urbanSTL

^I wish the Garcias had been here before the Southtown Famous came down. It's fun to dream about what they might have done with it.

There even used to be a tunnel connecting Southtown to the parking lot across the street!

As a youngster growing up, that store was like a wonderland to me.

pattimagee wrote: ↑

Dec 07, 2021

Woh - I was always wondering what was there

Never went inside, but I do recall it being there in the mid-90's several years after it closed - Sansone tore it down with no potential tenant, I believe they were trying to woo K-Mart at the time. My guess is we will have the current strip center for a few more decades before it makes sense to redevelop - Absolute shame. 

Coffee is solid. Not as good as Cafe Dolce on The Hill but much better than the Starbucks across the street. 

framer wrote: ↑

Dec 07, 2021

As a youngster growing up, that store was like a wonderland to me.

I remember there being this elaborate play area up on the third floor or so right by the toy department. (The toy department might almost have been in it.) I always wanted to spend more time there and my mother had to drag me out. It was one of two things I could see out my bedroom window. (The other being the dome on the mental hospital.) You can't see it from the angle of those pictures, but there was a little square tower on the roof. Probably the roof access and a chimney for the elevators or some such. It had a stylized FB monogram sign on the side of it. It was a lovely sight.

I was pretty let down by my drink at Dolce, granted they might just make great specialty drinks and a sh*t Americano.

I thought Dolce had very mediocre coffee, honestly.

But their fresh made-to-order cannoli are awesome.

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With the danger of sounding like some kind of heretic, I think the important thing about a coffee house is the atmosphere and the clientele. I'm completely content with a cup of grocery store drip, so long as I'm drinking it in t he company of people I like. And good cannoli? That's where it's at.

^Seconded. And keeping money local. 

Who are we kidding, it's all about the cannoli.

$0 zoning-only building permit submitted for rehab of 3825 Kingshighway at Chippewa by Garcia

This is going to be a very important project for the area. 

^Agreed. I was glad to hear Garcia bought it. Glad to see this moving forward. That intersection has felt forlorn since the Famous Bar demo. The area needs some real wins.

^I'd swear that Jack in a Box used to be a sort of concrete two story thing back in the day. I need to go grab a copy of George McCue's original Building Art in St. Louis, as I want to say it had the thing in it, but I don't have a copy of that one immediately to hand. I'll check next week. (I have the later McCue/Peters guide, but the 1967 McCue book was a little longer. Both great books, mind.)

But short version: yes. Get rid of the darn Jack in a Box and replace it with something more useful. I miss the day when we had some genuine urban fast food joints. (The sort with no drive in sandwiched into larger buildings, or even in their own two story buildings.) But that corner, Kingshighway and Chippewa, had some real potential in previous decades, and it all sort of faded away. We need to fight to get it back, especially since the neighborhood is otherwise relatively dense and really ought to still be quite walkable. (It absolutely was when I was a kid, but I suspect not so much anymore.)

I live in Kingshighway Hills, and I walk to a lot of places. Target, Walgreens, gas stations, restaurants on Hampton or Kingshighway, the Macklind BD, car repair shops, two Schnucks, and my therapist are all within walking distance of me.

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I suppose the degree of impact all depends on what your vantage on the corner is. Mine was from the southeast. I was several blocks east of Kingshighway and a few blocks south of Chippewa, so all the stuff Miss Shell is talking about would really have been out of easy walking distance for me as a kid. The closed Shop and Save would have been within walking distance. There was a Schnucks where Society of St. Vincent is now, and a Venture next to it where the Burlington Coat factory is. Those were an easy walk. There was the southside Famous, and next to it a Kroger. There were and are the McDonalds and White Castle and the little bar between them. The Granada was in walking distance and the Avalon. Bevo Mill is still there, of course, though with more limited hours and a different name now. There was a Seven-Eleven and a Steak n' Shake, both long gone, but the convenience store recently replaced by a thing called Johnny's Market. (I halfway mean to stop in just to see the inside of the old place.) There's plenty further north of Chippewa on Morganford, but that would have been a bit of a hike for a kid. That Garcia corner was pretty much the northwest edge of walking distance for me as a kid. If it really gets right down to it I think I'd probably define "walking distance" as about a half a mile, more or less. Ironically, I walk several miles most days, but to make a errand convenient to walk a half mile might be about right. It needs to be on the shorter side, since you'll be hand carrying stuff, which means you'll be making more frequent, but smaller trips. The way American society shops it's a job of work just to carry the groceries in from the car, since there might be a hundred pounds or more of the stuff.

Anyway, no matter what way you're looking, I'm glad to see that corner get a little more life. It's an important corner to me psychologically, and I think it's on the boundary of quite a few neighborhoods. Some are doing better, and they could help to provide a customer base. Others are struggling more, and it could help them quite a bit, depending on what goes in.

shadrach wrote:So do I. I walk to those same places, probably walked right passed you.

If you ever see a white guy with tattoos and blond locks, give a holler.

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quincunx wrote: ↑

Jul 22, 2023

$1.5M building permit application submitted for rehab of 3825 Kingshighway at Chippewa by Garcia 

Issued

So happy to this being done. That building has been such an eyesore over the years.

I am happy to see this as well, and I would love to see this intersection restabilize the neighborhood.  I know it is on two high traffic streets, but it is an important intersection for South City.