Author Archives: Jim Merkel

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”

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”

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?”

“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 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”

  Had a great time talking about my book last night with Ryan Wrecker, host of Overnight America, in the 11 o’clock hour last night on KMOX AM 1120. My wife liked it,  which was good, because she’d tell me if it wasn’t. So did my former coworker Douglas Rowe, who is the only personContinue reading “A Friend Listens Late at Night”

  I heard many stories, both happy and sad, when I interviewed more than 100 people for my book Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades. The more someone told them, the more I knew they were prepared for a solid and happy childhood. Annemarie Nauert is one of them. I met herContinue reading “Memories of a Creek in Crestwood”

For the curious, I did a video in which I answered five questions about Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades. I wasn’t able to answer the question: Why haven’t you bought a book yet? You can fix that by clicking here and buying one.