St. Aloysius, You Will Be Missed

Silhouette of steeple as seen on Wednesday April, 12, 2006.

Rumor: St. Aloysius Demolition to Start This Week

Sadly, it sounds like demolition of the lovely St. Aloysius Gonzaga will begin later this week. I don’t have any details but I’ve heard rumors that someone was in talks to buy the property as-is from the current developer but a deal never materialized. I have been unable to confirm this information.

This unique setting is to be replaced by 25 ordinary homes as part of a development called Magnolia Square.

Just how spectacular will the view from Magnolia be next week? From all over the neighborhood one can see great views of the steeple. I have a feeling that many of the people that didn’t think this would be a big loss will wake up one day and realize they’ve lost a great view.

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Oklahoma City’s Mesta Park & Heritage Hills Neighborhoods

As a child growing up in Oklahoma City I was fond of many of the frame homes gracing the street grid North of downtown. Once I got my driver’s license I would spend hours driving around looking at all the homes that we so much more interesting than the 1960’s ranch my parents built about a year before I was born.

The home pictured at right is one of many in Oklahoma City’s “Heritage Hills” neighborhood. This hipped roof four square home is pretty common for Oklahoma City. The porch extending over the driveway to create a porte-cochere is also fairly common for the era.

It should be noted that Oklahoma City has only a handful of alleys and those are mostly confined to the downtown area. So garages were used for carriages and later for cars. The horses and dirty cars were kept out back as standard practice until after WWII when they crept toward the front all over the country. The porte-cochere was a great way to drop off passengers as well as protect the horse/car from the hot sun.

It is the one story classic bungalow that I really miss. These homes make up the bulk of Oklahoma City’s pre-war housing stock. The wide porches and overhangs help protect the walls from the hot sun.

The version actually happens to have a small second floor. This was often referred to as an “airplane bungalow.” The upstairs space, mostly just a single room, would serve as a sleeping porch to catch breezes from windows on all four sides. The houses were almost exclusively of frame construction with the porch piers of stucco, brick, stone or sometimes wood.

Just blocks away from the very ordinary bungalow above is this magnificent place, the Overholser Mansion built in 1903, four years before Oklahoma became a state. Not a bad little shack huh?

Nearby was the Skirvin family home. Bill Skirvin, was a wealthy business man and owned the finest hotel in town named, of course, the Skirvin Hotel. His daughter Perle Skirvin was born in Michigan in 1889, the year of the land run in Oklahoma. The family moved to Oklahoma in the late 19th Century and Perle lived in the area until she got married to George Mesta, they moved to the East coast.

She was only 36 when George died and in 1940 she moved to Washington D.C. and got involved in politics. In the 40s “Mesta was known as ‘the hostess with the mostest’ for her lavish parties featuring the brightest stars of Washington, D.C. society — such stars included artists, entertainers and many top-level national political figures.” In 1949 she graced the cover of Time Magazine after being named Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Harry Truman.

Her most famous quote:

“Any bitch with a million dollars and a nice dress can be a great hostess in Washington.”

Her life was the basis for Irving Berlin’s musical Call Me Madam staring Ethel Merman and the neighborhood where she was raised is known as Mesta Park. Not bad for a girl from Oklahoma.

See additional photos of homes from these two adjacent neighborhoods on Flickr.

– Steve

Dr. King, The Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum

Thirty-eight years ago history was forever changed by an assassins bullet(s) in Memphis Tennessee. Two weeks ago I stood in front of the Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum, and wept. There it was the balcony where a strong leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was taken down in his prime. I knew the National Civil Rights Museum was located in Memphis but I wasn’t expecting to see it upon my arrival.

It was evening and the old motel signs were on as well as the balcony lights. I was overcome with emotion. Seldom can you stand in a single spot where history was changed. I had several of those moments on my trip. The next day I found myself in front of Little Rock’s Central High School where nine African-American students were denied access in 1957 simply based on their race. Two days later I was walking the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial with my family. My niece’s husband is a survivor of the bombing, he was in the Journal Record building across the street from the blast. His name is on the wall of survivors which is organized by building.

But back to Memphis.

I arrived on Tuesday afternoon two weeks ago. I’d been through Memphis on the way to Atlanta a few years ago but I never stopped to see anything. This time I went out of my way to check out the city and, in particular, its streetcars. That evening, looking for a good dinner spot, I spotted the Lorraine signs while on the streetcar loop. The old hotel was a block away, down a slight hill. It was as I made my way toward the hotel from the streetcar stop that I started getting emotional. How different would our cities and lives be had Dr. King’s life not been taken?

The next day I ventured back to the area south of downtown Memphis where the National Civil Rights Museum is located, attached to the former Lorraine Motel. My schedule didn’t allow for time to see the museum but I wanted some daytime pictures. Besides, the $12 admission fee seemed a bit steep especially considering I’m usually not a fan of static museum displays. Then I saw something totally unexpected.

An anti-museum banner at a table on the edge of the grounds. Yes, a protest calling for people to boycott the National Civil Rights Museum.


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Some Soulard Residents Want to Cancel Mardi Gras 2007

Today I got an email about a meeting to be held tomorrow in Soulard concerning next years’ Mardi Gras. Some want it canceled!

Soulard Residents Form Ad Hoc Committee
Will Present Statement at Upcoming Mardi Gras Forum

A group of long-time Soulard residents have formed an ad hoc committee to address neighborhood concerns about Mardi Gras with the hope of cancelling the 2007 event.

The group will read a statement at Mardi Gras Inc.’s annual Mardi Gras Forum to be held on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. The forum will be held in the Boilermaker’s Union Hall at 1547 South Broadway. [Enter through the back door, behind the hall, off the alley/parking lot area next to Quizno’s.

The group came together and formed the committee when several residents, fearful for their safety and that of their neighbors, outraged at the destruction of their private property, and discouraged by the general disrespect of the neighborhood by Mardi Gras planners and attendees, decided it was time to join together and speak out against the event. They believe that Mardi Gras has increasingly become an overly promoted, dangerous and out-of-hand event that the current event promoter, Mardi Gras, Inc., cannot or is unwilling to adequately oversee and one in which the police force unwittingly, is hard-pressed to manage and contain.

Over the past weeks, the committee has contacted a larger group of concerned neighborhood citizens who will be present at the Forum and will stand together with committee members, united in their position to permanently remove Mardi Gras from the historic Soulard neighborhood.

WHAT: Mardi Gras Inc.’s Mardi Gras Forum
WHEN: Thursday, March 30, 2006; 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Boilermaker’s Union Hall at 1547 South Broadway in Soulard
Entrance from the alley/parking lot at the rear of the building, [next to Quizno’s]

I enjoy Mardi Gras but will be the first to admit that it is something I go to, it doesn’t come to me and my home. I cannot attend the meeting but I expect to get a copy of the statement to publish here.

– Steve