The Commonspace Blog

Watch out, hatas: former Top STL Planner (kind of like Top Chef, only with less TV time) Rollin Stanley is roaming the streets of downtown. I spotted him getting the tour of the new Left Bank Books, but he's on foot and could be anywhere by the time you read this. Home scouting good ideas for exurban Maryland?

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Feb 20, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | People

More signs of the actual residential neighborhood that is downtown STL: Washington Avenue Christmas Trees, for sale from a lot at 14th and Washington. I guess you could even drag a sled down there from your loft!

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Dec 2, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Business District

Renowned poet (and pop to current Riverfront Times topper Tom Finkel) Donald Finkel died earlier this week; his passing is noted even in the Paper of Record.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Nov 21, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

Interesting read in today's NY Times about the rise of web-only news (including our own STL Beacon, which gets a passing mention) and how it forces the hand of the local newspaper, too. We can only hope.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Nov 18, 2008 at 10:10 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Media

I must alert you to a collector's dream, and also a chance to do a good thing: this Friday evening, from 6-9 p.m., at a benefit event to be held in South County (details below), there will be a plethora of neat/rare/useful Anheuser-Busch schtuff offered in several raffle and silent auction setups.

Including but not limited to: Sea World admission tickets, a media-only sample kit (includes glassware) of the new American Ale, a Budweiser bowling ball, a Budweiser snowboard, a holographic Clydesdale winter scene...and so much more! (psst, it's not all Bud, either: lots of great items from local businesses like Sqwires, Local Harvest Grocery, SweetArt Bakeshop, Missouri Botanical Garden, STL Style and more). Plus pasta, salad, Schlafly brew and Osterweis soda, Gooey Louie gooey butter cake and more.

Please join us, if for no other reason than to win your own Bud bowling ball...

Jason Rodhouse Benefit Family Dinner
(for a friend of TheCommonspace facing metastasized kidney cancer)
Friday, Oct. 24, 6-9 p.m.
Adults $10, kids 5-12 $5, free under 5
Bayless Elementary Cafeteria
4530 Weber Rd.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Wed., Oct 22, 2008 at 2:39 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

This gave me a giggle.

A few weeks ago at the awesome Tower Grove Farmers' Market, I enjoyed the musical stylings of Ben Bedford (and not just because he sang a song about Central Illinois' Sangamon River, the subject of my graduate thesis video...but that helped.)

Anyhoo, tooling around on his site, I was reading about his chosen path of self-financing his upcoming album, and I love the available sponsorship levels: read all the way to the end.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Sep 5, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

Guess what? I'm the kind of gal who gets "Parents" magazine in the mail now...even if it does still get shoved to the bottom of the pile (under "Entertainment Weekly"). And in the latest issue, in the rankings of the Ten Best Science Centers, our own
St. Louis Science Center pulls out a #5 spot...not least for something called "Science Goes Splat," described thusly: "a show where balls, water balloons and even pumpkins are tossed out a third-floor window—and the audience gets to guess which one will fall the fastest."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Aug 26, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | STL in the News

You can once again get your quick hits of local political snark at blogsaintlouis.com. The author is reachable at archpundit@gmail.com.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Aug 11, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Media

After hitting my polling place (Marian Middle School repreSENT!) this a.m., I was rewarded with a spiffy new version of the old "I Voted" sticker. Don't know who's paying for this one (kinda scared to know, in fact), but it seems that the STL has sprung for customized stickers, with a very patriotic skyline — Arch and waving flag and whatnot — and the taglines "Proud City" and "Proud Voter" surrounding the obligatory "I Voted."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Aug 5, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Other

Local Harvest Café is open. It's across Morganford from Local Harvest Grocery. We stopped by after visiting Tower Grove Farmers' Market. The Horine-Ryan-Earnest-McClelland local food empire continues to grow.

The build-out at the café looks great. Stop by sometime soon for a sandwich or parfait^*. Their hours are currently:

7 a.m - 2 p.m., Tuesday - Friday
8 a.m. - 3 p.m., Saturday

^* "You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person, you say, 'Let’s get some parfait,' they say, 'Hell no, I don’t like no parfait'? Parfaits are delicious." — Donkey, Shrek

Posted by Brian Marston on Sat., Jul 12, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Link & Discuss (4 comments) | Business District