Friends, Fireworks and Finding Cakes – St. Louis Art Museum #152

                                                                                                               Cake #152 at the St. Louis Art Museum

Two important rules of cake hunting: never give up and never pass up an opportunity to see a cake when you know one’s around. The first rule applies to pretty much every cake I’ve seen (especially those in Illinois) that isn’t exactly right at the spot I thought it would be and is pretty much tried and true at this point. The other rule is a little harder to put into action – it requires some stealth, a little pleading and a whole lot of luck.

                                                                                                      Cake #152 at the St. Louis Art Museum

And as luck would have it, part of our 4th of July celebration that year involved a spectacular fireworks display on the lawn of the one and only St. Louis Art Museum which just so happened to be the home of Cake #152!

The Museum was started in 1879 as part of Washington University and lived downtown. After the 1904 World’s Fair, the Museum moved to the Palace of Fine Arts where it resides today. The collection of art at the Museum – which includes over 30,000 pieces – is divided into eleven categories which cover a wide range of types of art to explore, admire and take pics with Mercutio Krispytreats next to.

 

The Museum is free and open to the public, and I highly recommend spending a day getting lost in its halls and corridors looking at art from around the world.

 

And all in all, I’d say any time you can see a cake, enjoy time with friends and end the day with fireworks is a quality day in my book!

Banking on Books – Left Bank Books #151

                                                                                                            Cake #151 at Left Bank Books

I wish I could remember how I first heard about Left Bank Books, but have you ever just come to enjoy something so much that the origin just kind of fades into your history with the place as if you always just kinda knew about that place, and you just knew to go there as if by magic? That’s how it is for me with Left Bank Books.

At the time of the cake hunt, to me, Left Bank Books was (and still is) an awesome independent bookstore with an awesome story that sold awesome books that I frequented from time to time.

Quick history lesson: Left Bank Books was created in 1969 by a group of graduate students from Washington University. To this day it remains the oldest and largest independently-owned bookstore in St. Louis. But Left Bank is so much more than just a place that sells books – they put on more than 300 events a year (many of them free – suh-weet!) and partner with nonprofit organizations to bring books to kids who might not have access to them – like I said, all around awesome 🙂

Personally, my love affair with Left Bank Books really began when I started attending a horror book club called Reader Beware there at Christmastime a few years ago when I wanted to read Christmas horror (it’s a thing) but didn’t know where to start. From those humble book club beginnings where the moderator and I would sit and talk about everything from comics to movies (and books too) to the current club that now even includes Mr. Mercutio Krispytreats and continues to grow. I’ve also attended several events they have run including a reading held at an old prison – an unexpectedly wonderful surprise.

All this to say, there’s something special about a bookstore you can call home, and I believe I have found mine.

Cake #151 at Left Bank Books

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about some of the books we’ve read in our book club, check out my blog The Books of One Stack for some pretty sweet reviews.

Still Chasing the Dream – Chase Park Plaza #150

                                                                                         Cake #150 at the Chase Park Plaza

As I pulled up to the Chase Park Plaza to see the cake, it was hard to believe that it was in fact Cake #150 right there in front of me. While I knew then (and still recognize now writing about all of them), I still had a long way to go to get to my goal of seeing all the cakes, it felt good to hit a milestone like this one.

For some quick history: The Chase Hotel was built in 1922 by Chase Ullman. In 1929 Sam Koplar built the Park Plaza Hotel, and in 1947 the two hotels were merged to create the Chase Park Plaza.

Fun fact: Before the two hotels merged, there was an underground system of tunnels that connected one building to the other supposedly as an easy way for staff to travel from one building to the next, but there is evidence that rich patrons would use the tunnels to get from party to party and the tunnels were great places to hide booze during Prohibition…sneaky, sneaky!

Over the years, the Chase Park Plaza has been host to numerous entertainment events including a weekly wrestling tournament and the Miss. America Pageant in 1956. It’s also believed that every president from the 1920s to the 1980s stayed at the Chase at some point during their presidency.

                                                                                                                Cake #150 at the Chase Park Plaza 

While the hotel closed for a short time in the late 80s and early 90s, it was reopened in 1999 and is currently on the National Register of Historic Places.

At the time Miles and I visited the Chase, it was merely a pretty sweet final destination for a cake hunting day well spent, but in the time since that adventure, the Chase has become a popular haunt for Mercutio Krispytreats and myself due to their $5 movie nights (oh yeah, they’ve got a movie theater inside!). There really is nothing like walking up the steps to the Chase and seeing the name of the movie you’re about to enjoy on the huge marquee out front….and then getting trapped in their revolving door (but that’s a story for another time). 🙂

 

Cupcakes in the Street, Crystals, and a Crypt – Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis #149

                                                                Cake #149 at the Cathedral Basilica

Do you ever just get a song stuck in your head like all day? I will admit that when thinking back on this cake adventure and coming up with a title for this blog post, the one song that kept replaying in my head was “Dancing in the Street” and so with a little twist to the title of the song, here we are 🙂

                                                                  Cathedral Basilica

The original goal of this particular stop on our cake hunt was to see Cake #149 at the Cathedral Basilica (otherwise known as the New Cathedral), so let’s start there with a little history and mind-blowing facts.

The idea for this cathedral was hatched all the way back in the 1870s and ’80s, but it wasn’t until May 1st, 1907 that a ground breaking ceremony was had and construction started.

                                                               Cake #149 at the Cathedral Basilica

By 1914 enough of the cathedral was completed to hold a dedication ceremony although the cathedral was not consecrated until 1926 (Catholic stuff, you know).

One of the most interesting features of the cathedral are the mosaics. Apparently the final tile of the final mosaic was not laid until 1988(!), and there are approximately 41.5 million pieces of glass around the cathedral creating the astonishing artwork and making the Cathedral Basilica home to the largest mosaic collection outside of Russia (source for that little tidbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Basilica_of_Saint_Louis_(St._Louis)).  And in the basement of the cathedral there is even a crypt where important and influential members of the Catholic Church in St. Louis are buried.

And while seeing the cathedral cake was the main goal of the day, it just so happened that while Miles and I were out and about enjoying the scenery and snapping pictures, a parade decided to go by on the street below (ok, it was the 4th of July and all, but can’t chance parades just sometimes happen and bring cake hunting well wishes?). And while admiring said parade, what do I see on one of the floats but a giant cupcake!!! Talk about right place at the right time – it felt like a sign of cake hunting happiness meant for just Miles and I 🙂 It was the perfect beginning to the end of the cake adventure for that day.

To The Nines – The Nine Network #148

Cake #148 at the Nine Network

For more than a few reasons, the Nine Network holds a very special place in my heart, so for this post, I thought I’d run down a little list of 9 of those reasons (see what I did there?) mixed in with some history, so, ok, here we go!

1. The first ever broadcast from the Nine Network in St. Louis was on September 20th, 1954 from the gym at Washington University. The first show they ever ran was a play about the importance of free thinking. The show was in black and white and set a precedent for the excellence to come.
2. 

   Cake Monster helping a Big Bird out in the lobby of the Nine Network.

   One of the channel’s first areas of focus was on enriching children’s educational programming since, at the time, there was not a lot of that kind of television on air.

3. The year 1971 saw the first color broadcasting on the network and with it the expansion of programming to more hours on more days.
4. The mission statement of the founding members of the network really showed their commitment to local programming: “They believed that broad public education and a community forum for public dialogue would strengthen civic life in St. Louis” (http://www.ninenet.org/about/history/). I’d say mission accomplished!
5. Starting even from the beginning, the station’s main source of revenue has been membership – definitely makes you think about just how many dedicated people there are around St. Louis helping to keep the station going!
6. 

                                                                                                          Cake #148 at The Nine Network

   KETC stands for Educational Television Commission…with a K at the beginning for luck? Not too sure about that one even after some research.

7. Several of the St. Louis based shows have been nominated for Emmys including Arts America, Night at the Symphony and…
8. STAY TUNED! Which holds a very, very special place in this Cake Monster’s heart because in 2015 she was asked to be a part of the panel on the show that reflected on St. Louis in 2014. (If you’d like to watch a very nervous Cake Monster, you can here: https://www.pbs.org/video/stay-tuned-stl251/ ) 🙂
9. 

                                                                                                           Cake #148 at the Nine Network

   And while not nearly as exciting as my television debut, Cake #148 at the Nine Network was also a special occasion because I was finally able to give up the struggle of getting Mr. Miles James to sit still and look at the camera in front of a cake while I fumbled around trying to not make too much of a scene because I discovered if I just popped him up on top of the cake we were visiting, he would look straight at me every time! *whew* And it only took me until I was a little more than halfway through my hunt to figure it out 🙂

 

And All That Jazz – Gaslight Square #147

                                                                                                                Cake #147 at Gaslight Square

From Gaslight Theater to Gaslight Square, Miles and I pressed on with our tour of St. Louis historical sites. I’ll be honest and say that when I first saw the cake at Gaslight Square, I figured it had something to do with Laclede Gas and figured that it was nice of them to sponsor a cake and supply electricity (a kind thing to do, right?), but when I got home and really started researching what the location was all about, the real magic of cake hunting kicked in.

Gaslight Square (which is on the corner of Boyle and Olive downtown) used to be the place to be! From the 1950s to the 1960s, everybody who was anybody wanted to be seen hanging out in the area’s restaurants, shops, and cabarets. The name for the area was inspired by the gas lit lamps that were hung to light the way along the route and added to the atmosphere of old made new that attracted such a young and hip crowd – among them Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg (two personal favs of mine) and Barbra Streisand (a personal fav of Mama Monster’s).

                                                                                                               Cake #147 at Gaslight Square

Another interesting tidbit that I learned in my research was that when the area was at its height, a lot of local business owners decided to reuse unused church pews, chandeliers, stained glass and bathtubs to give the shops and restaurants an eclectic feel that reminded me a lot of the wonder that is the Venice Cafe.

Sadly the end of the 1960s saw the rapid decline of the area without much being done to replace its former glory until the 1990s when much of it was turned into residential communities.

 

 

Cake #147 at Gaslight Square

A little light in the darkness, however, can be found at the location of the cake where there is a plaque with the names of some of the Square’s former residents and businesses and several columns in the style popular at the time meant to recapture some of the area’s magic and our imaginations.

Pride in my City – Little Golden Cake #145.5

                                                                          Palmetto, Cake Monster and Beadssssss

Let’s set the scene: it was the summer of 2014 and Mercutio Krispytreats, Palmetto Joseph Ray-Ban and this Cake Monster had donned our finest rainbow finery and headed to the Pride Parade to celebrate. After we had gathered as many beads as our necks could hold, we decided to check out the booths set up across the street. And as if it was fate, no sooner had we crossed the barrier into the party, did I spy with my little eye a glorious little golden sight! None other than the Little Golden Cake (“Goldie” for short)!!

Mercutio, Cake Monster and a convenient Frisbee hat

 

 

 

Goldie was the prototype for the rest of the STL250 cakes, only about one eighth their size and much more portable. During that summer, Goldie was making her way from event to event to get people excited to cake hunt and to give cake enthusiasts like me a perfect photo op and a chance to actually hold a cake in my hands (because let’s be real, the actual cakes were monsters and weighed at least 100 lbs each).

Miss Goldie on display!

 

After the Cakeway to the West of 2014 came to an end, Goldie was placed in a time capsule along with other artifacts from the year long adventure which will be opened in 2064 when St. Louis celebrates its 300th birthday, and this excited Cake Monster can only guess what the city adventure planners will cook up for that celebration!!

Is It Even Summer If You Didn’t Ted Drewes? – Ted Drewes #144

                                                                  Cake #144 at Ted Drewes

There are just some things that will always mean St. Louis to me: the Cardinals, the Arch, the Zoo, and of course Ted Drewes (I mean, where else can you get your ice cream handed to you upside down to show how thick it is?!).

And(!) I even learned some interesting St. Louis lore when researching the famous ice cream institution. Apparently every year from 1925 to 1936 Ted Drewes Sr won the Muny Tennis Championship, making him a local hero and celebrity. While the first ice cream shop he opened in 1929 was in FL, where his family vacationed during the cold St. Louis winter months, the real magic started in 1930 when the first Ted Drewes opened in St. Louis on Natural Bridge (even though, sadly, this location closed in 1958). A second location was opened on South Grand in 1931 and the final crown jewel, the Chippewa location was opened in 1941, both of which still remain open to this day.

As the business of running the locations passed down from generation to generation, so too did the locations expand, with the Chippewa location in particular growing from 5 to 12 serving windows, to speedily meet all of your spring and summer ice cream needs.

                                                                              Mercutio and Cake Monster at Cake #144 at Ted Drewes

Plus(!) as an added trivia bonus, I learned that for over 50 years, members of the Drewes family have been traveling to Nova Scotia to personally select, cut down and bring back the best Christmas trees you can buy at a ice cream shop turned Christmas tree sales tent for the winter!

Mercutio and I decided to visit the cake one day in late June when the timing was just right for some sugary indulgence. And while I’ve enjoyed Ted Drewes since then, nothing will ever taste as good as the well deserved milk shake this Cake Monster devoured after a short but successful cake hunt.

Stylin’, Wilin’, Livin’ It up in the City – STL Style #143

                                                                  Cake #143 at STL Style

So remember that little detour Mercutio Krispytreats and I took while we were waiting for our tour at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery? Well that brought us to none other than Cake #143 at STL Style. Nestled on a corner of Cherokee Street, they are the home for all of your St. Louis-inspired needs! Mercutio and I had visited this cute shop before, but we definitely utilized the opportunity to poke around a bit again and admire all of the posters, t-shirts and other items that have one thing in common: St. Louis.

                                                                              Cake #143 at STL Style

According to their website, STL Style was started in 2001 by identical twin brothers Jeff and Randy Vines and has moved from a basement t-shirt shop to a full on store. Their mission through it all has been to promote our city like none other and to embrace all of the rough and smooth edges that it has to offer.

                                                                                    Cake #143 at STL Style

Personally I’m a sucker for anything that has the St. Louis flag on it and Mercutio, at the time, was partial to the maps of the city. But I think no matter where you’re from, or what part of St. Louis inspires you, you can’t go wrong with a little homegrown pride and STL Style definitely has that in spades.

Drinkin’ Beers, Beers, Beers – Anheuser-Busch Brewery #142

                                                                        Cake #142 at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery

So it’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday in mid-June in 2014 and where else could you expect this Cake Monster and Mercutio Krispytreats to be other than out cake hunting? The mission for the day was to see two cakes – the first of which was at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

                                                                                  Cake #142 at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Now, full disclosure, Mercutio and I figured that what was a trip to the Brewery to see the cake if we didn’t actually take the FREE tour (did I mention it was free?!). But since everyone else in town seemed to have the same idea – for the tour and not the cake hunt, sadly – we had to sign up for a tour time that was much later than our arrival. So with some extra time on our hands, we took the opportunity to admire the cake at the Brewery as well as travel to our next cake location at STL Style before coming back for the tour. So technically the tour followed the cake sighting by one cake in between, but who’s really keeping track at this point besides me, right? So anyway…

 

…some history! In the mid-1800s, St. Louis saw an increase in the number of German immigrants coming to live in our fair city. With this increase in people, and their special know-how and tastes, there was also an increase in the production of beer, in particular, lager – which is a lighter and crisper brew, but one that requires a lot more attention and care than other types.

So now let’s talk about two great forces coming together. On one side there is Eberhard Anheuser who left Germany for St. Louis in 1843 where he got into the soap manufacturing business. Eventually, although he wasn’t a trained brew-master, he became involved with the Bavarian Brewery, eventually buying all other investors out and renaming it E. Anheuser and Co. Cue the entrance of Adolphus Busch who was part of a brewing supply company through which he met Eberhard and eventually his daughter Lilly Anheuser who he fell in love with and married in 1861. At this point, he joined the family business. And thanks to Adolphus, there was a push for wider exposure of their beer and the name Budweiser was introduced as a brand that would be welcomed by Germans and easy for Americans to pronounce. 

Adolphus also became the first brewer to use pasteurization which allowed beer to travel greater distances, again, expanding the reach of the brewery.  In 1876 Budweiser became the first national beer brand, due in large part of Adolphus’ skill in marketing and advertising. In 1879 the brewery was renamed the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association and control of the brewery moved to Adolphus after Eberhard passed away and then to his son August Busch Sr. when Adolphus passed as well.

Prohibition was a trying time all around, but under the leadership of August Sr., the brewery thrived by diversifying its efforts and moving into the sale of ice cream and non-alcholic drinks.

 

Through the years, the brewery has faced many challenges but has met them all with great courage and innovation, managing to stay relevant and prosperous. And today as Anheuser-Busch InBev, it is the largest brewer in the world!

 

During the tour, Mercutio and I were regaled with all of this information and more including the process of beer production and bottling. We were even treated to several samples and one delicious larger beverage once the tour was over. Personally, this Cake Monster is not a beer drinker, but when at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, it’s only polite to do as the Anheuser/Busch crew would do and drink up and enjoy!