Sidney Street shout-out #2

Here's another great mansard on Sidney.  Mark my words:  Sidney will soon have the same hip factor as McPherson in the CWE or Park Avenue in Lafayette Square.  Sidney goes from the Mississippi River and dead ends at Grand.  Its best parts straddle Soulard and Benton Park.

This storefront recently won an award for its excellent rehab.  I think it's great:  the cute little storefront, the french blue and yellow, etc. 

The problem with Sidney:  a bunch of crap rental absentee owners plaguing Sidney between 12th and 13th.  More on that later.  I'm being positive this week.  

5 mile Paques Vigil Run

This is one of my favorite runs.  Very nice this evening- all the churches were readying for Easter Vigil.  Here are directions in case you want to recreate my "Big Ass Beautiful Church Run."  Only in St. Louis can you run by 7 Catholic churches in 5 miles.  And I could have hit more with St. Raymonds and St. Mary of Victories (that's a 6 mile run).  Start somewhere on 12th Street and Soulard and run north.

St. Joseph Croatian at 12th and Russell.  We love our Croatian friends.  Merge onto Tucker.

St. John Nepomuk.  We love Czechs too!  Turn right on Park.

St. Vincent de Paul.   Check out VIncentian Press for your religious goods needs. Run behind the church to the foot bridge that takes you back into Soulard behind the Farmers' Market.  You'll see Trinity Lutheran (baptismal font below) and Sts. Peter and Paul on 8th.  Trinity and Peter/Paul join to operate a homeless soup kitchen and shelter.  Peter/Paul is my secondary parish.  Wonderful people, but they struggle with membership.  My idea?  The place is HUGE and very German in history.  How about a kindermass on Saturdays?  Just an idea.  My parish is so crammed with kids it would be nice to share our fortune with a struggling parish.  Back to the run...

Continue South on 8th to Utah near the brewery, turn right on Utah to St. Agatha's.  It's now the Polish parish until St. Stan's can be straightened out.  It used to be Latin until that was moved to St. Francis de Sales.  I liked it better at St. Agatha's- it was more, dare, I say, approachable.  I have no idea where the Coleman BBQ pit came from.  From St. Agatha, get to Arsenal near the brewery and take it all the way into Benton Park to St. Francis de Sales, now Latin, used to be Hispanic.  Tower is leaning and needs repair.  

From St. Francis de Sales, turn right on Jefferson to Sidney.  Make a right on Sidney past St. Agnes (no longer in use, closed some time in late 80's/early 90's).  Could someone PLEASE rehab St. Agnes into a house or lofts?  It's been empty for so long and it is sad.

Sidney Street shout-out

Sometimes a mansard gets it right. This house on Sidney gets it so right that it deserves a special, "if you re-do your mansard, do it like this." The mansard was recently redone and it looks wonderful- tile colors, pattern, paint. This house is wedged between my friend Annie K. and Niche Restaurant.

I love Sidney Street, which straddles Soulard and Benton Park. It's a culinary destination- Niche, Sidney Street Cafe and Trueman's. Ok, I've never had the food at Trueman's but it attracts a lot of cops which means it probably has good food. I've been told Niche, SSC and Trueman's are all well-behaved neighbors and they keep the Sidney lively. On the Soulard side, there's Big Daddy's and Cat's Meow, which are slightly more boisterous.

Sidney is also historically relevant as the original corridor of numerous breweries and beer baron houses, many of which include an subterranean root cellar under actual Sidney Street. In case you're wondering about my house and beer/root cellar, I don't live on Sidney but I'm very close.

One of my first city hang-outs, circa 1988, was an apartment on Sidney very close to Sidney Street Cafe (SSC). My high school friend Joe D. lived on his own at age 17. Needless to say, it became a haven for underaged drinking. In retrospect, wow, how lucky were we to have our own boozy flophouse as high school seniors.

The street was very unpolished at the time; SSC was one of the few highlights. The street had a few pioneers working to rehab their places, but it was very early for budding Benton Park. Fast forward 21 years: I push my stroller down Sidney and chuckle at the progress the neighborhood and I have made together as a team. Just like I don't sneak into bars, get drunk and pass out in apartments anymore, Sidney is respectable, mature and a responsible drinker.

Brewers and Mansards

This is a good picture. My 3 yo son G. is in the forefront pulling a sled. That's a serious mansard behind him, the home of Max Feuerbacher, proprietor of the Green Tree Brewery. The smoke in the background is steam from the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Learn more about Feuerbacher and his brewery here.