urbanSTL

Expat wrote:

jlblues wrote:

Marmar wrote:It seems to me as if this is already in happening in other cities to various extents with all the interest in urban living. A sign of things to come? I, for one, hope.

It has been happening in most older cities for at least the last 15 years.

It has been happening in St. Louis well over 15 years. But, it is just now hitting downtown. The strength of St. Louis has always been in the neigbhorhoods, but I am glad that Downtown is seeing it now.

Certainly there was a great deal of residential renovation in the CWE, Soulard and Lafayette Square in the 70's and 80's. But that renovation was in a certain sense superficial, because there was no parallel influx of residents, no parallel development of retail, and most of the restoration was limited to only the most historic of historic neighborhoods. It was far from city-wide. Most older cities, with the exception of Detroit experienced similar restoration booms. Unfortunately, as we all know, in many cities that boom slowed to barely a trickle after the 1986 tax code revisions.



What I was referring to was the continuation/resurgence of the urban residential boom that occured in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco, and then maybe a bit later D.C., Baltimore, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Miami, and other cities. That started in the late 80's with an office space boom, quickly followed in the first set of cities by the loft/historic housing restoration resurgence. When the supply of historic buildings began to run dry, the high-rise and residential infill boom began. The difference between this trend, and the earlier one, was that the revitalization efforts included large swaths of these cities, and inner ring burbs, and included many areas that were previously considered untouchable. It also included a huge amount of retail redevelopment and new retail construction. Perhaps most importantly, however, it was also accompanied by a large influx of new city residents, many of them relocating from suburban areas.



My point was that St. Louis missed out on much of this, as the loft craze and the massive rehab resurgence across the city really didn't start to take off until about 5 or 6 years ago. And, we are only now starting to talk seriously about, and build, new infill construction projects. And now, mostly thanks to the MO historic tax credits and many suburban Missourians that have been 'shown' the light (Show-Me state, get it) the same thing is FINALLY occuring in St. Louis and KC.

I'm posting solely to express my appreciation for the last two or three pages in this thread, specifically the ones dealing with the downtown department stores in the '50s and '60s.



I grew up in Bonne Terre, Mo. (which explains my handle), and my parents and I shopped in downtown St. Louis several times a year, so the recollections about Famous, Stix and Scruggs were very welcome to me. I've long ago moved away (1969) and haven't been back much since.



It's sad to read about the decline of downtown St. Louis -- which was always much dreaded-anticipated during my lifetime. There were many campaigns to save downtown -- I can still recall the radio jingle that chorused "Downtown St. Louis gives you more" -- with the stadium, Famous' parking garage and the Spanish Pavillion being more complex efforts to stave off the appeal of suburban malls.



It seems like downtowns, as they were in St. Louis, with three big department stores all within an acceptable walk of each other, and restaurants and other specialty stores -- like Boyd's, Lammerts, Jaccards (all names I'd forgotten, to my shame, and I thank you all for reminding me of them) -- sprinkled around are all but gone, it seems like. Most downtowns that I visit don't have the same atmosphere that downtowns had back before the suburban malls ruled.



My most enduring memories are of Christmases, with the animated mannikins and the one widow full of electric trains. (One store had a spot you could touch that would make one train run.) I'd forgotten that the escalators in Scruggs only ran to the fourth floor, but I remember the escalator in Famous (I think) that led to the top floor was narrow and wooden and seemed rickety. I also remember a bright, brass railing in Stix (I think) that was on a short flight of steps near the toy department for its ability to deliver a nasty shock.



It's nice to hear that downtown St. Louis is, perhaps, undergoing a renaissance, but for us old-timers (gack, it's hard to call oneself that) it will never be the same atmosphere. What I remember most vividly is how the streets were shadowy in the middle of the day (none of that in Bonne Terre, for sure!), the smell of diesel exhaust from the buses, the whistles and white gloves of the traffic cops, and that exhilarating blast of cold air when the revolving door pushed you out into the Christmas crowds.

Finding a four-year-old thread. Impressive!