Adventure Route 66... Text Here!!!
This is my local, 3 hour vacation down Route 66. Not many people think about inner city St Louis when the topic of conversation drifts towards the mother road. Not all of Route 66 is 2 lanes weaving through red rocks or small hotels left in the dust of the interstate. Parts of it are depressed inner city... Trying to make a comeback.
The pictures are in order from the beginning of the Manchester Road Route 66 alignment for about 10 miles or so to where it meets the 270 beltway. If you click on the pictures you will be taken to my flickr page. There are more photos, you can enlarge em, and there are more descriptions as well.
I hope you enjoy.
What better way to start an adventure then with 3 cheeseburgers without pickles, an onion ring, and an ice cold water from this White Castle.
My favorite building on the strip.
This Area is called Forest Park Southeast. Its making a comeback. As little as 3 years ago this area was in much worse shape then it is now. As with much of St Louis there have been many demolitions in the area, especially south of Manchester/Route 66. An investment group has been buying up property and they just petitioned for a bunch of demolitions, most of them, a believe 22 were approved. Without any public input of course. Here they are. Im all for redevelopment, but not all those buildings are beyond hope, and once they are gone, the history can never be replaced.
update 11-15-2k6: The building behind the sign is getting some work done.
update 11-15-2k6: It turns out the building in the picture below has turned into an art studio, i believe called The White Flag Project
Here are 3 great websites about the history and architecture of St. Louis.
Built St Louis has tons if pics and info on the lost buildings, as well as info about the survivors. Great tours of neighborhoods past and present.
Ecology of Absence keeps track of issues concerning the destruction/revitalization of St Louis.
Urban Review, and urbanists critique of the city and region of St Louis.
There had been something missing so far on this journey down the Mother Road... The railroad. Ive been on most of Route 66, and the rails are always nearby. It felt good to have them around again.
I cannot describe to you the vastness of this empty space. There is more behind the shot, much less what you cant see fading off in the distance. Most of it was vacant. My 1st thought was what did they destroy to build it... It used to be a steel mill, so maybe, just maybe its better off. Across the street stood the building in the next picture. A nice old bricky getting the rehab as it looks out across a vacant strip mall.
This marker separates the city from the county. There is a KSHE 95 Sweetmeat sticker in the middle of the O in St Louis, classic.
This is a shot of downtown Maplewood. A nice little main street oasis in the middle of the big city and its burbs. This is a trait the gives St Louis its character. While this area is getting toward the more upscale part of St Louis County, the entire city is made up of small islands of "inhabited strips" that rise up through a sea of abandonment and slums. Though this is changing as rehabs and revitalization take place all over town.
I love the contrast of these 2 buildings. Many of he same elements in both.
Getting into the nicer part of town. There is a porsche dealership in my side view mirror.
What better way to end this trip then with a drive past a mall. Its not only 4 lane interstate hiways that put many a small local on Route 66 out of business. The rise of malls and suburbia played a hand in their demise as well.
Take one last look west down the Main Street of America. I hope you enjoyed this photo tour of a section of Route 66 most people dont even think about.
Thanks for the link Route 66 News!!!
The pictures are in order from the beginning of the Manchester Road Route 66 alignment for about 10 miles or so to where it meets the 270 beltway. If you click on the pictures you will be taken to my flickr page. There are more photos, you can enlarge em, and there are more descriptions as well.
I hope you enjoy.
What better way to start an adventure then with 3 cheeseburgers without pickles, an onion ring, and an ice cold water from this White Castle.
My favorite building on the strip.
This Area is called Forest Park Southeast. Its making a comeback. As little as 3 years ago this area was in much worse shape then it is now. As with much of St Louis there have been many demolitions in the area, especially south of Manchester/Route 66. An investment group has been buying up property and they just petitioned for a bunch of demolitions, most of them, a believe 22 were approved. Without any public input of course. Here they are. Im all for redevelopment, but not all those buildings are beyond hope, and once they are gone, the history can never be replaced.
update 11-15-2k6: The building behind the sign is getting some work done.
update 11-15-2k6: It turns out the building in the picture below has turned into an art studio, i believe called The White Flag Project
Here are 3 great websites about the history and architecture of St. Louis.
Built St Louis has tons if pics and info on the lost buildings, as well as info about the survivors. Great tours of neighborhoods past and present.
Ecology of Absence keeps track of issues concerning the destruction/revitalization of St Louis.
Urban Review, and urbanists critique of the city and region of St Louis.
There had been something missing so far on this journey down the Mother Road... The railroad. Ive been on most of Route 66, and the rails are always nearby. It felt good to have them around again.
I cannot describe to you the vastness of this empty space. There is more behind the shot, much less what you cant see fading off in the distance. Most of it was vacant. My 1st thought was what did they destroy to build it... It used to be a steel mill, so maybe, just maybe its better off. Across the street stood the building in the next picture. A nice old bricky getting the rehab as it looks out across a vacant strip mall.
This marker separates the city from the county. There is a KSHE 95 Sweetmeat sticker in the middle of the O in St Louis, classic.
This is a shot of downtown Maplewood. A nice little main street oasis in the middle of the big city and its burbs. This is a trait the gives St Louis its character. While this area is getting toward the more upscale part of St Louis County, the entire city is made up of small islands of "inhabited strips" that rise up through a sea of abandonment and slums. Though this is changing as rehabs and revitalization take place all over town.
I love the contrast of these 2 buildings. Many of he same elements in both.
Getting into the nicer part of town. There is a porsche dealership in my side view mirror.
What better way to end this trip then with a drive past a mall. Its not only 4 lane interstate hiways that put many a small local on Route 66 out of business. The rise of malls and suburbia played a hand in their demise as well.
Take one last look west down the Main Street of America. I hope you enjoyed this photo tour of a section of Route 66 most people dont even think about.
Thanks for the link Route 66 News!!!
posted by JackIrons009 at 2:15 AM
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