (239 North Euclid Avenue, 314-6777214) is obviously known for wine, but they have a secret cocktail menu, and they are putting real effort into it. Its bar program is up-and-coming.

“A place that’s been around for a long time but doesn’t get a lot of attention is Frazer’s Restaurant & Lounge (1811 Pestalozzi Street, 314-773-8646). People just don’t know how good their cocktail program is. Terry Oliver has been running it for years, and he stays under the radar, but he and his crew have been killing it for years. You can get a rockstar cocktail and some beautiful amaros there. If I sit at their bar any given night,

Food industry mavens give us th Juniper (4101 Laclede Avenue, 314-3297696), but their happy hour is something you need to know about. They do really good happy hour cocktails and have this chicken sandwich that’s served on a biscuit with homemade pickles. It’s becoming a place where industry people go, which means it’s good.

“The late-night hotpot at Asian Kitchen Korean Cuisine (8423 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-9899377) is also something you should check out. They do Korean hotpot, dumplings and banchan until 1 a.m., and though I don’t know if it’s officially

the cocktail is going to be good no matter who is making it. That means a lot because it means they put blood, sweat and tears into the program.”

Zahra Spencer Co-owner, Jerk Soul 2016 Salisbury Street, 314-601-3871 “I love to go to Alphateria (4310 Fyler Avenue, 314-621-2337) for food from Plantain Girl. Another one of my top places to go is BLT’s (626 North 6th Street, 314-925-8505), which stands for Breakfast, Lunch and Tacos. As brunch

Under the Rad

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e

6 e , s e t d r

a 1 e n r n s ,

us their picks for underrated places to eat and drink

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culture grows, it’s refreshing to be able to access brunch downtown. I particularly enjoy the fact that they offer gluten-free hamburger buns for their burgers. That’s a huge deal for many people.”

Joel Crespo Co-owner, Guerrilla Street Food Multiple locations including 3559 Arsenal Street, 314-529-1328 “One thing that I am always trying to shine a light on is the county. People always go into the city — a large part of the places I eat at are in the city, and our

adar

first restaurant is there — but the county has gems. For example, if you’re one of those people who say you don’t go to the county, then you probably aren’t eating great Korean or Indian food. My wife and I go to Asian Kitchen Korean Cuisine (8423 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-989-9377), Seoul Garden (10678 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann; 314429-4255) and Wudon (1261 Castillons Arcade Plaza, Creve Coeur; 314-6281010) and Joo Joo Restaurant & Karaoke (12937 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur; 314-469-1999). They’re restaurants in these strip malls, but they are filled with Korean people, which is a good sign.

“One of the places we go to, O! Wing Plus (10094 Page Avenue, Overland; 314-395-0180), is the best iteration of Korean fried chicken in St. Louis. When I discovered Korean fried chicken on a trip to New York, I came back and wondered why something like this wasn’t in riverfronttimes.com

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St. Louis. My wife said, ‘Have you been to O! Wing Plus?’ They have several varieties of wings, and it’s a fast-casual place but it takes a while to get your food. At first, you’re like, ‘Why is it taking fifteen minutes to get wings,’ but when they come out, you realize it’s because they are doing it right. They double-fry it so that it’s super crunchy and gets this caramelized coating, almost like crème brulee, on it. They just nail it.

“For Indian food in the county, there is Mayuri (12513 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur; 314-576-7272) and Priyaa (1910 McKelvey Road, Maryland Heights; 314-542-6148). Also, Spice-N-Grill (6800 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-721-2421) is a really good, mostly carryout place.

“I live right across the street from Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet (2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-395-8797), and Continued on pg 58

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Good Times in a Great City FOOD, FUN AND FESTIVITIES ARE ALL GOING DOWN IN DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS

BY ERIC BERGER t’s a familiar sight to Cardinals fans: the sea of red walking up the ramp from the MetroLink station to Busch Stadium before games or waiting to board the train after the win.

While games among the best fans in baseball certainly make for a great Saturday, wouldn’t it be even better to extend those Downtown outings into extra innings?

There is, after all, a lineup of lively restaurants, bars, outdoor spaces and cultural attractions to create a fun weekend experience in the vibrant city.

“People are obviously aware of Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village and the Gateway Arch, but there are some other real gems that Downtown has to offer,” says Missy Kelley, president and CEO of Downtown STL, Inc. For example, visitors might want to consider taking a lap around the Gateway Mall, an outdoor corridor from the Arch to Union Station that the city has invested millions of dollars in over the last decade. That includes Citygarden, a sculpture park (801 Market Street) that doubles as a playground for kids — or adults with a youthful zeal.

“On any given day, you can find kids playing in the fountain or climbing on the statues,” says Kelley, as well as live music and a plethora of food trucks. And then there’s nearby Kiener Plaza, which reopened in 2017 after a $23.7 million renovation and now also has an eye-catching playground and splash zone.

If you feel like staying inside, visit the historic Central Library (1301 Olive Street) for a glimpse of the past or future — or both.

The library, which was built in 1912 and underwent a $70 million renovation about six years ago, is

KIENER PLAZA

BLUES MUSEUM

CITY MUSEUM

a striking piece of architecture with marble floors and walls, stained glass windows, and ceilings modeled after the ones in Renaissance palaces. There is also a Creative Experience area, which features a recording room with microphones, keyboards “and all the software and hardware you need for digital creative projects,” the library explains on its website.

“What’s really cool is that you have the beautiful architecture and history of the building and everything you need for a cutting edge, creative experience,” says Kelley.

Even the most well-versed St. Louisan might overlook the Campbell House Museum (1508 Locust Street), a family home that earlier this century was restored to its opulent 1885 state. It contains original furniture, fixtures, paintings, and

thousands of family documents.

“It’s the only home left from when Downtown St. Louis was the whole city of St. Louis, and it’s where some of the first homes were built,” says Kelley.

Once you’re hungry, pick up a hotdog from one of the many outdoor vendors or a carnitas taco at Gringo (635 Washington Avenue) or a lobster po’boy while listening to a few tunes at Broadway Oyster Bar (736 South Broadway).

At places like these, “there is a lot of patio dining, which adds to the vibrancy of Downtown,” says Kelley.

Other plot twists await you Downtown. Most people think of attractions like City Museum (750 North 16th Street) as places you visit during the day with the kids.

But what if you didn’t have to worry about keeping track of the little ones and instead just had to

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remember to finish your cocktail before you shoot down the ten-story slide? City museum features a full bar on the roof and is open Friday and Saturday until midnight.

“The environment is really just a playful, unique place. It brings out the kid in everyone,” says Kelley.

Speaking of rooftops, a day Downtown is no longer complete without a visit to the newly opened Hotel Saint Louis — and its rooftop bar. It’s located in the old Union Trust building (705 Olive Street), which was designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan. Investors spent more than $64 million on a restoration, which includes a recreation of the original stainedglass roof. Up top is FORM Skybar where you can lounge poolside with a cocktail and take in what Kelley calls “a great view of all of Downtown.”

She adds, “Their theme is, ‘Where historic meets hip,’ and I think they did a great job conveying that through the décor both inside and outside.” If you decide to stay overnight, each room has a vintage record player and albums with a St. Louis connection for you to peruse.

To continue on the music theme and complete your weekend of Downtown exploration, visit the National Blues Museum (615 Olive Street) for its popular Soulful Sunday series featuring performers such as Mick Kolassa & the Taylor Made Blues Band, and Miss Jubilee. Within the 23,000-squarefoot space, you’ll learn about the evolution of the blues genre and, if you like, create your own song and moniker.

Having a blast singing the blues is just one of the many surprising activities awaiting you in Downtown St. Louis.

Kelley says, “It’s easy to overlook some of these experiences, but whether you have kids or are coming with friends or with a date, there are so many things Downtown that you can’t find anywhere else in the region.” www.downtownstl.org

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PHOTO BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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Our Own Private Sarajevo For a delicious taste of Bosnia, take a walk through the city’s Bevo Mill neighborhood

BY CHERYL BAEHR

T

he Sebilj Fountain sits in the middle of Sarajevo’s Bascarsija Square, a symbol of the town that is steeped in lore.

Legend has it than anyone who drinks from the fountain will one day return to the city.

If you stand at the crisscrossed intersection of Gravois and Morganford in St. Louis’ Bevo Mill neighborhood, however, you might think you’ve been taken under the Sebilj’s spell without ever having set foot in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To your right, burgundy-colored awnings advertise restaurants and cafes where English is often the second language.

To your left, under the shadow of the giant windmill that gives the neighborhood its name, a pitaria churns out authentic, cheese-filled Bosnian pitas right next door to a grocery store stocked with everything from ajvar to Argeta. Men and women smoking cigarettes and speaking Bosnian stand on its front doormat, greeting neighbors as they walk inside to grab the latest Eastern-European tabloid. riverfronttimes.com

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St. Louis’ own Sebilj sits on a grassy median in the middle of the intersection, the most visible symbol of the enduring Bosnian presence in the community. During the 1990s, St. Louis became a safe haven for tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the Bosnian War. As a thank you to the city, the nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina built a fountain for the city in 2013. Really, St. Louis should be just as grateful. Settling in the Bevo Mill area, the city’s new residents converted once-dilapidated storefronts into a thriving “Little Bosnia,” complete with butchers, bakers, coffeeshops and salons.

Though the Bosnian influx made Bevo Mill one of St. Louis’ most unique culinary gems, many Bosnian-owned businesses remained somewhat closed to outsiders until the last few years, when a new generation began to take over. Bosnian in culture but in many cases raised in the U.S., they’ve served as a bridge between their families and

Sana Bakery produces Bosnian bread in the traditional, small-scale way. | RYAN GINES

the Midwestern city that adopted them, opening businesses that cater not only to their own community but their neighbors as well. Under their watch, the city’s Bosnian food offerings have finally gained the prominence they deserve, garnering national acclaim and elevating the reputation of the city’s food scene as offering something beyond Provel and toasted ravioli.

If you want a rich picture of St. Louis food, then a trip to Bevo’s “Little Bosnia” is a must, beginning with the Sebilj as an orientation point. From there, head across the street to J’s Pitaria (5003 Gravois Avenue, 314-339-5319), the warmly appointed Bosnian fast-casual restaurant owned by Zamir Jahic. Every morning, Zahic arrives at the crack of dawn to stretch the pita by hand, bake the wood-fired bread called somun, layer the baklava and stack the doner kebab meat onto its spit. It’s painstaking work, but to Zahic, it’s the only way to achieve an authentic product. His efforts pay off in shockingly flaky, golden rolls of pita, stuffed with ingredients like potatoes, beef or kajmak, a luxuriously creamy, cheese concoction. If he’s offering his zucchini version on your visit, you’re in for a special treat.

Next door to J’s Pitaria is Europa Market (5005 Gravois Avenue, 314-6317288), the neighborhood’s Bosnian grocery store, which looks as if it has been riverfronttimes.com

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dropped onto Gravois directly from Sarajevo. Founded by Alem Boric as a tiny bodega, Europa Market has grown into a massive operation that distributes goods from the Balkans across the United States — items that were previously impossible to find, such as Argeta, the brand of Bosnian salmon pâté that is so popular in the community people used to smuggle it into the country in their suitcases. Jars of ajvar, the red-pepperand-eggplant condiment that is as essential to Bosnian cuisine as tomato sauce is to Italian cooking, line the walls, while coolers filled with smoked meats beckon. Naturally, an entire aisle is dedicated to the ubiquitous Bosnian seasoning blend that gets shaken over just about everything. On a nice day, Europa Market provides the sort of provisions you’d need if you wanted to put down a blanket and picnic on the grassy area around the sibilj fountain across the street.

The market sells bread, but there is no substitute for getting it freshly baked from the source, namely Sana Bakery (4412 Morganford Road, 314-4815356). Located less than a five-minute drive down Morganford Road from Europa Market, Sana is the sort of old-fashioned mom-and-pop operation that evokes the bakeries of Sarajevo.

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The family-run business lacks large industrial machinery, making mass production impossible. Instead, the owners use a mixer, an oven, a six-foot folding table and some wooden racks to produce the freshest, most delectable Bosnian bread from scratch every day. Milk bread, pretzel-shaped breads rubbed with coarse salt, traditional loaves and pita-like cevapi fill the shelves of this tiny bakery and grocer, though you won’t want to get there too late in the day. It’s not uncommon for Sana to sell out by early afternoon.

Back down Gravois from Sana, and just across from the Bevo Mill, sits Mesnica Pehlan (4716 Gravois Avenue, 314351-2020), a Bosnian butcher shop that specializes in cured and smoked meats.

Do not be intimidated by the language barrier; the owners are welcoming and willing to share what they’ve been smoking out back, though your best bet is to call in advance to try to score some roasted lamb. This is a pre-order specialty, and usually involves buying the entire animal, but if you are in a position to make that investment, you will be treated to the signature item from the town’s premier Bosnian butcher.

If you’re throwing a party of your own, Mesnica Pehlan’s lamb is the way to go. If you want to be a part of existing festivities, Bevo Mill offers two good options.

Vivid Cafe (6025 Gravois Avenue, 314-835-7573), the neighborhood’s unofficial gathering place, is a combination coffee shop/ bar that boasts a group of regulars who might initially raise an eyebrow at a non-Bosnian bellying up to the bar. It’s not that Vivid makes you feel unwelcome as much as it gives you the feeling of being a stranger in the middle of St. Louis — a unique, and thrilling, feeling that is rare to experience short of leaving the country. Code (4412 Morganford Road), a small bar adjacent to Sana Bakery, is similar in its initial insular impression. In fact, it doesn’t even have an independent address or an online listing, making it feel impossible to crack without taking someone from the neighborhood as your interlocutor.

However, should you put your inhibitions aside and wander on in, you will be treated to the city’s true Bosnian bar-going experience — perhaps a shot

of rakia and a smoke.

After an evening of imbibing at Vivid Café or Code, a bottle of the fermented milk kefir the following morning will set you straight. The next best thing, however, is lunch at the delightful Golden Grains Bakery (4573 Gravois Avenue, 314-752-3004). When you walk in, your initial impression may be that you have entered a small bakery and grocery store — and indeed you have.

However, if you walk through the small doorway just beyond the front counter, you’ll find the small lunch counter, which serves astonishingly delicious homemade Bosnian specialties. The restaurant’s main menu consists of sandwiches, assorted pitas and cevapi, which Golden Grains does the right way, meaning the bread is dunked into beef jus, then griddled before being stuffed with beef sausages.

You will not go wrong ordering off the menu. However, the restaurant’s

most awe-inspiring offerings are the daily selection of roasted meats displayed at the counter. On any given day, Golden Grains will serve roasted lamb, beef or, most notably, an oven-roasted veal that is perhaps the most succulent piece of meat in the bi-state area. The veal is simple — just salt and meat — but it’s cooked expertly, giving it a caramelized exterior

that yields to pull-apart, fat-laden meat.

It’s nothing short of astonishing.

Though it’s hard to imagine anything lacking after eating such a meal, no visit to Bevo Mill is complete without a stop at Lemmons by Grbic (5800 Gravois Avenue, 314-899-9898). It’s run by chef Senada Grbic, the daughter of the Bosnian community’s preeminent restaurateurs, Ermina and Sulejman Grbic, whose Dutchtown restaurant, Grbic, is considered the city’s foundational spot for Bosnian cuisine. Senada grew up in Grbic’s kitchen, and now she has one of her own at Lemmons, which is located in an old dive bar that the family painstakingly restored to beauty.

Now a family-friendly restaurant, the place is a prime example of how the next generation of Bosnian-Americans is putting its own mark on the cuisine.

Grbic describes the restaurant as a culinary autobiography — a blend of both traditional recipes and techniques with the American influences that characterized her childhood in the middle of the heartland. Look for such Bosnian-American creations as cevapi flatbread, a “Balkan Dipping Board” comprised of Balkan fry bread and assorted spreads, and Grbic’s Bosnian-inflected take on chicken wings, which are tossed in her signature rakija fire glaze.

Though it’s not on the menu, Grbic just might make you some authentic Bosnian coffee if she happens to have some in the back and you’ve caught her outside of the dinner rush. Thick and strong, the coffee requires just the right technique, the correct pot and appropriate glassware. If you’re lucky enough to savor a cup while basking in the afterglow of a meal at Lemmons, you just might feel whisked away to a cafe in the old country. Forget drinking from the sibilj; a cup of Grbic’s Bosnian coffee after a day spent wandering Bevo Mill is all you need to transport you to Sarajevo.

CG

The bread at Sana Bakery is baked fresh every day and almost always sells out quickly. | RYAN GINES riverfronttimes.com

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Take a

hike The best way to see the real St. Louis just might be to get outside

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BY DOYLE MURPHY

outh of the Poplar Street Bridge, just beyond the graffiti-covered flood wall, you’ll find the entrance to one of the city’s best-kept secrets: world-class catfish fishing.

Captain Jason Schneiderhahn regularly picks up customers at the boat ramp there for chartered trips onto the Mississippi River. “They can Uber, if not walk, there,” he says.

Within minutes, they’re out on the water, casting for the monster blue catfish that lurk in the murky brown water. Average blues in the area weigh fifteen to twenty pounds, Schneiderhahn says, and clients might pull in twenty or more fish on a good day. And there is also the opportunity to hook into one of the 60 or 70 pounders that circle beneath the shadow of the Arch in warm weather.

“It’s so exciting,” he says. “They’re actual game fish, and they’re huge.” riverfronttimes.com

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Schneiderhahn, whose business is online at stlcatfishing.com, grew up in Oakville and has been fishing his entire life. But it was not until 2005 that he discovered the thrill of angling for big blues in the Mississippi. He rarely ran into other fishing boats back then as he threaded his way around the barges that were rolling down river with tons upon tons of grain.

That’s changing. Now, he might see ten or fifteen pickups with boat trailers down at the ramp off South Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard. He’s one of a small, but growing, number of guides on the waterway.

While most might see the river as little more than a shipping route for the heavy barges, Scheiderhahn says that’s actually one of the secrets of St. Louis’ giant and plentiful catfish. All that loading and unloading of barges at the granaries along the waterfront means some of the product inevitably ends up in the Mississippi, and that’s pure fish food.

The U.S. Coast Guard-certified captain’s clients often include tourists with

extra time before a Cardinals’ game and out-of-town businessmen killing time between convention speakers.

“It’s neat, especially when you get the whole city drop behind you with the Arch and the casinos,” he says.

Part of the fun is that it’s an unexpected outlet in St. Louis’ urban center. The city is not exactly known as a hotspot for outdoors enthusiasts, but the opportunities are here. You just have to know where to look. Hiking, biking, birdwatching and, yes, fishing are all possibilities for the intrepid explorer. Best of all, there’s no need to spend hours in the car to reach them.

the swans and ducks that inhabit the lily pond, raccoons that pop in and out of hollowed-out trees and even a fox that slips along through early, misty mornings.

But the best-kept secret is the Robert & Martha Gaddy Wild Bird Garden at the park’s northwest corner.

There you’ll find the flyway birds that migrate through St. Louis. Keep an eye out for woodpeckers, thrushes and warblers. The spot is small but often empty of humans. Pathways covered in wood chips and dense trees let you step away from city life for a while, even though you’re less than a hundred yards from Kingshighway.

Go Birding in Tower Grove Park

Bike the Great Rivers Greenway

A gem of south city, Tower Grove Park hosts 5K races, Food Truck Fridays, twice-weekly farmers’ markets, kickball tournaments, family reunions and even the occasional criterium bike race.

With all that activity, the park might surprise you with its wildlife. There are

Previous page: Forest Park is one of several places in St. Louis for bird watchers. | DOYLE MURPHY Above: Big Muddy Adventures guide Paul Gruber leads the way across one of the Mississippi River islands. | DOYLE MURPHY riverfronttimes.com

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The ever-expanding network of paths called the Great Rivers Greenway has been a huge boost to recreational bikers (and runners and walkers) as it spreads across the metro, even crossing the Missouri River.

In the city, one of the best options is the Mississippi Greenway, which runs north from downtown to Chain of Rocks Bridge. There is a parking lot at the east end of Biddle Street, and from there, you can cruise along a section of waterfront typically cut off from view.

Cyclists have been known to spot deer, interesting birds and, when in season,

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some gorgeous wildflowers along the fifteen-mile route as the scenery changes from industrial to natural. Great Rivers has plans to develop more parkland along the way, promising this excursion is only going to get better.

The Mississippi is home to some monster catfish. | COURTESY OF JASON SCHNEIDERHAHN

Wander Through Forest Park The king of St. Louis’ parks is not a secret destination, but it can still be a refuge for the nature-starved and timecrunched city dweller. There are two main woodlands: John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest on the southwest corner and the Successional Forest east of the zoo. Kennedy is the larger and older of the two, with more than 60 acres of mature forest and three-plus miles of trails.

It is another great St. Louis spot for birding, but its varied habitat, featuring wetlands and an eight-acre savanna, riverfronttimes.com

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brings out all sorts of wildlife, including two species of frogs who serenade hikers through the spring.

Successional Forest is something different, a forest in progress. Once another manicured lawn in the park’s more than 1,300 acres, it has been allowed over the past three decades to return to a natural landscape. It also features wetlands and trails through more than twenty acres.

As long as you are making your way around the park, you might as well hit the east side, where you will find a series of small lakes, streams and

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a nine-acre prairie. Winding — and sometimes crowded — trails will take you on a pleasant trip around marshes and over storybook-looking footbridges. On the far northeast corner, you will find yet another forest — the West Pine Woodland — and the Forest Park Hatchery, a series of pools that the Missouri Department of Conservation uses for a variety of programs, including fishing workshops.

Paddle the Mississippi If you have Huck Finn dreams, maybe you would like to take oar in hand and try out life on the Mississippi — at least for few hours. In 2018, Big Muddy Adventures started running three-hour canoe tours that launch from the cobblestone parking lot at the base of the Arch on Mondays and Wednesdays through the warm months. It is a unique way to see the city, not to mention a solid workout.

“Big Muddy” Mike Clark and his band of guides have been taking people on the Mississippi for years. In the past, they have run moonlight cruises out to river islands, where on certain nights, some of the city’s notable — and adventurous — chefs prepare dinner over a campfire. They either paddle back under the stars or camp along the shore.

There are still not a lot of people

who canoe the river, which makes it an underused resource for those craving an interesting outdoor adventure in St. Louis. Experienced paddlers are probably fine on their own, but for the rest of us, it’s probably best to make those first voyages with somebody who knows the

Mississippi’s tricks.

If you prefer a tamer body of water, Big Muddy also rents canoes, kayaks, paddleboats and stand-up paddleboards through Boathouse Paddle Co. for use on Post-Dispatch Lake in CG Forest Park.

Top: In Tower Grove Park, kickball players share the acreage with a shy fox. | DOYLE MURPHY Above: Signs of animal life abound along the edge of the Mississippi River. | DOYLE MURPHY riverfronttimes.com

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BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

udging a city by its headlines in the national press is often an unfair exercise. St. Louis knows

that all too well. Yet it’s not uncommon for visitors to arrive with an earnest, two-dimensional curiosity about a place they may only know from recent coverage in the New York Times (or, worse, Breitbart News).

To your aunt from Jefferson County or cousin in California, the image of St. Louis is likely flattened by their exposure to viral Facebook posts and their preferred cable news channel — sources that amplify scandal over nuance, and drama over complexity. It’s why visitors still misunderstand the basics about the region, like that out-of-state friend asking you if Busch Stadium is next to Ferguson or whether all those protests “did anything.” informed for it.

To start things off, why not journey straight to the elephant in the room?

There is no way to talk about St. Louis’ recent history without talking about Ferguson. But even through a car window, Ferguson just looks…normal, working class and largely residential.

On a drive through this suburb, you’ll pass quiet, home-lined streets interrupted by shops, fast food chains and mod-

But those questions, aggravating as they are, also present an opportunity — a call to understand this under-studied and overly-dramatized region. It’s not just out-of-towners: Even St. Louisans could use a trip outside their south city (or west county) bubble. Despite the not-always-accurate shape of St. Louis’ news footprint, with just a bit of effort, anyone can visit the real places behind those headlines, and come away more

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est strip malls. It is neither an urban wasteland nor a posh suburban enclave.

Outwardly, there’s little here to advertise the tensions that reached a critical mass on Canfield Drive in Ferguson on August 9, 2014.

What began with a white Ferguson police officer killing Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, quickly became something more. In less than 48 hours, protesters swelled with anger at the treatment of Brown’s body, which had been left on the scene for hours — but others in the crowds took advantage of the chaos. By the time national news outlets arrived, it was the looting and arson that caught their camera crews’ lenses. And for many, their first introduction to Ferguson was not the photos of peaceful protesting, but of a QuikTrip on West Florissant Avenue burning in the night.

After it was destroyed, the QuikTrip site became a staging ground for peaceful protesters. Here they massed, chanted and marched along West Florissant, a stretch of street that witnessed multiple nights of mass arrests and tear gas used on demonstrators.

Today, the modern brick build-

n . n

n , 8 t h — e s d ’ s g

r , d r

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Recent ing that holds the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center (9420 West Florissant Avenue, Ferguson) sits on the site of the immolated gas station. Completed in 2017, the center created a new source for job training programs and youth outreach. It represents a rare concrete symbol of the change that rocked Ferguson and its north county neighbors.

One block south of the center is Canfield Drive. Down the road about a quarter-mile, a sidewalk plaque presents a permanent memorial to Michael Brown. But if you or your visitors were inspired by Brown and the protests that followed, you should also remember that the memorial isn’t a tourist

Pie’s, the reality show that aired for nine seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Ferguson may have exposed the rot eating through the region’s courts and police departments, but in a landfill twelve miles west, a rot of a different, more literal type attracted its own headlines. Here, the West Lake Landfill (13570 St Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton) presents as almost an alien landscape, the ground covered with a grayish-green “cap” punctured by black hoses, with a vast area surrounded by fences adorned with radiation warning signs.

Some 700 feet away, beneath hundreds of feet of garbage dumped at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill, a fire is

History attraction or an Instagram backdrop.

If you visit the memorial, keep it brief and respectful.

However, there’s no need to leave Ferguson on a note of grief. This place is still alive with people, businesses and food. Do yourself a favor and indulge in the latter, as you’re just a half-mile from a bite at Sweetie Pie’s (9841 West Florissant Avenue, Ferguson; 314-9421701), and a few additional minutes of driving will take you to Cathy’s Kitchen (250 South Florissant Avenue, Ferguson; 314-524-9200). Both black-owned businesses offer good food and a way to support a community that’s weathered some hard times. And Sweetie Pie’s offers its own national profile; owner Robbie Montgomery is not only a former backup singer for Ike and Tina Turner, but also the star of Welcome to Sweetie

smoldering. And that fire is moving toward West Lake and its cache of radioactive waste, which was left over from the Manhattan Project and illegally dumped there in the 1970s.

Despite what superhero movies might suggest, in real life, there are no known positive side effects that come from being exposed to nuclear waste or burning trash. For years, nearby residents sounded the alarm about rare cancers and childhood illness in the area. Finally, the CDC acknowledged in 2018 that residents’ exposure to nuclear waste had indeed “increased the risk” for developing various cancers. Also in 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency vowed to remove the radioactive waste. That effort is ongoing.

You can learn more about the literal (and metaphorical) garbage fire in

Tour

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the 2017 HBO documentary Atomic Homefront. For now, though, you’ll want to get back on the road.

From Bridgeton, I-70 will whisk you through a dozen north county municipalities on the way to the city of St. Louis. But instead of proceeding toward the Arch like any old tourist, hang a right onto Cass Avenue. A stone’s throw from downtown, the street reflects the uneven conditions allowed to fester in the city’s northern neighborhoods. On one block, you’ll pass crumbling brick structures and grassy vacant lots. On the next, the desolation gives way to modern apartment buildings shrouded by tidy lines of trees planted on both sides of the street.

At 1849 Cass, the site of the James L. Clemens House (1849 Cass Avenue), all that’s left are overgrown bushes. An opulent and unique structure, the historic mansion was built in 1858 by a relative of Samuel Clemens — the writer known as Mark Twain — but was left to decay for years, until a fire in 2017 ravaged what was left. The next year, a demolition team finished the job.

The fate of the Clemens House outraged preservation activists, who had long accused its owner, developer Paul McKee, of reneging on promises to rehab and preserve more than 100 properties within the footprint of his promised $8 billion NorthSide Regeneration Project. McKee’s rehabs were initially planned for completion in 2011. They never happened.

In the summer of 2018, St. Louis officials made headlines when they filed paperwork to find McKee in default on the decade-old agreement for exclusive development within some 1,500 acres.

The solution to developing north city — and saving places like the Clemens House — remains elusive.

If you really want to see examples of active problem solving in St. Louis, you may have to set your sights a bit lower than “reversing decades of depopulation and disinvestment.” Slowing down speeders on Compton Avenue? Now that’s a problem St. Louis officials enthusiastically tackled last year, although its success remains a matter of hot debate.

The city’s traffic abatement strategy involved placing concrete spheres at strategic intersections. Of course, this opened

A memorial marks the place where the body of Michael Brown’s body lay for hours, sparking a national outcry against police brutality. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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the door for a certain journalistic outlet to produce a veritable banquet of headlines involving variations on “St. Louis’ Balls.” It’s not just us: Colloquially, the balls are referred to as either “Ingrassia Balls,” after the alderwoman who placed them in intersections around Compton Heights and Tower Grove East, or “Slay Balls,” after the former mayor of St. Louis.

Regardless of jargon, the balls have been a hit with fans of crotch jokes and safe driving alike. Crafty residents have even added personal touches, creating costumes and “hats” for the otherwise drab spheroids. (The RFT’s resultant news coverage should give some sense of the inspiration they’ve provided: “St. Louis’ Huge Balls Keep Getting in the Way,” “Woman Crochets Giant BallSized Hat to Warm Up St. Louis’ Giant Balls,” “Now Someone Turned a Slay Ball Into a Pot of Gold” and, of course, “Someone Keeps Putting Their Mustache on St. Louis’ Balls.”)

With your tour nearly complete, you’ll want to make your way west to the Central West End. In September 2017, protests erupted over the acquittal of a city cop charged with murdering a suspect in cold blood, and the cosmopolitan neighborhood just east of Forest Park became a tension point, with protesters and police facing off in the streets. (One reason? Mayor Lyda Krewson, who became a target of the protests, lives here.)

In the Central West End, as in Ferguson, the protests brought police, and then chaos, to the streets. On the night that former officer Jason Stockley was acquitted, St. Louis Police fired tear gas and swarmed the neighborhood in full riot gear. When officers got to Pi Piz-

zeria (400 North Euclid Avenue, 314367-4300), the tear gas came with them — angering owner Chris Sommers, who took to Twitter to blast the cops as “dimwits…terrorizing our town, hiding under tactical gear.”

Despite the protection afforded by their body armor, some police officers took Sommers’ words with the howling injury of a knee-scraped toddler. Blue Lives Matter called for a boycott, a call amplified by the local police unions. Facing a torrent of harassment, Pi found itself in the spotlight even as protests over the acquittal gained momentum.

However, the police response to the

protests would prove to be far more damaging to the department’s reputation than the pizzeria’s. Days after the incident, officers employed a “kettle” to mass arrest protesters downtown — and soon it came to light that officers beat one of their own undercover agents trapped during the roundup. This year, that beating lead the city prosecutor to charge multiple officers with assault and lying to investigators.

Meanwhile, Pi still serves great pizza, so you can grab a bite there or at any number of eateries in this walkable, lovely neighborhood. While you’re here, Continued on pg 58

Above: The former home of Eric Greitens, including the infamous basement. | ESTATELY Below: Beneath the West Lake Landfill is a cache of radioactive waste. | KELLY GLUECK

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HAPPY HOUR MONDAY-THURSDAY 3-5PM 50% OFF BEER & SODA 50% OFF 1 LB. SEAFOOD

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A little-known statue in south city — of a naked woman, no less — tells the story of the utopians who built St. Louis

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BY PAUL FRISWOLD

Frenchman may have founded the trading post that marked the origin of St. Louis, but it fell to a generation of German immigrants to actually build the city. The proof of that is tucked away in Compton Hill Reservoir Park, where a memorial that was built only to be quickly forgotten upon its dedication honors the men who helped create the city of their ideals.

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a heroic female nude holding torches and seated on a large wall of pink granite. Its creation sparked outrage, controversy and that favorite pastime of the German people, lively arguments.

As later detailed by indefatigable local historian Esley Hamilton for the Society of Archaeological Historians’ Missouri Valley chapter newsletter, Preetorious, Schurz and Daenzer were

working conditions and a free press, they opened businesses, built beer empires and fought valiantly in the American Civil War (on the Union side; they were serious about that “freedom for all” bit).

Preetorious, Schurz and Daenzer all worked for various German-language newspapers in St. Louis and other American cities, but their main claim to

all part of the wave of immigrants who came to America to escape the consequences of the failed 1848 revolution of the German Confederation. St. Louis was still a small river settlement when they arrived, but the utopians soon got to work. Full of high-flown ideas about the freedom of all people, the right to public assembly, improved living and

fame locally was their (non-concurrent) service running the St. Louis Westliche Post, the premier German newspaper in America in the latter half of the nineteenth century (a young Joseph Pulitzer got his start there thanks to Schurz).

All three men died within months of each other in 1906, and the now prosperous and politically powerful

GERMANS DREAMT HERE

The park today is best known for its nineteenth-century water tower — at 179 feet tall, it is difficult to miss. Restored to its former glory in 1999 by a consortium of neighborhood groups and the city, the tower is open for tours on Saturdays with a full moon from April to November. It’s a popular historic site and an excellent place to walk dogs, ride your bike or go for morning stroll, thanks to its circuit of intersecting paths.

The statue remains much more obscure.

If you were to happen to to walk due south of the water tower along the paved path, you’d come to a set of steps that climb a small hill. Atop this hill, and modestly screened from Grand Boulevard by a stand of trees, is The Naked Truth, a memorial statue that honors three German-American journalists who transformed St. Louis and their adopted country.

The men in question were Dr. Emil Preetorious, Carl Schurz and Carl Daenzer, and true to the contrary nature of most Germans, their monument is of

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German-American community sought a way to honor the lives and achievements of three of their own. They quickly struck upon the idea of a symbolic memorial.

After a round of arguments, an artist was eventually selected (Wilhelm Wandschneider, surprisingly German), and the chi-chi neighborhood of Compton Hill was designated to receive his work.

But the female nude of Wandschneider’s design was a problem for many St. Louisans, including the project’s main donor, Adolphus Busch. The fact that the artist had left home with typical German efficiency and was already crossing the Atlantic meant it was too late to change it, and following yet more wrangling the monument was finally finished.

German-American wealth, power and prestige were behind the work, and the technological innovation of the Compton Hill Water Tower (erected in 1898) would stand nearby as a hard-science counterpart to the artistic achievements of a generation of visionaries who were too bold and too liberal for Germany, but who raised a beautiful, thriving city in America. A city built, populated and run by proud German-Americans — The Naked Truth was essentially a tribute to themselves.

The statue was finally dedicated on May 24, 1914. Seven weeks later World War I began, and a wave of anti-German sentiment soured America, and St. Louis, of any pride in the Fatherland.

The Naked Truth was quickly forgotten until it had to be moved to make way for Interstate 44. Parts of it disappeared over the next several decades after that, and it fell into a state of disrepair along with the equally neglected water tower.

But you can’t keep a German down for long. The Water Tower & Park Preservation Society was founded to restore the park and its historic structures, and almost exactly 100 years after its original dedication, on May 14, 2014, The Naked Truth was rededicated. The city has changed in numerous ways since their heyday, but no doubt Preetorious, Schurz and Daenzer would be gladdened to know that newspapers still exist in St. Louis, and bemused to know that we’re still arguing about the same issues. Once a German city, always a German city.

CG

7 More Strange (but Cool!)

St. Louis Statues WHEN YOU THINK of St. Louis statuary, you probably picture Ozzie Smith or Bernie Federko. Those are fine and all, but the Gateway City has more to offer than sports heroes. Scattered across the city’s parks and public spaces are a host of fascinating statues that represent everything from highflown ideals to wish fulfillment to straightup commercialism. These seven pieces are public art in the best sense of the phrase — and as St. Louis as beer and Provel.

Friedrich Jahn Memorial If you start from the eastern side of Apotheosis of St. Louis atop Art Hill (35 Fine Arts Drive) and walk downhill toward Government Drive, you’ll encounter this monument to the “father of gymnastics.” A bust of Jahn and his righteous wizard beard crowns the center of this long semi-circular stone memorial, which is flanked by bronze statues of a young man and woman throwing a shot put and practicing rhythmic gymnastics. Built in 1913, when St. Louis was still heavily German in heritage and nature, the statue features informational plaques auf Deutsch. Jahn’s statue has been restored several times during the intervening century but it’s still clearly from another time.

Joie de Vivre Another Forest Park piece, Joie de Vivre hides in plain sight near the Steinberg Skating Rink (400 Jefferson Drive).

Lithuanian artist Jacques Lipchitz made the abstract form in 1927 as inspirational material for his sister, who suffered from sickness. Lipchitz wanted her to see the joy of life. From one side, his piece looks like chain links trying to rejoin each other; from another, it looks like tangled human limbs.

It’s a rare example of a fine art statue in a public space.

Martin Luther King, Jr. The statue of MLK in Fountain Park (Fountain and Euclid avenues) is one of three commissioned of the civil rights leader in St. Louis in 1976, but after being installed in 1978 it had fallen into disrepair

Martin Luther King, Jr. | RYAN GINES

from time and neglect. In 2018 a march honoring King’s life and work was held at the site, and the community determined it would raise the funds to restore their statue to its rightful glory. Reinstalled this summer, the Fountain Park statute is both a testament to King’s legacy and the resurgent spirit of Black St. Louis in the face of ongoing adversity.

Friedrich Schiller Maybe the best German poet (suck it, Goethe, your prosody is weak!), and definitely the most entertaining to read in translation, Friedrich Schiller never visited St. Louis, but he gave us “Ode to Joy,” so why not give him a statue here? The statue was erected in 1891 and moved to its current spot in Memorial Plaza (1720 Market Street) in the 1970s. It’s a duplicate of a statue in Schiller’s hometown, more proof that the German utopians who were thrown out of their own country following a failed revolution tried to recreate their homeland in St. Louis. Is it ironic that most of the people memorialized in statuary never went to high school here? Something for all the transplants to ponder.

Wagner to Gounod to Mozart to Beethoven Perhaps the greatest infield the world has ever known in both classical music and

baseball, these are the rare double busts of Tower Grove Park (4256 Magnolia Avenue). The originals, donated by stalwart citizen Henry Shaw, are displayed in the Piper Palm House. The ones on the plinths around the park’s outdoor Music Pavilion are copies. But why all these tributes to guys who never came to St. Louis? It’s aspirational, as was much early St. Louis public art. Shaw believed sculpture was good for parks and people, and at the time he donated these, a world-class symphony in St. Louis was just a dream. Now we have the St. Louis Symphony, which proves art begets art, dreams beget music and the past creates the future.

Drunk History, which makes him something of a spiritual St. Louisan — don’t we all have something of a drunk history in this beer town?

Self Made Man Right at the strange intersection where Lindell Boulevard becomes Olive Street — it’s parallel to the International Photography Hall of Fame — is a little triangular green sward on the north side of the street. There stands Self Made Man, a larger-than-itlooks statue of a nude figure carving itself free from a bronze block, hammer raised above its head. If if looks familiar, there are duplicates in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Minneapolis, as well as in Nicaragua and Batavia, Illinois. It’s the work of sculptor Bobbie Carlyle, who describes it on her website as “a man carving him out of stone, carving his character, carving his future.”

Saint Louis University owns the sculpture, which makes sense. College is where you make yourself and your future. You can buy your own version of it from Carlyle’s website, with options ranging in size from a thirteen-inch-tall maquette to a sixteenfoot-tall monument.

—Paul Friswold

Baron von Steuben That’s Baron Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben to you, and no, he was never in St. Louis either, but his statue stands to this day in Tower Grove Park (4256 Magnolia Avenue). The Prussian soldier came to the New World at the behest of Benjamin Franklin, bringing with him the military training that whipped the Continental Army into shape and helped win the Revolutionary War — and his methods formed the foundation for the modern U.S. Army. (He was also friends with Broadway Alexander Hamilton.) Comedian David Cross portrayed von Steuben in a season two episode of Comedy Central’s

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Clockwise from top: Ludwig van Beethoven in Tower Grove Park. | RYAN GINES Self Made Man and Friedrich Schiller. | PAIGE BRUBECK

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20 St. Louis Tourist Attractions That Are Actually Worth a Visit

BY JAIME LEES

T

here are so many great (and free!) things to do in St. Louis that it can be difficult to figure out which ones are actually worth your time. Whether you’re a tourist trying to maximize your stay or you’re just looking for somewhere new to take your kids, these places can’t be beat. There is much to explore here, but these twenty spots are the ones you really don’t want to miss.

Saint Louis Art Museum

The Butterfly House

1 Fine Arts Drive, 314-721-0072 The Saint Louis Art Museum is a major source of civic pride. It hosts major collections and owns a huge selection of world-class art that ranges from modern times all the way back to the era before Christ. It’s peaceful and spacious and — most importantly for cheapskates like us — it’s free.

15193 Olive Boulevard, Chesterfield; 314-577-0888 Entering the Butterfly House is like stepping onto another planet. You probably already know that the west county outpost of the Missouri Botanical Garden features a big tropical room where guests can mingle with thousands of beautiful butterflies. What you may not know is that it also hosts some of the area’s coolest nature attractions. From giant beetles to hairy tarantulas, a series of exciting exhibits sits just inside the front door.

Saint Louis Zoo Government Drive, 314-781-0900 Yes, it’s free, too. And yes, it’s awesome.

One of the best ways to spend an afternoon in St. Louis is to gather up your crew and hit the zoo. Everybody else knows this, so be patient with crowds and parking. Once you get inside, it will all be worth it. It’s a real treat to see such exotic (and adorable) animals just hanging out in the middle of the city. The penguin encounter might be the world’s best.

Missouri Botanical Garden 4344 Shaw Boulevard, 314-577-5100 The Missouri Botanical Garden is a wonderland. Even if you don’t care at all about flowers, it’s totally worth a visit.

Exploring the calming gardens will make you feel like you’ve been transported to another place and time. You’ll feel like royalty surveying your land. The Japanese garden and the Climatron conservatory (located in a geodesic dome) are particularly impressive.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Cathedral Basilica 4431 Lindell Boulevard, 314-373-8200 Yes, the Cathedral Basilica is legendarily gorgeous. But you can’t appreciate just how gorgeous it is until you see it in person. This Roman Catholic cathedral is breathtakingly, achingly beautiful. Its soaring ceilings and incredibly detailed mosaics are stunning enough to make any visitor a believer.

Cherokee Street Antique Row 1900-2300 Cherokee Street If you’re looking for something special, Antique Row on Cherokee Street has a little bit of everything. If you need a souvenir or a fantastic gift, these cute antique shops have you covered. And if antiques aren’t your bag, just roll west of Jefferson Avenue on Cherokee, where a variety of goods from the city’s best modern-day DIY artists are available, too.

City Museum

38°39′14″N 90°3′52″W; Collinsville, Illinois; 618-346-5160 You likely know that Cahokia Mounds is one of the most important historic sites in the St. Louis area, but the top of Monks Mound also offers one of the best views of the city. Located just across the river in Illinois, the Native American mounds are the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico.

They’re also a designated National Historic Landmark.

750 North 16th Street, 314-231-2489 The late Bob Cassilly converted an old shoe warehouse into a museum that truly must be seen to be believed. It’s often described as a playground for both children and adults, but it’s really an ever-changing art installation that visitors can interact with and experience on a personal level. Nothing here is simple or ordinary; every inch is magical. Put it at the very top of your list of places to visit in St. Louis.

Things are Looking Up at the St. Louis Science Center. | RYAN GINES riverfronttimes.com

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Claes’ Oldenburg’s Giant Three-Way Plug, installed outside the Saint Louis Art Museum, is part of its fast-growing modern art collection. | RYAN GINES

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

The Griot Museum of Black History

3750 Washington Boulevard, 314-535-4660 We’re blessed with not one but two distinguished art museums here in St. Louis (and that’s not even counting the Pulitzer, which has no permanent collection but mounts some pretty impressive shows).

The Contemporary Art Museum is like the cool cousin of the Saint Louis Art Museum — much smaller and generally just a bit more hip. Stop by to see anything from the DJ in residence to an exhibit of the early work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

2505 St. Louis Avenue, 314-241-7057 Black history is St. Louis history. And to discover more about black history in the Gateway to the West, the best place to spend time is the Griot Museum. The museum collects and shares the stories of black lives in the region — using displays, memorabilia, gallery talks and presentations to illustrate these important (and essential) histories.

Crown Candy Kitchen 1401 St. Louis Avenue, 314-621-9650 Crown Candy Kitchen’s old-timey frozen malts and shakes are legendary, but there is much more at this 1913 original to put a smile on your face. If the cozy booths, the variety of chilis and the bacon-heavy “Heart Stopping BLT” don’t satisfy, this soda fountain also sells some of the best sweets in the city out of its Willy Wonka-worthy candy counter.

The Delmar Loop

Forest Park 5595 Grand Drive, ForestParkForever.org This 1,371-acre park is easily one of the most impressive things St. Louis has to offer. We’re right to brag about it. It’s gone from being the location of the 1904 World’s Fair to being the center of everyday life in modern St. Louis.

The park hosts the Saint Louis Zoo, the Saint Louis Art Museum and wide expanses of green that offer a refreshing dose of nature, good for everything from golfing to stand-up paddle to simply taking a nice long stroll. riverfronttimes.com

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Delmar Boulevard from Trinity to Des Peres; VisitTheLoop.com This shopping, entertainment and dining hub has maintained much of its cool factor despite being decades into its growth (and even while withstanding years of trolley construction). In less than one mile on Delmar Boulevard you can stop in for a concert, get a tattoo or buy some books or records. (Soon you’ll even be able to ride an indoor Ferris wheel.) There’s also no shortage of places to eat, with a new wave of young Asian immigrants opening everything from ice cream parlors to karaoke palaces catering to a young, hip population.

National Blues Museum 615 Washington Avenue, 314-925-0016 This relatively new attraction in St. Louis is quickly becoming a favorite.

Opened in 2016, the National Blues Museum celebrates the style of music that put the city on the map. Choice relics on display include vintage records, instruments and clothing.

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Scott Joplin House State Historic Site 2658 Delmar Boulevard, 314-340-5790 Located just west of downtown St. Louis, the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site is a must-see for fans of St. Louis history, music history or black history.

This beautifully preserved building was once the home of Scott Joplin, the ragtime composer famous for writing “The Entertainer.” But Joplin was much more than just that, and this museum helps to put his big, impressive life into context.

St. Louis Central Public Library 1301 Olive Street, 314-241-2288 In most cities a library is not a tourist attraction ... but most cities don’t have libraries as beautiful as the central edifice of St. Louis Public Library. The granite building was built in 1912 and is somehow even more impressive inside than out. With its high ceilings, large rooms and impeccable design, it feels more like a place of worship than a place of knowledge. It’s stunning from top to bottom.

St. Louis Science Center 5050 Oakland Avenue, 314-289-4400 You could spend all day in the St. Louis Science Center and never get bored.

Heck, you could stay all week. It’s a museum stuffed full of wonders and learning opportunities. The multiple-building set-up even features a planetarium and a walkway that runs over the highway where excited kids can wave at passing cars as they honk their hellos in return.

You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate the Cathedral Basilica’s stunning mosaics. | FLICKR/MATTHEW

The Soulard Neighborhood

The Museum of Westward Expansion at the Gateway Arch

Russell Boulevard and Menard Street, Soulard.org The Soulard neighborhood is St. Louis’ party central. If you’re looking to get in trouble, this highly walkable former French enclave is the place to go. In addition to being the site of our annual (and wild) Mardi Gras celebration, this barheavy area offers all kinds of fun, with frequent parades and street parties. It’s also a beautiful and history-filled area — making it a hub for people looking to see some classic St. Louis architecture.

11 North 4th Street, 314-655-1614 Don’t assume that the Gateway Arch — St. Louis’ majestic and sexy symbol — is overrated just because it is world-famous. This mid-century marvel has been impressing visitors since it first opened in 1967. And visits here recently got even more extraordinary with the unveiling of the new and improved Museum of Westward Expansion. Located beneath our beautiful boomerang, this subterranean exhibit features displays about St. Louis’ past as a trading post, its riverboat heyday and the construction of the Arch itself.

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard Two locations, including 6726 Chippewa Street, 314-481-2652 It really is good, guys. Once you’ve tried the frozen custard at Ted Drewes, you’ll never want to go back to regular ol’ ice cream. It’s so creamy and thick that employees will famously flip your order upside down before handing it to you just to illustrate that you’re in for something unique. Both locations can get crowded on summer nights, but that’s part of the fun. Kick back, eat your treat and watch St. Louis roll past.

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, , e e t t i i N N e e t t L Laa

t t h h g g i i N N t t L Lii

Here’s where to keep the party going all the way ‘til 3 a.m.

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BY DANIEL HILL

f there’s one thing that can be said about St. Louis — the real St. Louis — it’s that we’re a thirsty bunch. It matters not what time it is, whether the sun is up or down or what the joyless teetotalers of high society may think: Around here, we know everything is just a little bit better with a drink in hand.

Never is this more true than late at night, when bars that keep regular hours close up shop and turn their clientele loose on the streets.

From there these dedicated drinkers head to the bars where the real drinking is done: those wonderful, magical establishments that keep the alcohol flowing as late as 3 a.m. Here are our ten favorites.

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups

There are 3 a.m. bars, and then there are 3 a.m. institutions. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups (700 South Broadway, 314-436-5222) is decidedly the latter. One of the oldest blues bars in the St. Louis area, the downtown bar keeps the live music (and the

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drinks, naturally) flowing well into the early morning hours, with a packed concert calendar bringing bands to its small stage every night of the week. Some of St. Louis’ finest blues, jazz and soul musicians frequent that stage — marquee names like Kim Massie, Roland Johnson and Marquise Knox, to name |

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P H O T O S BY R YA N G I N E S a few — and since the much-lamented closing of its like-minded neighbor, Beale on Broadway, in January that roster has only grown. Beale’s closing may have put an end to the storied downtown Broadway “blues triangle” of yore, but the blues is alive and well within the walls of BB’s.

Flamingo Bowl

Perhaps the best part about bowling is that it is one of the only sports for which alcohol can reasonably be called a performance-enhancing drug. Something about six or seven or fifteen beers just makes it so much easier to whip a fourteen-pound orb down the lane and act like it was all skill, not sheer luck, when that ball actually strikes the pins. It stands to reason, then, that a bowling alley that’s open un-

mall that drinking you already acco has t poin this to got you re plished befo man, finally released your inner show so like y awa hed your inhibitions was er bett t wha And .

Stag ed llow much swa Lou St. of venue for the Karaoke King s look that room a than t is to hold cour a senlike it was actually designed by yna’s Tala Mike s tient disco ball? For year Avpton Ham 5 (111 nt aura Juke Box Rest city’s enue, 314-647-7600) has been the aking go-to spot for mirrored mirth-m othe thos , Sure . ndry lege t nigh and lateuling er drunks up there may be caterwa aid away, deluding themselves with the alactu can they king thin into hol of alco . them like not ’re ly carry a tune. But you k drin that off sh poli Now er.

You’re bett your and get up there, superstar — its. adoring public awa

DB’s Sports Bar

til 3 a.m. would be packed with the finest bowlers in all the land. Enter Flam ingo Bowl (1117 Washington Avenue, 314436-6666), downtown’s brightly colored, retro-chic paradise for pinh eads.

With a bar that serves late and a kitch en that doesn’t close until 2 a.m., you’ ll be able to find the perfect balance of ineb riation necessary to achieve true 300 -club greatness. Just don’t get so sloshed that you start throwing the balls over hand.

They hate that.

Mike Talayna’s Juke Box Restaurant

Truly, there is no better time for kara oke than that hour-and-a-half stretch from 1:30 to 3 a.m. It’s the sweet spot , the witching hour, the moment where all the forces in the universe align for the amateur singer. You’re loose, broken in, and

in the If a fourteen-year-old boy deep gn his desi to e wer nce esce pub of es thro look ably prob ld ideal tavern, it wou 5 (161 Bar ts Spor DB’s like a whole lot 314-588-2141).

Broadway, South the Nailed all over the walls and even snow and s deck rd eboa skat ceiling, the of part nt boards form an importa (eight decor. A bevy of flatscreen TVs possiit e mak e) alon bar the nd behi game ble to watch pretty much every And ly. eous ltan simu t even or sporting y, best of all for the young and horn it hab a have bers mem the female staff they as nis biki but ing noth ring of wea s cliserve drinks. Predictably, the bar’ the ly kful than but e, mal entele is mostly seedy than fun and ful play e mor is vibe from or sleazy, as might be expected (Plus . side east the on s club one of the a big — ois you don’t have to go to Illin or fun, h muc too have plus.) Just don’t ious dub the rself you earn ht you mig th,” honor of “Drunk Fuck of the Mon on d laye disp to pho r you complete with t seat. toile a with ed fram and wall the juSure it’s juvenile — but nobody does s.

DB’ like e venile quit

Start Bar

cle Successfully driving a motor vehi runout with B from point A to point of a ning anyone down or hurtling off handof unt amo ain cert a ires requ cliff the eye coordination, but thanks to all that at d ume cons ady alre drinks you ently last bar you shut down, you curr ble stum ly simp ries, wor have none. No Street, ce Spru 0 (100 Bar t Star to n dow

314-376-4453), St. Louis’ premier entry in the trendy “barcade” category of watering holes, and get to work. With its selection of pinball machines and hoopshoot games, in addition to a plethora of classic arcade consoles (Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, etc.), Start Bar offers more than enough challenge to nudge your addled brain back into a state of competence.

Or perhaps you’d rather go the other direction here and add to that addling?

With a full bar complete with boozy slushies and ice cream, Start Bar will have you incapable of making it around that Cruisin’ USA track in no time. Pro tip: Start Bar only stays open until 3 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday, but Thursday is also a free-play day for all machines. Be prepared to call in sick Friday morning.

Mangia Italiano

So you had one too many gin buckets at CBGB (to be fair, one is one too many) and there’s no chance in hell you’re ready to try to make it home, let alone call it a night. Never fear, Mangia Italiano (3145 South Grand Blvd, 314664-8585) is literally within crawling distance. For years the bar has served as a meeting place for all the denizens of South Grand who have already drank its neighboring watering holes dry, and with good reason. The staff is friendly, the drinks are fairly priced and, well, that mural is a sight to behold — a years-in-progress work depicting the history of the world as seen through the eyes of eclectic self-appointed artist-in-residence Wayne St. Wayne. Sadly, Wayne passed away in January after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer, but his vision lives on at Mangia. If you haven’t been in a while, consider a trip to the bar as a pilgrimage of sorts, and be sure to raise your glass to a true south-side legend.

Rooftop Terrace at Moonrise Hotel

One of the greatest dangers of a rooftop bar — especially one that stays open late — is the likelihood that drunk customers will lose their balance and topple head over heels to the ground below, spilling their drinks in the process and

If you really want to lose yourself in the karaoke dream, you go to Talayna’s and sing your heart out to the mirrored ceiling. And mirrored walls. And mirrored disco balls. riverfronttimes.com

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a dance floor, a companion venue (the neighboring Bootleg) and a sprawling patio with its own bar and stage as well.

Atomic is known for its regular live music and events, its kitchen churning out some of the tastiest burgers in town and a drink program sure to please your taste buds, regardless of the late hour. In all, it can make for a wild scene. “I’m not a restaurateur, I’m a ringmaster,” owner Chip Schloss memorably told RFT a few years back. “We’re in the circus business here. If people walk out of the doors, shake their heads and ask what just happened, then I know they are likely to come back.” That must explain why the place always seems to be packed.

Pop’s Nightclub

subsequently demanding to be comped new ones by the bartender. It’s a tale as old as time. But the minds behind the terrace atop the Moonrise Hotel (6177 Delmar Boulevard, 314-721-1111) have found a smart way to counter this inevitability: a rail, encircling the entire space and preventing patrons from plummeting. Clever! Now, instead of worrying about the perils at the edge, customers can focus on the other good things the bar has to offer: that incredible view of the city, the world’s largest man-made moon rotating overhead and the bar’s award-winning cocktail program. A cozy space with mid-century modern furnishings, the bar is unfussy but refined, replete with the nostalgic charms that serve as the calling card of Loop impresario Joe Edwards’ empire. Add all that to the fact you’ll finally stop falling off the roof for a change and you’ve got yourself a sure-fire recipe for a good time.

to the counter for a sandwich, surely a source of solace. The Gramophone serves some of the best in town and serves them damn late, with a kitchen that stays open nightly until 2:30 a.m.

Let the bread soak up some of that alcohol you’ve been imbibing so you can safely stumble home, then try not to think about the fact that those terrifying creatures will obviously be pulling some Nightmare on Elm Street shit on you in your sleep tonight. Sweet dreams!

Atomic Cowboy

Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue, 314-775-0775) is more of an entertainment complex than simply a bar.

The Grove mainstay has expanded and grown continuously since it opened fourteen years ago, with a dining area,

Pop’s Nightclub (401 Monsanto Avenue, Sauget, Illinois; 618-274-6720) is the 3 a.m. bar’s 3 a.m. bar. While the others on this list do close at some point each night, Pop’s doesn’t know the meaning of “bar time.” Suppose the staff at DB’s or Atomic Cowboy is pointing you to the door, but you’re still thirsty — Pop’s has you covered. Each day the bar keeps the drinks flowing for all 24 hours, save for Sunday, when they shoo the drunks out at 8:30 a.m. and lock the doors until 11 p.m. to get a little cleaning done.

Late-night trips to the east side frequently fall under the umbrella of “bad ideas,” but traveling across the bridge in a desperate bid for more booze when every other avenue has failed is a rite of passage in St. Louis. Plus you just can’t beat that parking lot’s view of the sunrise when you wake up from a drunk CG nap in your car.

Gramophone

No, you’re not drunk — well, maybe you are; this is a bar, after all. But there are indeed horrifying monsters staring at you in the bathroom of the Gramophone (4243 Manchester Avenue, 314531-5700). A fanged lizard-like creature with a pulsing brain stands cross-armed at the door, his five eyes trained right at you. A dual-mouthed head with eyeballs embedded in its giant hands oversees as you do your dirty bathroom business.

And that triangle-shaped thing with wings and light shooting out of its head?

Pretty sure it’s not to be trusted either.

Escape this place, filled of late with the jaw-dropping murals of truly maniacal local artist Jason Spencer, and hurry

Top left: “I’m not a restaurateur, I’m a ringmaster,” says Atomic Cowboy owner Chip Schloss.

Above: Flamingo Bowl transforms late-night drinking a team sport. riverfronttimes.com

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RECENT HISTORY TOUR Continued from pg 35

why not take a detour a few blocks over for another spot that figured prominently in political scandal in recent years? Just down the street from Pi at 4522 Maryland sits the stately home that formerly belonged to disgraced Missouri governor Eric Greitens.

The scandal that preceded Greitens’ resignation dominated local newspaper headlines last spring, with accusations that the former Navy SEAL had bound and photographed a woman in this home’s basement without her consent.

On a more uplifting note, you could finish your magical history tour in one of the city’s prettiest locations, Forest Park (5595 Grand Drive). For visitors who may envision St. Louis as a crime-ridden urban shell in the shadow of the Arch, the park’s spacious greenery, plentiful museums and ornate architecture should do much to reset that stereotype. The park, which hosted the 1904 World’s Fair, has grown into a second life as the city’s cultural hub.

The same cannot be said for its Confed-

Protests helped bring down the Confederate Monument in Forest Park. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

erate Monument, which drew protests in the summer of 2017. The inscription on the 32-foot-tall memorial eulogized the “purest patriotism” of fallen Confederate soldiers — a message spray-painted over two years ago with the words “End Racism.”

After some legal debate over the monument’s ownership, the monument was dissembled that June by the mayor’s executive fiat. Its

heavy granite blocks went to storage under the stewardship of the Missouri Civil War Museum, with the stipulation it could never be displayed publicly in St. Louis city or county.

The timing proved eerily prescient. Two months later, the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — which was organized by a coalition of various bigots opposing the removal of a Confederate monument — turned deadly, pushing several states to confront (and tear down) their own Confederate monuments as St. Louis had just done.

Today, the former monument’s home is an empty patch of grass that’s sandwiched between a running trail and Grand Drive in the north end of the park. Even Confederate Drive, the road which for years curved around the memorial, has been plowed over.

And so as our tour comes to an end, it’s worth noting that a pessimist might look at St. Louis and observe that much of its recent national attention has been negative. But an optimist would argue that we’re taking inventory of more than a century of past wrongs — and working to right them whenever we can. Even if that’s just tearing down symbols of a falsely remembered past .... or slowing the traffic on Compton.

CG

UNDER THE RADAR Continued from pg 15

they consistently put out great food. Whether you get the traditional Chinese food or the Chinese-American orange chicken and crab Rangoon, chef Ma is back there executing it himself. I can’t talk enough about this place.

“I really like Simba Ugandan Restaurant (8531 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314484-2530) because they are doing something completely different and interesting. The rolex and the fish curry are really good.

“Pita Plus (13005 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur; 314-453-9558) has the best falafel in the area. It’s this mom-and-pop place that has been around for at least since I was in high school, and they just put their hearts into it. It’s the only place I’ve been to that sells falafel where they give you your own bottles of tzatziki, chile sauce and tahini.

They have this old-school refrigerator, and after you order and sit at your table, they bring all three bottles out to you. You can put tzatziki on every bite if you want.

“Let’s also talk about dive bars. Our regular bar, the B-Side (2709 Cherokee Street, 314-354-8180) is on Cherokee, but we live in Overland and needed to find a place closer to home. That’s the Waiting Room (10419 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann; 314-8908333). Last year, it got taken over by the people who own the Silver Ballroom, but they didn’t reinvent the wheel. They did, however, put in some pinball machines and

Enjoy delicious African food, including the rolex, at Simba Ugandan. | MABEL SUEN

now carry these savory pies. My wife and I found out that they have $3 Bloody Marys on the weekends, so we go there for those and this savory breakfast pie with eggs, cheese, bacon and gravy.

“Right next door is this new antique mall called Manhattan (10431 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann; 314-733-5285) that has this whole range of everything from expensive riverfronttimes.com

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midcentury modern furniture to trinkets and milk glass, but they also have booths for local makers. There is this one guy who has a comic-book booth that is like a miniature comic store. They even sell beer. We get to the Waiting Room when it opens at noon, have breakfast and then head over to the antique mall where we walk around and drink beer.

It’s a little oasis in north county.”

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