St. Louis: Still First in Shoes and Booze

St. Louis used to be referred to as the city that was “First in Booze, Shoes, and Blues. There was a variation that read: First in Booze, Shoes, and the last in the American League. The latter was making reference to the old St. Louis Browns baseball team. I guess that’s why they changed the name to the Cardinals and built a couple of new stadiums. The old Sportsman’s Park that the Browns played in sat up in north St. Louis right next to the now-defunct General Motors assembly plant. Back in the day, the two seemed to go together well: blue-collar workers and baseball. Now baseball belongs to the corporations. Companies have bought nearly all of the good seats for the new ballpark’s opening season in St. Louis.. The only way to get good tickets is to get them through work, (if you’re lucky), or win them from a radio station.

My grandfather worked for many years in a shoe factory. There used to be a lot of them around St. Louis, including the biggest one: Brown Shoe. He worked on the assembly line day after day, putting the last into the shoe. He sang old Leon Redbone turn-of-the-century songs while he worked. Made the time go faster he said. He got home every night around six, taking the old twisted brown bag that he carried his lunch in out of his back pocket and putting it on the kitchen table. I never knew why he just didn’t throw it away.

All of the shoe factories are gone now, but Brown still has its headquarters here. The company was founded way back in 1878 and now has sales of 2.3 billion annually. The company was known for its Buster Brown line of shoes. Buster came out of the 1904 World’s Fair when a young shoe executive met the character’s creator and bought the rights to him. The company then dressed up a bunch of midgets to look like Buster and accompanied by his little dog Tige, they toured all over the country, sometimes bringing out entire towns to see them.

Now, most of the old shoe factories and warehouse are used to move our feet instead of cover them. The City Museum now occupies the old International Shoe warehouse. Two blocks north of Lafayette Park, Eleven Eleven Mississippi and The M lofts are the latest in a long line of warehouse rehabs. The mammoth five-story structure was once the home of the Star Shoe Company. It now contains 36 new lofts and the restaurant at 1111 Mississippi Avenue. The restaurant seems to be a big hit with the locals. The bar features a fireplace, separate wine room, and a dark red leather and mahogany bar with seating for 15. Most of the patrons are in the 30-50 year old range, and you will see some businessmen from downtown stopping in for lunch.

The cuisine is, shall we say, reminiscent of Northern California. Two favorites are the braised rabbit with creamy polenta and rosemary porcini mushroom broth. The tuna roll appetizer rubbed with coriander is also excellent. The wine list is extensive, sporting some 160 entries.

All in all not a bad use for an old shoe warehouse. Sometimes you imagine you can still smell the beer in some of the old breweries that have been rehabbed into restaurants and lofts. You can’t smell the shoe leather here, but you can sure dance to the music and enjoy a good meal.