Mary Hoffmann (Hunt)
About the Pevely fountain and things Webster. Virtually the same Pevely fountain was on Forsyth in Clayton across from the classy, moderne Famous Barr branch. On those inimitable hot, muggy St. Louis evenings, there was nothing like an ice cream at Pevely with those changing colored lights and spray from the fountain.
What is the name of that sponge-like rock with quartz crystals in the holes at Pevely's fountains? Only as an adult do I admire and appreciate Missouri geology. Recently I bought a big, detailed state-wide guide titled something like "Geological Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri." A great book! If only I had time to visit....at the right time of year.
Clayton was my home turf. Through fourth grade, I went to Glenridge School (on Yom Kipper I was one of 3 kids in class in my room). We lived at 7560 York Drive in the Moorlands, the beautifully detailed apartment house block now on the National Register of Historic Places, a block north of Clayton Road and east of Hanley. I liked being close to things.
My mother dropped me off at the St. Louis Art Museum (dropped me off!!! How times have changed) for free art appreciation classes. Did any of you share that experience? The museum's famous landscape paintings of the Missouri River and frontier scenes had a big effect on me. The lessons stopped after we moved to Webster, due to my baby brother, I guess. In high school I liked taking my babysitting money and meeting my University City friend Mickey Katz at the art museum, or shopping in Clayton, or messing around with her friend on Westmoreland. The handsome cross-street neighbor from Country Day, Andy Schwartz, had a swimming pool. I longed for Andy to ask me out.
Of course I took the bus....no need to deal with parents! Ever since, I have been a public transportation advocate who likes to live in denser areas. Now I live in the old copper-mining center of Calumet, Michigan, and everything I need is within half a mile of my house. As a normal American, I am quite a hypocrite and use my car all the time, like a rolling storage unit. But my son, who lives in Hamburg, Germany, has no car at all, never wants one, and saves lots of money. One hitch with European cities: no garages for garage bands. Sam's band rents space in a World War II bunker.
I'd love to hear from classmates whose grade-school experience was mostly spent somewhere else. I believe that comparing and contrasting different childhood environments is good for kids, kind of like being bilingual.
How did being part of a big city with big-city amenities and neighborhoods affect you? I loved the Italian groceries on the hill, and Soulard Market. My dad stopped there on Saturdays when he went to the big factory he managed near the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and Mississippi River. He took me along. I've always enjoyed old industrial environments...which seems odd to many suburbanites.
|