West Side Grocery

I would be safe to assume that this mural of an eagle landing on a cactus was planned and not the work of a graffiti vandalism/artist like I posted in yesterday's photo. I do wish I would have come back earlier in the day to catch the sun on the side of the mural instead of the face of the building. The contrast between the two sides was really tough to photograph.

Do They Build Houses Like This Any More?

What I can tell you about this home is it's location and the approximate build date. It is located in St Paul in the West Side neighborhood. I would figure the house was built somewhere between 1910 and 1930 as were many of the homes in this neighborhood. It does look like it is made with brick, obviously painted over. But wow, the detail painting someone has taken on this home. Plus the brass roof on the left tower and in two other areas as you progress down to the ground level. I'm not sure what the 'fruit salad' like thing above the two side by side windows is suppose to be, hummmm. That's odd to me. Someone put a lot of time into restoring this home. Unfortunately this is the only photo I took of the home so far. The lower half is covered quite a bit with trees and shrubs, so it was tougher to photograph from the street. I'll make a return visit in the winter when all of the leaves are off of the trees.

Historic St Paul Gangster Hideout

As promised, more information on the Wabasha Cave Tours from yesterday's photo. Here is a more expanded view. It's built into the side of the cliff south of downtown St Paul in the lower Westside neighborhood. It's made of sandstone and made of easy digging when the caves were first mined back in the 1800's. The facility in it's past has been a speakeasy, a restaurant, a nightclub called the 'Castle Royal' an office building and now it serves as a tour stop on various Twin Cities tours. Back in it's hay day as a speakeasy during prohibition, it was a well known hang out for gangsters, including John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker. Some well known big bands have played here like Cab Calloway, Harry James and the Tommy Dorsey Band.

The cave tours are held Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for a small fee of $5 dollars where you can learn about the 150 year history of the caves. The secret caves were used by the gangsters to escape the law when the time arose during prohibition. There is also a gangster tour which visit many places in the Twin Cities for a fee of $22 dollars. The tour guide is dressed in clothing of the gangster era.

If you shall ever find yourself in the Twin Cities, I highly recommend one of the tours. I have not been on the tour since I've gotten my digital camera, but I will promise to go and snap some photos when I do.

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Caves? What Caves?

Do you see the caves in this photo? I'll explain what this is in tomorrows post.

FOK

Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co. was a harware wholesaler located in St. Paul, just south of downtown and across the Mississippi River. They sold all types of hardware and used tradenames such as Chispa Bicycles, Farwell Arms, F.O.K and Company, etc. The building was built in 1911, and is commonly known as the 'FOK Building'. FOK did their part to help during both World Wars by manufacturing ammunition and transporting it via the railroad that ran alongside the north end of the warehouse. The building was sold to ACVR in 1982 and is currently being rented out to various tenants.

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Snoopy I'm Home

Snoopy in pinstripes, very fitting for this West Side neighborhood. This snoopy is located on Wabasha Avenue near the green stairs.

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Before I Leave The Green Stairs

The view from the top of the green stairs is quite a place to be. There is so much to see from this vantage point. The tower you see is the heart of the lower Westside neightborhood into the projects. I know this tower has a name, but I cannot recall it at the moment. I googled for the name, but was unable to find what it is called. The tower has been repainted, restored and looks so nice from what I remember growing up and seeing what it looked like.

In the distance and what you cannot see is the Mississippi River, it's there, obviously below the viewable site. The bluffs in the distance is St Paul's East Side neighborhood.

You're In The Jungle Baby

As I was walking down the green stairs that I've recently posted about, I passed this bit of graffiti. I smiled and felt at home. I grew up in this Westside neighborhood, whomever wrote this just wanted to show their westside pride. There even used to be a West Side Pride Day parade. Salute!

What The Hell Is That?

Yikes, you'll hurt your neck if you look up for a long time at this photo. This is me looking up from the very bottom of the green stairs from my April 22nd photo with all of the naked tree branches reaching out to touch the green stair frame. One thing I noticed about the stairs, the closer one gets to the bottom, the rustier the stairs become as the rain drops really start to work on the metal and old paint trying to cover it. I can tell you this, when the bottom of the stairs finally starts to give way from being so rusty, the tree branches should be long enough to grab and hold the stairs upright.

It's A Long Way To The Top

Make that 189 stairs in all from the bottom to the top of the green stairs. When I was here taking this photo, there was someone walking up and down the stairs for exercise. I'm not sure how many times up and down she walked, but that is an interesting way to avoid purchasing expensive gym equipment to get the same type of work out. The stairs are located on the bluff in the Westside neighborhood, in St Paul.

Click the photo to get rid of the crappy shrunken graphics.