The early and mid-'90s were definitely the lowest point in St. Louis history in my opinion, but it's also the time that I fell in love with the city. Washington Avenue has undergone one of the most drastic and (for St. Louis) fastest transformations in recent history. I remember riding the Bi-State bus with my brother from my house in Creve Coeur to Washington Avenue when I was in high school, and the old days of Wash. Ave (early '90s) was an eye-opening experience. The street was gritty and cold, but oh so cool. One time a dude walked up to us, opened his trench coat, and revealed a collection of gold chains that he aggressively tried to sell us. I remember Knickerbocker, an old Jewish-owned men's clothing store with an old-time elevator that even had an elevator attendant! My brother and I spent entire afternoons popping in and out of the old garment stores-- Goodman's, Weinberger, Marte Shoes, Levin's, etc, and caroused the endless aisles of Amitin's for hours on end (usually looking at old St. Louis books or flipping through Penthouse magazines from the '70s). We bought a bag at Herkert & Meisel luggage company just so we could own an authentic product from the St. Louis garment district. Ate lunch at Chinese Wok (a hole-in-the-wall that later became Hungry Buddha), where a pimp sat down with us and offered to find us some "girlfriends." Around the corner at 9th & Washington, there was Jimmie's Diner- a 24-hour greasy spoon that was right out of a sitcom. One night a hooker walked in with her pimp-- she was wearing nothing but a leather mini-skirt high-heeled boots, a red lacy bra, a leopard fur coat, and eye shadow that would make Boy George jealous. The pimp was wearing a purple double-breasted suit with a matching feather hat, gold rings on every finger. There they were, eating toast and eggs at 2:00am, completely oblivious to the table of suburban teens at the next table (us). A few years later, the backdoor rave clubs found a home on the street and added a raw late-night energy to an otherwise desolate thoroughfare (too many to mention)... The old days of Washington Avenue are long gone, and while I'm glad to see (most) of the buildings restored and reused, but I miss the old shabby garment district that screamed "St. Louis is still a big city" (albeit a shabby one) at every corner.
Cherokee Street was where we'd go with our friends on Friday afternoons to by bongs and pipes. There were a handful of seedy head shops like Spectrum's, Ngomsom's, T-Shirt Headquarters and a couple others I believe. Today, only T-Shirt Headquarters remains. Ngomsom's was a trip-- it was part head shop and part sex shop owned by a Vietnamese family. I remember there was a little room full of dildos and vibrators. They even sold life-sized arms and fists if you're into that.
Here's a link to a handful of pics I posted on our blog a while back:
http://stl-style.com/_blog/STL-Style_Blog/post/Subtle_changes/
I have literally hundreds of photos from all over the city-- North Side, South Side, West End, Downtown and all points in between and surrounding suburbs-- that Jivecity and I took from the early '90s-early 2000s. Many are not scanned in, but others are and I'd be happy to share. Just ask!
Statistics: Posted by stlgasm — Sun May 18, 2014 6:43 pm