Category Archives: Missouri History Museum

Toys of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s

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Raggedy Ann[e]

Raggedy Ann[e]

Gumby, Barbie, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Wham-O, Spirograph and Hot Wheels are all iconic brand names that were indelibly impressed upon my psyche during my childhood. They are all also elements of the current exhibit, “Toys of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s” that is at the Missouri History Museum. Created by the Minnesota History Center, this exhibit is organized around three imagined American living rooms, with one from each decade. This show is highly interactive, with many of the toys made available for play. It is also highly nostalgic for children from those years. It is the perfect vehicle for a trip down memory lane and is especially apropos for the Christmas season. These old toys that are seemingly untouched by the intervening years help to rekindle the magic of Christmas past, for those of us who played with them when we were young.

Michigan by Bike or Bus!

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Michigan by Bike or Bus!

Michigan by Bike or Bus!

The title and graphic for this post is a test, a test for reading comprehension. Last weekend, we were cycling in Forest Park and came upon this old Trailways bus in front of the history museum. The museum was inaugurating a new Route 66 exhibit that day. We stopped and toured the bus and spoke with the owner operator, an enthusiast. Anne is seen pointing to the vanity license plate that bears her initials. On this ride, Anne got her 300th mile for June. The woman is all about making and meeting her goals. Fast-forward to today or should I say last night? We got up at uh-oh dark-thirty (3 AM), so that Anne could be downtown at the bus station by four. The area around the new bus station is a happening place at that time of night. The nearby post office distribution center had a dozen semis milling about. I was able to dodge them all. Amtrak had a train idling nearby and Anne caught one of two Greyhound buses heading to NYC. Who knew there were so many alternatives available for people who just had to get out-of-town in the middle of the night? Anne changed buses in Indy and is now with her folks in Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, I went back home to bed and slept in. I did make it into work about the time Anne was in Indy. I worked until noon and then went for another bicycle ride. Spacely Sprockets is on the move don’t you know. There were a lot of workmen in the park preparing for this weekend’s 4th of July festival. I think that I’ll be catching some of that action.

February Frolic

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Flying Sea Lion

Flying Sea Lion

It is cold out, but our hearts are warm. We got out and about together on this eve of Valentine’s Day. The plan was to drive to Forest Park and then walk from one heated building to the next and keep warm that way. We started at the art museum, where we were both offered paper hearts to place below our favorite artwork. We both picked “The Plaza after the Rain” by Paul Cornoyer. It would have been nice to lose ourselves in the halls of that museum for a while, but we had steps yet to pace out.

Our next stop was the zoo, where we watched the sea lions and Kali the polar bear both frolic in very cold water, just not together. None of them seemed to mind the temperature though. Kali had been given a red ice heart that had already seen too much love by the time that we arrived. Work is underway demolishing the rest of the old bear pits, for a new Grizzly bear enclosure. Once complete, it and Kali’s cage will both flank the penguins. I wonder what they will think of the neighborhood, the next time that they do one of their winter penguin walks and I wonder what the bears will feel about penguins on parade.

After the zoo, we stopped at the boathouse for some hot chocolate with a little something and some lunch. Next up was the visitor’s center, where we had a nice conversation about Pileated woodpeckers with the two ladies manning the desk there. The history museum was mobbed. In addition to the usual Saturday afternoon kid’s oriented activities, the “1875” exhibit is closing and there is a new show called “Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs”. Having not seen “Spies” yet, we went into this exhibit. It was also crowded and a bit depressing too. I had to bail from it early, but then we both walked back to the car, around the always beautiful and now ice-covered Grand Basin. Lovers were seated there, together on the cold white stone of one of the bridges, posing for their wedding photos.

Our Unguarded Moment

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State of Deception

State of Deception

Yesterday was Election Day and so I voted. I almost always vote and I even got the “I Voted” sticker this time. There wasn’t much on the ballot, just two city tax propositions. I was lucky voter number thirteen. When I voted, I was the only voter there, even though one of the election officials joked, “Look, we’ve got a line!” She was counting one of the other election officials, who was standing beside me, which I don’t think should really count. Interestingly, the election official who setup the touch screen machine for me was named Mohammed. I noticed his name and thought that it was a nice touch for democracy. I just learned that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is Jewish. I did not know that. He had relatives that were murdered in the Holocaust, which is a source for his motivation to pursue a career in politics. Adolf Hitler was democratically elected chancellor of Germany and through this unguarded moment the Nazis came to power and the Second World War and the Holocaust resulted. Because of this history, Sanders believes that politics really matters and I do too.

Last July, I attended an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum entitled, “State of Deception – The Power of Nazi Propaganda”. It was a traveling exhibit created by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, a part of the Smithsonian. This show contained many artifacts indicative of everything that the Nazis stood for. They are all bold, powerful graphics, the type of imagery that I usually like to post, but their hateful symbolism is something that I have no wish to propagate. Instead, what I have chosen as the graphic for this post is the exhibit’s own ad, which still contains some of the same hated imagery, but in a more muted form.

This morning I awoke to the latest act of utter stupidity by Donald Trump. Last night he first tweeted and then retracted an image of Jeb Bush along with a Nazi swastika. I can only assume that alcohol was involved, but only to the extent that it freed Trump of any inhibitions and left #TheRealDonaldTrump exposed, but his racist demagoguery is only the tip of the GOP iceberg. The Donald may be out there, but he is not that far out there from many in his party. I have to believe that Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave.

Arch Madness

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Saint Louis Gate Keepers

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.