Mourning a Landmark

Neon Memes • After all these years, it still breaks my heart to drive along South Hanley Road between Forsyth Boulevard and Carondelet Avenue. Nowadays, gray wooden partitions and concrete barricades, courtesy of Clayco, define the perimeter of that Clayton site. Just over 11 years ago, though, it boasted a local landmark: the Library, Ltd. In its time the largest independent bookseller in the U.S., that store featured a stately internal staircase, plush furnishings and discreet rooms devoted to subjects like art and mysteries; not unpredictably, it also featured a breathtaking selection of literary delights, books and periodicals alike, as well as a heavenly sale/remainder section. In 1997, alas, the Library, Ltd., sold to Borders, which shuttered the operation four years later and transferred all of its holdings―but little if any of its panache―to the then-new Brentwood Boulevard store. At the behest of Centene Corporation, the site's current owner, the headache ball claimed the former bookstore and its garage a few months ago. A pair of office towers will ultimately rise there, and I can't help suspecting that many long-time bibliophiles here will greet their rise with the enthusiasm otherwise reserved for seeing a brothel built on the grave of one's first love. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor