Here's another north city neighborhood - North Pointe. I don't think I posted these on St. Louis Rising. They are from Summer 2003 also. Some of the commercial buildings shown are on or near West Florissant.
Most pics are digital others are film processed. Enjoy.
As a suburbanite I amazed at how the stereotypes and whispers of the desolate and dangerous northside. However, those imaginative stories developed from my father's bad experiences of working in a factory near Kingshighway and Interstate 70 back in the turbulent, transitional 70s where he was one of the only white guys. My grandparents used to live in a neighborhood like northpoint or walnut back in the 40s when they first married but they left with white flight as their neighborhood changed demographics in the late 1950s. These homes are very well-maintained and are equals to those of St. Louis Hills. Even today the neighborhood remains a "find" to white suburbanites who have been so blind by racial stereotypes, live in homogeneous enclaves, are immersed in pop culture, and are out of touch with reality such as their neighbor's backyard. They have been taught that the grass is greener in their backyard. I will be one suburbanite to confess that the old beliefs of the who's where on the economic ladder, how to maintain or not their home whether rented or owned, has a higher level of education because those are falsehoods that need to be thrown out of the window. There are some destroyed areas of STL that have been buldozed into empty tracks of land, but those places are not in transition and are not without potential. The empty land is a place of opportunity reserved for the future of St. Louis that are awaiting people, activity, business, and vitality. Sure, we could lament over the destruction to the near northside, ONSL, Jeff-Vander-Lou, or St. Louis Place but even these neighborhoods are showing signs of change in hopes to resemble the life of Northpointe. The right forces will lays siege to the market, the middle class will return but not to live in federally funded or subsidized homes, and we shall have a vibrant northside again. I could easily go into how the actions and ideologies of the alderman like Sharon Tyus and others rooted in the same old beliefs as the suburbanites who left during the transitional times are blocking St. Louis's rebirth but the citizenry must let bygones be bygones and move on since we are a people who never lived or experienced the 1960s on either side, and we have grown up more united as a people than our parents or theirs. So if change is to happen let change happen in wholesome, true to urban principles, and unifying bonds. I guess that is why I chose to study urban planning because I saw as a child the differences between growing up in the suburbs and visiting another world called Carondelet the river town on Stein, Schirmir, Koeln, and my great grandmother's 1860s farmhouse near PA and Walsh in what was once the farming area surrounding Carondelet. Back in the early 1990s I still remember a tight neighborhood with Bellerive Park in walking distance, the joy of a family gathering around the dinner table in a tiny kitchen. From there I sought out STL's histories and inquired into the days when my grandmother was growing up in a bustling city full of urban life, a community spirit, a place where everyone knew everybody else, church was the social center outside the block, and many languages could be heard from foreign lands. I compared those images with what I saw of the City's decline in the late 80s and 90s and from there you can guess how I have been led. The City can be like this again without the racism, stereotypes, gentrification, or removal of people. The city is a canvas, and a return to the cities is a time quickly approaching.
I am sorry If I wrote forever, but that was my reaction to these amazing pictures that document today and reality that I and many have been self-excluded or taught the opposite of. If only more knew of the northside's granduer...how many heads would turn then at what we have missed!
Thank You Arch City!!
Your dedication to reawakening your fellow suburbanites to reality is well appreciated and admired by those without digital cameras. I dream of living in the city, the middle class neighborhoods that keep a place stable and wonderful. Amazing.............
SMS, it's not just white suburbanites who haven't discovered the gems on the northside, trust me. Also you have to realize there are people in the metro area (including city residents themselves) who have yet to discover neighborhoods such as Lafayette Sq. As far as racial stereotypes, well I know a lot of the sterotypes the northside has are deserving and many aren't. Same could be said of the stereotypes of south county. To think of the northside as nothing but a burnt out hell hole IMO is not racially stereotyping, it's just plain ignorance. We're so quick to beat down suburban whitey these days even if a lot of it is deserving.
Just curious, but I was just wondering about that beautiful white frame house. It pre-dates the other homes. Are there many homes like this in the North Pointe neighborhood?
laboubet wrote:Just curious, but I was just wondering about that beautiful white frame house. It pre-dates the other homes. Are there many homes like this in the North Pointe neighborhood?
There are other wood frame homes - as shown in the pictures. All are in good to perfect condition, however, the large white frame home is the biggest and best among them, in my opinion.
I have been to this area south of the Riverview circle along Goodfellow.
I was surprised how dense the housing and neighborhoods were and that they seem to have been middle & upper middle class in the 1930s when built. This neighborhood looks to be built at the same time as Bel-Nor, & Pasadena Hills/Park. I am glad that the classes are more mixed in this area today and yesteryear.
Thanks for asking. I might. But since you do such a good job in photographing the northern half of the region, you should give it shot. It's a beautiful neighborhood.
The people in North Pointe are more guarded about the neighborhood in my experience, but you could still do your spree. I had people asking me why was I taking pictures and I explained.
Generally friendly, but some appeared not too enthused about the photographing - and I am black. But hey this is America.
Another great photo thread to show off the superior architectural stock of St. Louis...thanks, Arch City! (IMHO, you will never see this kind of beauty in far West County, St. Charles County, Newtown...or anywhere anymore. The dedication to craftsmanship and architectural beauty of these homes (and most of St. Louis and much of inner ring suburbia) is a dead art. It's so good to see so much of it is lovingly preserved.)
