Photograph by Thomas Crone
To move amongst the city’s alleys is to appreciate urban life’s flipside. The backs of houses provide a different template of clues about how people live. Garages and parking pads intermingle. Even humble dumpsters offer clues as to a neighborhood’s financial health, based on the items being placed in (and near) them. It’s not necessarily a better way to travel, but it’s an entertaining one, especially if you’re traveling those backroads on foot or via bike.
Recently, I’ve settled on a typical throughway for my ride to a local lunch spot on Kingshighway. Hopping off of busy Arsenal and opting for side streets and alleys, I’ve re-familiarized myself with the back of one particular garage in Tower Grove South. It’s painted red, which gives it a certain visual punch already, but it also features a rotating cast of artworks on the wall. How long they stay there is anyone’s guess. These aren’t just pieces painted onto the wall, they’re typically paintings affixed to the wall through a simple of process of hammer-meet-nail.
The piece discovered last week was complemented, in a sort of gross fashion, by the neighboring dumpster, which proved too daunting for some locals to actually use. The colors on the ground were a summery blend, indeed, absolutely popping against the drab brown of the dumpster, as late-afternoon sun cut across the garage door in lovely horizontal lines. You look for beauty where you can find it.
Digging back through some photo archives, I realize that the door’s taken on a festive, holiday spirit at times, hinting at hopes for more seasonal fare this coming winter.
Some months back, we tracked down a pair of South City monkeys, tucked into a slightly remote corner of Tower Grove East. The rediscovered find of the Tower Grove South Garage Gallery suggests that there’s a lot more out there. Know of something in this vein? Let us know.
