Old North

 Audrey had a girl scout project in the Old North community garden this morning.  Going on at the same time was the lively Old North 14th Street Market with produce, people and music.  Great to see Old North continuing its upward momentum.  I am confident that in 10-15 years we'll talk of Old North just as we talk now of Soulard, Lafayette Square and Benton Park.

That's why these bad mansards are so sad.  Houses just like them are lovingly rehabbed all over the near south side.  But Old North is only where Soulard and Lafayette Square were in the 1980's.

Badmansard takes the Brownies to Old North

We worked on the Show Me patch (click here) in two meetings, learning about our neighborhoods, their architecture and history. I thought this patch was appropriate for our Brownies who live in 8+ historic St. Louis neighborhoods and come from 3 different schools.

When we formed our troop, the handshake agreement was I would be the 'leader' but only in the sense I'd take care of paperwork, cookies, scheduling, etc. At each meeting we run it co-op style. Everyone takes turn leading and helping. It works out quite well and the meeting stay fresh.

We started at the Soulard School where we learned about the anatomy of a neighborhood, painted pictures of our neighborhoods and played some old fashioned games like Kick the Can and Red Rover. The girls loved the meeting at the Soulard School, especially that climber.

A few weeks later we went to Old North to help in the community garden planting vegetable seeds. Can you guess the favorite activity in the garden? (hint: it said bawk bawk). After that was over, we went to view the artwork at La Mancha coffee house.

Patch earned. Girls loved getting dirty and then seeing their art on a coffee house wall.

Of These are some of my favorite pictures. Of course my kid puts Vincent's Market on her Soulard Scene! And 9th Street deli. Both fine establishments.

And here are the mansards of Old North

Obviously I took some pictures of some Old North mansards. Here is quite a range of potential- what can be done and what needs to be done. I'd be interested to hear how many of the falling down buildings are owned by Paul McKee and his many entities.