City Affair Saint Louis

CITY AFFAIR HAS MOVED!

Our new home: http://cityaffairstl.tumblr.com

This site will no longer be updated. Please use the new site.

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City Affair is focusing on Grand Center, St. Louis’s esteemed Theater and Arts District, in November.

Currently the subject of an ongoing master plan process, this event will start at the 2nd public forum for the Grand Center master plan and continue with a walking tour and drinks

Grand Center’s Master Planning process public forum, begins at 5:30pm (until 7:30pm) at the majestic Scottish Rite Auditorium. For more information on the process and event, as well as the previous Master Plan public meeting in July 2011 see the website.

After the meeting, we’ll meet at 7:45 in front of the Continental Building walk past some of St. Louis’s most exciting construction projects, all located in Grand Center and moving forward despite a sluggish economy.

Not one but two St. Louis radio stations will be establishing a bricks-and-mortar presence in Grand Center, and we’ll walk by both sites. KDHX (88.1) will be moving to the 3524 Washington building (formerly used by the Creepy Crawl) and will be renovating the structure, adding a café to the ground floor. St. Louis’s National Public Radio affiliate, KWMU (90.7), will be moving to a brand new, 27,000-square foot facility located on Olive just west of Grand, departing from its present home at the UMSL campus. Construction is underway.

Also in the construction process is the long vacant Metropolitan Building, at the northeast corner of Grand and Olive. Minneapolis-based developer Dominium plans to convert the building to 72 artist-centric apartments. Architect and veteran City Affair member Paul Hohmann will be on deck to discuss the renovation, which will restore what is likely the most prominent empty building in the district to its proper vitality.

We’ll discuss the past, present and future of Grand Center at the newly reincarnated Dooley’s, the famed burger place with the ice cream scoops of cheddar cheese once located downtown in the Chemical Building. Dooley’s now calls Grand Center home, located at 601 N. Grand Blvd.

Spotlight on Grand Center

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH 7:30-9:00 PM
Grand Center Public Meeting - 3633 Lindell Boulevard, 5:30PM
Walking Tour - meet in front of Continental Building - 3615 Olive, 7:45PM
Dooley's Beef N Brew House - 601 N. Grand Blvd., 8:15PM

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For the first time in City Affair's history, we are abandoning our usual slot on the first Thursday of the month.

Instead we're moving it back a whole day to Friday October 7th to celebrate the 4th Annual Metrolink Prom and our thirtieth City Affair!

2011 METROLINK PROM: BLUE MOON BALL CELEBRATES THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE BLUE LINE WITH COSTUMES, MUSIC, AND DANCING ABOARD THE METROLINK

Five years ago, St. Louis’s illustrious MetroLink light rail system took a great leap forward with a brand new line that connected St. Louisans for the first time by rail to exotic locales such as Maplewood, Richmond Heights and Shrewsbury. For the fourth time in as many years, St. Louisans will unite to dance aboard the the trains in the off-beat, one-of-a-kind MetroLink Prom. Why do we do this year after year? Because MetroLink—and public transit in general—makes St. Louis a better, more accessible city. Now, with the Blue Line in place, St. Louis can experience our resurgent, historic urban core as well as our thriving, inner ring suburbs in just seven light rail stops.

2011 Metrolink prom has been organized with the help of City Affair, Citizens for Modern Transit, and the Transit Riders Union of St. Louis

DESCRIPTION:
Metrolink Prom is a full-blown, high school-style PROM aboard your favorite transit system. Dress in your finest attire—try to wear something blue. We’ll award the night’s finest dressed (blue-themed formalwear or costumes) with the title of Prom King and Prom Queen. The newly anointed Prom Court will then lead us in our promenade from the Skinker Station to the Moonrise Hotel’s rooftop bar for our Blue Moon Ball – a night of drinking and dancing with an unparalleled bird’s eye view of the city and its duo of MetroLink lines.

EVENT INFORMATION

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7 2011
7:00PM-???

COST: $2.75 (for Metro 2 Hour Pass)

MEET UP:
ON THE PLATFORM OF THE FOREST PARK-DEBALIVIERE METROLINK STATION
(272 DEBALIVIERE AVE) AT 7:00PM

PROM KING AND QUEEN ELECTION:
SHREWSBURY METROLINK STATION
(7215 LANSDOWNE AVE) AT 7:45PM

PROMENADE FROM SKINKER METROLINK STATION TO:

BLUE MOON BALL:
MOONRISE HOTEL ROOFTOP BAR
(6177 DELMAR BVLD) AT 9:00PM
AT 9:00PM

As a reminder, there is no eating, drinking, or smoking while aboard Metrolink.

For more information, check out the Metrolink Prom Tumblr.

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Want to know what people who move to St. Louis think of our City? Join City Affair this Thursday for an evening of casual conversation with members of St. Louis TransPlants and enjoy breathtaking views of our beautiful City from the brand new Bar 360, 27 stories up on the rooftop of the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark!

St. Louis TransPlants is a group that fosters solidarity among St. Louis non-natives (and returning expatriates), highlighting their love for their adoptive home. They are truly St. Louisans by choice, and not by happenstance of birth.

Sure, St. Louis gets a bad rap for being a collection of small, tightly-knit, and closed off neighborhoods and towns. In some cases—as we’re sure some of the TransPlants members can relate—this reputation is deserved. But at other times, our localized divisions are trumped up and misrepresented. We at City Affair feel that our city should be a welcoming, inviting environment to all. Some of us being transplants ourselves, we not only accept, but celebrate those from other cities that choose to enrich our city with their talents and perspective! We promise we won’t ask what high school you went to (we don’t care!). See you there!

August City Affair: TransPlant Spotlight

This Thursday August 4th 7:00-10:00 pm

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