The Garment District becomes a major destination shopping spot
By Stefene Russell
Photography by Frank Di Piazza
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These days, at least during business hours, there’s a crane or cherry picker on nearly every downtown block, as guys in hard hats sandblast schmutz off the decorative edging of another historic building under renovation. Windows that were held together with duct tape are now replaced; cheap faux-fronts have been peeled away to reveal lovely, original façades; and chrome Art Deco building numbers are suddenly shiny enough to catch the light. Though downtown is still a work in progress, even the buildings peeking out from behind strand board walkways suggest an urban area that’s studded with 20th-century architectural gems—and there’s great retail to match.
Washington Avenue, once a flourishing garment district that kept America in shoes and hats, was the first downtown street to see the blush of revitalization. It’s currently the area that’s densest with galleries, design showrooms, restaurants, bars and cafés (and it seems like something new pops up nearly every week). One of the best ways to sample what Washington has to offer is to take the self-guided Downtown Gallery + Design Walk on the first Friday of the month. Download the PDF from www.downtowngallerywalk.com and start at the new Blue Boat Designs (1607 Washington). It’s primarily a showroom, though they do, charmingly enough, carry glass jewelry. There are fixtures galore, ranging from free-standing sink basins in stone, glass and vitreous china to crackle-glass pendant lights and elegantly simple ceiling fixtures that suggest early Frank Lloyd Wright. Mossa Center (1214 Washington) and Baseline Gallery (1110 Washington) also have impressive design showrooms, and both offer exclusive lines: for Mossa, that’s French company Ligne Rosa; at Baseline, it’s Poliform furniture, Varenna Kitchens and Antonio Lupi bathrooms. Niche (922 Washington), the official interior design source for local architectural firm The Lawrence Group, carries Herman Miller for the Home and Knoll Space, two reasonably priced contemporary lines known for their almost obsessive dedication to good design. Knoll works with Maya Lin, Jhane Barnes and Frank Gehry; Herman Miller manufactures pieces designed by Eames and Isamu Noguchi. Though the design pedigrees are impressive, you’ll also be able to walk out of here with a brightly-colored glass vase for between $50 and $100 if you’re not in the mood to drop big cash.
Most of these design shops reserve wall space for local artists, but scattered between shops are several straight-up galleries, including the Third Floor Gallery, upstairs from Mossa, which hangs local contemporary work. The Ellen Curlee Gallery (1308 Washington) shows photography exclusively—most of it national—though it does reserve flat files for local artists. Philip Slein Gallery (1319 Washington) has booked some of the most progressive shows in recent memory, from Art Chantry’s rock posters to Greg Edmondson’s brilliant sculptures of “biology run amok”; down from Slein is the Des Lee Gallery (1627 Washington), which is a showcase for, appropriately enough, Washington University’s art program.
We’d be remiss in not mentioning some of the excellent stop-off points for coffee, food and drinks during a shopping or gallery-hopping trip, including Copia Urban Winery (1122 Washington) where you can sit down to a steak dinner or grab a bottle of Pinot Noir to go; The Gelateria (14th and Washington) which offers more than a dozen flavors of Italian gelato as well as Café Americanos brewed to perfection; and the Washington Avenue Post (1517 Washington), which is technically a “business center” but that features a coffee bar and feels more like a café. It’s a comfortable spot to stop in even if you don’t need to send a parcel through the mail.
This short list doesn’t include everything of note, especially when you take side streets like St. Charles and Locust into account. Though the same ice cream man who’s worked downtown for years is still around (the guy who drives the white van with “Turkey in the Straw” tinkling from the P.A.), there are few remnants of the downtown of a decade ago, now that the the windows—and sidewalks—are no longer empty.
Shops & Services
Baseline Workshop
1110 Washington
314-621-9188
Blue Boat Designs
1607 Washington
314-241-8998
MacroSun International
1310 Washington
314-421-6400
Mossa
1214 Washington
314-241-5199
Niche
922 Washington
314-621-8131
Galleries
Des Lee Gallery of Art
1627 Washington
314-621-8735
Ellen Curlee Gallery
1627 Washington
314-241-1299
Philip Slein Gallery
1319 Washington
314-621-4634
Cafés & Bars
The Gelateria
1327 Washington
314-621-8838
Copia Urban Winery
1122 Washington
314-621-7275
