the landing
Those special nine cobblestoned blocks on the riverfront to work, eat and play are also becoming a unique spot to live, what with 49 apartment homes taking shape as Peper Lofts at 701 N. 1st St. Pronounced like the extremely focused eyes of ‘Tom,’ not the common tabletop spice, Peper touts itself as the first multifamily residential development in the city’s oldest district; that is, since the city’s establishment 250-plus years ago. The six-story, 106,000-square-foot Christian Peper building is in the midst of a $12 million renovation that will welcome residents late this year. The repurposed building—120 years old, just a baby by The Landing’s standards—will feature living space on floors three through six with views of the recently completed Gateway Arch grounds, the Big Muddy and the downtown skyline. A highlight of the redevelopment is a rooftop sundeck with almost 360 degrees of unobstructed views, with areas for lounging, grill stations and a species-specific relief area for canines. Ranging in size from 650 to 1,100 square feet, apartments will be a mix of 23 two-bedroom, one-bath and 26 one-bedroom, one bath units. The massive, original timbers are being preserved as focal points in the units and common areas. The first floor will feature a coffee bar, fireplace lounge, workout room and business center. The building itself is just steps away from the north entrance to the newly renovated Gateway Arch grounds, the riverfront bicycle trail, Lumière Casino and more than half a dozen local eateries, with more set to open over the next few months. Display units should be available for viewing by July 3, right in time to welcome tens of thousands of people to the renovated Gateway Arch Museum opening and Fair St. Louis. Abstrakt Marketing, which already occupies the building next door, will be taking the entire second floor of Peper, connecting it to their existing space to create a contiguous, way-cool, office footprint. Developers presently are negotiating with potential tenants for the two remaining commercial spaces: 5,000 square feet on the south side of the first floor and 4,000 square feet on the lower level, which could be yet another casual dining space in the neighborhood. Since more folks will live on The Landing, it’ll be more a neighborhood than a district. Right?
The 10th American Natya Festival will spotlight 10 days of Indian classical dance through workshops and performances June 8 through 17. The celebration will kick off with a week of dance workshops at Just Dancing Studios in Manchester and end with the festival itself, June 15-17, at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, featuring 18 mesmerizing performances from groups across the country. You’ve heard of Bollywood, the thriving film business on the subcontinent? American Natya Idol, a national classical dance competition fashioned roughly after the never-ending American Idol franchise, will be a highlight of the three-day festival. The organizer, Soorya Performing Arts, will commemorate the anniversary by focusing on education, performance and recognition. The annual platform to create, discuss, present works and showcase new ideas is part of a multi-pronged task to preserve and promote this ages-old dance style. This year, more than 150 artists will entertain the growing international audience for this event, which provides a rare opportunity for dance enthusiasts to enjoy the prestigious Indian- American classical dance companies rarely seen in the metro. For the first time in St. Louis, a weeklong master dance workshop focusing on dance music compositions called Nritya Gurukula will be led by the great masters of Indian classical dance from June 8 through 14. Final performances and an award ceremony for workshop participants will be held June 15 at the high school. Guru Hema Sharma will receive the 2018 Lifetime Achievement award for her service of Indian performing arts and cultural representation in the greater Kansas City area (or, if you prefer, the much, much greater St. Louis area) for more than 40 years. The award includes a $1,000 cash prize, a plaque, shawl and a performance by her students. The national American Natya Idol competition will allow students to showcase their skills and receive constructive feedback on various aspects of dance forms: abhinaya (expressions), dance complexity, clarity in poses and choice of music.
forest park
In the heyday of drive-in movies—the ’50s through the ’70s—St. Louisans flocked to outdoor theaters such as the 66 Park-in, The Airway Twin and The Holiday. They’re all long gone, but take the retro trip halfway in Back to the Future for some funky nostalgia. (Funky!? Just a tad further back … how ’bout swell?) Tom Stockman, editor of the website We Are Movie Geeks, will give a talk at 7 p.m. June 14 at the Missouri History Museum about the drive-ins that existed throughout the metro back in the day. Stockman will pepper the talk with hundreds of images, discuss the movies that played and share several personal anecdotes. (Hey, kids—you’ll see the movie better from the front seat!) Local singer/songwriter Kevin Renick will be on hand to perform a couple of tunes, including one he wrote about the twilight of the drive-ins. This nostalgic trip back in time is free, so no need to hide the little guys in the trunk.
It looks as though Shop ’n Save has gone as far as it can go, succumbing to competition from all sides, and not just the big boys. The rapidly changing billboard at Lindbergh and Manchester might have been a hint. Not long after Fresh Thyme Farmers Market opened at that intersection, a somewhat snarky message appeared with an arrow pointing eastward, announcing in essence: ‘Hey—why stop here? You should shop over yonder, because Shop ’n Save has plenty of fresh, organic selections, too!’ Full disclosure: We paraphrase. Recently, Schnucks took over the billboard and used, essentially, the same message: Its Kirkwood supermarket is in that direction, too … just a block or so farther down. But, at this writing, the Schnucks billboard shows doughnuts and the phrase, ‘Made Fresh Daily.’ SuperValu, based in Minneapolis, has been feeling the heat from shareholders: They’ll be selling the Shop ’n Save chain, which includes stores in the metro and on the East Coast. Competition has been heating up online and in the real retail world. F’rinstance, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion last August. Shop ’n Save—with 39 locations in Missouri and Illinois, most of them in and around The Lou—has seen its market share everywhere slip over the last few years. SuperValu desperately has needed to take action to improve its stock price, which has plunged more than 80 percent in three years. (Sorry, shoppers: Bagging your own groceries hasn’t trimmed costs nearly enough. The company is shifting its focus from retailing to the more stable wholesaling business.) Our esteemed metro daily reports that Schnucks remains the metro’s top grocer, with 29.2 percent of the market; research shows Shop ’n Save slipped from 15.2 percent in 2016 to 12.6 percent in 2018. Wow. I would’ve thought Schnucks commanded even more … but very-big-box store Walmart, perhaps the biggest grocer in the solar system, has gobbled up a huge slice of the pie over a generation. Meanwhile, there’s Target, Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and local icon Straub’s. There’s online shopping and grocery delivery. There have been rumblings about Schnucks taking over Shop ’n Save locations once all is said and done. But as they haven’t said anything, we can’t tell you what they’re planning.
creve coeur
The message on the illuminated, portable roadside MoDOT sign is inscrutable to anyone who has been living in their mom’s basement with no TV or computer for the past 25 years: ‘Not Buckled Up? You’re Killing Me, Smalls.’ This somewhat obscure phrase of derision is from The Sandlot, a 1993 baseball movie, when dimwitted Scotty Smalls—after being asked a few times if he wants a s’more, replies several times with the question, “Some more what?” The sign—on the shoulder of northbound Lindbergh Boulevard at Ladue Road—needs to be near cinematic cognoscenti, like The Tivoli. It’s what some would call too clever by half. The state highway department was doing all of us superior drivers a favor when it reminded all of you to use turn signals, if you use them at all, in advance of—not during—a turn: ‘Turn Signals … The Original Instant Message.’ (Our fave highway transportation department sign, which may or may not have been photoshopped: ‘Eyes On The Road And Your Head Out Of Your Apps.’)
Important traffic notice! North & South will be closed at Delmar from 3 to 7 p.m. June 3. Oh, by the way, get your folding chairs ready. Y’all are invited to the not-yet-annual, family-friendly North & South Block Party. Food! Free pony rides! Bounce houses! Raffles for baskets of goodies! Local retro musicians Hudson & The HooDoo Cats! And, to wrap things up, one more extraneous exclamation point!