Join with City To River on August 18th

On August 17th, 2010 we get to see the 5 design concepts for The Arch grounds. On Wednesday, August 18th, you should come to the Schlafly Tap Room to see the designs up close and leave your comments.

This event is sponsored by City To River, a grassroots coalition of St. Louis City residents who love our City so much that they are working overtime to make it even better than it already is. This makes me so proud that I get misty eyed. Seriously.

Ray Hartmann was right about City To River when he wrote in the August 2010 issue of St. Louis magazine:

“What’s most amazing about the idea (of removing the highway) is how it’s come forward as the evolving dream of a bunch of heretofore-unknown, regular-guy, not-all-that-connected citizen bloggers. I met with three of them – Rick Bonasch, Paul G. Hohmann and Alex Ihnen – and still can’t tell you who’s in charge. They are as ego-free as any group of activists I’ve met in three decades on the job.”

This Wednesday is your chance to meet these 3 stand-up guys (and all the other wonderful folks in the group), and to see and participate in the future of The Arch grounds and the strengthening of our beloved Matriarch of the Mississippi.

If you’re on Facebook, here’s the invite to the event.

And if all this wasn’t enough to draw you out, there’s also St. Louis Trivia, hosted by Matthew Mourning and Randy Vines!

This is the place to be on Wednesday, August 18th. I’ll see you there!

Cherokee Street Sidewalk Sale, June 27, 2010

This Sunday, June 27th is the Cherokee Bizarre Bazaar & Flea Market, in the 2800 block of Cherokee Street. Be sure to walk a few blocks west and check out the Fort Gondo Sidewalk Sale, as well.

Fort Gondo’s Galen is clearing out his basement cram-packed full of retro furniture, lamps, soda pop history and tandem bikes and throwing it out onto the sidewalk in front of his store.

Buy something from him during 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and your money does double good:  half goes to pay for nuptials, while the other half helps Friends of the San Luis pay down their last remaining dollars to the lawyers.

Stop by and buy at 3151 Cherokee Street, and tell ‘em the ghost of the Hotel Deville sent ya.

Beer, Bands, Bricks & Kitsch

New Additions to the Soulard Stable Hootenanny…

FILM

Bill Streeter will show am exclusive sneak preview of footage from his documentary Brick By Chance & Fortune: A St. Louis Story.
He’ll also air some of his favorite Lo-Fi Saint Louis clips.
Details straight from Streeter’s fingertips.

PRIZES

Galen Gondolfi of Fort Gondo is donating a choice pile of kitsch bric-a-brac as $1 a ticket raffle prizes.  Items will be on display and small enough to cart of while drunk, if you win one.

Michael Allen has a beautiful summary of why we’re fighting and celebrating.

What Anti-Wrecking Ball: Soulard Stable Hootenanny
Where Stahl Stable, 2412 Menard Street, 63104
When 8:00 p.m. this Saturday, May 22
Cost $10 benefits the Friends of the San Luis and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation
Bands Union Electric, Leadville & Pretty Little Empire
Beer 2 Schlafly kegs

Soulard Stable Hootenanny, see ya there!

Come to the Soulard Stable Hootenanny, May 22

Our journey through St. Louis City Preservation Rights is coming to an end, and with the final attorneys’ bill in hand, we’re throwing a party to pay that down and celebrate a small victory.

The story began with trying to save the San Luis from demolition. It came down.

The reasons it came down seemed in violation of laws already on the books, so we took it to court. The judge said we had no standing to protest this.

Because this was a gross misunderstanding of the laws already on the books, and because this ruling put future buildings in the same jeopardy, we took the case to the next highest court.

Here’s a news report of what went down in court the first week of May.
We’re waiting for the final written judgment, but our group who filed the suit – and our attorneys – are pleased with the tone of argument in court on that day, so we’re closing up shop on this particular preservation adventure. And we’re feeling good about the safety of the rights of St. Louisans to protect worthy buildings from bad decisions.

The Anti-Wrecking Ball crew would love for you to join us on Saturday, May 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. – 1 a.m. at the historic Stahl Stables in Soulard for some music, mirth, raffle prizes and beer!

$10 at the door gets you a beer and 3 kick ass St. Louis bands:
The Union Electric
Leadville
Pretty Little Empire

There will be cash kegs of Schlafly to drink from after you finish the complimentary brew, along with some raffle prizes and special features that are still being firmed up as we type.

All proceeds go to our noble and benevolent lawyers and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation. So we can all get tipsy and rock out knowing we’ve all done our small part to protect our rights and the next building threatened by a wrecking ball.

If you’re on Facebook, here’s the official invite.
And click here for even more information.

Julius Shulman Film Releasing on DVD

Guess what I just bought?
Yep, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman releases on DVD May 25th. It has extra footage and deleted scenes, just as Eric Bricker promised when it was first shown here in November of 2008.

You can pre-order the DVD from now until May 25th, and it’s $25 flat, shipping and handling included. You’ll receive it 2-3 days after the 25th. Here’s where I went to order it, just now!

Yeah, I’m geeking out. But I’ve waited a long time to own this and freeze-frame till the remote fries out.

RELATED
B.E.L.T. Julius Shulman Compendium

Blogger Round Table, May 5, 2010

I am jazzed about being invited to participate in one of the events during the week long Chautauqua Art Lab 2010. Learn more about all events happening this week.

At 7 PM on  Wednesday, May 5th at at the Open Lot in Lafayette Square (1310 S. 18th St., 63104) , 6 St. Louis built environment bloggers are gathering at the request of host Jordan Hicks to discuss “Built Environment | Blog Ecosystem | Media Landscape.”

The participating bloggers are:

Alex Ihnen of urbanSTL

Alderman Antonio French of PubDef

Jami Schoeneweis of 56 Houses Left

Michael Allen of Ecology of Absence

Rick Bonasch of STL Rising

…and me!

Questions being asked of us include: Who is our intended audience and how well do we reach them?  How do our online projects affect our professional positions? What set of ethics do we follow?

This event is free. We hope to see you there.

Lindell MCM Walking Tour, May 1st

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at 10 a.m

Join Michael Allen (Ecology of Absence) and myself for a walking tour of mid-century modern buildings on Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End, St. Louis, MO.

This second edition of our tour is part of the Open Streets 2010 event, and is co-sponsored by the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation.  This tour is free, while the knowledge and appreciation of Lindell’s thick and rich stock of MCM buildings is priceless.

Here’s an overview of some of the buildings you will see up close and narrated.

Meet us at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 1st, at the Pope statue in front of St. Louis University’s Pius XII Library, 3650 Lindell Boulevard (the Pius XII is a breathtaking MCM beauty – check it out here).

The official leg of the tour is from Pius XII to the former Housing Authority building (recently saved from the CVS wrecking ball) at Sarah & Lindell. We will take a short break stop, and continue with the unofficial portion of the tour from Sarah to Kingshighway.

Join us at 10 a.m., or catch up with us at any point on the walk. Look for a large group of people completely smitten with the mid-century modern treasures of the Central West End.  We look forward to sharing the riches with you!

See the Julius Shulman film January 30th

Post-Script, After The Event
Thank you to everyone who left their warm homes to spend time in Julius Shulman’s world.  It was a an intelligent and enthusiastic crowd, and it was a true pleasure to personally meet so many of you.  And Marlene Bricker is a joy!  Here’s a few photos from the night.

Most interesting bit of news from the night is that Shulman’s home is for sale!  Within this link are some informative comments about the home, the realtor and its future prospects in a tear-down market.  Even better, this link has extensive photos of the home cleaned up for selling.  Looking at the shots of his studio made me tear up a bit – can you imagine living there?

Let’s hope the family makes sure the buyer is properly respectful. This is definitely a home worth preserving.

The Event

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, a documentary by native St. Louisan Eric Bricker, makes a return engagement to the Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus, January 29-31st, 2010.  Here’s details about the film series and admission.

I’m asking you to come see this glorious documentary on Saturday, January 30th at 7:30 pm because I will be part of a Q & A panel after the film, and would love the support of sympathetic B.E.L.T. readers!

Yes, Marlene Bricker – mother of the director – asked me to be on the panel, which is so cool and sweet of her.  But knowing that my adoration of Shulman could render me a blubbering gush of “wow,” I suggested that the best architectural photographer in St. Louis should also be on the panel, and luckily, Ken Konchel said yes!

So please do come out to see us this Saturday.  Admission is $6, the film is 83 minutes long, and the 3 of us will take questions directly after.

Here’s my farewell tribute to Shulman, who passed away only last year.

And here’s my 2008 review of the film we’re lucky enough to see again!

Anti-Wrecking Ball Thanks

The Anti-Wrecking Ball Holiday Kegger was a qualified success.  Success is measured by how many kegs were emptied (2) and how much of our lawyer fees were paid down (most of it!).

Thank you to every single person who came out to the inaugural event at the Old North St. Louis Community Gallery (gorgeous space in the most optimistic part of town) and for each person who contributed time, talent, booze and money to our adventures in preservation law.

You can see a goodly number of these lovely people in these event photos.

And here’s a brief video of the evening.

And as our adventure continues, you can donate at any time through the Friends of San Luis Pay Pal account.

Mark Your Calendar