Talk of the Towns: 6.19.19

grand center   
A stitch in time … By late summer, The Lou will be poised for high-tech garment production if Evolution St. Louis has anything to say about it. In this context, ‘cutting edge’ is not cliché: A $5 million flat-bed knit manufacturing plant using 3-D and seamless-knitting technology is under construction at 3830 Washington Blvd. in Grand Center, just a couple of blocks west of The Sheldon. By the end of August, machinery will be installed—as many as 300 knitting machines in the next few years. Production is expected to begin later this year. Evolution estimates 50 to 60 jobs will be created within the first three years, with more added as the company expands. Global market conditions, e.g., industrial restructuring and higher labor costs, have forced an unprecedented opportunity to bring apparel production back to the United States, the two co-founders say. John Elmuccio and Jon Lewis, both New York fashion execs, are confident the plant will revitalize the knit sector, strengthen ‘Made in the USA’ fashion, and create well-paying, sustainable manufacturing jobs here. Evolution will work with major brands, boutique designers and emerging, direct-to-consumer fashion entrepreneurs to help them move some of their production back to the states. They’ll help emerging brands and designers that often have difficulty sourcing overseas because they don’t have the ability to scale. Evolution already is in development with several companies, also working with retail, military, automotive and other industry sectors. The 32,000-square-foot building is the former site of an STL Venture Works business incubator; although the sign on the exterior brick wall is now Evolution’s, the decal inside a front window identifies it as a former property of the city’s Community Development Agency (CDA). The fledgling operation hearkens to the days when a garment industry district was humming along Washington Avenue, several miles to the east, before most shoe and clothing manufacturing went offshore. Susan Sherman, co-founder of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund (at 1533 Washington Ave.), is exultant. Evolution’s co-founders credit her with some creative ‘arm twisting’—Sherman helped persuade them to choose the Gateway City over other metropolitan areas. “It’s a giant step forward in making St. Louis a fashion capital in the United States,” she says.

ladue
Weeks before the stunning Stanley Cup triumph, Blues fever even infected Let Freedom Ring, the Harry Weber bronze of a man and little girl with hands over their hearts looking up to the flagpole in front of Ladue City Hall, where a ‘Let’s Go Blues’ banner hangs over the entry doors. The man has been wearing a Blues jersey—and Gloria is what we’ve named the little girl. Hallelujah! Consider that our once-hapless hockey team had made it to the finals three consecutive years, 1968-1970, right after the franchise was established in 1967. But they were swept, 4-0, all three years, back when they played in that big ol’ cow palace, the Checkerdome. (Because, Ralston Purina.) In 1994, Ralston let go of the reins, and it was renamed The St. Louis Arena, whereupon the hockey team moved to the brand-spanking new Kiel Center. Blues-bloods bellowed in frustration … until 2000, when the venue became Savvis Center. Lamentations continued to rattle the rafters until 2006, when Savvis execs were caught with their hands in the cookie jar (and using corporate credit cards in NYC-area strip clubs). So, the venue became Scottrade Center, until Enterprise took over last year. Now to Boston. The same year the Blues started skating in the Checkerdome, the Cardinals beat the Red Sox in the World Series. But four decades later, Beantown’s thugs swept the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, then won in six games in 2013, whereupon drunken hooligans smashed auto glass near Fenway, overturning at least one vehicle. In 2007—40 years after the Blues came to The Lou to start driving us all mad—late Ladue mayor Edie Spink and husband John donated Let Freedom Ring to the city. Coincidence? If you knew Edie, well, of course not.

the metro
Since severe weather has hit Missourians especially hard this year, the community has responded in myriad ways. Tornados are hard to prepare for, but swift response by the Red Cross is to be expected. Roast beef sandwiches, normally, are not. However, the Lion’s Choice food truck traveled from the metro to Jeff City to help feed residents and refuel relief workers in the aftermath of the May 23 tornado. Employees parked in the center of a devastated area to feed victims and anyone else working to pick up the pieces. Lion’s Choice could only make a dent, preparing and donating 331 sandwiches, fries and custard to more than 200 people. Company officials say community donations will be a monthly initiative. The truck could be plenty busy as the summer unfolds: Lion’s Choice, which also has donated sandwiches to flood victims, should have more than enough mouths to feed as flooding and cleanup continue in and around the area.

university city
Juneteenth, a weeklong prelude to summer in the Delmar Loop that started Sunday, continues today (June 19) through Saturday. Wednesday is Yappy Hour: Three Dog Bakery is offering a special on treats for your best friend. Meanwhile, The Loop’s outdoor dining destinations are offering happy hour deals for your best friend’s human companion(s). Thursday is Pride Day: Help support Food Outreach with a nonperishable food donation—get a deal at a participating business for bringing in a box, bag or can. But where’s the pride? Spend the evening at the Moonrise Hotel taking in the reprise of a Spice Girlsthemed drag show by Queens in Space. (That’s right. You can party like it’s 1999.) Friday is Make Music Day, during which there will be live music wafting every which way. Saturday is the Loop Arts Fest: Start at the U. City Farmers Market at 9 a.m. for culinary arts demonstrations, then make your way through The Loop for gallery openings, art activities, music, readings and more. So why not kick off summer on one of the 10 great streets in America? Updates and more information are available on the Delmar Loop Facebook page. With a few clicks, you can see Queens in Space decked out as British pop stars. They have got to be a riot.

notable neighbors: lafayette square
Few neighborhoods boast as many beautiful vintage homes and commercial buildings as Lafayette Square. And no neighborhood store in the metro offers a better mix of unique, handcrafted items than Looking Glass Designs, just catty-corner from the park at 1917 Park Ave. Owner Angela Heugatter makes about 70 percent of the inventory: Baby clothing fashioned from grandmother’s pillowcase or daddy’s well-worn shirt, laser-etched wine glasses (and bottles, full or empty), one-of-a-kind cutting boards. Say you want a few, or a few dozen, names from the family tree etched into wood? Perhaps Bruce Sutter, Yadier Molina, Lou Brock, Ozzie, Stan Musial et al. carved into a distinctive Redbirds outline? She can do it. How about those Blues (!!!), their names within our town’s suddenly worldfamous musical note? Of course! There are hand towels monogrammed with a fleur-de-lis (or ‘your initials here’), serving trays featuring the Arch and downtown skyline, slate plaques with sayings that sound familiar, but chances are Heugatter made them up: “Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.” Try a pillow or cork coaster with “Home wasn’t built in a day.” Heugatter has creativity to burn. Some of it’s hereditary: Her father was a prominent Houston journalist. But the rest is all her. She taught technical writing to engineering students at Washington U. for 18 years. OK, what about some of the other stuff that will keep you browsing for way longer than you had planned? There’s jewelry from local artisans and baskets from third-world countries that support craftsmen (and women) there. Heugatter opened the store in 2008, 20 years after she and her family moved to the metro, at first living ‘out’ in Creve Coeur and Kirkwood. Then, Lafayette Square had the Heugatters at ‘hello,’ and it’s since been Wonderland for the family. That’s perfect for a woman who feels that much of her shop’s raison d’être is the community itself. She spent 125-plus hours designing the neighborhoodthemed artwork on a pillow that we observed a local customer select. Want it on a small handbag, instead? A tray? Just ask. But going online to find a particular item can be frustrating, on either side of the Looking Glass. “So much here is one of a kind,” Heugatter says. “I learned from my engineering students that if it doesn’t work, change it!” With so much e-commerce, her store thrives through relationships. Oh, and where’d you go to high school? Heugatter answers that question on a cutting board: Within a fleur-de-lis is every metro public and private school you can think of, from MICDS to Soldan.