Readers favorite St. Louis beer is…

My poll last week was not about a serious issue facing St. Louis.  Instead the question asked readers to vote for their favorite St. Louis beer.  The winner by a huge margin was Schlafly. For readers from out of town, co-founder Tom Schlafly is a nephew of Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly.   She is not part of the beer business.

I’ve been doing these polls for months now and none has generated as many votes as this. The recent poll on Rush Limbaugh buying the Rams was the top vote getter, over 300 votes.  While that is a great number it is less than 10% of the 3,349 visitors during the week.  Here are the final numbers:

• Schlafly 193 (64%)
• Anheuser Busch 25 (8%)
• Square One Brewery 23 (8%)
• O’Fallon Brewery 17 (6%)
• I don’t drink beer/no opinion 14 (5%)
• Mattingly Brewing 13 (4%)
• Buffalo Brewing 5 (2%)
• Trailhead Brewery 5 (2%)
• Morgan Street Brewery 3 (1%)
• Other answer… 2 (1%)
• Amalgamated Brewery 1 (0%)
• Alandale Brewing 0 (0%)
• Augusta Brewery 0 (0%)

One of the two “other” votes was anything smoke-free.  Agreed.

I too favor Schlafly’s beer but I also like the fact they opened up in December 1991 in a then desolate part of downtown.  There were no lofts.  There were few restaurants and few businesses of any type.   1991 was my first full year living in St. Louis and their place, The Tap Room, made me think downtown would soon be thriving as others joined in.  Downtown is now a great place but it just took 15 more years than I thought.

From Schlafly.com:

The two adjoining buildings that house our location in downtown St. Louis were completed in 1902 and 1904 and had been built with super-heavy steel reinforced beams to house the printing presses that would occupy the space for the next 65 years. The designer was Samuel L. Scherer, a self-educated architect. Scherer was a student of Ruskin, Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement in England. He was known to say that “architecture is the most useful of the fine arts and the finest of the useful arts.” He later became the first Director of the St. Louis Art Museum.

On their website they have great pictures of a massive fire at 21st & Locust (map) in 1976 when a few major buildings were completely destroyed.  For me much of the appeal of a local brewery is how they can fit into our urban neighborhoods.

If you drink please do so responsibly.

– Steve Patterson

Improved sharing & commenting

Very early this morning I found a blog that impressed me based on the comment system employed.  In the footer I could tell the blog was based on WordPress just like this one. I had to have this system.

So tonight I made the change on how comments on this blog are entered and displayed.  As always you can make anonymous comments but now you have the option to register so your profile is saved.  You can reply to a comment from someone else.  Registering allows you to correct your comment after it is posted — helpful if you find a typo.   You can also comment using your Twitter, Yahoo or OpenID accounts.

Separately I added buttons that will appear on each post to allow you too share the post to your Twitter, Buzz or Facebook account. Let me know what you think.

– Steve Patterson

The building I most want to see renovated

The City of St. Louis has hundreds, if not thousands, of beautiful urban buildings I’d like to see renovated.  Significant buildings like the Arcade/Wright downtown, among them.  But the one building I think I’d put at or near the top of my list is a 2-story building at the East end of Fountain Park (map):

In researching this story I found a few posts from friends.  Matt Mourning observed on July 6, 2008, “The pleasant building seems to literally embrace the oblong Fountain Park that is its neighbor.” So true, the building was built before zoning existed yet it manages to do a spectacular job.  As cities write form-based codes they look at buildings like the above to see if it could be built under a new zoning code.  Our 1947-era zoning would not allow this fine building to be built today.  We need to do two things about that.  1) save this example of how to have a building relate to the sidewalk and adjacent area and 2) change our zoning to allow/encourage modern versions.

Matt’s post led me to Toby Weiss’ post from February 4, 2007 where she wrote:

It was built in 1897, with store fronts at ground level and apartments above. The building curves to match the geometry of the neighborhood, and the cylindrical turrets are like lyrical bookends. I immediately imagined decades of people lounging in these spaces, gazing out over the park, and it felt magical.

Magical indeed.  Whenever I’m in the vicinity of Fountain Park I take a spin past this building.  Toby linked to Robert Powers’ photo site, Built St. Louis. I scrolled down to the comments on Toby’s post and the first one was from me.  I had posted a link to a post I had done on this building in February 2005.  At the time I wrote:

The building curves to follow the street pattern. This is a lost art — most people just build square buildings these days. The composition of this building is one of the finest I’ve ever seen — anywhere. Seattle has nothing like it. Vancouver has great buildings downtown but their residential neighborhoods are a bit dull architecturally. Same for San Francisco, D.C., and most others. Scale, proportion, materials. All come together in a way that most newer buildings just don’t. This building just belongs – feeling perfectly at home with the adjacent houses. Rarely is a commercial building such a fit in a residential area.

Obviously I can see past the current condition. Hopefully you can too. The surrounding residences are being rehabbed and if someone is smart they’ll snap up this building and do a coffee house/deli/cafe/market on the ground floor. The sidewalk facing Fountain Park is just begging for outdoor dining. The old upstairs apartments would make great condos.

Only after we see past old racial lines and boards on windows will we fully realize the potential of our city. Good urbanity is colorblind.

I had a wide angle lens back then:

Two comments after mine on Toby’s blog was from yet another friend, Lisa Selligman. She wrote in February 2007:

The mixed-use castle on the corner, embracing the square with its turrets and archways, remained derelict, and I dreamed of buying it, restoring it, opening a coffee shop on the ground floor, with tables on the sidewalk filled with chattering customers. My studio on the second floor overlooked a renewed park with the fountain splashing in the distance.

As has been noted by others the building is actually two buildings joined by a brick wall.

The north structure is fine in its own right but the combination of the two it was make this corner of the city such a gem.

I am positively captivated by this building.

With several storefronts the options are many.  A coffee shop on the ground floor at the corner seems ideal.  Cafe tables and umbrellas out front.  Something modeled on Hartford Coffee or the original Kaldi’s.The reasons for this building to never be renovated are numerous: low adjacent values, perception of neighborhood by outsiders, current economy, etc.  I want the harder list — the ways in which this project can once again be occupied and be a part of a vibrant Fountain Park neighborhood.

– Steve Patterson

Technology has changed public sidewalks

Remember the corner phone booth?

I can’t remember the last time I saw one much less the last time I used one.   As mobile phones have become commonplace, the once ubiquitous pay phone has disappeared.

Teenagers have previously lagged behind adults in their ownership of cell phones, but several years of survey data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that those ages 12-17 are closing the gap in cell phone ownership. The Project first began surveying teenagers about their mobile phones in its 2004 Teens and Parents project when a survey showed that 45% of teens had a cell phone. Since that time, mobile phone use has climbed steadily among teens ages 12 to 17 – to 63% in fall of 2006 to 71% in early 2008.

In comparison, 77% of all adults (and 88% of parents) had a cell phone or other mobile device at a similar point in 2008. Cell phone ownership among adults has since risen to 85%, based on the results of our most recent tracking survey of adults conducted in April 2009. The Project is currently conducting a survey of teens and their parents and will be releasing the new figures in early 2010.  (Source: Pew Internet)

Mobile phones are everywhere and the pay phone is not.  Not a bad thing if you are in the 85% of adults that has one but it probably sucks if you don’t have a mobile.

Today “smart phones” are becoming increasingly popular.  Before I got an iPhone in January 2008 I had the cheapest, most basic phone possible but now I can’t imagine life without it.

My poll this week asks the operating system your phone uses.  You may not know but give it a shot.

– Steve Patterson

Crepes in the City reopening under new ownership

Crepes in the City, a popular downtown eatery, closed last month month after only a year in business.  New owners are taking over the space and plan to reopen with the same menu and name.  Changes will be minor.  For example, more comfortable seating, I’m told.

Each weekend the line was always out the door but Tuesday-Friday business wasn’t enough to make it work.  The new owners hope to do things differently enough so the place turns a profit.  No date yet on when the business will reopen.

Downtown businesses have it tough.  Some in the middle of the central business district tend to cater to the weekday lunch crowd but are closed evenings and weekends.  Get West of Tucker (12th) and you lose the business lunch crowd but the weekend loft dweller crowd becomes important.  Either way they must figure out how to pay the rent.  Staying open longer hours to attract more customers sometimes costs them more in employee salaries and utilities.

I’d heard the Pasta House Pronto at the Old Post Office closed as well but it is still listed on the Pasta House website.  Espresso Mod on 9th Street closed last week.  They blamed the heavily subsidized Culinaria grocery store for their drop in business.

Restaurants or retail, some places endure and some go away replaced with something new.  One thing is certain, I’ll take my changing restaurant options over a series of chain places along the interstate any day of the week.

– Steve Patterson