Seventh Anniversary of UrbanReviewSTL.com!
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To my knowledge, UrbanReviewSTL.com is the oldest urban blog in St. Louis, with the first blog posts appearing on Sunday October 31st, 2004 – seven years ago today!
At 12:50pm on October 31, 2004 I created the “about me” section, shown above. Â Here is the text, sans my real estate pitch:
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ME THAT WANTED TO BLOG ON ST. LOUIS?
I’m often involved trying to save buildings from being demolished all the while stating I am not a preservationist. How can I put so much effort into saving old buildings and not be a preservationist?
I view myself as an urbanist first and foremost. Dynamic urban life is more important than any individual building, sports team, business or mayor. Great neighborhoods, by nature, incorporate existing urban-friendly buildings – especially those that are historic by virtue of architect, design or simply age.
[snip]
As an urbanist I see many mistakes being made in our urban environment. My intention with this blog is to highlight the positive and decidedly pro-urban parts of our city and region as well as show the mistakes. I hope that by showing the mistakes (and explaining why it is a mistake) we will begin to rebuild St. Louis into one of the
countries[country’s] great cities.
My first post was a short while later at 2:30pm that day:
A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT
A month ago I was having lunch at Wasabi on Washington Avenue and I captured the essence of urbanity emerging in St. Louis.
The one thing missing from this picture is people. The goal is to make it difficult to snap a picture, day or night, in downtown St. Louis that doesn’t have people in it just due to the shear number of people on the sidewalks.
I love seeing a well-used bike secured to a proper bike rack. This inverted u-rack is considered one of the best urban bike racks due to its relative low cost, ease of use and simple design. The street trees, overflowing planers and even the row of parked cars made the sidewalk dining experience feel downright cozy. Spending a leisurely lunch people watching is one of the best of all urban activities.
My guest and I split an appetizer of Edamame. Edamame is one of the most simple of foods yet it is also one of the most rewarding in terms of both the processing of eating the soybeans from their pods and nutritionally. The urban lesson is that sometimes the simple solution is often one of the best.
Four more posts would follow later that same Sunday! Thousands of posts later, I’m still having fun. Hard to believe the eighth year begins tomorrow…
Tune in to KDHX 88.1FM tonight at 8:30pm to hear me on DJ Wilson’s show Collateral Damage. Thank you for reading!
– Steve Patterson
