St. Louis

Before this past weekend, this was about all I knew about St. Louis.

Now though, I know that they also filmed Escape from New York there and that their regional culinary specialties include toasted ravioli and provolone pizza. 

I was there for an urban visual studies workshop, and we were all excited to visit the site of the Pruitt-Igoe housing development. Built in the 1950s, Pruitt-Igoe's Le Corbusier-like design was slated for lower-income residents. 

But, like similar designs in other major American cities, the design seemed to produce more problems than it solved and was torn down in the 1970s, an event regarded as the death knell of modernist architecture. Since its destruction nothing has been built on the site -- it's overgrown with plants and apparently populated by wild dogs. Apparently this scene, depicting Pruitt-Igoe destruction, from  Koyannisqatsi is being used in current Grand Theft Auto IV trailers. 

Oh yeah, I also walked by Eddie Izzard eating at an outdoor patio. I looked at him, and he looked at me with that kind of "I-know-you-recognize-me" face.