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Does anyone know the purpose served by these yellow posts erected around the city of Saint Louis?  You’ve probably noticed these 5 foot high pieces of infrastructure posted around street corners throughout the city, as I have.  And yet despite my research into it over the last year, I have yet to discover the purpose of these urban posts in any literature online or off.

Do they serve some sort of emergency warning infrastructure, or do they stand as a legacy to an early fire department system the community developed?  Although I am not sure the answer is on Wikipedia, WikiLou, or anywhere on the internet, I’m sure the purpose served has got to be interesting.  And if you know, I’m sure our readers would be interested.

(I have many more photos of these posts around town if anyone else is interested in this local phenomenon)

For almost the price of a single gallon of gasoline, you can feed your friends and family with a package of so-called Dollar Rolls. It’s “fresh baked goodness”, filled with nutritional yeast and flour. As photographed at Schnuck’s Supermarket in South Hampton, in Saint Louis.

Just like movingoffcampus.com, we’re on facebook. We’ll see you on there as well.

Don’t believe the signs, the storefront for New Market Hardware is still there. This 90-year old business was once a fixture surrounded by factories and saloons, but today is surrounded by the loft apartments and trendy restaurants popularized by SLU’s off-campus students.

Some people get excited by every opportunity for an Ikea to move to town, but this is probably one of St. Louis’ best stores for DIY. In a day and age where community hardware stores have been run out by chain stores with acres of home-improvement products that make it impossible to find anything, the friendly staff at this tiny corner store know exactly where to find all the part necessary for your project. That would probably explain how this local business became the RFT’s best hardware store a couple years back.

If you’d like to learn more about New Market Hardware, Living Saint Louis has an excellent documentary explaining the store’s history, or you could pay them a visit next time you’re in midtown. Maybe they can help you figure out how to make that bike rack you’ve been considering.

As seen in a median driving along South Grand near Compton Hill in early January 2008. 

Leave your best reply to the query “Need a Website?” in the comments, and we’ll pick our favorite with a link to a website of their choice.  Check back for the winning entry in a post on Sunday, when we’ll close off contest entries.  Have Fun!

window display/yellow pages

Sometimes a sale window display can stop you cold in your tracks on a cold afternoon; yes, that dress (and installation) is crafted entirely out of yellow pages from a phone book . The window display is for Tantrum, located in the Delmar Loop (ie U City), an apparel store featuring trendy fashions although nothing nearly this avant-garde.

Although it is obscured by the reflection of Delmar boulevard on the glass surface of the window display, a large “SALE” sign is obscured in a monosaturated mess to the manikan’s right. So if you’re looking for what The Loop Special Business District website call “Sexy men’s & women’s fashions from L.A.” you might want to try looking up their number.

While you’re there, if especially if you bring a special someone, be sure to check out Love in the Loop this Thursday February 14th. This Valentine’s Day celebration with participating businesses is sure to impress your date, with special deals for shopping (see also: the picture), dining (including a red rose for reservation making couples), and “two for one” tickets to a film playing in the Tivoli Theater on the holiday.

best friends

Seen here watching a performance at John D. McGurk’s in Soulard, Robert Adams and Barret Ottenberg are celebrating Rob’s 21st birthday over drinks and live music. When asked why he chose to celebrate his Decomber 7th birthday in the back of the Soulard establishment, Rob said he was in it for the cider. Upon further interogationn, Rob had no idea (or interest) in the performance of The Irish Brigade, seen performing here in the background.

McGurk’s is also a favorite fixture of mine in town, albiet one I infrequently visit. When my friend Robert, who I had written about in an article about underage drinking during Mardi Gras, brought up going to McGurk’s for that cider, my eyes must’ve lit up the whole room. With their multiple rooms, literally connected by knocking down the walls between at least 6 previously adjacent homes, McGurk’s is a unique part of the neighborhood in Soulard. You’d think an Irish Pub wouldn’t fit in this district, but by offering it’s own flavor, and by serving some of the finest cuts faire in the pub scene, McGurk’s really becomes a fixture of the area. To say nothing of the music performances.

Kiener plaza, December

So while you’re probably sick of holiday music (which is why we didn’t bother reposting the “Xmas in July” mixtape), we still have a little backlog of material to carry us into the new year photographically. So now that you’re done sorting through holiday gifts and candle holders, we thought we’d share our favorite views of the city this time of year. You know besides that window display on Macy’s, there are other view of St. Louis around the holidays that remind you that this is an actual city.

Kiener Plaza usually feels detached from the rest of the city when it isn’t being used as a rallying point, and soon enough there should be another debate about the space when Gateway Mall plans pop up again. But on one foggy night in early December, you could almost use this open space to realize downtown in it’s holiday glory, when the joining of lighted trees begins to blur with landmarks and the lights of buildings, creating a skyline of festive light speckles. In other words, this photo memorialzes downtown’s livelihood and embrace of the holiday spirit this year.

From the opening of Fishbone’s Performance at the City Museum on November 21st, lead singer Angelo Moore is seen here beginingg the set with some spoken word poetry. For this packed house, hungry for the 2+ hour performance to begin to begin, this would be the most this man was seen dressed.

It would seem that I have misplaced one of my flash memory cards full of that night’s ongoings, including a couple videos. But thanks to our old friends in the blogosphere, you’ll feel like you had personally been there all night (especially if you actually were). I’ve already detailed where you can find many of the night’s snapshots with FlickR, and now you watch not just a single performance, but two songs on LoFiSTL.com. And since they sort of had exclusive permission to videotape that night, I would probably check out what they put together.

Rock.  and Roll.  Sure, Detroit might be rock city, but St. Louis is a baseball town (and two time world champions over Detroit). This guitar seems to be the intersection between the two.  Go ahead and click to picture to get a larger view; no mistake, that’s Fredbird alright.

Seen here from a crowd perspective is the guitarist of local punks The Humanoids, who had the courtesy to open for Fishbone on Wednesday November 21st at the City Museum. It was a special night, which you can now relive with the online instant karma known as Flickr.  Tag your photos accordingly please!