#167: The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis

It wasn't brought to my attention until recently that St. Louis was the new home of the World Chess Hall of Fame. Hey, I knew we had the National Bowling Hall of Fame, but now this. I guess I'd have to say this is quite a thrill and should be for St. Louisans. Let it be known that I am not a chess player and unfortunately I have never taken the time to learn the legendary game (or sport?). Maybe sometime down the road.......

As I was cake-hunting on foot at good ol' Central West End, I did stumble in here, looking for the cake. I didn't realize it was actually across the street at the Chess Center! But I did hang out in the Hall of Fame Museum for quite a bit. Spent most of the time in the gift shop talking to these two guys who worked there. I've never met that many people who were happy with their job. Period. These people were so enthused to tell me so much about chess and the Hall of Fame. They pretty much answered a lot of my questions.

The WCHOF was originally in Miami for several years, but for reasons unexplained, the organization decided to move. In the mid-to-late 2000s, they were scouting for a new location. This means overseas as well, as chess is without doubt, more popular all over the globe. Of all places, St. Louis looked to be a great candidate, possibly because the Chess Center on Central West End was highly acclaimed. And like that, was history. The WCHOF opened in St. Louis in 2011, and hopefully it will be there for years to come.

Since that time, many internationally-known chess players have visited St. Louis. By that term, I mean people who are only known in the chess world. Maybe not Bobby Fischer (who passed away in 2008), but many people who have won chess tournaments and championships all over the world. It's a totally different world, I must say. But in a good way :)

The museum is worth checking out, and it is FREE.

St. Louis is also home to the World's Largest Chess Piece (standing at 14'7")!

Front part of the building

Description of the World's Largest Chess Piece

An enlarged chess board too!

And now, the Chess Center, which is located across the street (and where the cake is at!):

Frontal view of the building from across the street. It was a bit hard to get, mostly because of the trees and cars parked...but, better than nothing I guess

The sign

Through the Chess Club window, you can actually view games live as well as live interactive ones. How flipping cool is that? (Well, if you're a chess freak that is...)

 Not gonna lie: the place seemed really chill. Just people doing their thing. College students reading, and people of all ages playing chess outside. There were a few chess tables outside the building. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't want to come off as rude/annoying. Again, this was a part of St. Louis I had not seen up until that time. People having fun and not disturbing others. And loving it.

Back side of the cake

Left side of the cake

An episode of KETC Channel 9's 'Living St. Louis' devoted to the Chess Club

World Chess Hall of Fame on FB
Wikipedia link
Official website

4657 Maryland Avenue, ST. LOUIS, MO, 63108
Cake artist: Screwed Arts Collective

The cake is no longer there. Its whereabouts are unknown.

#160: TOKY/Locust Street Business District

So I found this one to be a bit confusing. Not to find, but because of its location (its upstairs in the building the cake is in front of). The building looked like a tavern, since it had 'Whiskey and Small Batch' on the signs. I didn't know what TOKY was all about. Maybe it was a store? Nope, as it turns out, it played a huge part in the celebration of St. Louis's 250th anniversary. They decorated the famous 'STL250' logo!

TOKY is a brand design company that has designed famous logos and different advertisements that we've all seen - some on a day-by-day basis. Think Panera Bread. Think Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Also, some of places that have cakes (Bellefontaine Cemetary and World Chess Hall of Fame) are clients of theirs. It's not just in St. Louis their work is exposed. We're talking all over the country (ex. Woody Guthrie Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma).

Front entrance

Plaque next to door about Ford Building

Some facts about TOKY:

• For 17 years, they claim to have been in good standing with their clients.
• Consists of a 25-person staff.
• Clients include Ronnoco Coffee, Facebook and National Geographic
• Currently housed in the Ford Building (built in 1913), which at one time housed the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co., and General Motor Car. Co., the St. Louis Hupmobile dealer.
• Specializes in graphic design.

TOKY on FB
Official website

3001 Locust St., ST. LOUIS, MO, 63103
Cake artist: Screwed Arts Collective

The cake was sold on 1/1/2015 for $450 in the biddingforgood auction.

#156: Fountain Park/Martin Luther King, Jr. Statue

• The Fountain Park neighborhood was first plotted by John Lay in 1857.
• Boundary lines for the neighborhood: Delmar Blvd. on South, Kingshighway on West, Page Blvd. on North, and to the East is Taylor Avenue. 
• The oval-shaped park was donated by Lay in 1889.
• The only statue of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in St. Louis is placed by the fountains at Fountain Park. 
• The MLK statue was placed there in 1978.

The Martin Luther King statue

A closer look at the statue

4900 Fountain Park, ST. LOUIS, MO, 63113
Cake artist: Screwed Arts Collective

The cake was sold on 1/1/2015 for $418 in the biddingforgood auction.

#140: Venice Cafe

Yes....this is the only cake that is missing a slice! And how fitting is it to be located at the Venice Cafe?! Here's a place that is not afraid of being different. Located within a walk of the A/B brewery in the Benton Park/Soulard neighborhood, is this bar that's been given any kind of name. Call it weird, surprising, fun, whatever...besides the decor that's sure to give any passersby/guests attention, its sure to bring a smile to anyone's face. The place, at one time, served food. But as of November 2014, they no longer do. They've got Happy Hour specials though!

The doors eagerly await you.

I took plenty of pictures. Wish I can post them all on this page, but I don't want it to overload! But here's some more including the patio and front area...

I took a lot of interior shots too. Here's one of them....

Let's take a look at the cake. I later found out after getting this cake that it was one of the rules for the cake artists NOT to cut a slice out of it. The Screwed Artist Collective group did it anyway, and I'm curious as to see how they actually 'cut it out'. There are a few offbeat places in St. Louis that got a cake, but most agree - Venice Cafe deserved it. I'd like to know how the whole 'brain thing' happened and why. Here's some of the different angles:

The left and front corner of the cake

Back side of the cake, or should I say, the innocent and unsuspecting?

Left side of the cake

Top of the cake (to give it a Pac-Man look)

NOTE:  About 2-3 weeks after getting pictures of the place and the cake, the Venice Cafe closed temporarily after a burglary occurred (July 2014).

Venice Cafe on FB
Official website

1903 Pestalozzi Ave., ST. LOUIS, MO, 63118
Artist: Screwed Artist Collective

UPDATE (8/24/2016): The cake is still there. The inside part that was cut out has deteriorated in time, since it is believed people have stepped inside it. 

#102: Alton City Hall

Alton is one of three Illinois cities that got five cakes (the others being East St. Louis and Belleville). Actually, six if you count the Piasa Bird, which is located just a few miles outside the city. A lot of people questioned why one at Alton City Hall. I don't know the answer, but I do believe it was a way to represent the strong connection between St. Louis and the town known as 'the riverbend', Alton.

 

I may as well share what I know about Alton, Illinois. Where to start? Alton has so much rich history, and I would hate to leave out so much. A man named Rufus Easton started the city in 1818 (same year Illinois was admitted into the union). At one time (50 years ago) Alton was the largest city in Madison County, but unfortunately it has lost many residents each decade since the 1960s. But locals still are proud to show what the city has to offer. Besides the Piasa Bird, one of the earliest stories of Alton was the possible early site of the American Civil War. Illinois was a free state and Missouri was still a slave state in the 1830s, and many believed it was an independent journalist and publisher, Elijah Lovejoy, who sparked the whole thing. Lovejoy printed out several papers and pamphlets about anti-slavery, which angered and alienated several people. His printing presses were destroyed and thrown in the river, and he was shot by a pro-slavery mob while trying to defend his newer printing press. The Lovejoy Monument in Alton was in honor of him, and his philosophy on free speech and speaking out is always reminded on the front page of the Alton Telegraph (its newspaper).

 

Alton is also one of the Top 10 haunted towns in America, as noted by paranormal enthusiasts. I have heard several stories about personal experiences with ghosts. Not just from my peers, but from interviews I have done with people as well as several books that point out Alton's creepiest places. Several old buildings in downtown Alton have claimed ghost sightings. The Meridian Coffeehouse and the McPike Mansion are known to be the two most haunted places in Alton. Cemetaries including the Lovejoy and Confederate, are also noted to be very haunted.


Throughout the 20th century to today, Alton has been a manufacturing city and working-class place. In 1954, Alton was one of three cities selected for the site of the United States Air Force. A little town called Colorado Springs got it instead, and the town grew to become Colorado's 2nd largest city. Just think what would have happened if they put it in Alton?! Alton has also seen its struggles, including the Great Flood of '93.

 

Famous 'Altonites' (I call them that!) include:

• Robert Wadlow - the world's tallest person
• Miles Davis - the 'king of cool' jazz music; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (there is a statue of him that will be placed in Alton in the future)
• Phyllis Schlafly - conservative activist and writer
• James Earl Ray - assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King
• Bonnie Bramlett - rocker who sang with the Ikettes and Delaney & Bonnie, later played Roseanne's friend Bonnie on TV's Roseanne

 

Alton City Hall

Behind the grand ol' fountain across from Alton City Hall. Look closely and you'll get a nice view of the Clark Bridge (which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year) and the Mississippi River

The welcoming staircase inside Alton City Hall

And the cake:

Left side of the cake

Right side of the cake

NOTE: This cake has since been removed to the outside of the building, possibly due to cake-hunters' complaints about the limited hours the City Hall is open.

 

City of Alton Official website

 

101 E. 3rd St., ALTON, IL, 62002
Cake artist: Screwed Artist Collective

#82: Church of the Holy Family

Oldest Catholic parish in America that is still continuing to operate. How far back are we talking about, you ask? 1699. The log church, however, was built a century later, in 1799. The building was constructed of black walnut timbers, pretty much like the French Colonial style. Interestingly enough, this place is only one of five still standing that carry on that style. Many different types of services are conducted here. One example is a contemporary Sunday morning service, which features guitar music (unlike the others).

View from the parking lot

Front of the building

E

Church of the Holy Family on FB
Wikipedia link
Official website

East 1st Street, CAHOKIA, IL, 62206
Cake artist: Screwed Arts Collective

#60: Robert Wadlow Statue

The tallest man in recorded history is honored here in Alton, Illinois. Despite of his short life, the man has brought a great legacy, not just to his hometown but Madison County and Illinois. To this day, the Guinness Book of World Records lists him as the 'World's Tallest Person'. When I was a student at LeClaire School in Edwardsville, we learned a lot about Madison County, as well as Wadlow. A distant relative of mine, Steve 'Pete' Vazzi (now in his 90s), recalled that he saw Wadlow sitting in his chair at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. Sufjan Stevens sang about him, a golf course in Alton is named for him, and there are many statues of him (one in Copenhagen). Greg Maddux once told Guinness that he did a report on him in school. 

 

• Known as 'Alton's Gentle Giant'
• Born and lived most of his life in Alton in 1918; died in 1940 in Manistee, Michigan.
• He was a traveling celebrity in the 1930s, as part of the Ringling Brothers Circus act, and he made several appearances at festivals around the country.
• His growth was caused by hyperplasia of his pituitary gland, which resulted in an abnormally high level of growth hormone.
• Wadlow passed away at age 22 of a foot infection, which was caused by an ill-fitting leg brace he wore on tours. 
• When he was in 1st grade, his height was 5'7". He was still growing up until his death.

 

Robert Wadlow statue



Top of the cake



Back side of the cake



A close-up of the Robert Wadlow statue



A replica of Robert Wadlow's chair

 

 

 

 

Robert Wadlow Statue on FB
Robert Wadlow Wikipedia link

 

2809 College Avenue, ALTON, IL, 62002
Cake artist: Screwed Arts Collective