St. Louis: Headed East through the Gateway to the West

David had gone to bed late the previous night after researching what we could fit into our day in St. Louis - Yes, "hunting" for the perfect place.  So Amy went down to the lobby in the morning to "gather" breakfast just before the counter closed – coffee, juice, oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt from the bountiful buffet below.

Fully fueled and caffeinated, the first item on our agenda was to see the grand arch, the Gateway to the West…as we headed East. The grounds were enormous and nice for walking through. An expansive park surrounded the arch and framed the city of St. Louis beautifully.   

The arch itself was huge!  To economize our time and money, we decided not to go through the trouble of going to the observation deck on top.

  

Amy wandered into the facility below to get pressed pennies for the penny collection.  The complex inside has a movie theater, a coffee and candy shop, a curio shop, and a museum focused on the West.  It also has a rigorous security detail.  The crowds inside were very unpleasant to be a part of, so the foray was a brief one. 

  
Dixie mood music blared across to the archway grounds.  It put is in a bit of a dancing mood, so we followed our ears to the edge of the park until we could see the source.  It was nothing but a desolate riverboat casino with blown-out speakers.

Some pleasant sunshine made for a lovely morning out.

Lonely riverboat casino

All of our walking generated a genuine appetite for the barbecue a few friends had told us about! Our second stop on our self-guided St. Louis sightseeing tour was to Pappy’s Smokehouse, recently canonized by some celebrity chef.  When we arrived, the parking lot was full of cars with license plates from many states.  A long line snaked from a trash lined, brick-walled loading dock entrance through a long and dark corridor to the restaurant.  The sweet smell of mesquite, although alluring, was not enough to make us stay for the hour long wait.  After all, we still had to get to West Virginia! 

We got back in the car to formulate a plan.  We surveyed the line of hungry tourists standing in the sun.  Our mouths watered while we studied the to-go menu.  Meats slow-smoked over apple and cherry wood, pints of baked beans, green beans, and homestyle slaw. It was a sweet reminder of how good Bar-B-Q could be - our last taste was that very festive, fun, and family-filled wedding hoedown day back in July.  We picked up our phone and called in some take-out to be picked up in two hours. 

We pulled out of the lot toward our next destination.  Our next stop was only half a mile away, making the turn-around for our lunch an easy task. The previous night's plotting by David paid off.  

Just outside of the bustling central area of St. Louis, we found the Scott Joplin House and Historic Site.  This was a must-see for David, who loves to play ragtime.  David and the knowledgeable docent inside got to talking about the ragtime pieces they like best, and we were invited to a listening room to play piano alongside a foot-powered player piano.  The tempo on the foot-powered machine could be adjusted and pedal and foot work manipulated the dynamics.  After a choosing a song or two, we were allowed to hop on the piano and play it ourselves!

David plays Maple Leaf Rag on a finger-powered piano while the docent accompanies on a foot-powered piano.

The Joplin House has plenty of rolls in its library to choose from.

David takes a turn at the foot-powered piano.

We meandered through a small museum of boards and artifacts before touring the upstairs apartment.  This historic building was once home to Joplin from 1902 until sometime before 1907. The apartment is furnished to be as period correct as could be assumed.  A piano had been placed along a wall because it was the only spot in the apartment than could support the weight.  

Despite the current ubiquity of Joplin’s music, fires have destroyed records that would have placed him in other apartments during his lifetime and very little is known of his personal history.  Joplin's life in this home was filled with turmoil.  He and his first wife welcomed their newborn daughter only to mourn the child's death after a few brief months.  The already troubled marriage ended soon after.  In 1904 Joplin remarried to Freddie Alexander, who died from complications of a cold only 10 weeks after their wedding. Joplin's grief was expressed in one of David's favorite pieces - "Bethena, a Concert Waltz."  The song's mournful themes have brought a tear to David's eyes on more than one occasion, but he'll still be glad to play it for you. Through this dramatic period of Joplin's life, the only piece of evidence linking him to the apartment is a single surviving city register in which next to this address is the handwritten name of "Scott Joplin."

The docent offered to show David another foot pedaled player piano and we discussed the need to pick up the barbeque on time.  We were invited to come back and have our barbecue…at the Scott Joplin house!  David stayed behind to see the player piano, while Amy did a run for ribs and brisket.

Amy found that Pappy’s looked like no big deal inside.  It had a few rows of picnic tables with red-and-white checkered tablecloths and rolls of paper towels at every table rather than napkins.  Contrast that with where we were allowed to eat: The Rosebud Cafe! Adjacent to the historic Joplin house, The Rosebud Cafe is a wood-paneled recreation of a venue where Joplin's music would have been played. Maintained by the State of Missouri and operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the space currently is a rentable event space and also holds annual ragtime dances for the local Ragtime Club.  Not pictured below are the full bar, bay windows, railings, and elevated wooden dance floor, lovingly recreated foundations for an evening of festive old time dance. 

We were a little distracted by the barbecue. 

The surroundings of the Rosebud Cafe added unexpected flavor to our barbecue meal.  The Cafe's mirrored bar can be seen in the back.

David's favorite piano at the Joplin house.

The ribs lived up to the hype.  They were delicious - and we agreed that they were the best ribs we’d ever had!  As we finished our meal, the docent was locking up the house.  Though we had already overstayed the day in St. Louis, he recommended we drive to nearby Schlafly Brewery for a microbrewed taste of St. Louis.  The talk of good beer sounded too good to be true, so we just had to judge it for ourselves, even though our daylight driving hours were slipping away.  Our hearts and bellies full, we headed off to Shlafly's.

Schlafly brewery, a glimmer of humanism in a Anheuser-Busch world.

We ordered a flight at the bar and chatted with a local who was an avid kayaker.  We talked about Schlafly and how their microbrews are a glimmer of hope in a city fiscally dependant on the Anheuser-Busch empire and their uninspired beers. We talked about the ancient Appalachian mountains and why they're so short (it's because they're so old!), the rivers, and the extensive cave system that awaited us in West Virginia. We left the brewery with a couple of cases of housewarming beer.

What a day!  A breakfast buffet, glorious arches and river-side Dixieland music, playing ragtime at the very place it was composed, delicious homestyle Bar-B-Q, and a taste of some of St. Louis' finest brew.  What better way to cap off such an adventure than to drive for six and a half hours to our next stop?  Kentucky, here we come!

Above, for your listening pleasure, is "Bethena" as performed by Richard Zimmerman. Enjoy!