Big Chief Roadhouse, Pond, Wildwood

Pond was long a good place to stop for travelers heading west from St. Louis. While the earlier Pond Hotel served the travelers of the 19th Century, the Big Chief Hotel provided more elaborate lodgings for the new automobile travelers passing through the area.

Spanish Colonial Revival in style, which is obviously not native to Missouri, the hotel predicted the oftentimes unique and eccentric hotels lining the original Route 66.

Frisco Hotel, Valley Park

Valley Park was just one of the many resorts that once lined the Meramec River in southwestern St. Louis County.The railroad dominates the area, and people would come out from the city and spend the weekend in the area. I wish it were still like that.But one wonderful remnant remains from that time period: the Frisco Hotel in downtown Valley Park. Read about it here.

Stag

Meramec Highlands

I think I found one of the most interesting and hidden gems of West County, the former resort area of the Meramec Highlands. After taking a wrong turn, my traveling companions and I stumbled on this unique hamlet of cottages dating from the 1890s.Each cottage has its own name, which originally functioned as the address. Of the original cottages, only two are gone, leaving an almost intact subdivision of late Victorian shingle style houses.
I think every house is unique, with its own paint scheme and slightly different style of architecture.The original hotel is gone, but it sat on the summit of this hill, which I have seen referred to as "Sunset Hill."Above and below are two wonderful cottages, each with their original name tag affixed to the side of the houses.The Meramec Highlands train station, sold by the original developer to the railroad for one dollar (to encourage train service to the new resort), sat empty for years, until an architect fixed it up for his own house.I think this blue house was one of my favorites in the community.The last building, now a house, was originally a store for the resort, and where bank robbers once hid from the police.

The Bel-Air Hotel on Lindell Blvd

To be honest, I had always considered the Best-Western on Lindell in the Central West End to be a total dump.Little did I understand that the building had merely suffered under decades of poor maintenance and decor that masked the underlying beauty of the hotel.Read more analysis of this building brought back to life at Ecology of Absence.

Irresponsible Maintenance and Neglect at the San Luis

The deterioration of the San Luis Apartments has accelerated, as the Archdiocese continues to sit on the property. Regardless of what you think of the hotel's merits, the lack of concern for following city ordinances is appalling.The building's interior hallways appear to be strewn with garbage, and have undoubtedly been left exposed to the elements due to open windows.In an attempt to strip the San Luis of its identity, the sign on the side and on the awnings have been ripped off, leaving blue fabric flapping ingloriously in the wind. It just looks awful.Likewise, I love this attractive nuisance; I can just see the news reports of a child drowning in this attractive nuisance. Not to mention all of the mosquitoes that will be happy to hatch in this cesspool.And finally, just a small sampling of the several dozen open or broken windows at various points around the hotel.

Fenton

When one first thinks of Fenton, the Chrysler Plant comes to mind, stretching across the valley floor of the Meramec River. But Fenton also has a small town side, separate from the miles of suburban tract housing built for autoworkers, or the huge McMansions rising in the post-industrial age of the far southwestern municipality.Downtown Fenton, located along old Gravois Road, also has a small town feel in its historic core. Take for example, this lovely church.
Below is what I think is now a banquet center, but I suspect was once a small hotel.
The bridge across the Meramec River was closed in the aftermath of the 35W collapse in Minneapolis. It is old, probably dates to the Depression, and could probably be saved. I don't know how much people care about the Endangered Meramec River Bridges of Missouri, but they are drastically dwindling.
Ironically, I wrote this post just a day before the announcement that Chrysler will soon be completely gone from Fenton. What the future holds for Fenton should embrace historic preservation and emphasis on a small historic river town setting such as this in the post heavy manufacturing age.

San Luis Love-In

Media attention of the event was generally positive at the Post-Dispatch. Read it here and here.

San Luis Dilapidation

Instead of fixing this window, the Archdiocese lets it sit, flapping in the wind.

San Luis Rally

Jefferson Arms

The Coronado

I went to a wedding here.Then I went home.