In the 1950s, Margaret (Tinius) Walker (left) was a polio poster child for the St. Louis March of Dimes. This story by Margaret (Tinius) Walker is on Page 76 of Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades by Jim Merkel. To buy a copy, go to https://merkels-books-and-things.square.site/ I got very sick with polioContinue reading “A Terrible Disease”
Author Archives: Jim Merkel
Big Money at a Cost
The picture above shows Darren Seals as a teenager in the 1980s. On page 128 of my book, Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades, he relates that he netted $3,000 or $4,000 a month selling drugs when he was a high school freshman. “I got clothes, shoes, jewelry, girls,” he told me.Continue reading “Big Money at a Cost”
Remembering the Feasting Fox
I had special reasons to remember the Feasting Fox Restaurant. Covering St. Louis’ South Side for the old Suburban Journals from about 2001 to 2009, I wrote about Marty and Sue Luepker, owners of the restaurant at Grand Boulevard and Meramec Street. I ate there and came to appreciate the fact that it was oneContinue reading “Remembering the Feasting Fox”
My Life as a Country Boy
For sheer chaos, few places in St. Louis County match Manchester Road at Interstate 270. The West County Center, numerous strip stores, office buildings and a mass of suburban homes in all directions combine to bring more many thousands of vehicles a day to Manchester just east of I-270. Traffic is so great that eastboundContinue reading “My Life as a Country Boy”
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A One in a Million Coincidence
People say St. Louis is the world’s biggest small town. You’re always running in to somebody with a connection to yourself. I can believe it, after seeing one huge coincidence in the writing of my book, Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades. I interviewed more than 100 people about their experiences growingContinue reading “A One in a Million Coincidence”
A Safe Place for a Public Event?
For months, I had big plans for April 12. That was the date of the big Launch Event for Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades at the Central Library downtown. I expected to fill all 250 seats, with people I interviewed, friends and folks attracted by an extensive publicity campaign. That endedContinue reading “A Safe Place for a Public Event?”
Wow.
The Post-Dispatch Reviews My Book
“Remember the year school was canceled, vacations were postponed and birthday parties consisted of drive-by parades? Young St. Louisans will have vivid coronavirus tales to tell to their own kids and grandkids?” writes St. Louis Post-Dispatch Book Editor Jane Henderson in her review of my book Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades.Continue reading “The Post-Dispatch Reviews My Book”
We Made the Cover of GO! Magazine
We got some good news. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is putting its story about Growing Up St. Louis: : Looking Back Through the Decades on the cover of its premiere weekly entertainment magazine, GO! Magazine. That kind of mention in the Friday publication is about as good as a book can get in the P-D. Continue reading “We Made the Cover of GO! Magazine”