Saint Louis Gate Keepers

The Saint Louis Arch is turning fifty years old this week and in celebration of this event there have been many activities occurring around town. Probably the biggest event is the ongoing renovation of the Arch museum and surrounding grounds. This is a multiyear process, but some of the first fruits of this rehab are just now coming to fruition. How’s that for alliteration? In particular the integrating of the Arch grounds into the rest of downtown Saint Louis. Previously, the Arch had been separated from Saint Louis by I-70, as if by a moat. Now, a greenway covers the highway and pedestrians can easily walk to and fro from downtown to the Arch. Further developments will renovate the riverfront side of the Arch, connect the Arch to Laclede’s Landing and totally redo the Arch’s underground museum. The whole process is expected to continue for a couple more years, but this year marks the 50th anniversary of its construction. There were fireworks, Saturday and further celebrations are planned for Wednesday, its official birthday. As part of the lead up to this week, the Missouri History Museum showed an Arch retrospective. Part of this exhibit was a wall of local logos that use the Arch as part of their design. Most of the logos were of a rather offbeat sort, many of them like the one above for a local roller derby team had an occult flavor. Featuring this one and others of its ilk this week, the week before Halloween seems rather apropos.

Sunday morning, we sported for a family brunch at the Peacock Diner in the Loop: Anne, Dave, Dan, Dan’s friend Tessa and me. We scored the Carousel of Love and like the name implies is a booth-like table that rotates. Unfortunately for us though, the carousel has seen way too much love and now management requests that diners resist the urge to merry-go-round. Tessa and Dan had scored what became the party room at the Moonrise hotel, just down the street, for the after the reception party. Hotel security showed up twice, plus there was also a fight. Now that’s a wedding! The young’uns have all returned to their respective domiciles and Anne and I are again empty nesters, but it was fun while it lasted.