Neighborhood Focus: The Trunnion District

Well, I get a lot of press releases faxed here, and sometimes there's some pretty interesting stuff. Take this, for example: something called Urban Beat magazine named the Trunnion District in Kendall Park the "most quickly gentrifying neighborhood in America" this month. Sherman used to do a thing called "Neighborhood Focus," so I guess I'll format this thing like one of those.

The Trunnion District, at its height in the 1870s, produced more trunnions then any city in the United States. Trunnions are critical to the manufacture of heavy artillery cannons, and no one made finer trunnions than our local companies -- United Trunnion, American Trunnion Works, Mishipeshu Trunnions. I remember it pretty well. My grandfather on my mother's side was trunnionsmith, a big, brooding Irishman. He hated trunnions to his dying day, but he used to say that trunnions kept his 27 children fed and clothed. "Charlie," he used to say, "I have dreams about feckin' trunnions every night. But those trunnions are what made us a family. Trunnions are what made this city great."

Anyway, the trunnion business fell on hard times after the Spanish-American War, and eventually, all the trunnion plants closed, leaving only the Mishie Trunnion Foundry by 1920. They hung on through the fallow trunnion years of post-cannon warfare by landing an exclusive contract with the Principality of Pinerolo, manufacturing the trunnions used for that city-state's elaborate bi-annual ceremonial battlefield drilling re-enactments, and occasionally landing lucrative one-off contracts with eccentric billionaires, historic arms dealers, artisanal artillery buffs, LARPers, producers for medium-budget BBC costume dramas, and miscelleaneous cannon perverts. The Pinerolo contract expired in 2003, and two years later, the plant was shuttered and its nineteen employees were laid off.


Mishipeshu Trunnion Foundry, 1856-2005

By 2006, the area was an urban wasteland, beset by arson, homicides and gang wars. Between 2005 and 2006, the Mishipeshu Police Department reported that violent crime in the precinct had skyrocketed 300%. The area was generally considered off-limits for residents of the city, and for several months in 2006 acquired the inelegant and stupid nickname the "Runnin' [From Gunshots] District." There was an influx of dozens of poverty-stricken native Esperanto speakers from the nearby Esperanto District, mostly separatists whose embrace of the Ido constructed language had lost them their jobs and homes in the more prosperous sections of Kendall Park. Average household income for the Trunnion District, a once fairly propserous working-class area, sunk below $9,000. The area continued to decay into 2007.


The corner of North 18th Avenue and East Wilson Street, March 2006.

Stories of cheap warehouse space, delicious ethnic Esperantan food, lax noise ordinance law enforcement and gorgeous brownstone Victorian architecture began to bring in a few dozen rock bands, artists, monogmaous gay couples, scooter enthusiasts and bohemians into the neighborhood in early 2007. Local zines and alternative media outlets began to declare the Trunnion District the "new Cassock District." By the end of 2007, a thriving new art and rock scene had sprung up along Wilson Avenue, much to the dismay of more conservative Esperantans and trunnionsmiths.


Free-Press noise-rock darlings Frost Creep at STORE, their rehearsal space/art gallery in the old Steve's World of Store Fixtures at 1800 East Wilson Street, April 2007.

"The Trunnion District, once known for something called 'trunnions' and then briefly for poverty and crime and now apparently for exciting new developments in twee-revival rock music and time-based media art is also now apparently the hottest new thing in upscale urban living!" crowed the Mishipeshu Herald-Tribune in a Lifestyles section editoral from early 2008. By early this year, construction had already begun on three new loft-style condo developments, a MINI Cooper dealership, two Starbucks coffee franchises and a Sonoma-Williams outlet.

The new Cannon Flats Lofts, set to open in July. The old Steve's World of Store Fixtures / STORE Gallery now houses a Mini Cooper dealership.

Urban Beat notes that this is an almost unprecendented opportunity for at least four generations of neighborhood residents to interact simultaneously. And believe me, they do, too. I get complaints from this neighborhood about everyone. I get probably a dozen variations on the "Those trunnionmakers/poor people/gay rock bands/condo developing yuppies are screwing this neighborhood up" email per week. "That this entire cycle could happen in the space of three years is nothing short of remarkable," says the magazine. I guess we'll take accolades where we can get 'em.

CNN's "1,000 Best Neighborhoods of All Time": we've got three!

A typical rickets-free Kendall Park residence in 1902 -- the kind that dazzled CNN!

CNN has recently published its list of the 1,000 Best Neighborhoods Of All Time. And who should be appear on the list three times? Our very own Armitage Heights!

Armitage Heights (2007), Armitage Heights (1970) and Kendall Park (1902) were all picked by a panel of experts from a list of hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods throughout the entirety of world history, based on livability, safety, cost of living, infrastructure and cultural amenities -- and we didn't do too badly at all! Present-day Armitage Heights ranked at a respectable #688, right in front of Mount Auburn/Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1770), and right behind the E-Ninnu Temple District in Lagash, Sumer (2050 BCE). Between the Tories of Cambridge and the high priests of Sumeria, this is pretty outstanding company! The panel cited our "great public transit, historic architecture, and thrilling cultural scene" as distinguishing traits. We have the added distinction of being the only neighborhood in the state to make the list.

Kendall Park (1902) fared even better, placing all the way up at #159! The committee was wowed by the neighborhood's "legendary central square" (young people might be scratching their heads as to where exactly this is located -- it's now the site of the equally legendary Ellison Cooper Volberg Public Housing Towers) and "beautiful Italianate buildings." The panel also noted that "the unusually low instances of influenza, rickets and lockjaw in the area's natives made this the late autumn getaway destination for well-to-do vacationers from all over early-20th Century America." It's worth pointing out the Kendall Park still retains very low instances of rickets, and a great many of the beautiful brick row houses are still standing!

The 1970 Armitage Heights held up the end of the list at #933, and the article noted that "despite the radical criminality, high unemployment and decaying infrastructure of the time, there were many outstanding hippie sculpture parks and an attractive air of danger-tinged mod-ish free-spiritedness to the place, best captured in Kimball Burin's well-known 1972 non-fiction book Moloch of Stanton Ave."

The best neighborhood of all time, of course, was voted XIe arrondissement of Paris (1911), with the Upper East Side of New York City (1961) running a close second.

Next year, let's see if we can displace the Sumerians next year and inch up closer to the top!

Neighborhood focus: Delawaretown.

The bustling storefronts of "Little Wilmington."

Hello, everyone. With summer in full swing and the city council adjourning for a few weeks, I thought this might be a good time to continue a regular feature I began earlier in the year, Neighborhood Focus. In this section, I'll take a look at some of the interesting, notable parts of the Armitage Heights neighborhood that you may have yet to discover!

This next neighborhood we're going to have a look at is a personal favorite, another example of the richness of diversity in our community: Delawaretown (also known popularly as "Little Wilmington"), located on the border of Kendall Park and Armitage Heights. The neighborhood is generally defined as the area between 45th and 51st Streets, with Schofield Parkway to the north and Corwin Avenue to the south.

Delawaretown began as a hardscrabble blue-collar pocket of the neighborhood, inhabited primarily by the families of workers at the nearby Armitage Munitions Works, who set up operations in 1856. In 1901, Armitage was purchased by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (known generally as DuPont), who expanded the plant's output from munitions to include lacquers, cellulose chemicals and other non-explosive products. The plant became one of the most productive and innovative cogs in DuPont's empire, and beginning in 1905, huge waves of dozens upon dozens of Delawareans streamed into the neighborhood, searching to begin a new life away from their homeland. With them, they brought their customs, languages and ways of life -- early accounts of burgeoning Delawaretown are striking, like this, from a Mishipeshu Herald article on the area from 1910:

Strolling along 46th Street, one feels as if they have been transported hundreds of miles away to the Delaware River valley, with street vendors hawking what they call "tomatas," and everyone around carrying on in the puzzling dialect of the native Wilmingtonian. They dress in the native outfit of the Delawarian [sic], seemingly unaware of how odd their brown trousers, woolen coats and black shoes must seem to their non-Wilmingtonian neighbors...

One still gets that sense strolling down 46th Street on a busy weekend afternoon! You can still hear classic Delaware accents from the older shopkeepers ("wooder" for "water" -- still fascinates me!), who keep their shelves stocked with Delaware delicacies like delicious blue hen breast, peaches, crab puffs, chicken salad, carrot soup and mashed potatos -- all wrapped in DuPont cellophane, of course! The residents of Delawaretown are very proud of their unique heritage, and in fact, this small pocket of Armitage Heights has the largest population of Delawarean-Americans anywhere outside Delaware -- nearly 330. You'll often see storefront windows with pictures of noted Delawareans like George Thorogood, Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont IV, and Joe Biden (who, coincidentally, commands a 78% lead in Democratic primary polls in this area, as witnessed by the image to the left -- a common sight around this close-knit and politically vocal community).

And of course one can't forget the shopping! Though it's a small area, the Delawarean-American population in this pocket have managed to make their shops tax-free, much like their homeland. It's pretty easy to get a credit card, as well, since a number of major financial corporations have set up small incorporated storefront offices along 46th and 47th Streets.

This neighborhood, with it's great mix of seafood, tax-free incorporations, and phonemic æ-tensing, is a real gem. Be sure to visit for Thorogood Days in August, when the music of Delaware native George Thorogood and the Destroyers is celebrated in appropriately raucous fashion in a day-long street festival, or visit the Blue Hen, a charming tavern on Corwin Avenue at 49th Street that specializes in delicious Delaware microbrewery beers and seafood, and features live music on weekends, typically bands playing traditional Delawarean music. Listening to the music waft out into the streets, you can almost smell the salt-water and nylon in the air! It's not hard to feel the breeze coming off Lake Mishipeshu and feeling like it could be the Delaware Bay -- just like you're standing in the first state!

Outdoor movie season in East Kendall Park!

Stills from The Old Gold Follies of 1938 and Masters and Servants, two classics both screening in East Kendall Park this month (and don't worry -- the rebel leader on the right in Masters and Servants makes it out alive, but just barely!)

My goodness, I'm so sorry for not writing lately! It's been so busy here in the office lately, and perhaps you've noticed that spring is finally here! We've been having such nice 70 degree days in the last few weeks, I'm sure you've all been outside enjoying some our great neighborhood outdoor activities -- the annual Dr. Lyman "Rawhide" McKenzie Memorial Barbecue Symposium at the that the cultural studies program at the University of Mishipeshu puts on every second weekend in April, or the weekly farmers market at Armitage Square (love those squashes from Craze, Junkyard and the whole rest of the crew at the Starshine Manor Cosmic Love Farms!).

Of course, the Kendall Park Film Society will be hosting their popular annual East Kendall Twofer series of double feature movie presentations, every Thursday night beginning April 26 at 7:00 PM at the Danforth Ampitheater in East Kendall Park, located off of 34th Avenue at Schofield Parkway in Kendall Park, right on Lake Mishipeshu.

This year, it's a whole series of films by Armitage Heights natives Mel Caldwell and Richard R. Caldwell. Both brothers were born in south Armitage Heights in 1918 and 1925 respectively, to a streetcar conductor and school teacher. The brothers made a name for themselves on the then-thriving Armitage Heights theater scene as writers and directors (Mel in the old Armitage Avenue music halls, Richard in the small WPA-funded stages of south Hanley). Having had a taste of success here, set off for Hollywood in the 1930s to pursue careers in the movies. Of course, from there, their paths took wildly divergent paths. Mel Caldwell became known for his lush, sentimental MGM musicals, birthing an entire sub-genre, the so-called "Dancing Cigarette Girl" picture: in these films, many of which followed a similar plot, a young, leggy singer or dancer would typically take a seemingly dead-end job as a dancing carton of cigarettes in a stage show, fall in love with her handsome director, and finally through spunk and hard work, become a star. Richard, of course, did not find immediate success in the industry, drifting into the Hollywood demimonde and joining the Communist party, where he made a series of incredibly hard-hitting films for fledgling Key Studios dealing with labor and poverty issues. He became estranged from his brother at this time they rarely spoke after 1940, the lone exception being when Mel testified against Richard in his 1951 HUAC investigation hearings. Richard was blacklisted and became an alcoholic, but re-emerged in middle age to make a series of violent, anti-establishment small-budget war films that would become benchmarks for so-called "New Hollywood" generation. The brothers never reconciled, and Mel died of lung cancer in 1963. His brother died five years later in a mysterious and still-unsolved murder at his home in West Hollywood.

However, the Kendall Park Film Society will reunite these two legends this summer by showing some of their best-loved films back-to-back! The schedule is great fun indeed:

April 26: The Old Gold Follies of 1938 (1938) and They Shall Inherit The Earth (1939)
May 3: Roll Me Another, Sister! (1939) and The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky (1940)
May 10: Holy Smokes! (1940) and Death Train (1957)
May 17: Golden Leaves (1940) and Gentlemen, I Give You Colonel Tran (1959)
May 24: Say, That's Rich! (1941) and Masters and Servants (1960)
May 31: Golden Leaves Goes Overseas (1941) and Our Hour of Darkness (1961)

University of Mishipeshu film historian Dr. Kathleen Carter-Anderson will make a few short remarks before each screening, putting each film into historic context, and pointing out the many strange similarities that the brothers might have denied while still living!

You can visit the Film Society here on the web, or their offices can be reached at (436) 242-2209.

All screenings are all free and open to the public.

Your letters and emails.

Jordan Langley-Klein and Tyler Jachowicz, AKA "Docta Sabotage" and "L'il Warsaw" of the Kaos Krew, in St. Rumwald Academy's 2001 production of The Pirates of Penzance.

Friday is a good day to drag out the old mailbag, and have a look at some of the letters -- both electronic and paper -- you have sent me in the past month.

And what a month it's been! Ever since we published the British fashion photo of the so-called "Kaos Krew" this week, tips have been pouring in from all over the 3rd Ward identifying the two other members. It seems as if they are Jordan Langley-Klein, 22, and Tyler Jachowicz, 23, both of Armitage Hill (the lid was blown off of Scott Munsch's identity almost immediately). In fact, all three were celebrated members of St. Rumwald Academy's musical theatre and improv troupes, and appeared together in high school productions of South Pacific, Carousel and Paint Your Wagon! I wish that the Kaos Krew had chosen to share their talents in the performing arts; they could have been a great addition to our theater scene here in the neighborhood. Instead, we will have no choice but to extradite them and make them accountable for their countless misdemeanor offenses. It saddens me greatly that between these young men and Dr. Thomas Jefferson Harding, so much of what the national media focuses on in Armitage Heights is our attempted international extraditions (a recent issue of USA Today called us the "rendition capital of America"). We have so many other great things going on here, and one of the reasons I'm writing this blog is to let people know about the great stuff that goes on here: the dot-com Zeppelin parties, the delicious lo-mein tacos, the awesome non-emo rock bands and the historic architecture renovations. Those are what makes are neighborhood the best one in the metro area to live in. Those are what I want to focus on.

Some writers are unhappy that I have focused so much on the Kaos Krew. Alex in Kendall Park writes:

Look, I own a small business on Stanton Avenue and the Krew hit my marquee in October; they rearranged "While Supplies Last" to say "Slut Sips Whale Pile." It was an inconvenience, but it was nothing compared to the fact that I had a break-in two weeks later, and then another one in February where they made off with my cash register, ate some sandwiches in the breakroom refrigerator and urinated all over the special-edition Heights Beer-sponsored life-sized advertising cut-outs of Billy Draeger. That sort of thing is going on in your neighborhood, Sherman, and you're having embarrasing public hissy fits about these kids while actual hoodlums are out breaking into my store and peeing all over my limited-edition merchandise? Your priorities are totally ass-backwards, Larson. Do I have to be attacked by vandals with an artist's statement and press kit to get noticed around here? I'll take the sluts sipping the whale piles, thank you.

Alex's letter is tough but fair, and makes some good points. First of all, I wasn't aware Billy Draeger had signed a contract to advertise Heights Beer, but it makes sense -- the October Revolutionists are getting huge, and they're definitely big fans of the sort of "old-timey" look that Heights Beer has been branding themselves with in the last few years (I love those ads where the two mutachioed men on the old-time bicycles are chasing the ladies in bloomers!). But more importantly, Alex is right: we can't let ourselves think that the Kaos Krew is the only problem that we're dealing with crime-wise. Burglary, assault and arson has been up in parts of Hanley and Kendall Park this year, and it reflects badly on the whole 3rd Ward. I'll be posting some information about some of the various neighborhood watch groups so you can learn more about how you can get involved in keeping Armitage Heights and the whole 3rd Ward safe for everyone.

Urban lifestyles, available now.

There's been some criticism in the local press as of late regarding the condo boom we've been enjoying here in the Heights recently. Specifically, a few naysayers have predicted that the slight slowdown we've been experiencing in sales is the beginning of a long-term trend. In fact, the Heights Free Press goes on to say that many of the flagship condominium developments are "poorly-conceived, badly marketed, cynically developed, economically dubious and generally, just completely lacking in even the most basic comprehension of the fundamentals of urban living, city planning, real estate, aesthetics, ecomonics, construction, historic preservation, engineering, taste or human decency."

The Free Press is entitled to it's opinion, of course, but let's not be ridiculous. The condo developments we have going on at the present time are affordable, sustainable and attractive, and just because there's been a slight downturn in sales doesn't mean we should all go into hysterics. In fact, I'm going to list here a few of the exciting developments that we have going on in the real estate market, and you can see for yourself how attractive, affordable and responsible urban condo living really is.

A lot of these developments are throwing in special bonuses, like plasma screen TVs, association fee waivers and coupons to delicious restaurants, so act fast!

• Zeppelin Flats - art-deco luxury in the heart of the Zeppelin District
• Les Resevoir - fine water-side urban living
• Poutine Flats - old world-style luxury in the heart of the Poutine District
• The Refinery - refined urban living in a Steam Age setting
• Harbour Docks Flats Highrise - lakeside living at shipping-yard prices
• The Esperanto Lofts (Apartmentos Luksaĵos Esperantos) - Mi ŝatasrenkonti novajn homojn en Arondismento Esperanto!
• Olde Section 8 Village Centre - the rebirth of a new luxury address in South Hanley
• Cassock District Arts and Leisure Quarter - let yourself be blessed with urban luxury, my son
• Mishipeshu-Akron-Buffalo Railroad Switchyard Lofts - get on the fast track to luxurious urban living
• Gruyere Flats Luxury Condominiums and Artisanal Cheese Depository - sharp, dry, delicious living in the historic St. Aloysius Greek Orthodox Veterans Hospital & Sanitarium in Kendall Park

An absolute outrage.

This week, my assistant Marisha had stumbled across a reference on Wikipedia to the underage band of skateboarding delinquents known as the Armitage Heights Kaos Krew having a show at a contemporary art gallery in London, England. Well, needless to say, I thought it was a joke -- not a funny one, particularly, but a joke nonetheless, since the Kaos Krew have managed to confound the authorities on a number of notable occasions, both in the physical world and in Cyberspace.

I had Marisha look into it, just to be sure. A quick international phone call to London, however, confirmed my worst suspicions: the so-called Kaos Krew are indeed part of a group show in London next month called Cow Semen For Gary: New Voices In Contemporary American Urban Street Art! Not only that, but they are featured in a lengthy profile in Artforum magazine this month! Marisha turned up this quote:

"...this anonymous young American collective have manged to transform the Ritalin and X-Box-inundated interests of their upbringings into something larger more successfully than perhaps any other artists of their generation. They have constructed with the crudest materials and crudest intentions an almost classical pantheon, a thrilling yet ordered worldview equally informed by an insatiable consumer desire and a shapeless, amorphic class rage. They have developed their own completely and uniquely synthesized mythos that runs through their work like a bike messenger weaves in and out of city traffic, referring back to itself and to an imagined outside world, a post-capitalist cosmology complete with Valhallian heroes (themselves) and villains (a small-time local politician with the deliciously square name of Sherman Larson)..."

This is absolutely outrageous!

The so-called Kaos Krew is responsible for a virtually unbroken string of petty vandalism crimes in every one of the eight metro wards, but especially here in the 3rd! They have cost the city thousands and thousands of your tax dollars defacing public property! And this is "art"?

Virtually their only "art" is enormous stenciled drawings on the sides of warehouses of General Alfredo Stroessner and myself throughout Armitage Heights, north Hanley and south Kendall Park. Very similar, in fact, to that dreadful, poorly-executed Photoshop "drawing" which they left on this website after hacking it this month.

Also, let's not forget their ridiculous re-arrangements of words on local business marquees to spell obscene and/or inappropriate phrases. Art? Only after we were able to procure the services of a freelance Scrabble champion were we able to cut down on this criminal mischief.

I fail to see how any of this is "art" worth writing about, particularly in such ridiculous, overheated language.

Listen: I am no "square," nor am I a Philistine. My aunt Helena is on the Board at the Armitage Heights Center for Contemporary Art, so I have an idea what "contemporary art" is all about. I voted, in fact, for the procurement of the funds that enabled us to build such a great facility. So I know art when I see it, and I know a sham when I see it. It's time to put an end to this sort of coddling nonsense that is ruining our neighborhood with ugly, juvenile "art." We are taking steps to apprehend the Kaos Krew before they can travel to London for their tasteless, illegal show. Furthermore, I have sent my my assistant Marisha to the art history and criticism department at the University of Mishipeshu to speak to the most respected professors there to get a second opinion on the Kaos Krew's "work."

So believe you me, this "deliciously square" councilman has got a double vise squeezing in on these delinquents: the long arm of the law on one side, and the similarly long arm of the Armitage Heights art criticism community on the other!

Our entry on Wikipedia.

It's been a little slow in the office here since the city council is out of session, so I've been having my assistant Marisha update my page on the city council's website. While she was putting together some links for the Links page, she came across Armitage Heights' entry on Wikipedia. (For those of you that don't know, "Wikipedia" is a free encyclopedia on the Internet written by regular people.)

Now, I'm always glad to see the "web community" working together to increase people's knowledge and awareness of this great neighborhood. However, I wanted to point out that the page is completely riddled with inaccuracies. It would be great if some of you amateur historians out there could pitch in and clean up certain parts.

For example, the article claims the bear that inspired the voice of Chewbacca in Star Wars once lived at the Kendall Park Zoo. I am pretty certain that is not verifiable. Furthermore, the claim that old Stanton Avenue Deli that stood at Stanton and 33rd Street for many years is the inspiration for the Mos Eisley Cantina is dubious, at best. As far as I know, George Lucas has never even visited this area.

Additionally, it makes a similarly dubious that the lyrics to the Human League's 1981 hit "Don't You Want Me?" was inspired by a local waitress that worked at the old Lakesider, back when it was a cocktail bar.

Also, the old Holy Sceptre Vestments, Ltd. company in the Cassock District primarily made cassocks for Anglican priests, not Jesuits.

It also claims that the underage gang of skaters known collectively as the Armitage Heights Kaos Krew is a well-respected group of street artists that are having their debut show at a high-end gallery in London, England next month. That had better not be true. I'm going to have Marisha look into this right away.

Anyway, if anyone out there in the neighborhood could double-check these facts, that would be very helpful. Our Wikipedia page gets more hits than the official individual pages of each member of the city council put together, so it would be good if people's first impression of the neighborhood was accurate.

On the other hand, I had no idea just how many times the neighborhood has been referenced on The Simpsons. Four times, apparently.

Also, the list of punk, garage and new-wave songs that mention Armitage Avenue in the lyrics is very well-researched, as well. These are the sorts of interesting things that distinguish our neighborhood from any other.

The golden age of Sino-Mex cuisine is now!

Egg rolls rancheros with a side of salsa, as only thje Burrito Pagoda can make it!

It's been about a year since the Burrito Pagoda opened in the old Cassock District on north Armitage, and I was as delighted as anyone at the adventurousness of Chef Miguel Sanchez and his wife Chef Jun Shan's resourcefulness and sense of adventure in their Sino-Mex cuisine. Well, the national media is finally catching up to what we've known all along -- check out this profile of Sanchez and Shan in the February issue of Gourmet Magazine!

Armitage Heights is gaining a reputation as a "foodie" destination for bold fusion cuisines, and it's no wonder. In the last year alone, three other Sino-Mex places have opened: the Jade Aztec in Kendall Park, Ciudad Prohibido in Armitage Hill, and San Xiao's in the Garden District.

All four are excellent -- the lo mein tacos, Hunan-style frijoles and tortas foo young at Jade Aztec are delicious, and Ciudad Prohibido makes a wonderful sweet-and-sour guacamole. Of course, the Burrito Pagoda still has, for my money, the best Generalissimo Tso's chicken available anywhere -- not to mention the simple pleasures of their legendary stir-fried nachos, a true late-night "mack down" favorite with students at the University of Mishipeshu!

Well, with all this talk about food, I definitely think I'll be sending my assistant Marisha for take-out today!

Hard-hitting film excitement!

The legendary final scene from House of Chains (1972).

The Armitage Heights Film Society will be screening a month-long retrospective of the work of Hanley native and '70s cinematic icon Robert Donald Salloway through the months of January and February at Kendall Park Cinema.

Kendall Park Cinema is located at 201 North Stanton Avenue in Kendall Park. All films begin at 7:00 PM, and cost $8 for adults, and $5 for students and AHFS members. Visit http://www.armitagefilm.org/ for more details, or email Mark at armitagefilm@hotmail.com.

The theater's phone number is (436) 822-FILM.

Despite their undeniable historic importance and hard-hitting '70s-era social relevance, these films contain many adult situations and are not recommended for children under the age of 16.

Friday, January 26 - The Man That Killed Tomorrow (1974)
Saturday, January 27 - Tonight We Ride, Tomorrow We Die (1972)
Friday, February 8 - Blitzkrieg Over Marvin Gardens (1973)
Saturday, February 9 - The Archbishop of 42nd Street (1976)
Friday, February 16 - House of Chains (1972)
Saturday, February 17 - An Empire of Men (1975)

Neighborhood focus: Kendall Park's historic Poutine District.

The Armitage Amalgamated Gravy Factory at 63rd Street and Gilpin Avenue (now Guy Lafleur Avenue), Kendall Park, circa 1912. The heart (l'coeur?) of the Poutine District.

Greetings and happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful New Year's Day -- after the stressful events of the Winter Parade fiasco, a restful day is exactly what we needed.

That said, renegade Communist malcontent and honorary Viet Cong Dr. Thomas Jefferson Harding and unlicensed non-Muslim cleric the Ayatollah Martin Wisniewski remain at large.

Anyway, I thought that this would be good time to begin a new regular feature on the blog, Neighborhood Focus. In this section, I'll take a look at some of the interesting, notable parts of the Armitage Heights neighborhood that you may have yet to discover!

For our inaugural entry in the series, let's take a look at the historic Poutine District in Kendall Park, which is generally defined as the area between 61st and 65th Streets, with Amos Kendall Parkway to the south and Lake Mishipeshu to the north.

The Poutine District dates back to the earliest part of the century, when the Armitage Amalgamated Gravy Distillery was established in 1901. From the turn of the century well through the Second World War, Armitage Heights led the nation in gravy production -- Armitage Amalgamated was the largest and best-known, but it shared the area with many other smaller, forgotten manufacturers whose wares have long been forgotten by all but the most dedicated of collectors and historians. It was estimated, in fact, that in 1914, on the eve of the Great War, Armitage Heights manufactured 30% of the nation's stock of giblet gravy, 25% of its white gravy, and a staggering 45% of its brown gravy. Immigrants from all over the world poured, so to speak, into the city to man these great gravy vats -- a dangerous job that often resulted, if not in death, then in scalding burns, whisking disasters and lumpiness.

Many of these immigrants seeking a better life came in from the great white north of Canada -- specifically, Quebec. They did not speak English, but the Quebecers' knowledge of gravy distilling was unparalleled. The names of these master midcentury gravy distillers like George-Étienne "Terre Frite" Lanctôt, Maxime Francois-Xavier "Le Mélangeur" Lépine and Henri-Raymond "Le Diable D'Abattis" Crémazie have become well-known in the annals of gravy-making. Soon, a vibrant Quebecer community sprung up around the neighborhood.

The rest, as they say, is history. The gravy industry dwindled in the postwar years, as Americans increasingly turned to instant gravy mixes. However, the residents of the area never turned their backs on their Canadian heritage or the neighborhood's gravy traditions. After the old factory closed in 1952, many of the workers stayed in the area and turned to vending poutine on the streets. To this day, you can still stroll down 62nd Street at Guy Lafleur Avenue and be charmed by the aroma of fresh curds, brown gravy and French fries wafting from the streetside stands where flannel-clad, French-speaking vendors hawk their delicious wares.

If you stroll down Lafleur a few more blocks, you can take in some more sights. Catch a hockey game at the Rue Soixante-Quatrième Palais de Sport, or visit the historic Tim Horton's at 3122 Guy Lafleur Avenue -- the very first one built in the United States! Also see the statue of Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space, on 65th Street.

It's such a charming neighborhood, you may want to move right in! Which you can, because the old Armitage Amalgamated Gravy Distillery building is being converted into the Poutine Flats luxury condominium complex, which will open this summer! Visit http://www.poutinedistrictliving.com/ for pricing and more information!

Foodie heaven!

Well, happy holidays to everyone! Since so many of you will be out and about for the season this month, there's a few new faces in the neighborhood I'd like to introduce to you over the course of the next few weeks leading up to Christmas!

For all you "foodies," I'd like to welcome chef Dan Franklin and his new casual restaurant the Upstairs Lounge to the area. The Upstairs Lounge is located at 2302-1/2 Stanton Alley SW, right on the edge of Armitage Heights. Veteran neighborhood diners will probably recognize that address as the former location of Derek's, the Red Room, the Armitage Grill, Lucy's, the 2302, Charlotte's, the Khyber Pass, Capone's Chicago Steakhouse, the Heights Cafe, the Dinner Bell, Vic's Frozen Custard, the Berliner, the Hillside Sub Shop, the East End Bistro, Dionysus, Mischa's Old World Bakery, the Downtowner, the Mason-Dixon Soul Food Shack, the Stanton Avenue Deli, and several other fine establishments over the last decade.

My assistant Marisha has just reminded me, of course, that the Over Easy was there, too. Do you remember that place? They made an amazing Eggs Benedict. I think that was after Lucy's, sometime in the late '90s.

Oh, and the Wonder Bar! That was a nice little place, too. Really cheap well drinks. I wonder what happened to them?

I think there was a dance studio there, too, for a few months.

At any rate, the Upstairs Lounge boasts an intimate, very "urban" feeling in their upstairs dining room, easily accessible from the rear of the old Jacobson Insurance Building near 22rd Street off of Stanton (not the new Jacobson building, the old brick one just north of it). Just follow 22nd, veer right into Stanton Alley Southwest (not into Stanton Alley Southeast, which is also right there), and the entrance is clearly marked at the second door to the left under the fire escape, up two flights on the exterior stairway. Ample parking is available at the meters three blocks over, off of Arthur Street, after 9 PM on weekends. Call for reservations and more detailed directions at (436) 339-7111, or find a map online at http://www.upstairslounge-armitage.com/. Tell Chef Dan that I sent you!

Our next monthly Coffee With Your Councilman will also be held tomorrow night at 7:00 PM at the Mysterious Brews Coffee Shop at 3900 West Carlyle Street in Armitage Heights, right in heart of the Garden District. I will be answering your questions on the city's exciting new plan to transform the old St. Aloysius Greek Orthodox Veterans Hospital & Sanitarium in Kendall Park into the new Gruyere Flats Luxury Condominiums and Artisanal Cheese Depository. Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Best,

Sherman