Monthly Archives: October 2014

Here’s another one of my favorites from the Journals, about the day I let them stick it to me. http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/illinois/life/hour-story-reporter-gives-blood-in-spite-of-himself/article_69912c41-43c0-57e4-92a1-c6fe06b15127.html

The time and place seemed all wrong. But in the depths of the Great Depression, Harry Brinkop emptied the bank to bet on a South Side spot for a new shopping center. He came up all aces. The yet-unpaved intersection Brinkop chose when he started his Boulevard Frontage Company in 1930 was Chippewa Street andContinue reading “Harry Brinkop Guesses Right”

Today, just for fun, I begin a series of my favorite stories from my days at the Suburban Journals. Today’s opus: a cow that cut the mustard. The link is below. http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/this-week-in-south-side-history-airborne-bovine-made-history/article_411a4c9b-c771-5d52-8b29-140de6ff2691.html

 Sunday will be an early day for me. I’ll appear on Fox 2 News in the Morning to talk about the Second Edition of Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’s South Side. Set your clock the night before for the change from Daylight Savings Time so you don’t miss it.

Charlie Brennan of KMOX-AM 1120 interviewed me about the 49th Anniversary of the topping out of the Gateway Arch Tuesday morning. Here’s the link to the broadcast: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/tag/making-of-an-icon/

October 28, 1965 All around were countless photographers and filmmakers, amateur and professional, ready to take the pictures that would go into the history books. A few of those pros sat in helicopters that swarmed uncomfortably close to each other near the not-quite-finished Gateway Arch. “You can’t handle sleep the night before, knowing it’s goingContinue reading “Forty-Nine Years Ago Today”

Maybe I should try selling my books in Brazil. In the last 30 days, my website, jimmerkelthewriter.com, has had 310 views from the USA and 53 from Brazil. Eight views have come from Italy, five from France, and four each from Germany and Australia. I’ve been getting lots of hits from Brazil ever since theContinue reading “Somebody in Brazil Likes Me”

Two stations had me on this week to talk about the new Second Edition of Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’s South Side. On Wednesday, October 22, John Pertzborn interviewed me on Fox 2 News in the Morning. Here’s the link. http://fox2now.com/2014/10/22/hoosiers-and-scrubby-dutch/ Then this morning, October 25, I was on TIAM Weekend With Maria KeenaContinue reading “Two Stations Help Me Promote the New “Hoosiers””

. . . . . . for the release-signing party for the Second Edition of Jim Merkel’s book Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’ South Side at the Royale, 3132 South Kingshighway Boulevard. The fun begins this afternoon at 2 with a discussion about life on the South Side and continues until 5. The editionContinue reading “Last Call. . . .”

As a housewife in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Mary Tomazi got her exercise scrubbing sidewalks at her South Side home. Today, at 101, the North Hampton neighborhood resident exercises in yearly one-mile mature walks in Forest Park and at the St. Louis Activity Center at 5602 Arsenal Street. This more-than spry South SideContinue reading “She’ll Be the Life of My Party”