Norf City

We always find ourselves in South St. Louis City, where my dad is from, and not so much in North St. Louis City, where my mom is from.  North City has lots of issues, if you will, which are pretty much summed up here.  These issues aren't unlike the problems in the north part of Philly or, um, most of Detroit, but seeing what's become of a once-vibrant part of town is pretty depressing.  Here's a really interesting capture from my pretend-boyfriend over at Built St. Louis:  The Slow Death of a City Block. I think one of the things that struck me about North City was all of the open space where homes once stood.

And... I took all of these shots from the car because, well, we didn't get out.  So sad.

Witness:

Lots of that.  Lots of piles.

This is my mom's old grade school, the former Perpetual Help.

The old Carter Carburetor  plant.

Then we went to Piekutowski's Sausage Shop, a vestige on N. Florissant Avenue.

Their Krakow was off the proverbial chain!  Oh lordies!  Must.  Find.  More.  Krakow.

A crooked photo of Eliot School on Grove, which I had an inkling was an Ittner school... and I was right!  Apparently, it was his first school.  You can read more about William B. Ittner here and a list of his schools is here.

The water tower on North Grand.  Here's a better photo.  It was designed by George Barnett and finished in 1871.  (By the way, St. Louis still has three victorian-era water towers standing.  Each is glorious in its own way.  These towers were built to control surges in water pressure--not to store water.)

Found this guy selling "SNOOT" (yes, in the singular) near the entrance to I-70.

Tete du moine, aged gouda, some dijon, and that wonderful krakow!  Y-U-M!