I know there are quite a few Bosnians here. I used to
work with one. His name was Hamdo. I work with one
now whose name is Senad. I don't know that they all
live in a neighborhood. They might be more scattered
in the Southside.
There used to be a neighborhood festival called Hill Day.
The last one was Aug 16, 1976. I was there, and St.
Louis' finest made the stupid decision to crack down on
the ubiquitous underage beer drinking, which resulted in
a riot, with billy clubs and cops in riot gear. I gave my
beer bucket to a guy who climbed up on top of the roof
of the pavilion in Berra park, and nailed a cop in the riot
helmet with it. I got really hammered (I was 15 at the
time).
I spent some time being pushed back by a line of cops
with night sticks, who pushed us west on Daggett Ave.
Earlier in the day, I had met a girl from the Southside,
who gave me her phone # after we *made out* when I
was only half drunk. I called her, and a week or two
later took the bus to her house, where we both
discovered that we had nothing in common, and we
never saw each other again. I was suburban
Crestwood, and she was Southside hoosier. Boy, she
sure looked a lot better through "beer goggles."
I go past that park often because I go to The Hill
fairly often to buy Italian food. We drove past it this
morning. The bread from Marconi bakery is the real
deal, and supermarket "Italian" bread is dismal in
comparison. Even the other Italian bakeries on The
Hill don't get it quite right. If you ever get back here,
you should go to The Hill in the morning or early
afternoon, and get a loaf, as it typically sells out by
evening.
The best 3 reasons to visit StL are our Zoo, the
Climatron at Missouri Botanical Garden, and that
damned bread, and if you go to The Hill, you might
as well stop by Volpi, the best Italian salumeria in
the Western Hemisphere, though you can get Volpi
salamis in CHI. Volpi hot sopressata. I'll say it
again, Volpi hot sopressata.
>
> --
> GM
--Bryan